By Sudeshna Sarkar
His Majesty King Gyanendra
His Majesty King Gyanendra (File Photo)
2005 was another turbulent year for Nepal, where King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah seized power with the help of the army in February, plunging the Himalayan kingdom into deeper crisis.
Three years after the royal family grabbed headlines when the crown prince allegedly killed his parents, siblings and then himself, the Narayanhity palace again became the focus of global attention.
The businessman-turned-king declared open war on political parties, media and civil society, triggering more unrest and instability that has dogged Nepal all of this year-and promises to persist in 2006.
Following the February takeover, the king imposed a state of emergency, suspended civil liberties and jailed top political leaders. Telephone and Internet connections were cut – and fully resumed only on March 18. Mobile telephones became operational much later, May 2, after repeated strike threats by telecom unions.
Although on April 30, King Gyanendra lifted the state of emergency on the advice of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was still a month of persecution for ousted prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his ministers with a controversial Commission formed by the king bringing corruption charges against them.
The Royal Commission for Corruption Control, whose members were handpicked by King Gyanendra and given the unprecedented power to charge, investigate and sentence, first tried to charge six ministers with illegal distribution of money from a state fund.
But it had to let them go since the king’s aunt was one of the recipients of the money.
Former Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba
Former Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba (File Photo)
It filed a second case against Deuba and his physical planning and works minister Prakash Man Singh, the son of a famous Nepali freedom fighter, charging them with graft in a multi-million dollar water supply project funded by international donors. Although the Asian Development Bank said it had found no evidence of corruption, the Commission sentenced the ex-ministers to jail for two years in July.
Ironically, the royal persecution united the seven major parliamentary parties who had earlier been fighting one another. Their alliance was further bolstered when they reached an understanding with the Maoist guerrillas, who have been fighting for nine years to establish a communist republic.
The opposition-Maoist entente resulted in the rebels calling a unilateral ceasefire Sep 3, improving their image at home and before the global community. However, while the United Nations, the European Union and India lauded it, King Gyanenda refused to start peace negotiations and instead, called civic elections for Feb 8, 2006.
With the opposition – which won over 90 percent seats in the last general election – boycotting the polls and the Maoists announcing a weeklong shutdown in February, Nepal is bracing for fresh violence. The New Year would start on a shaky note with the Maoist ceasefire ending Jan 2.
At the 61st session of the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, Nepal came under fire for the escalating number of illegal arrests, torture in custody and disappearances. The government was forced to sign a pact with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, allowing her representative to set up an office in Nepal to monitor serious human rights violations, by both the army and Maoists.
The Maoists faced widespread condemnation in June when they set off a blast in Chitwan district in southern Nepal targeting a bus on the suspicion of carrying army personnel and killed over 50 civilians instead.
Nepal’s army, dogged by charges of rights abuse, too came in for fresh condemnation in December when a berserk soldier opened fire at a fair crowd in Nagarkot town, killing 11 people and then died under mysterious circumstances.
The army also triggered a controversy after a surprise Maoist attack in August inflicted savage casualties. It blamed the losses on the INSAS rifles supplied by India at a 70 percent subsidy, saying they malfunctioned, a claim promptly repudiated by the Indian authorities.
Since the royal takeover, India has suspended lethal supplies to the Royal Nepalese Army, followed by the US and Britain. India says the embargo will continue till there is reconciliation between the king and the parties.
Mt. Everest
File Photo of Mt. Everest
With politics and violence dominating in 2005, there was little cause for cheer in the kingdom – except the Himalayas. Mt Everest, the highest peak in the world and Nepal’s national pride, accounted for most of the jubilant moments.
In May, two Iranian women, Farkhondeh Sadegh, a 36-year-old graphic designer from Tehran, and Laleh Keshavarz, 25, a dentist from Zabedan, created history, becoming the first Muslim women to scale the 8,848-metre peak. Nepali climber Appa Sherpa broke his own record of the highest number of Everest ascents, reaching the top an incredible 15 times.
Another Nepali climber, Lhakpa Sherpa, who held the record for the maximum climbs by a woman – four – bested it by scaling the peak a fifth time.
But what perhaps captured the imagination of the world was the ascent by Nepali girl Moni Mulepati, who tied the knot with her Sherpa beau Pem Dorji right on the top.
But the mountains too had a dark side.
In October 11 French climbers and seven Nepali members of their expedition died on the slope of Mt Kanguru in northern Manang district, dashed to death by an avalanche