Nepal shuddered to a halt yesterday as a three-day strike called by Maoist rebels as part of their campaign to overthrow the monarchy took effect, officials and witnesses said.
The strike comes amid massive daily protests by opposition groups near the royal palace in Kathmandu to pressure King Gyanendra to reverse his 2002 dismissal of the elected government.
Streets in the capital were near-deserted yesterday while schools, businesses, factories and stores remained closed.
Government offices were open but with no buses or private transport running, bureaucrats were forced to walk to work.
Officials and residents contacted in the major cities of Pokhara, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur reported similar scenes.
The strike also paralyzed Bhairahawa and Palpa districts and other tropical regions in the south, officials contacted by telephone told reporters.
Inter-city transport was also affected, with the Maoists imposing a road blockade in parts of western Nepal to thwart a tour of the area by the king.
Palace sources said the king, accompanied by Queen Komal, was determined to continue his program despite the strike and growing protests and was due to visit Bhairawaha tropical region in southwestern Nepal, including Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha, yesterday.
Police reported no immediate major incidents but said Maoist rebels had exploded bombs yesterday morning at the election commission office at Nepalgunj, in far-southwestern Nepal. No one was injured in the attack.
Rebels had also attacked police and bombed a police post and a government building in Saptari district, south of Kathmandu, but no casualties were reported.
Four bombs exploded in eastern Kathmandu overnight but little damage and no injuries were caused, police said.
The Maoists called the strike despite pleas by the five-party alliance which is driving the street protests to delay the protest because it would affect public transport bringing protesters from across Nepal to Ratna park, near Narayanhiti Pa-lace in Kathmandu, for the daily demonstrations.
Some 200 people have been hurt in clashes with police since the Ratna park protests began last Friday, according to human rights groups.
Organizers said further protests would be staged later yesterday at Ratna park as well as in the ancient city of Bhaktapur.
While the political groups want the king to restore the elected parliament, the Maoist rebels want an end to the monarchy.
The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to instal a communist republic in Nepal at a cost so far of some 9,500 lives.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS