Nepal King says defending democracy, phones cut

KATHMANDU - Nepal's King Gyanendra said on Friday he took power to protect democracy from Maoist rebels and political instability, as telephone lines were cut in the kingdom in an apparent bid to scuttle anti-king protests.

The Nepali Congress party, one of the country's biggest political parties, had planned to mark the traditional National Democracy Day by staging a demonstration against Gyanendra's decision to detain political leaders and suspend civil liberties.

But residents said phone lines, which were cut when Gyanendra assumed power on February 1, went down again early on Friday to stop the politicians from organising the protest.

"This is too much. You cannot just snap telephones at will," said Kathmandu resident Ram Kumar Shrestha.

But Gyanendra, who attended a democracy day rally ringed by armed soldiers, said Nepal had to be pulled out of instability.

"Terrorist activities coupled with politics far removed from the common man gave a fillip to instability in the nation and put democracy at risk," Gyanendra said in his message read over state radio and television.

"It is clear to our countrymen that we ourselves had to take the steps to extricate the country and multiparty democracy from this morass," the 58-year-old king said.

Gyanendra's actions have drawn mixed reactions in Nepal, where many people say they are fed up with corrupt and incompetent politicians and chronic instability and support the king.

The army and police are believed to be solidly behind the monarch, and analysts say the military planned the power grab.

Nepal marks the democracy day to commemorate the anniversary on which King Tribhuvan, Gyanendra's grandfather, returned from exile in India in 1951 to oust the Rana oligarchy that had imprisoned royal family for a century.

Hundreds of troops guarded the army ground where Gyanendra made his first major public appearance since his takeover, to mark the democracy day. Two army helicopters showered flower petals on the ground, a short distance from the royal palace.

Gyanendra sacked the prime minister and declared a state of emergency, saying political leaders had failed to tackle the Maoists, restore peace and hold long-delayed elections in the impoverished kingdom.

India, Britain and the United States, which have given Nepal military supplies to fight the Maoists, have strongly condemned Gyanendra's move and urged him to restore democracy.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his government was considering calls by rights groups to stop military assistance to Nepal to build pressure on the king.

"We're giving active consideration to this proposal," he told reporters after talks with his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh in New Delhi on a range of issues including Nepal.

While Amnesty International warned on Thursday that Nepal was on the brink of a human rights catastrophe, Washington said it wanted Gyanendra to make fast progress in producing a plan to restore democracy, failing which it could risk US aid.

Analysts and diplomats fear Nepal could descend into anarchy and become a haven for international terror groups or drug traffickers.

The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to topple the constitutional monarchy and establish communist rule. The violence has killed more than 11,000 people and wrecked what already was one of the world's poorest nations.

State radio said 12 Maoist rebels were killed in fighting between the guerrillas and villagers in Kapilavasthu district in west Nepal on Thursday but gave no other details.

- REUTERS