A Kingdom In Crisis

Can King Gyanendra of Nepal hold onto power? As a civil war with Maoist rebels rages in the Himalayan hills, in the capital of Kathmandu the outcry against Gyanendra’s rule is intensifying. Thousands have taken to the streets in the past three weeks, burning cars, smashing shops and skirmishing with police. Demonstrators accuse Gyanendra of trying to return to the days when Nepal’s kings were considered gods. They demand that he restore the elected government that he scrapped in October 2002 and replaced with his own royalist administration.

Gyanendra has proposed holding new elections within a year but says he won’t restore Parliament until the country’s infighting political parties unite to confront the Maoists and save the economy. Meanwhile, the Maoist rebellion is getting uglier, with guerrillas said to be abducting whole villages to reinforce their own ranks. The government has banned demonstrations in the capital, but that has only swelled the crowds further. Police have twice arrested as many as 1,000 protesters.

With human-rights groups expressing outrage at the crackdown, the protesters smell victory and are in no mood to compromise, even if the King were to extend an olive branch. “It’s time we consider republicanism the core issue of our movement,” declared protest leader Gagan Thapa. And so the violent confrontations seem destined to continue. Increasingly, the question is not whether Nepal is becoming a failed state. Rather, it is just how grim that failure might get.