Nepal King Sacks Government, Assumes Power

india-defence ^ | 1/2/2005 | NDTV, BBC, Reuters

[Srirangan]

Source: NDTV

Tuesday, February 1, 2005 (Kathmandu):

Nepal's King Gyanendra today dismissed the Sher Bahadur Deuba government and assumed power in the Himalayan Kingdom.

The monarch has accused the Deuba government of failing to restore peace and conducting parliamentary elections in the country.

"I have decided to dissolve the government because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April," the King said in a televised address to the nation.

The King maintained that the Deuba government had failed to protect democracy and sovereignty of the people.

King Gyanendra had appointed Deuba as Prime minister last year and asked him to conduct parliamentary elections and hold peace talks with the Maoist rebels.

Earlier, the King had sacked Deuba in 2002 for failing to hold elections, but asked him to form the government last year as the rebels stepped up insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom.

Nepal king dismisses government

Nepal's King Gyanendra has announced on state television that he has sacked the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba.

He said he was taking over direct power because the administration had failed to fulfil its mandate.

Mr Deuba had been reappointed Nepal's prime minister last June, two years after King Gyanendra sacked him for failing to contain a Maoist insurgency.

The rebels recently failed to respond to a 13 January deadline set by Mr Deuba to hold peace talks.

The Associated Press reports that soldiers have surrounded the prime minister's residence and the homes of other government leaders.

"I have decided to dissolve the government because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April and protect democracy, the sovereignty of the people and life and property," the king said in his announcement.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says the announcement has plunged Nepal into uncertainty.

'Selfish'

"A new cabinet will be formed under my leadership," the king said.

"This will restore peace and effective democracy in this country within the next three years."

King Gyanendra also said the government had failed to restore peace with the Maoist rebels.

He accused the country's fractious political parties of behaving selfishly and of giving no thought to the Nepali people and the welfare of the country.

He himself, he added, was committed to democracy and multi-party rule.

Some 10,000 people have been killed in the nine-year-long Maoist insurgency.

Nepal King Sacks Government, Assumes Power

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali King Gyanendra sacked the government and assumed power himself Tuesday, saying the leadership had failed to hold elections or restore peace amid an escalating civil war with Maoist rebels.

Indian television channel NDTV said the king had taken power for the next three years and placed many politicians under house arrest.

"I have decided to dissolve the government because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April and promote democracy, the sovereignty of the people and life and property," the king said in an address on state radio.

Shortly afterwards telephone and mobile lines were apparently shut down in Kathmandu and communications links closed between the country and the rest of the world.

No further details were available.

The strategic Himalayan nation sandwiched between India and China is locked in a bitter three-way struggle among the king, the Maoist rebels and political parties who are often bitterly divided among themselves.

The king is often accused of overstepping his powers, and reappointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba only last June, two years after sacking him for the same reasons he cited this time -- inability to tackle the long-standing revolt against the monarchy and failure to call an election.

In January, Deuba had promised to go ahead with the election despite the civil war and the refusal of the Maoists to come to peace talks by a Jan. 13 deadline.

But many members of Deuba's own cabinet were known to be unhappy with the election plan on grounds it was unrealistic in a country where the rebels control much of the countryside.

The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to replace the monarchy with a communist republic in a revolt that has cost around 11,000 lives.

The king himself had promised that elections would begin by the start of the Nepali new year in mid-April. Indian television said he accused political parties of factional fighting.

This is the fourth time the king has sacked a prime minister in less than three years. Nepal has had no parliament since 2002. Nepal is one of the world's poorest nations and its only Hindu kingdom. Many people still view the king as a reincarnation of the god Vishnu.

But the monarchy's reputation nosedived in 2001 when the crown prince, Dipendra, killed his father, the popular King Birendra, and several other royals in a palace massacre. He then turned the gun on himself.

Gyanendra was crowned king after the massacre, but has never been as popular as his brother Birendra.

Tens of thousands of tourists visit Nepal each year as it has eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.

