Nepal assembly set to abolish monarchy

King Gyanendra has remained silent as it became apparent that his days as Nepal’s monarch were numbered, and the country’s leading politicians have in recent days threatened to remove him from the 1970s-era concrete palace by force if he refused to go peacefully. Â

 

But, in an apparent bid to defuse the potential stand off, Nepal’s newly elected Constituent Assembly will give the king 15 days to vacate the palace in central Katmandu after the republic is declared, said Bimalendra Nidhi of the centrist Nepali Congress, the second largest party in the assembly.

 

Nidhi made the comments after his party met with the country’s former rebels, the Maoists, who hold the most seats in the assembly and are expected to lead the country’s new government.

 

There was no immediate reaction from the palace, which has rarely commented on political developments in Nepal since King Gyanendra was forced to end his royal dictatorship and restore democracy after widespread protests two years ago.

 

The Maoists then gave up their 10-year fight for a communist Nepal, and the election of the assembly in April marked the culmination of the peace process with the former insurgents.

 

The assembly is charged with governing Nepal as it rewrites the constitution. On Tuesday, 575 of its members were sworn in, and another 26 are to be appointed later.

 

When the assembly begins work Wednesday, the political parties have made it clear that their first act will be to declare Nepal a republic and do away with the 239-year-old Shah dynasty, which united Nepal and has reigned ever since.

 

The move is being widely anticipated by many Nepalis, and thousands of people were already gathering on the streets of Katmandu early Wednesday to celebrate "Republic Day".

 

But getting rid of the Shah dynasty is in many ways the least of the new government’s problems, as evidenced by a string of bombings that hit Katmandu on Monday and Tuesday, all apparently aimed at pro-republic politicians and activists.

 

While the four bombings only wounded two people, they underscored how difficult it will be to fashion lasting peace and bring widespread prosperity to this Himalayan land that was bled for a decade by the Maoist insurgency and is still regularly bloodied by political violence.

 

Authorities have deployed 10,000 policemen in Katmandu to head off more violence and banned rallies around the palace and the convention center where the assembly is meeting.

 

The Maoists, meanwhile, say 20,000 volunteers from their youth wing are in Katmandu to help control the celebrations. But that hasn’t eased fears of violence because the young Maoists regularly are accused of intimidating, roughing up and sometimes killing opponents.

 

The Maoists have promised to bring sweeping change to Nepal, a largely impoverished country that in many places more closely resembles medieval Europe than a modern nation.

 

But once Nepal has been declared a republic no one is certain what will happen, with the Maoists still struggling to form a government and political violence persisting.

 

If Gyanendra peacefully leaves the palace for good, he is expected to move to the palatial private Katmandu home where he lived before assuming the throne in 2001 following a massacre at the royal palace in which a gunman, allegedly the crown prince, gunned down late King Birendra and much of the royal family before killing himself.