Nepal's King Gyanendra, bowing to popular pressure, yesterday announced that he was handing executive power back to the people. He has asked the seven agitating political parties, who had reached a 12-point agreement with the Maoists in mid-November last year, to name a prime minister to lead the country, adding that until the new council of ministers, at the recommendation of the seven parties was formed, the present ministers would govern the country.
The king’s offer was not enough to placate the political parties, whose immediate response was that protests would continue.
The king, till now intransigent, has bowed to the political parties’ demands that he hand power back to the people. But his offer stopped short of making changes to the constitution, a key demand of the political parties. However, his acceptance in parts of the parties’ demands could provide a starting point to solve the present crisis.
Most diplomatic observers in Katmandu have tended to believe that the king acted from the best of motives when he sacked an ineffective government 14 months ago and resumed the palace rule which had existed in this remote Himalayan state until democratic reforms in 1991. His main grounds were that the elected government was failing to cope with the Maoist insurrection.
Supported by the army as well as the police, Gyanendra launched a twin-pronged campaign to bring overwhelming military pressure on the Maoist rebels, while also opening negotiating channels to them. It seemed at the time that the policy had a chance of success. Over a year on, it is clear, however, that it has failed. Though the rebels have suffered some setbacks in fighting, they have not been driven to the negotiating table. Meanwhile, palace rule has become increasingly unpopular.
It is certain that Maoist sympathizers have played a role in stirring up the popular protest that now grips the capital. However, it is also clear that many moderate Nepalese who utterly reject the politics and murderous campaign of the rebels have themselves taken to the streets to call for an end to palace rule. In the face of such massive civil unrest and defiance of a daytime curfew, Gyanendra had few options left. That police have already shot dead some demonstrators shows how dangerous the situation has become. Even if the crowds tire of demonstrating and the general strike is suspended simply so people can feed their families, the protests will return and probably the mood will be uglier and less forgiving, unless a negotiated settlement is reached.
Gyanendra was under immense pressure to surrender power.
Events have forced him to concede the impossibility of restoring normalcy with the use of military. The consensus in Nepal, across the political spectrum, is that the king should not be left with the power to replay the recent scenario once again. They agree that a new constitution is the only guarantee against such an eventuality.
Today’s meeting of the seven-party alliance may prove to be one of the most decisive in the nation’s entire history.
