E-Paper
Paras flies out of Kathmandu
A month after Nepal was proclaimed a republic, former crown prince Paras Shah flew out of Kathmandu on Tuesday, reports Anirban Roy.
A month after Nepal was proclaimed a republic, former crown prince Paras Shah flew out of Kathmandu on Tuesday, while rumours swirled that the royal family was planning to leave the country.
Officials at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International said Paras boarded a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.
Immigration officials could not confirm the former prince’s final destination. However, sources close to the royals said he was expected to travel to New Zealand and to South Korean capital Seoul, where the family has some business interests.
Earlier, it was reported by some of Kathmandu-based vernacular dailies that Paras was planning to shift base to Singapore.
Members of the royal family are tight-lipped about Paras’s trip to the South-East Asia. The newspapers said Paras was planning to shift his three children to Singapore for education.
However, Nepal’s last king Gyanendra Shah had said he would not leave the country but stay like a common man and do business.
Nepali media had reported Paras was not happy with the proclamation of republic and wanted to leave Nepal.
Paras had even stopped sending his children — two daughters and one son — to school in Kathmandu as the security cover of the royal family has been withdrawn.
He refused to speak to the media at the airport.
His wife, former princess Himani and their children are likely to join him after two weeks, Nepali media had said.
