By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, Sep 17 (IANS) Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has ruled out the idea of scrapping the country’s monarchy before the elections scheduled Nov 22, despite the Maoist threat to walk out of the ruling alliance and start a new “people’s revolt” if this demand of theirs was not met by Monday.
Koirala, who last week urged the Maoist leadership not to quit the government at a time when Nepal was passing through a critical phase, remained resolute Monday despite the spectre of the ultimatum running out by midnight.
At a meeting with Nepalese journalists, the prime minister reiterated that the fate of Nepal’s 238-year-old monarchy should be left to the people to decide at the crucial election.
If the government pre-empted the election and abolished monarchy by calling a special session of parliament, it would not be legitimate and would make Nepal lose credibility before the international community, Koirala said.
The resolute note came after a series of meetings with foreign envoys, all of whom have urged Nepal to hold the election as per schedule and not decide the king’s fate through parliament before that.
Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and American ambassador to Nepal Nancy J. Powell have expressed this to the prime minister as well as leaders of the top political parties. British international development minister Shahid Malik, who is to arrive here on a four-day visit later Monday, is expected to advocate the same stand.
The government’s resolution has left the Maoists cornered.
While the hardliners in the party want to walk out of the government and start a new protest movement from Tuesday – that is certain to include paralysing general strikes and badly impact the election – the other faction still wants to continue negotiations with the ruling partners.
Due to the differences and lack of support by the major parties, the Maoists were unable to hold their much-vaunted round table conference that they had announced last week to chalk out their pro-republic strategy.
Senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai said his party would hold a mass meet in the capital Tuesday where it would announce its future course of action.
Meanwhile, hectic parleys were on between the top parties to try and persuade the Maoists to stay in the government.
Besides the ticking Maoist bomb, the government faces closures called by two armed groups in the Terai plains in the south in a bid to disrupt the election.
A new alliance of ethnic communities, the Sanghiya Republican National Alliance, also announced Monday that it would enforce an indefinite closure from Sep 28 to press its demand for a federal republic.
In addition, three districts in the plains remained volatile after the murder of a local don.
The gunning down of Abdul Moit Khan, an influential local leader who ran an anti-Maoist vigilante group with the backing of King Gyanendra’s government and the army, triggered arson, looting and violence in Kapilavastu district Sunday, resulting in the death of four more people.
While Kapilavastu lay under indefinite curfew, Khan’s supporters called for an indefinite closure in the district as well as neighbouring Nawalarasi.
Butwal town in Rupendehi district, where two mosques were burnt in retaliatory attacks, also remained tense