Nepal’s embattled king on Monday offered to end 14 months of direct rule by reinstating the country’s Parliament ”as a way out of the continuing violence” and calling for a meeting with the country’s political leaders. After 19 days of street fighting that left at least 14 people dead, King Gyanendra took to the airwaves to announce that he was ready to hand over power to the Parliament he dissolved in May 2002 — a key demand of the politicians.
Earlier on Monday, thousands of demonstrators had defied a shoot-on-sight curfew to march around the capital, Kathmandu. More than two-million people were to take to the streets on Tuesday. The march to the palace, organised by seven political parties, was billed as the defining moment of the democracy movement.
Hoping to avoid a bloody showdown between his security forces and demonstrators, the king struck a conciliatory note in his message, offering his sympathy for the first time to the victims of the street protests.
”We extend our heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost their lives in the people’s movement,” he said in the television and radio address.
On Monday night members of the party alliance said they welcomed the king’s move. ”It is the victory of the people’s movement,” said Arjun Narsingh, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress, the country’s largest political party. Within minutes crowds of young men took to the streets of the capital, shouting ”This is a victory for the people”.
A meeting has been called for Friday to thrash out the details of the deal, with the parties looking for the palace to give up its right to intervene in political affairs.
The king seized power by suspending democracy and declaring a state of emergency in February 2005. Since then his autocratic rule and clampdown on civil liberties, defended on the grounds of fighting Maoist guerrillas, has brought the country to the cusp of violent change and put the monarchy itself in jeopardy.
The clampdown culminated this month in weeks of unrest. There were pitched battles between protesters and armed police, who fired teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.
The violence engulfed much of the country. There were protests on Monday in dozens of towns, with demonstrators blocking roads and burning tyres. In the resort of Pokhara, 10 000 protesters marched through the heart of the town, including many government workers.
There was also concern that the Maoists were becoming trigger-happy; early on Monday the rebels broke an informal ceasefire and attacked an armed post in the mountain town of Chautara. The gun battles left six dead.
The king’s move came after hours of diplomatic arm-twisting by western powers and Nepal’s neighbour India. After the royal offer, one diplomat told The Guardian that there was now a ”road map” for the restoration of democracy.
According to the source in Kathmandu, a national unity government would be created which would begin a peace process with the Maoist guerrillas. Then there would be a creation of a special assembly to write a new Constitution that could limit or eliminate the monarchy.
The consensus was that the caretaker prime minister would be GP Koirala, a politician who has had the job four times in the last 15 years. However, at the age of 85 he is unlikely to be in power for long.
There is a danger that crowds may take to the streets in defiance of the political leadership. On Monday, speakers at rallies in the capital’s suburbs repeatedly said they would not be ”tricked” by the king. – Guardian Unlimited Â