On 1 February 2005, King Gyanendra usurped all executive powers through a royal proclamation and imposed a “state of emergency” in the country that has been precipitously descending into bloody chaos since his throne following the inexplicable massacre of the royal clan on 1 June 2001. The king tried to justify his autocratic step by citing the ‘failure’ of the political parties in taking a unified approach against the “peoples’ war” launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoists) since February 1996. The King’s accusations have no justification but are solely motivated to establish absolute monarchy and seize the state power. His despotic regime is vigorously pursuing direct dictatorship by discrediting the democratic forces and rapidly militarizing all state organs.
The king referred to Article 27(3) of the 1990 Constitution to claim legitimacy for his takeover. He promised that the council of ministers being appointed under his chairmanship will give utmost priority to reactivating multiparty democracy in the country within three years
Article 27 (3) of the Constitution says that His Majesty is to preserve and protect this Constitution by keeping in view the best interests and welfare of the people of Nepal. Contrary to this, the King not only abruptly dissolved the cabinet but also jailed hundreds of political leaders, suppressed free press, and imposed travel restriction to political and civil society leaders and human rights defenders. This direct fraud on the Constitution, irrespective of the consequences, is nothing short of a coup only to the blatant capture of political power through military means.
The King manipulated the 1990 Constitution, and issued various directives, executive orders and ordinances contravening to the universal norms and principles of democracy and human rights. The regime has also constituted supra-organs parallel to the existing constitutional body by severely undermining the rule of law. For example, a new Royal Commission for Corruption Control has been set up with ill-intention of indicting political opponents and punishing them with grossly false charges. The Human Commission Rights Act has been amended and a lapdog National Human Rights Commission has been formed to accomplish the regime’s vested interest that has jeopardized the Paris Principles relating to the establishment of an autonomous national human rights institution. Similarly, the regime has imposed numerous draconian ordinances to curb media freedom, right to association, peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and dismantle the NGO autonomy.
The human abuses and the breach of humanitarian law have been alarmingly escalating after the King’s takeover. The numbers of killings have increased by more than sixty percent that comprised with the seventy five percent from the security forces. Violence, torture, rape, and disappearances have become the routine of the day. Rapid increases in the number of casualties suggest that the deadly conflict has been escalating in an unprecedented scale. The intensified conflict situation has greatly undermined civilian security. The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) has directly involved in creating armed militia called Village Defence Forces as vigilantes to resist the CPN-Maoists activities, by supplying arms, ammunitions, and providing intensive training that has resulted in further grief for civilian population.
Even after the ‘royal appointment’ of regional and zonal administrators, and local governments, the state mechanism remains largely defunct. These appointees are boycotted by the political forces, civil society and ordinary people because of their covert agenda to dismantle democratic institutions. With not a single effective initiative on the King’s part to restore democracy in the country, and a measurable diminution in the RNA’s capacity to engage in an aggressive and widespread counter-insurgency campaign, it is clear that the country continues its slide into greater turbulence, with nothing in the present constellation of powers to impede this descent. The crisis is only expected to deepen in the proximate future because of the regime’s continuous involvement against the democratic forces and civil society. In the recent days, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators have been brutally suppressed, beaten and jailed. The civil society is rising against the regime’s authoritarian move towards regression. As a result, the Nepal’s ongoing conflict has been changed a dynamics and is no longer directly between the Maoists and the illegitimate regime of Nepal that intensified between the anarchic King’s regime and democratic forces.
King Gyanendra has been making desperate attempts to cling on to power by urging international community, especially the United States, India and UK, to choose between him and the CPN-Maoists. It would be a sad day for Nepal if the choices were to be limited, while international community cannot remain mute witness to the fall of a nation state under the dictatorship of the King. The international community engaged for long with Nepals democracy, development and human rights issues carries a large measure of responsibility for permitting the nation to slip down the abyss of violent anarchy with its silent connivance and participation in the bad governance of the regime.
The King’s actions have proved imprudent, counter-productive and are not in the interest of the future of Nepal. Furthermore, his ambition to reign and rule like a medieval King has dismantled democratic norms and institutions, and deprived people from their inherent rights and fundamental freedoms in nation building process. Thus, in order to uphold the benevolence of participatory democracy, the rule of law, the sanctity of fundamental human rights, and inclusive pluralistic society, we urge the United Nations, and its member states and the international community to de-recognize the illegitimate regime of Nepal headed by the king, and immediately suspend all forms of military as well as official development aid to this regime. Meanwhile, we also appeal to the international community to immediately move forward in sustaining the unilateral ceasefire as declared by the Maoists on September 3, 2005 since there is no military solution to the Nepal’s ongoing violent conflict.
Finally, we call upon the United Nations and the international community to demonstrate their pro-active engagement in establishing democracy and freedom in Nepal in order to lay down the foundation of a durable peace.
Defend Human Rights Movement, Nepal
[Formerly known as group of 25 human rights organizations]
September 14, 2005
End.
