KATHMANDU: It's a direct fight between Gyanendra and Prachanda. A fight between the monarch and the Maoist supremo, which might be to the finish, many citizens here believe.


Till Tuesday, the rough and tumble of multi-party politics acted as a buffer between the palace and the rebels. "The situation should now be resolved one way or the other. We've had enough," says taxi driver

Puran Thapa as he negotiates the narrow streets of Nepal's capital.

The common people, by and large, actually feel a little relieved that someone has stepped in to break the logjam. They were acutely disillusioned with the political system. "Once protests and corruption had become endemic and disrupted our daily life. Politicians were just busy lining their pockets or fighting against each other. Nobody did anything for development. Now at least we can work peacefully," said a shopkeeper. There is a feeling the king might bring about a change on three crucial issues: Maoist insurgency, inept governance and rampant corruption.

In the last three-four years, economic growth had come down to half of what it was in the 1990s. But on the flip side, there is also the perception that the king might tactically be going wrong with suspension of fundamental rights and a complete snapping of Nepal's telecommunication links, among other things.

"The king has embarked on a risky path and if he fails, the country might plunge into a grave crisis. The political parties will come together to raise a banner of protest sooner or later. How long can political leaders be put under house arrest?" asks a diplomat

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Middle-class people feel the king should have instead used his position to bring the bickering political parties together to forge a common front against the Maoists, who now control large chunks of rural areas.


The new home minister appointed by the king, Dhan Bahadur Shahi, has declared that the Maoists will be approached soon for peace talks.

If the king succeeds in either defeating the Maoists or getting them to lay down arms, the monarchy as an institution will get a tremendous boost, say analysts. But this remains to be seen.

As of now, people are not fully convinced that the 78,000-strong Royal Nepal Army can effectively take on the Maoists who are increasingly turning brutal. The Maoists themselves have planned ?centralised action' in March-April by their three ?operational commands' in western, central and eastern Nepal.

Though their hardcore cadre is limited to 8,000, they can bank on another 18,000 militia, as per an estimate.

In the end, it seems that only a bloody fight between Gyanendra and Prachanda or peace talks will decide the future course the troubled Himalayan Kingdom will eventually take.

Source for

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1012058,curpg-2.cms

Nepalis try to get informed of current events as they read the dailies at a newspaper stand in Katmandu Friday, Feb. 4, 2005. Judging by the newspapers, you wouldn't think much was going on these days in Nepal. There's been an editorial about the Himalayan kingdom's sunny winter weather, another about a rat that ran up a cook's trousers, and an article on the dangers faced by the country's river dolphins. But there's been little mention of the royal seizure of power that swept away Nepal's fragile democracy this week and handed all authority to the king. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

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FIRE IN THE HILL STATE


Even as the Nepalese Student Association (NSA) in Pune was planning to celebrate a Nepal Festival titled 'Nepal's Democracy Day', the celebration has turned out the biggest fallacy, forcing them to call it off. King Gyanendra's declaration of a state of emergency, after dismissing Prime Minister Shah Bahadur Deuba's government, has stirred Nepalese emotions in Pune too. With communication links snapped and Nepal virtually cut off from the world, Nepalese in Pune are trying to get in touch with their relatives.

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We all are worried about where Nepal is heading, but we have to be cautious about how the media feeding us. Remember Zee TV trying to manipulate the situation in Nepal and showing clip of old video shots to present the situation of rioting which was not happening. Let?s not believe the outside media they never depict the true situation of people. Finally someone with courage has taken a responsibility to settle the matter, we need to support him. I am not a King supporter but I consider myself a nationalist and I believe he is the kind of person we need today. I have seen enough in Nepal and was partly a victim of these netas while working in government office purely as a technical person, they are never serious about the future of our country, all they cared was about their position in the party. They do not deserve to lead our country. Let?s give this king a chance, at least he has shown some courage, he is putting everything at stake, for what? isn?t this something? Let?s not get carried away by false media and off shoots of these netas. We need to support him, we might never get another chance. We gave opportunity to those netas our 15 yr?s of life so why are we so reluctant about giving 1/5-th of this time to King? Nepal is not yet ready for so called democracy, especially if it is triggered by neighboring bully.