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"King Gyanendra's statement grossly irresponsible"

Leading members of Nepal civil society have, in a statement, criticised King Gyanendra's statement of February 18. It says:

"The 18 February statement on Democracy Day by King Gyanendra was an ill-intentioned attempt to justify his autocratic takeover of 1 February 2005.

"The statement goes directly against the people's desires for lasting peace through the free and fair conduct of the Constituent Assembly elections.

"The Nepali public recognises King Gyanendra as an autocrat who does not believe in constitutional rule. Having already shown his malicious intent by defying the 1990 Constitution, he has once again stepped on the Interim Constitution adopted after the restoration of democracy. We believe that the responsibility for taking action against the king for his statement falls upon the Government of Nepal and the Interim Legislature which has the overwhelming participation of the `eight parties'.

"At a time when the Prime Minister holds the responsibilities of head-of-state and the king has been denied any role or power under the Interim Constitution, we find the king grossly irresponsible for having issued the statement of 18 February. Such an ill-intentioned action by the king has made more tenuous the already-fluid transitional political situation in the country.

"Keeping in mind the past acts of the king, and his continuing attempt to push further towards crisis a country gearing up for Constituent Assembly elections, we request the legislature and seven-party government to take the following actions.

1) Remove the king from the government residence at Narayanhiti where he currently resides.

2) Immediately wrest the title of `king' from Gyanendra.

3) Forbid all public actions, statements and travel by the king."

Signatories: Nilamber Acharya, Sushil Pyakurel, Nabindra Raj Joshi and Kanak Mani Dixit

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