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New mass demonstrations strikes against monarch { April 14 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041300902.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041300902.html
Nepal Politicians Reject King's Plea
Call for Dialogue, Elections Follows Series of Pro-Democracy Demonstrations
By John Lancaster
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 14, 2006; A12
KATMANDU, Nepal, April 14 -- King Gyanendra called Friday for dialogue with political parties as well as new elections, in a widely anticipated statement following more than a week of pro-democracy protests in the Himalayan kingdom. But the statement did not specify a date for elections and appeared to fall well short of conditions set by the parties for ending the protests.
In a message marking the start of Nepal's new year, Gyanendra called for "the active participation of all political parties committed to peace and democracy," reiterating the formula for restoring democracy that he had proposed after assuming absolute power on Feb. 1, 2005.
Leaders of the alliance of Nepal's seven main political parties denounced the statement as insufficient and said it would do nothing to curb the unrest, in which four people have been killed and hundreds more injured.
"It is grossly inadequate," Ram Mahat, a former cabinet minister and senior leader of the Nepali Congress, said in an early morning telephone interview from a friend's house, where he was hiding to avoid arrest. He said the parties and the protesters would continue to insist that the king give up absolute power and reinstate the country's elected parliament.
Gyanendra's statement came just hours after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators massed on the outskirts of the capital Thursday, waving flags and chanting slogans denouncing the king.
In contrast to demonstrations earlier in the week, this one passed without violence, as the protesters marched up and down a major road in the late afternoon. Hundreds of police officers in riot gear prevented them from penetrating deeper into the city.
But earlier in the day, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at about 500 lawyers demonstrating peacefully in central Katmandu, injuring three of them and arresting 72, according to witnesses.
The demonstrations came on the eighth day of nationwide protests orchestrated by Nepal's seven main political parties in loose cooperation with Maoist rebels. The rebels have waged a 10-year insurgency in which at least 12,000 people have died.
"I want democracy," said Keshab Acharya, a poultry business owner, who was among the thousands marching on the Ring Road in the city's Gangapu district on Thursday evening. "Until that goal is achieved, I'll be here."
Although a general strike showed signs of easing Thursday, the protests have convulsed the country of 28 million people, posing the most serious challenge to Gyanendra's rule since he assumed absolute power, a move that he said was necessary to defeat the Maoist insurgency.
The parties are insisting that Gyanendra reverse that decision. They are also insisting on the formation of an all-party government with authority to negotiate with the Maoists, with the ultimate goal of writing a new constitution in which the monarchy would play a reduced or perhaps no role.
The protests have drawn support from private advocacy groups, students and professional associations of lawyers and doctors, among others. Government officials say the protests have also been infiltrated by Maoists.
At a rally of several thousand people in the Gangapu district Thursday afternoon, Mahat asserted in a speech that security personnel in the eastern town of Janakpur had refused orders to fire on demonstrators. Brig. Nepal Bhushan Chand, the chief military spokesman, said he had not heard of such an incident, adding, "I doubt they would disobey orders, because that is not the system in our security ethics."
The government's crackdown has prompted widespread international condemnation. In a statement Thursday, Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said that human rights observers had witnessed "the most excessive use of force to date" by security personnel who clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators in Katmandu this week. That melee left more than 100 people injured.
In a telephone interview, Shrish Shumsher Rana, Nepal's information minister, described allegations of excessive force as "humbug" and the unrest as "thoroughly Maoist-infiltrated." Police have not reacted "until the crowd has become violent," he said, but added that under no circumstances would protests be permitted in the city center because "we know the terrorists are inside."
Raju Thapa, one of the lawyers involved in Thursday morning's protest near the Supreme Court in central Katmandu, said the rally had been peaceful when police used rubber bullets and long wooden batons to attack the lawyers, most in formal courtroom attire.
But at Thursday afternoon's rally on the city's outskirts, police hung back as speakers from the seven parties assailed the monarchy. "The protest will go on until and unless we have a constitution which reflects the wisdom of the Nepali people," said Prakash Mansingh, a former government minister from the Nepali Congress (Democratic) party.
After the rally, the crowd spilled onto the Ring Road and formed a spontaneous procession, which swelled steadily as police jogged alongside, struggling to keep people from entering the city -- this time, without violence.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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