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Some form of normalcy returns

Kathmandu, June 3: Some form of normalcy returned to the capital Sunday as a shocked nation recovered from the assassination of King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya in a shoot-out at the Royal Palace Friday night during a weekend party. Six other members of the royal family were injured and Crown Prince Dipendra, who has been declared King, is struggling for his life at the Birendra Military Hospital; six others have been injured, published reports said. 

Shops reopened after a voluntarily closure Saturday and vehicles were  again plying the busy streets. The King, Queen and other members of the  royal family were cremated Saturday night with full state honors at Pashupati's Aryaghat Saturday night as the biggest crowd in recent memory gathered along the streets to bid a tearful adieu to the royal couple. The crowd shouted slogans for the King and against Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala whose car was pelted with stones as police restored to firing in the air at several points during the funeral procession Saturday.

World leaders continued to mourn the death of a popular monarch. Pakistan's Chief Executive Gen.Pervez Musharraf said: The late King was a popular monarch who made a singular contribution to the democratic evolution of Nepal and will hold a very special place n the history of his country.
" The Secretary General is profoundly shocked by the reported killing Friday evening of King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya as well as other members of the royal family. He is deeply saddened tragedy. The Secretary General extends his heartfelt condolences to the people of Nepal and calls for calm and stability," a statement issued by UN headquarters in New York said. Britain's Queen Elizabeth and  Prince Charles, Pope John Paul II and others also expressed their condolences. A regional meeting of seven foreign secretaries of SAARC to be held in Colombo this week has been postponed. nepalnews.com br

Prince Regent Gyanendra is de facto King

Kathmandu, June 2: Prince Regent Gyanendra is the de facto King of Nepal as King Dipendra is still in critical condition at a hospital in the capital with gunshot wounds. In an address to the nation read out on state radio and television on Sunday morning, Prince Regent Gyanendra for the first time told the Nepali people that the dead at the shootings at the royal palace on Friday night included three of King Birendra's sisters, and his brother-in-law. But the Prince Regent said the deaths were caused by an "accidental discharge of an automatic weapon" during the weekly family dinner. Gyanendra, an environmentalist and Chairman of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, is the middle brother of King Birendra. 

Youngest brother Dhirendra, who lost his royal title after marrying a foreigner, was also injured in the shoot-out, family sources said. Gyanendra was appointed King in 1950 by the then Rana prime ministers after his father King Mahendra and grandfather King Tribhuvan fled to India. A few months later, King Tribhuvan returned triumphantly to Kathmandu to restore the Shah dynasty. King Birendra married Aishwarya in February 1970 and had three children, he ascended the throne on January 31,1972 after the death of King Mahendra. 

Nepal heads towards another period of instability after King Birendra's death. One political analyst told Nepalnews: "King Birendra was a known personality. He helped institunalize democracy in the last ten years. I cannot predict the future right now."

A day after the funeral, Nepalis were still in shock and reading the morning newspapers in disbelief. The night had echoed with loud canon booms from Tundikhel as the funeral pyres of King Birednra, Queen Aishwarya, Princess Sruti and Prince Nirajan were lit at Pashupati. Prince Regent Gyanendra and former King Birendra's brother-in-law Kumar Mohan Bikram Shahi attended the state funeral. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, whose effigy was burnt during the funeral procession, was also present at the cremation site. The government announced all offices will be closed for five-days, and a period of national mourning for 13 days.

Ghorahk SJB Rana, husband of Princess Shruti, is critically injured with lung wounds. Queen Mother Ratna and Princess Helen, aunt of the King, survived the shoot-out as they were not in the dining room when the firing took place. nepalnews.com br

Details of King's cremation

Kathmandu, June 2: Regent Prince Gyanendra and brother-in-law Kumar Mohan Bikram Shahi of assassinated King Birendra attended the state funeral for King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya Saturday at the burning ghats of Pashupatinath temple.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, whose effigy was burnt during the funeral procession, was also present at the cremation site. 

The government announced  a five-day public holiday and national mourning for 13 days. King Dipendra is in critical condition at a hospital in the capital.

Ghorahk SJB Rana, husband of Princess Shruti, is critically injured with  lung wounds.
Gyanendra survived the shoot-out as he was away at Chitwan. Queen Mother Ratna and Princess Helen, aunt of the King, survived the shoot-out as they were not in the  dining room where the shoot-out occurred.

" We have lost a popular monarch. He was our only hope in the present uncertain situation," said Sanuman Sakya, a taxi driver. nepalnews.com br

Royal funeral 

Kathmandu, June 2: Pall bearers carried the bodies of King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, Princess Sruti and Prince Nirajan from the Birendra Military Hospital at Chhauni to Pashupatinath for cremation accompanied by a procession estimated at more than 20,000. Teary eyed people, many weeping openly, stood alongside the streets of the capital as the procession passed showering flowers vermilion, water, and khatas. Queen Aishwarya was carried in a palanquin, while those of the others were carried in simple bamboo poles. By the time the procession reached Arya Ghat, night had fallen and it would be past midnight before all the four pyres were finished. The band played the national anthem by the banks of the Bagmati and a 22 gun salute reverberated across Kathmandu Valley as the pyres were lit. Thousands watched from the teraces on the other side of the Bagmati as the fires consumed the pyres.

