Nepal sets May 28 as date for abolition of monarchy
Nepal King Gyanendra Also read: 'India's strategic moves to save Nepal Monarchy on' Telegraphnepal.com
KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal's government announced that its new constitution-drafting body would meet for the first time on May 28 when it is due to formally abolish the monarchy and declare the country a republic.
The Maoists, who scored a surprise victory in landmark elections last month, have vowed that the monarchy would be scrapped during the first sitting of the assembly.
The ex-rebels overturned all predictions in the April polls, winning 220 of the 601 seats in the constitutional assembly -- more than twice the number of their nearest rivals and pre-election favourites, the Nepali Congress.
"The prime minister has sent letters to all the participating political parties calling for the first meeting of the constituent assembly on May 28," Aditya Baral, adviser to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, told AFP.
King Gyanendra's fall from power will mark the end of the world's only Hindu monarchy, which has been on the throne for 240 years.
Gyanendra, who is seen by supporters as a reincarnation of the Hindu protector Vishnu, has endured a traumatic and short reign.
He took the throne in 2001 after a drunk and drugged crown prince massacred nine members of the royal family and then killed himself, after being forbidden from marrying the woman he loved.
Already unpopular, Gyanendra's popularity hit rock bottom when he sacked the government and took direct control of the impoverished nation in February 2005.
The move pushed Nepal's mainstream political parties into an alliance with their former foes, the Maoist insurgents, and resulted in the 2006 peace pact that ended a civil war in which more than 13,000 people died.
The Maoists on Monday welcomed the announced date of the constitutional assembly's first meeting.
"We have received the letter from the prime minister and we are excited about that day," said senior Maoist leader Dinanath Sharma.
"Nepal will formally be declared a federal democratic country and we will get rid of the 240-year-old institution of monarchy.
"It will be a historic day for the country. This date will in future always be known as Republic Day."
He added that his party was still holding meetings with other groups over the formation of a new coalition government under the Maoists' leadership.
"This might take place before or after the first assembly meeting," he said.
Debate has raged in the mainstream parties about whether to join a coalition led by the Maoists.
Animal sacrifice sparks criticism in Nepal
The king of Nepal drew the ire of an animal rights group this week after sacrificing five animals, including a buffalo, at a shrine outside Kathmandu.
Reuters, reporting on the sacrifice as well as the King Gyanendra's uncertain future, said the king went to the shrine Monday to offer annual prayers to Kali, the Hindu goddess of power. The king faces the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy because Maoists emerged as the biggest party in assembly elections in April. Reuters reported the contrasting views of the animal sacrifice:
Earlier at the shrine, the king sat crossed-legged in front of the deity and offered prayers as five animals -- a buffalo, a goat, a lamb, a duck and a rooster -- were sacrificed to goddess Kali, a common practice among Hindus, to please the deity.
"This is a ritual for peace and prosperity for the self and the family," priest Sekhar Prasad Pandit said after performing the 45-minute ritual. "This is done in the hope to get one's desires fulfilled."
As the king arrived driving a black limousine, dozens of people including some royalists cheered and offered him flowers.
Some animal rights activists were angry. "We must immediately stop sacrificing animals in temples," an animal rights group, Prannath Kalyan Samaj, said in a pamphlet distributed near the temple.
-- Steve Padilla
 Voice of America | Maoists start war of nerves against Nepal king Sify, India - 23 hours ago Kathmandu: Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas, who fought a 10-year war to overthrow the country's centuries-old monarchy, have now started a war of nerves ... Nepal´s politicians search for a democratic tie breaker American Chronicle |
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