Thousands protest against Nepal king

Nepal continues to suffer serious unrest

By Sushil Sharma BBC reporter in Kathmandu

Tens of thousands of people in Nepal have demonstrated against King Gyanendra's assumption of executive powers.

The largest left-wing party, the United Marxist Leninist (UML), organised the rally in what has been seen as a sequel to similar demonstrations by other parties in the capital, Kathmandu.

Mainstream parties have been protesting the royal move in October, which they say, was unconstitutional and undemocratic. The government denies the allegations.

King Gyanendra has justified his action

Nepal's political parties have been calling upon the king to rectify what they say was a royal blunder.

They have threatened to step up the protests, but the parties are divided on what the king should do.

Some want the dissolved parliament to be re-instated while some others including the United Marxist Leninist (UML) want the king to install a new government comprising of the mainstream parties, and return the executive powers to it.

Concerns

In an unprecedented move in Nepal's 12 years of democracy and constitutional monarchy, King Gyanendra assumed executive powers in October this year.

He replaced the elected Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, with his own nominee, Lokendra Bahadur Chand.

The move followed Mr Deuba's controversial request to the king to postpone the national elections by a year on grounds of dim security situation caused by the long-running Maoist insurgency.

Army was unleashed last year

King Gyanendra has asked the new government to restore peace and hold the national and the council elections at the earliest date possible.

Although he has repeatedly vowed to remain a constitutional monarch in a multi-party democracy, mainstream parties fear the return of the executive monarchy that existed for 30 years until a pro-democracy movement in 1990.

Opposition leaders and government ministers have both stressed unity between the king and the political parties, but concern has been growing over the widening rift.

Such a rift will benefit the Maoist rebels whose ultimate objective is to replace the parliamentary democracy and monarchy with a communist state, although they say their immediate goal is limited to establishing a republican regime.

Nearly 7,000 people have been killed and the country's subsistence economy ruined over the past seven years of Maoist insurrection.