News update from Nepal, April 8, 2005 News Update from Nepal April 8, 2005 The establishment The political regime in Nepal is facing four-cornered challenges – anguished India, the USA and the UK; the Maoist insurgency; human rights debates in Geneva; and the agitation of fractious opposition political parties. Since King Gyanendra assumed direct executive power on February 1, 2005, he gave the international community and the Nepalese a clear choice- either support his regime or the Maoists. On April 4 he reiterated,“The alternative to democracy is democracy, not terrorism”, and added that the Royal Nepalese Army(RNA) had to be mobilized to prevent further deteriorating of the law and order situation in the country due to terrorism and to secure all the Nepalese suffering from terrorism and safeguarding their fundamental rights. He has embarked on institutionalizing long-term changes that are likely to survive the state of emergency. On March 14 the government issued an ordinance paving the way for the appointment of administrators in five development regions and 14 zones of the country by the king. The King has issued the Local Administration (Fifth Amendment) Ordinance 2005 to strengthen the state’s control on society and facilitate service delivery. The government has also stopped giving advertisements to the private media and supports only those“working for the nation and crown.” On March 27 the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers Dr. Tulsi Giri met the president of the newly formed Rastriya Janashakti Party(RJP) Surya B. Thapa and asked him to take initiative to convene a dialogue between the King and opposition leaders. Giri said the king would be ready to go together with the parliamentary political parties provided the latter agreed to fight terrorism, control corruption, make bureaucracy transparent and independent and maintain financial discipline. On March 21 the government of Nepal, displeased by the meetings of foreign diplomats with opposition leaders, has sent a note to foreign missions, including India, asking them to abide by provisions of the Vienna Convention and discharge of their duty. A high level Foreign Ministry official said,“We will cooperate with them if they inform the government before meeting any political party leader.” The government’s reaction came after a few diplomatic heads including American and Indian Ambassadors to Nepal tried to meet Sher Bahadur Deuba, Girija P. Koirala and Madhav Kumar Nepal while they were under house arrest. Opposition political parties The leaders of the parliamentary political parties believe in constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy and are regularly organizing sit-in strikes demanding the reactivation of the constitutional process. After his release from house detention on April 1, Nepali Congress(NC) President G. P. Koirala reiterated his earlier demand for the“reinstatement of the parliament” as a way out of the present political crisis. However, President of NC(Democratic) Sher B. Deuba argued,“The king should call