http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070115/asp/foreign/story_7263643.asp Nepal Crown shaky, prince chases big cat
J. HEMANTH
Paras
Kathmandu, Jan. 14: Tonight has to be the night for Prince Paras, if he really wants to shoot that leopard haunting his golf course.
Tomorrow, the Nepal prince could turn from hunter to hunted.
No, the leopard won’t be on steroids on Monday. Only, Nepal’s Constitution will change, stripping the royals of the right to flout every law in the book.
And the party could end for wayward princes who zip across reserve forests all night on their Japanese dirt bikes, armed with hunting rifles and followed by guards, hangers-on and retainers on golf carts.
Eyewitnesses said the royal famed for his binges and bust-ups has been darting into the Gokarna forests — the Shah dynasty’s private hunting grounds just outside Kathmandu — every night for the past five days.
“The hunt begins at 11 pm and ends at 5 am with very little success,” a man said, adding that the noisy group has been scaring away the other wildlife.
The 470-acre reserve — home to deer, cheetal, jackals, monkeys and leopards and known as a birdwatchers’ paradise — is leased to the Le Meridien group. The global hotel chain has a world-class golf course at the location.
It was from its fairways a few weeks ago that several golfers had spotted the lone leopard prowling about the course. When he heard about the intruder on his favourite greens, the golf-loving prince decided it was time for action.
Hunting is banned in Nepal, though the government hands out licences for big game shooting at select forests. Till now, the royalty has been above the law, immune from civil or criminal prosecution.
Paras has exploited the privilege to the hilt, his frequent brawls and rash-driving accidents costing him nothing. When the mood seized him a couple of months ago, he had scorched through the golf course on his Harley Davidson, zigzagging across the hallowed greens as international diplomats and venerable club members watched in horror.
But tomorrow, Parliament adopts the interim Constitution that brings the monarchy down several pegs and keeps it in suspended animation.
That holds till June, when elections are held to the Constituent Assembly, which will finally decide the monarchy’s fate.
Come Monday, the balance could tilt towards leopards and away from princes who will not change their spots.
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