Eight years after Nepal's crown prince gunned down most of his royal family, the government is to rebuild the house where the massacre took place, the prime minister's spokesman said on Thursday.

The house, part of a sprawling palace complex in central Kathmandu, was demolished after the June 2001 massacre in which crown prince Dipendra killed the king and queen before apparently turning his gun on himself.

Now Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has ordered that the house be rebuilt inside the complex, which was turned into a museum after former king Gyanendra stepped down last year.

"The prime minister has ordered that it be rebuilt in the original style so that visitors can see what it looked like," said spokesman Bishnu Rijal, suggesting it could be used to display information about the massacre.

An official investigation concluded that Dipendra gunned down his relatives in a drink- and drugs-fuelled rage after being prevented from marrying the woman he loved.

But many people in Nepal do not believe the official line, and the country's Maoist former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had promised a fresh investigation before he resigned from the post in May.

Prime Minister Nepal said late on Wednesday a new investigation should be held, but that his priority was the writing of the country's new constitution.


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Deteriorating Scenario of Nepal by Dirgha Raj Prasai
Written by Dirgha Raj Prasai   
Nepalese democratic exercise faced the black period in between 2005-2009. During the period, Nepalese people tolerated the worst political practice made by corrupt leaders. The nation achieved the climaxed height of the lawlessness, theft, robbery, ransom and murders. The corruption is out of control. Nobody is responsible to control the corruption. A corrupt tendency has been institutionalizing as a system. Several constitutional authorities including the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the administrative mechanism have been paralyzed. The security forces themselves remain demoralized. Nobody can trust on these culprit leaders. Though freedom of speech is one of the basic pillars of democracy, no one is free to speak and write critically in true sense. Experiences are the proofs to reveal that all the political leaders invested their time and energy just for power and to accumulate big chunk of money, land, home and expensive vehicles. Their amassed properties in the name of democracy are hidden in different banks, lands, big houses and business. They are beyond the reality that the people might be fooled for a moment with the political dishonesty, but not for ever. Democracy has been abused as a ladder for power by the anti-nationalist political leaders. 

Nepal is passing through the most dangerous times in history. Government has two mechanisms: political & administrative, which ultimately manage and deliver service to the public by mobilizing the resources of the country. The trained human resources in the administration are becoming defunct. But, in Nepal the government is not accountable towards the people. Nepalese people are divided in many groups due to communal slogans and ethic-based federalism put by the corrupted leaders of Nepal. 'Unity among the diversities' is the theme of Nepalese nationalism. People of different geographical regions via plains, hills and high mountains have their respective cultural identities which reflect the united nationality of Nepal.  
 
The history of human civilization is the history of co-existence and co-operation. But, what is happening in Nepal? Can Nepal achieve the peace, unity & prosperity with such destructive and criminal activities? It is a matter of grief that a group of Nepalese community started killing others. Is it liberation and democracy? Nepal has been losing and abolishing its political, cultural and sovereign existence since 2005. Since last three years, the Nepalese people are being divided ethnically. The Maoist model of federalism (agenda of Indian), which is based on ethnicity, can disintegrate unity of the country. The racial federalism can never develop the norms of democracy but creates racial conflicts. Why is every community demanding an autonomous state for their own? The demand for the autonomous states will be the suicidal agenda for all. The chaos, instability and insecurity are institutionalized. Isn't it happening with the hints of foreigners?  
 
In 1950 AD, King Tribhuvan was forced to speak of conducting CA elections in Delhi with Indian interest. But later on, as the conspiracy of India was understood, King Tribhuvan and the Nepalese patriots denied CA election. Even after 58 years, still Indians succeeded in conducting CA election. And now, they are being active to capture the political power by their elected and selected CA members who are puppets of the parties and foreigners. Anti-nationalistic and dictatorial elements like former PMs Girija Prasad, Maoist leader Prachandra and PM Madhab Nepal the puppets of India themselves invited the intervention of India. The Delhi based 12 points' unholy allience-2005 has been hampering the Nepalese unity & prestige of Nepal. After the resignation of the Maoist PM Prachanda, the most opportunist and puppet of India, Madhab Nepal of UML has been chosen as PM, by the hints of foreigners. The power struggles inside the Congress, UML, Madhesis are not to strengthen the country & democracy.  

