Protests Mount as Nepal Parties Reject King's Bid

By Aussiegirl

This is a critical time in Nepal, with the Maoists demanding to be allowed in. As the final paragraph warns: For the parties to now succumb to the international pressure, especially from India, which Nepalis widely view as a domineering neighbor, would be to suffer not only a crisis of credibility, warned C. K. Lal, a columnist at The Nepali Times, but also to confirm longstanding Maoist rhetoric — "that these bourgeois parties are not for the people."

Protests Mount as Nepal Parties Reject King's Bid - New York Times

By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: April 23, 2006

KATMANDU, Nepal, April 22 — Neither curfew, tear gas, nor King Gyanendra's offer to give up control of the state stemmed the fury of his subjects on Saturday, as protesters, for the first time in 17 days of demonstrations, broke through police lines to pierce the ancient heart of the city, reaching within a few blocks of Narayanhiti Palace. [....]

For the second day in a row, more than 100,000 protesters had flooded the streets, as police officers, backed by the Royal Nepalese Army, for the most part stood by and let a sea of protesters pass through what was, even a day before, the heavily fortified Ring Road encircling the city center. The clampdown came only when they neared the palace.

By midafternoon, the coalition of Nepal's seven largest political parties, which began the demonstrations more than two weeks ago, formally rejected the king's offer, made in a televised offer on Friday night, to return control of the government to a prime minister of the parties' choosing. In a statement, the seven-party alliance vowed to carry on with the agitation. [....]

The king addressed neither of the coalitions' two principal demands: the restoration of the elected Parliament, suspended nearly four years ago, and a referendum to rewrite the Constitution and allow Nepalese citizens to decide on the future of the monarchy. [....]

Ishwar Chhetri, 37, a tour operator, pointed out that citizens like himself were prepared to suffer the consequences of the protests for a solution to Nepal's crisis. Central to that, he added, was to address the Maoist rebellion that has bruised the country for a decade and left a death toll of 13,000. "They should be addressing the Maoist problem," he said of the political leaders.

The Maoists have vowed to let up their fight only in the event of a referendum on the Constitution, which enshrines the monarchy and allows the king to control the military.

In a statement on Saturday, the rebel chairman, Prachanda, described the king's offer as "an insult." His statement reiterated the Maoists' "unconditional" demand for a vote on the Constitution and called on the party leaders to recommit themselves to their accord with the rebels. In that accord, signed last fall, the parties agreed to the Maoist demand for a constitutional referendum; in exchange, the Maoists agreed, among other things, to play by the rules of parliamentary democracy.

For the parties to now succumb to the international pressure, especially from India, which Nepalis widely view as a domineering neighbor, would be to suffer not only a crisis of credibility, warned C. K. Lal, a columnist at The Nepali Times, but also to confirm longstanding Maoist rhetoric — "that these bourgeois parties are not for the people."