Nepal opposition calls off protests; will work with Maoists

NEPAL: Nepal's opposition alliance on Tuesday formally called off weeks of pro-democracy protests after the king gave in to a key demand to reinstate Parliament, and said it would work closely with the country's communist insurgents.

The opposition leaders also said they wanted former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, the head of the country's largest party, the Nepali Congress, to head a new government, party officials said.

The king's announcement, which came near midnight Monday, was a pivotal concession after weeks of mass protests that threatened to force him from power. The protests sparked clashes with security forces that left 14 demonstrators dead and the country dangerously volatile.

"People Power Wins" the Kathmandu Post, an English-language newspaper, blared in enormous letters at the top of its Tuesday edition.

The seven-party alliance, which will take the lead when Parliament is reconvened in the coming days, also said it planned to declare a cease-fire with the Maoist guerrillas once a new government is formed.

"We will work together with the Maoists," Krishna Sitaula, a top Nepali Congress official and alliance spokesman, said after emerging from closed-door discussions among party leaders.

The leaders also formally called off the protests and general strike that had nearly paralyzed life in Nepal for weeks, but said a planned demonstration Tuesday would go ahead as a "victory rally." He urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.

King Gyanendra, under immense pressure from protesters and foreign governments, ordered the Parliament reinstated on Friday.

Its main agenda will be to hold an election for a special assembly to rewrite the country's constitution, Sitaula said, a move that would almost certainly reduce the power of the king, or even eliminate the monarchy.

"We have forced the king to his knees," said Rajan Sreshta, an opposition activist waiting outside the scene of Tuesday's meeting. "It shows the people are the actual power."

Seeing he had few choices left and hoping to avoid an even bloodier showdown, Gyanendra's announcement late Monday cleared the way for the creation of a new constitution that could leave him largely powerless, or even eliminate the monarchy.

Gyanendra also expressed his sympathies for the 14 demonstrators killed by his security forces. "We extend our heartfelt condolences for all those who have lost their lives in the people's movement," Gyanendra said in the address, broadcast on state television and radio.

By early Tuesday morning, life was almost normal in Katmandu, where the crisis had alternately filled streets with protesters or emptied them because of curfews: mobile phones, switched off by the government in an attempt to disrupt protest organizers, were back on; stores reopened; volunteers passed stones hand-to-hand, clearing the roads of blockades.

Nepal's opposition parties quickly welcomed the king's comments, and the sounds of celebratory shouts and whistles could be heard in the streets of Katmandu minutes after the overnight speech.

Gyanendra "has addressed the spirit of the people's movement" and met the demands of the main opposition seven-party alliance, Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of the Nepali Congress, said late Monday.

On Tuesday, they said an ex-premier should head the new government.

"We have proposed and urged Koirala to lead the next government," said Madhav Kumar Nepal, a top official of the Communist Party of Nepal, another member of the alliance. Officials from other parties confirmed his comments. Koirala made no immediate statement.

The king's address effectively handed power back to elected politicians hours before the largest planned protest yet, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend.

The opposition alliance would now "bear the responsibility of taking the nation on the path of national unity and prosperity," Gyanendra told Nepal.

"We are confident the nation will forge ahead toward sustainable peace, progress, full-fledged democracy and national unity," said the king, sitting rigidly in front of a blue backdrop decorated with royal emblems.

Kathmandu, Tuesday, AP