Nepal panel to question the king

By Sushil Sharma
BBC News, Kathmandu

Most of the king's privileges have been stripped away

A panel in Nepal says that it will question King Gyanendra over his role in the crackdown against pro-democracy protesters earlier this year.

It would be the first time a monarch in Nepal has faced such questioning.

Twenty-one protesters were killed and another 5,000 injured in three weeks of protests in April against the king's direct rule.

The panel was set up by the seven-party alliance which took power after King Gyanendra gave up his absolute powers.

Money issues

One of the panel members, Harihar Birahi, told the BBC that the king's principal secretary, Pashupati Bhakta Maharjan, had been summoned to the panel on Thursday to discuss the procedure for questioning the monarch.

The five-member panel, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, is due to end its work in two weeks' time.

It has questioned dozens of senior officials including ministers of the ousted royalist regime and top army and police officials over their roles in alleged excesses against the protesters.

A panel member said many of those questioned had pointed fingers at King Gyanendra who headed the government as chairman of the council of ministers.

The former royalist government has also been accused of misusing millions of dollars in an abortive attempt to foil April's street protests.

Nepalese kings have never been subject to questioning in the past as it was not allowed in law.

But a recent landmark proclamation by parliament cut almost all the power and privileges of the monarch.