Bhutan gets its first private-run newspaper

The 32-page first edition of the Bhutan Times hit the stands on Sunday and recorded a total sell-out hours after it was published.

Bhutan has for the first time got a private-run weekly newspaper -- clear signs of the Himalayan kingdom transforming itself from monarchy to democracy.

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The first edition of the Bhutan Times hit the stands on Sunday and recorded a total sell-out hours after it was published.

"With freedom of the press comes great responsibility," Bhutan's Prime Minister Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup was quoted as saying by the government-run newspaper Kuensel during the launch ceremony of the Bhutan Times in the capital Thimphu on Sunday.

The 32-page launch edition carried as its main story Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck's views on national issues and on the future of the kingdom as a multi-party democracy.

The crown prince said the king would continue to play role of a watchdog in Bhutan, known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon, despite the transition from absolute monarchy to democracy.

Until Bhutan Times hit the stands, the government-controlled Kuensel was the only newspaper in the Himalayan kingdom of about 635,000 people.

The transition began four years ago when the king handed over the powers of daily government to a council of ministers and empowered the national assembly to force a royal abdication if the motion was backed by three-quarters of its membership.

Bhutan last year unveiled a 34-point constitution, which is being sent to some 530,000 citizens for their views and is expected to be ratified after a referendum.

Once adopted, the constitution will replace a royal decree of 1953 giving the monarch absolute power.

King Wangchuck is the fourth ruler in the Wangchuck dynasty that came to power in December 1907.