Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Headlines

POLITICS-NEPAL: Democrats Demand Power Back

Marty Logan

KATHMANDU, Aug 17 2005 (IPS) - It was like being with a group of friends crowded together to poke fun at a common foe.

Thousands of people gathered at an historic seat of royal power in the Nepali capital Tuesday to protest the rule of King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who fired the government and took over Feb. 1.

Occasionally they roared at a poet’s punditry or exploded into applause at yet another call for the monarch to restore democracy but mostly they sat and listened politely at this the third meeting of the Civic Movement for Democracy and Peace, as a roster of speakers tried to budge the country’s political stalemate.

”This is preparing the people. People are confused so there has to be a message. The political parties are unable to give a significant message and the Maoists and the king are fighting … I think people need some hope at least,” speaker Keshab Man Shakya told IPS after stepping off the stage.

”This is the last chance”, the development worker and indigenous rights activist warned listeners who filled Kathmandu Durbar Square, sitting cross-legged on the ground and in rows on the stages of the surrounding brick temples adorned in carved wooden sculptures. Hundreds more stood at the edges of the square, where Nepal’s kings are crowned and until the last century the home of the reigning monarch.

Loudspeakers and political cartoons hung from the temples, including one showing a Nepali man kicking a ball labelled ‘monarchy’ over a cliff. On the stage the program began with a row of white-clad women holding lanterns and standing silently in homage to the victims of the insurgency as a seated woman played the tabla.

Police stood in small groups at the edge of the crowd until well after the program began when riot police moved into the crowd to seize placards. But they retreated, organisers managed to calm the crowd and local media reported no arrests.

Weeks ago many of the activists in the crowd were jailed when they tried to march to a ‘restricted’ zone nearby. Some activists were also nabbed after Feb 1, when security forces acting on the king’s orders cut phone and Internet lines for a week, jailed most senior politicians and dispatched squads of police to the streets to quickly put down any public opposition.

Since then hundreds of people have been released from prison and the emergency has technically ended but the media is still restricted- although the Supreme Court last week ordered the government to permit FM news broadcasts – and laws have been changed to impose controls on civil servants and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The seven main political parties of this Himalayan nation formed an uneasy alliance months ago but recent public overtures that they join with Maoist rebels against the king have faded. The palace has threatened to treat the parties as ‘terrorists’ if they undertake such talks.

Ministers in King Gyanendra’s handpicked governing council have rejected calls for mediation from the United Nations or another third party, an option that is also said to be opposed by some political leaders and by Nepal’s powerful southern neighbour India.

While the political wrangling continues, the death toll from the decade- old Maoist uprising nears 12,000, including more than 100 soldiers overwhelmed by rebels at an isolated army outpost last week.

The Maoists say they are fighting to replace the constitutional monarchy with a republican government and to provide a better life for Nepal’s indigenous people and Dalits (‘untouchables’). Although they make up a majority of the country’s 25 million people they are almost completely excluded from power.

This week the civil war has hit closer to home for the million-plus inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley. Two police officers have allegedly been shot, one fatally, by Maoists, and an unused police office was bombed.

Fifteen years ago Nepalis rose up and forced then King Birendra, Gyanendra’s brother, to grant democracy. Today is different, says Man Shakya. ”In 1990 it was an experience of jubilation. It reached a critical mass and then everyone joined in … Now it’s not that kind of jubilation- it’s more that people want relief from pain.”

Fifty metres behind the stage two men sat cross-legged in another small temple playing chess. One explained why he did not join the crowd nearby. ”Everybody knows what happens: people talk, people listen, then next week everyone forgets about it.”

”They want peace. I also want peace but the government doesn’t listen,” added the man.

Student Sagun Poudel told IPS it doesn’t matter if the king listens. “He will keep opposing but eventually the people will rise upàin a long time or a short time I don’t know, but it will happen.”

The third-year arts student blamed Gyanendra for working behind the scenes since 1990 to dismantle democracy. ”Most Nepalis are illiterate and uneducated. Since 1990 he interfered in every way so that people believe democracy is not suitable for Nepal. That’s why people think the king is right.”

He also rejected the common call that the political parties, famous for their internal fighting, are to blame for the current state of Nepal. ”The political parties are not wrong. The individuals (in those parties) are wrong. They should be able to kick out those people and keep the parties,” said the student.

Calls to replace constitutional monarchy with a republican system of government are growing. ”I thought young people would be for it but even the older people were saying this. They are the ones who previously would have backed the king as some sort of god,” a former diplomat told IPS last week.