Earlier, crowds overcome with emotion shouted pro-King slogans, and as the funeral passed Swayambhu also slogans against Prime Minister Girija Koirala. Police had to fire in the air to quell the crowd. Radio Nepal and Nepal Television carried the funeral procession and the cremation live, and most dwellers in urban Nepal watched it late into the night. The government has announced five days of national mourning and has asked civil servants to shave their heads as a sign of respect. Messages of condolence are pouring in from foreign countries. Neighboring India announced a three-day mourning.

King Birendra was cremated at 9.46 PM Nepal time Saturday with full state honors at Pashupatinath temple. Sahibju Dipak Bikram Shah lit the funeral pyre. nepalnewss.com br

King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya dead

Kathmandu, June 1 - Sources close to the Royal Palace say King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and at least five senior members of the royal family are dead  after a shooting incident on Friday night in Kathmandu. King Birendra's private secretary Pashupati Maharjan went to Baluwatar to pick up the prime minister and bring him to the Royal Palace. Royal flight helicopters flew off from Kathmandu airport at 1:30 AM to Sauraha to bring Prince Gyanendra to Kathmandu, but returned to Kathmandu because of bad weather.

Sources said among the other dead at the Chauni Army Hospital are Princess Sruti, Prince Nirajan, and Kumar Khadga. Crown Prince Dipendra is said to be in a critical condition. Further details are awaited.

Princess Shanti Rajya Laxmi Devi Singh, the eldest sister of King Birendra has died at the age of 60, family sources said. The Princess was married to industrialist Kumar Deepak Jung Bahadur  Singh, the Rajah of Bajhang, who died in 1989. Princess Shanti was born at the Naryanhiti Royal Palace in 1941 and was educated at the Loreto Convent in Darjeeling and Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha, and was associated withe several charities, including the Nepal Leprosy Relief Association.Princess Shanti and Kumar Deepak have two sons and one daughter. (nepalnews/kd/at)

Koirala, Bhattarai fail to mend differences

Kathmandu, June 1: Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his nemesis Krishna Prasad Bhattarai failed to resolve differences as the two seniornmost leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress party met for one hour Friday morning to resolve " serious problems" in the government and
party, sources said.

Koirala, who is also party president, and the only surviving founder member of the party discussed party unity without any agreement.They agreed to pursue discussions, party sources said.
Bhattarai again asked Koirala to resign and hand over government leadership to "anybody"  in the younger generation while both ageing leaders acted as patrons, sources said.Rebels have challenged Koirala's nomination of eight central committee members by sycophants Wednesday in the Prime Minister's move to maintain a grip on the party; Sushil Koirala, a cousin and
confidante, was re-appointed  general secretary. The budget session of parliament which should have started last month has not been called as yet because of internal party differences.
nepalnews.com br

Police, Maoists clash in Jumla

Kathmandu, June 1: Several Maoists were injured in an exchange of gunfire with police at Haku village in Jumla district Thursday, police said.

The rebels fled with the injured after a brief encounter. Maoists have claimed  responsibility for an arson attack on a printing press in Balaju in the outskirts of the capital this week for
printing pornographic material. For the first time suspected Maoists shot dead two persons this week in the outskirts of the capital in an insurgency that has claimed at least 1,700 in more than five years. Nearly 27 Maoist detainees at the central jail in the capital Wednesday chanted anti-government slogans demanding improved prison conditions while pressing a 15 point demand, jail authorities said. nepalnews.com br

Army Chief inaugurates U.S. aided hospital annex

Kathmandu, June 1: Army Chief Gen.Prajawalla SJB Rana Friday inaugurated a U.S. army aided hospital annex in neighbouring Bhaktapur designed to withstand a quake of eight points on the Richter scale. Thirty-four soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, C Company, 84th Engineer Battalion based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, and 30 Nepali Army engineers completed the construction in six weeks.
" The primary goal of the mission, named " Nightingale" has been to exchange technology and construction techniques between U.S. and Nepali militaries while continuing to strengthen the already warm bi-lateral relationship between U.S. and Nepal government and their people," a U.S.
Embassy announcement said.

The two armies and governments chose the site, a communist hotbed, for its high population density and vulnerability to earthquakes for the $100,000 effort. nepalnews.com br

Kathmandu, June 1: Maoists have intensified their activities nation-wide as more clashes with police were reported this week. Some rebels were injured in an exchange of gunfire with a police patrol at Madeyahi village in Rautahat Wednesday night. 

The  insurgents fled with the injured. Maoists set ablaze the Small Farmers Development project office destroying documents at Dhanauri in Dang district Wednesday, police said. Police arrested senior Maoist leader Karna Dhoj Khadka in Lalitpur without an arrest warrant Thursday, party
sources said.

