LAST DAYS OF MONARCHY?

In a fashion typical of a monarch, King Gyanendra has taken full charge of Nepal. With censorship on media, shut telephones, and jammed internet lines, he has already had done his initial dispensation of authoritarianism. Now it's time for the crackdown on the dissidents and the opposition.

There comes a report of the Royal Nepal Army having used chopper fire from the air on student protesters in the tourist town of Pokhra.The students were from Prithvi Narayan College who assembled in the campus to protest the Feb 1 proclamation by the king. Exact casulties is not known. The army has picked up between 200 and 250 students from the college hostel, and have taken them to the barracks.

In the days to come, Nepal will see more of such atrocities and mayhem. There might be more bloodshed than we can think of. The Maoists are a formidable force in Nepal, and they will of course take this opportunity of consolidating their strength, and attacking the monarchy with new vigour.

Is this the beginning of the end of Nepal monarchy?
MRINAL BOSE