Nepal?s going nowhere

Round two, square one. That sums up the happenings in Nepal, as a dawn-to-dusk curfew and arrests hit Kathmandu. King Gyanendra?s draconian tactics are aimed at saving the monarchy, or to be more accurate, a democracy under suspension.

Round two, square one. That sums up the happenings in Nepal, as a dawn-to-dusk curfew and arrests hit Kathmandu. King Gyanendra’s draconian tactics are aimed at saving the monarchy, or to be more accurate, a democracy under suspension. If the king had been serious about democracy, he should have opened talks with the political parties to work out a compromise solution. Instead, he was apparently busy working out the schedule for local elections next month that nobody may even contest, as political parties have reportedly decided to boycott them.

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When he took power a year ago, there was some expectations of resolving the gridlock between the monarchy, political parties and the rebels. Lamentably, the king didn’t prove up to the challenge, even when he had the opportunity to during the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Maoists. More importantly, the king wasted precious time trying to second-guess the Maoists whom he thought were regrouping and re-arming. It’s time King Gyanendra realised that he is clearly running out of options. Immediate political reverses apart, these developments potentially threaten the very institution of the monarchy, which is proving to be short-sighted and inept. The long-running Maoist rebellion had earlier given him a good alibi to suspend civil rights and give unprecedented powers to the army to deal with protestors but banning dissent and gagging the press is hardly the way to go about restoring peace.