[Destro]

Iran's use of terrorisim developed outside of Communisim - hell Iran's history with terrorisim may go back to the Hashashins.

[Tailgunner Joe]

oops "multipolar" not "multicultural" But what the difference anyway?

[Tailgunner Joe]

Pukin was Yeltsin's chosen successor.

[Destro]

Putin doesn't ally himself with every one of our worst enemies for cash, his stated goal is to foster a "multicultural" world free from US hegemony.

The term is multilateral.

Competition is a good thing.

[Destro]

Yeltsin was forced out - Kosovo almost brought the Russians to war with NATO and the Russian establishment had enough.

[Tailgunner Joe]

No multilateral means working with your friends. The term I meant to use is MULTIPOLAR which means enemies countering enemies. Russia stands with France and China against America. They will pay for this.

[Tailgunner Joe]

There was no question of any other candidate taking power in Russia. Yeltsin anointed Putin and he took over.

[Destro]

It is kind of a forgotten thing but Kosovo forced Yeltsin out.

[TapTheSource]

"The PLO is a nationalist organization"

No, the PLO uses the language of nationalism in order to further World Revolution. As Pacepa points out:

"Right after that meeting, I was given the KGB's "personal file" on Arafat. He was an Egyptian bourgeois turned into a devoted Marxist by KGB foreign intelligence. The KGB had trained him at its Balashikha special-ops school east of Moscow and in the mid-1960s decided to groom him as the future PLO leader. First, the KGB destroyed the official records of Arafat's birth in Cairo, replacing them with fictitious documents saying that he had been born in Jerusalem and was therefore a Palestinian by birth."

In short, Arafat was a committed Communist internationalist under KGB control. He used the cover of nationalism in order to achieve international goals. He could have cared less about Palestine or the so-called Palestinians (he and his henchmen murdered his "own people" all the time). If he had been sent to South Africa, he would have framed the revolution in terms race. If the KGB had tasked him with spreading revolution in the UK, he would have framed his war of "national liberation" in terms of religion. Arafat of course was born in Cairo, so it was only natural to use him in the Middle East. But as a soldier for the KGB, that didn't stop him from assisting just about every terrorist organization the world over.

[Destro]

Ye s- duh - I am telling you the PLO is the Communist terror legacy - the mujahedeen is the Western terror legacy.

[Keme]

I never heard that before but it makes sense. I had a Palestinian friend with family ties to the PLO who told me a lot of these guys used to go to the Soviet Union to "study".

[Khurkris]

When you take over, I call dibs on 'Minister of Recreation and Leisure.'

I'm thinking brew-pubs & hot tubs as National sites.

[WorkingClassFilth]

^

[hosepipe]

Whatever is played out in Nepal. The music is written in China..

[TapTheSource]

"Yes- duh - I am telling you the PLO is the Communist terror legacy - the mujahedeen is the Western terror legacy."

I wasn't responding to that question (although, you are wrong on that count as well). I was responding to the proposerous notion you put forward...namely, that the PLO is a "nationalist" struggle. As I said before, they use the language of nationalism, but they are in fact Communist internationalists in nationalist clothing.

[Destro]

The PLO was more nationalism than economic system. And I am not wrong - Western terror legacy is the mujaheeden.

[budman_2001]

This photo appeared alongside a SF Chronicle story.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/news/a/2005/02/01/international0722EST0493.DTL&o=0

[curiosity]

Constitutional monarchy is a good system, especially for more traditional societies like Nepal. I wish the king well.

[TapTheSource]

"The PLO was more nationalism than economic system."

Do you honestly believe Communism is about economics?!?!?

[sukhoi-30mki]

Allow me to temper your enthusiasm

'Dalai Lama’s office in Kathmandu closed'

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=63628

Anyone familiar with the politics of the region will know that this was/is aimed at impressing the PRC & this event happened 3 days before the takeover.The UN,India & UK have all condemned the takeover-China has called it an "internal affair of Nepal".So form your own conclusions.