Three Views of Nepal
First, from Yahoo!/AFP:
Nepal's King Gyanendra was facing mounting opposition from a legal challenge and planned street protests as top lawyers said his emergency rule was against the spirit of the constitution.
In the first court action since the king sacked the government, seized power and imposed a state of emergency, a Supreme Court judge Wednesday ordered his newly-appointed government of loyalists to explain the arrest of a former bar association chief, a court source said.
The court issued the order in response to a habeas corpus petition by Nepal Bar Association president Shambhu Thapa, after former bar association president Sindhunath Pyakurel was arrested the day the king seized power on February 1.
Meanwhile, activists who escaped a roundup after the power grab met underground to finalise details of an anti-monarchy protest which they plan to stage in the capital on Thursday in defiance of a ban on public gatherings.
Krishna Pahadi, former president of the Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES), said some 20 organisations would be represented and all those taking part expect to be detained....
Shortly after he attended the meeting, Pahadi was arrested, HURPES said in a statement. It said the event would proceed as planned.
The Nepali Congress political party said some of its leaders have crossed into India to avoid arrest but others who escaped the security net were meeting underground.
"(They) are planning a strategy of peaceful street protests against the king's move and to demand the restoration of the people's democratic rights and freedom of speech," party spokesman Arjun Narsingh said.
He said Tuesday that some 1,000 activists from political parties, student groups and trade unions have been rounded up nationwide.
Army spokesman Brigadier General Dipak Gurung said only around 100 political and student leaders had been locked up since the king intervened and could be detained for three months.
Gyanendra says he sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba partly for failing to end a Maoist revolt which has claimed 11,000 lives since 1996.
But the Maoists have rejected his takeover. They have called for an indefinite nationwide strike and traffic blockade starting February 13 to protest his actions and to mark the anniversary of the start of the insurgency....
You'll recall that I previously linked to a Nepal politics blog. Here's what it has to say about recent events:
It is a nice sunny day in Kathmandu, the outlook for the country is sunnier too.
In short the King has taken over, otherwise very little has changed, indeed the situation looks more stable and better than for the last 6 years. I can see no reason for anybody to cancel their Nepal plans.
There will be no strikes in Kathmandu this year and the Everest region is still completely safe for trekking....
Last week the telephone lines were cut so as the Maoists and politicians could not organize protests; this is not the time for protests from those who are 100% responsible for the trouble the country is in. Now communications are back to normal, apart from mobile phones....
With some 43 (corrupt and/or incompetent) politicians under house arrest and King directing the Government the mood in Kathmandu is one of jubilance and optimism, this long overdue move was absolutely necessary to save the country - literally - and finally Nepal might be ruled by people who actually care.
Despite the tone in the foreign news papers virtually everyone in Kathmandu supports the king's move....I have yet to meet anyone in Kathmandu who is against his move - and this is also easily measured, the Maoists had called a second three day strike; yet everything is running completely normally, apart from mobile telephones.....
[I]nstead of an energy-sapping three way struggle between the King, the feckless politicians and the Maoists, there are now only two combatants....
Since the arrival of democracy in 1991 successive governments were feudal in behavior, grossly corrupt, shortsighted and narrow-minded and by neglecting even basic development allowed a Maoist insurgency to start in 1996....The ordinary Nepali people have suffered immensely and deserve better.
This post elicited a comment:
I don't know how you can write something like this and still claim to be a non-Royalist. This is the most blatant pro-Gyanendra propaganda that I have read since he took over power.
You might claim that you are merely for the king assuming control, and not a Royalist. But have you mentioned anywhere about how the king has been treating the media and the journalists in Kathmandu. Have you mentioned the arbitrary arrests and detentions? Have you mentioned the suspension of many of the people's freedoms including the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly? You seem to conveniently forget the dirty side of the king assuming power....
[Y]ou must remember that that a lot of Nepali journalists have been denied their right to say what they have to say. That right has been taken away not by the Maoists or the corrupt politicians but by the very same king whose actions you praise....
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