HindustanTimes.com

Monday, April 14, 2003

Nepal Maoists offer Sihanouk-like role to monarch

Keshav Pradhan
Kathmandu, April 12

In the run-up to peace negotiations between Maoists and the Nepal palace,
the communist rebels have come up with many options for King Gyanendra.

One is akin to the role played by Prince Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia. Any
one of the alternatives could drastically change the fate of the 225-year
dynasty.

Chief Maoist negotiator Baburam Bhattarai wants the people to elect a
constituent assembly and draft a constitution that will fix the monarch’s
role. He proposes a round table conference to form an interim government
that will oversee the elections.

In an interview to the Hindustan Times (full text to be published on April
15), Bhattarai said, “We shall abide by the people's verdict, but the
election must be free and fair. In the past, the palace avoided having a
constituent assembly under some pretext or the other.”

Bhattarai, a former JNU student who heads the United People’s Revolutionary
Council, treats the proposed talks as “a dialogue between two states”.
Spelling out his party’s manifesto, he explains, “Our basic agenda is to
form a republican state. If the king abdicates voluntarily, we’ll offer him
some position. It will be good if he agrees to play the role of Norodom
Sihanouk.”

This signals a shift in the Maoists’ attitude towards King Gyanendra whom
they earlier held responsible for the June 2001 royal massacre. The palace
has not yet reacted publicly. It has, however, launched a campaign to boost
the king’s image.

Almost every day, ministers, the state-controlled-media, and pro-royalist
organisations praise the monarch as the protector of Nepal’s nationhood.
The campaign has offended mainstream parties who had earlier opposed the
constituent assembly proposal. They say the palace is concentrating powers
in its hands after disbanding the kingdom’s elected government last October.
A debate is on within the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal
(UML) over the constituent assembly issue, while smaller Left parties have
supported it.

CAMBODIAN MODEL AND NEPAL

Constitutional monarchy in which king’s powers are limited
Monarch elected by 5-member throne council
There is an elected, representative National Assembly
Prime Minister is executive head
In exceptional circumstances monarch can dissolve assembly

© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2002.
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