King's offer incomplete: parties and civil society

Kathmandu, Apr 22 :The Seven-party alliance and civil society leaders of Nepal have said King Gyanendra's proclamation was incomplete, ambiguous and a conspiracy to defuse the ongoing people's movement.

The leaders of the parties said the general strike and mass demonstrations would continue until the King fulfills their demand to revive the House and goes for the Constituent Assembly elections.

''This is not enough, the King has not addressed the minimum demands of the seven-parties alliance,'' Sushil Koirala, vice president of the Nepali Congress said.

''It is a conspiracy of the King to make division between the parties,'' he said, adding, ''The movement would not stop but would be further intensified to completely abolish the autocratic rule.'' ''There is nothing to be optimistic about the King's Proclamation,'' Kantipur quoted former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba who was sacked by the King on February 1, 2005 General secretary of the Nepali Congress, Ram Chandra Paudyal said, ''In fact, I see it as a conspiracy to defuse the movement,'' he said, adding, ''The peaceful movement will now become more intense. ''No one can go against the people's aspiration that has been expressed through mass movement,'' he added.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara of the Maoists said the royal proclamation was a conspiracy by the King to continue to hold onto power.

A total of 15 civil society leaders and rights activists including former Speaker of Parliament, Daman Nath Dhungana, former Supreme Court Justice Laxman Aryal, human rights defenders Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Dr Madhu Ghimire and journalist Kanak Mani Dixit, who were at the Armed Police Force (APF) batallion said, ''the royal proclamation was deceptive''.

They shouted slogans against the royal proclamation inside the APF battalion.

The parties said revival of the House and election to the Constituent Assembly were the bottomline of their demands.

Tens of thousands of people have come down to the streets of Kathmandu and across the country demanding the end of King's rule amidst the shoot at sight order.

The demonstrators had been warning the leaders of the parties not to make any compromise with the King and hold talks without their demands being fulfilled.

Over a dozen people were shot dead, over 1,500 were injured and more than 4,000 were detained since the fresh round of anti-King movement began two weeks ago.

UNI

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