Smoking banned

Kathmandu, June 1: Smoking and use of tobacco products have been banned at offices under the Ministry of Health coinciding with the World No Tobacco Day 2001 Thursday. There is a high incidence of smoking in the kingdom. Cancer and heart diseases are on the rise in Nepal  because of smoking, health officials say. nepalnews.com br

Lakpa prods Temba to top of the world

Kathmandu, June 1: Sisterly prodding's of Lakpa Sherpa propelled Temba Tshiiri to the top of the world last month to become the youngest person to climb the 8848 metres world's tallest peak. "He was insistent on going down. I told him you lost your fingers last year.You must go on. He was
always playing with his fingers. I helped him pack his bags as we shared the last camp for a summit bid," said the only Nepali woman to climb Everest twice." Success comes only with risks." Temba,16, Lakpa, 27, stepped on the highest point on earth from the north in Tibet on May 23.
"He would scamper and stop. He was like a child. He made us all laugh," Lakpa said as she related her second encounter on the summit of Everest. "There was hardly a place to stand on the summit. It was so crowded. The summit can probably accommodate no more than 15 persons," she said. "I met Indians climbing from the south. We had our own set of climbers."

A record 100 persons climbed the mountain from the south this spring alone. "I was shocked and frightened. I trampled over a dead body as I was proceeding towards the summit. I collapsed over it," said a determined lass who hopes to be the only woman to climb Everest three times. "I want
to have a crack at it again next spring and probably ten times. For that reason I will not marry. Marriage will distract my climbing ambitions. I will have to look after my husband's home if I marry," she said with a smile. Patriotism propels Lakpa to climb. "I want to enhance the prestige of Nepal. I planted the national flag on the summit. I hope my exploits will encourage others to climb and bring business to my country," she said. She shrugged off with disdain efforts of some climbers to look down on her; she was a member of an international clean-up expedition. "They called me rubbish woman. They were not saying this in jest. I just ignored them. What could I do or say?" she asked. "Climbing from the south, I feel, was more dangerous. The north is just rock, there was no snow,"
Lakpa said. nepalnews.com br

Supreme Court rules in favour of CIAA

Kathmandu, June 1: In a historic decision, a five man bench of the Supreme Court Thursday established the authority of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to probe corruption cases by officials of independent government bodies. This came immediately after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala questioned the authority of CIAA to investigate abuses by the head of government. The special bench headed by Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhaya ruled the constitution does not give immunity to the Attorney General in corruption related cases even if the office of the Attorney General is an independent office under the constitution.

The special bench quashed a writ petition filed by Attorney General Badri Bahadur Kakri challenging the authority of the CIAA to investigate a corruption charge against him for not  prosecuting Sunil Maskey who was arrested while smuggling Indian Rs.12.1 million of  Rs.500 denomination to Singapore; the Attorney General's office even released the confiscated money. PM Koirala, like Kakri, also challenged the authority of the CIAA to question him on the controversial deal to lease a Boeing 767 from Austria's Lauda Air at inflated prices for Royal Nepal Airlines causing the state airlines Rs.380 million in losses. After a six-month investigation, the CIAA last month registered corruption charges against 10 persons including former Tourism Minister Tarini Dutta Chataut who has gone underground. Koirala invoked access to privileged information and oath of secrecy after being questioned through a letter even as Chataut testified at the CIAA. The investigation authority finally cautioned the government as it ruled that irregularities and corruption had occurred under the very nose of the government. Opposition has been demanding the resignation of Koirala in the Lauda Air scam. nepalnews.com br

Maoists blast irrigation office in Khotang

Kathmandu, May 31: Nobody was injured when Maoists bombed an irrigation office at Dhiktel in Khotang district Wednesday night. Two persons have been arrested for questioning, police said. Nobody was injured in exchanges of gunfire between police and rebels in Accham and Rautahat districts Wednesday. Rebels have intensified attacks against police targets as government the decided to deploy the army to contain an insurgency that has claimed at least 1,700 lives in more than five years. Maoists are fighting for a communist state in the kingdom. nepalnews.com br

Maoists blast police post

Kathmandu, May 31: Nobody was injured when Maoists blasted a police outpost at Ratnapur village in Shyangjha district Tuesday and destroyed documents. Police were away on patrol during the attack.Unidentified persons hurled socket bombs at the Mahendra Sanskrit University and damaged a section of the administration building at Beljhundi in Dang district Tuesday, police said. A bank was looted at another village, Tuesday. Suspected rebels shot dead two persons at Lapsifedi in the outskirts of the capital Wednesday night, police said.

Meanwhile, London based human rights group Amnesty International Wednesday blamed police and Maoists for excesses in an ongoing communist insurgency that has claimed nearly 7,000 lives in more than five years. AI said police killed 221 rebels while the insurgents killed 82 civilians between November 1999 and October 2000; there was no mention of policemen killed by Maoists in AI's annual report 2001. nepalnews.com br.