|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Monday, 14 February 2005 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Nepal boosts air, ground patrols to end rebel strike KATHMANDU, Sunday (Reuters) Nepal ordered more troops and helicopters to patrol highways and break an indefinite Maoist blockade across the nation, a government minister said on Sunday, in the first test of nerves since King Gyanendra took power. Traffic remained thin across the landlocked nation on Sunday, the second day of the transport shutdown called by the Maoists to force Gyanendra to withdraw his decision to sack the government, impose a state of emergency and suspend civil liberties. Information and Communications Minister Tanka Dhakal said soldiers had stepped up patrols and set up pickets along the highways to bolster the confidence of people, shaken by nine years of a conflict that has killed more than 11,000 people. The Maoists, who are fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy, successfully enforced a blockade of hill-ringed Kathmandu last August merely on the basis of threats, and without any physical show of force. Meanwhile Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that last week's sacking of Nepal's elected government by King Gyanendra was a setback to democracy in the Himalayan kingdom. "The political developments in Nepal are a setback to democracy and we sincerely hope things can be set right," Singh said during a visit to the southern Indian city of Bangalore. Singh said India hoped the elected government and the royal family could co-exist without friction in Nepal, where the king has declared a state of emergency, imposed censorship and launched a clampdown on political dissent. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
