Nepal PM changes stance, says king should abdicate
12 Mar 2007 12:40:18 GMT Source: Reuters
By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU, March 12 (Reuters) - In a dramatic turnaround in his position on Nepal's monarchy, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said on Monday that King Gyanendra should abdicate now instead of waiting for the outcome of a vote on his future. Koirala, a veteran politician who heads an interim government in the run-up to elections to a constituent assembly, has been among the few mainstream leaders in favour of retaining the unpopular monarchy in some form, possibly ceremonial. But with demands growing to declare Nepal a republic, Koirala said the king's stepping down would help in a smooth transition to a new and permanent political set up in the embattled Himalayan nation. "The king and crown prince are persons of ill repute," Koirala told reporters in his home town of Biratnagar, 200 km (125 miles) southeast of Kathmandu. "It will be good if the king steps down on his own," Koirala said in comments shown on state television. "This will open up the way." The government and Maoists, who signed a peace deal ending a decade-old civil war against the monarchy, agreed in November that the constituent assembly, due to be elected in June, would decide the future of monarchy. King Gyanendra, whose popularity has plunged since he grabbed absolute power in 2005 only to be forced to restore democracy last year, defended his actions in a recent public statement, triggering fierce protests from political parties, who accused him of interfering in politics. "The king through his statement and other acts has helped those forces that are seeking to destabilise the country. He has dealt a blow to himself and opened the door for a republic," Koirala said in Nepali. In the past, 85-year-old Koirala had said the monarch, traditionally considered by many Nepalis as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of the trinity of Hindu gods, should have a ceremonial role in the devoutly religious nation's politics. King Gyanendra has been stripped virtually of all his powers since he was forced to step down last year. The peace deal envisages an interim government which will include the Maoists, who have confined their 31,000 fighters in cantonments and locked nearly 3,500 weapons held by them under the supervision of the United Nations. Separately, authorities imposed a day curfew on Monday in Inurwa town near Biratnagar after five people were injured in clashes between ethnic Madhesis and Maoists. At least 32 people have died in protests and many areas were crippled by strikes this year by Madhesis, an ethnic group from the southern plains demanding a greater share in government jobs and parliament. The turmoil has clouded the peace deal with the Maoists, which ended a conflict in which more than 13,000 people have died since 1996.