Nepal has always shown goodwill towards India. But the Indian intention is quite suspicious no matter the co-operations between two countries. India professes one thing and acts contrary to it which always gives a room to suspect its role. Nepal shares 1,880 kilometres of open border with India. It has over the years built numerous structures in the vicinity of no man's land which is against the international norms. The activities are adversely affecting the Nepali people living in those areas. Thousands of hectares of fertile Nepali land have been submersed and waterlogged by the embankments. We need to maintain friendly relations with India due to our similar cultural and religious traditions. But sadly, Indian government is going to destabilize Nepal through its Nepalese culprits party leaders who are going to push the country into disarray. 

Political analyst I.K. Pradhan says - Culprit party leaders involved in running the affairs of the country, remain dumbfounded, seeing the broad day-light expansion tic aggression into one's own soil. They are engrossed, in this political gamble, rather than being intimately concerned with what the people and country expect from them? The pills of this bitter truth must be swallowed by each and all. If state, governance, parties, leaderships fail to put things right, there can be no alternative than for the people themselves, to decisively arise in total unity, against the persistency of decaying politics of Nepal, and meet the onslaughts of undesirable, destabilizing, ravaging against the sanctity of the national soil and the country and people's independence. 
 In this context, Kalyan Dev Bhattarai, a Nepalese scholar, aggressively says: "The political activities of these so-called leaders of the country is taking the country to that point where the Nepalese people will have no choice but to be force to start revolution where the tire will be not burnt in every corner of the country but these so-called leaders will be burnt alive.' (www.nepalhorizons.com) Because people are sensitive enough to distinguish the cow and the donkey.  'Crows are never the white for washing'.

The Nepalese people are reluctant to live under the shadow of guns, rather they want peace. They want relief from the drudge of their lives. UNMIN have been very irresponsible and they, following the hints of India, are bent on making this country a 'failed state'. It is a matter of deep regret that the UN representatives, American ambassador, European Union an others have made a great mistake in supporting the republic, secularism, interim constitution, so-called interim parliament and the council of minister. Opposing attempt to abolish monarchy that has remained the basis of this country assessment of the geography, geo-political situation and ethnic sensitivity for so long and to try to establish a federal state based on ethnicity indicates the bad omen of the break-up of the country. The despotic leaders and Nepali Congress, UML and the Maoist party has no right to sink this country. Nepal is a land-locked country between the two power giants- China & India and multi-ethnic nation where no group is in majority, but the Nepalese monarchy can get only along with people of all regions and ethnic backgrounds irrespective of their culture, language, political affiliations and caste. Therefore, there is no alternate that all the nationalist forces including the King should protect the country.

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Post-election optimism fades in Nepal

By Claire Cozens (AFP) – 2 days ago

KATHMANDU — When Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal stood for prime minister last August, his party pronounced it a "golden dawn" for Nepal after 10 years of civil war.

Nepal's unpopular monarchy had just been abolished, and the revolutionary leader's transformation from warlord to democratically elected premier was hailed as a fresh start for the Himalayan nation.

But less than a year later, the sun has set on the Maoist government and the prospects for peace and prosperity in Nepal look as distant as ever.

A coalition of rival parties took power following the fall of the Maoists in May over the issue of integrating their fighters into the army -- a key tenet of the 2006 peace agreement.

But without the support of the biggest party in the parliament, the new administration is struggling to tackle crippling fuel and food shortages, rampant corruption and growing fears over security.

The United Nations warned this month of an "alarming" rise in kidnappings for ransom in Nepal, saying the volatile political situation and absence of surveillance mechanisms were allowing criminals to act with impunity.

Daily life in many parts of the country has been heavily impacted by protest strikes, some of them violent, hampering efforts to rebuild a country still struggling to recover from the long civil war.

More than three years after the war ended, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Nepal, Wendy Cue, said little had changed for many people.

"A lack of development was both the cause and the consequence of the conflict," she told AFP.

"Three years on, people are still waiting for the peace dividend."

A diarrhoea epidemic that has killed more than 100 people in recent weeks in a remote part of western Nepal due to a lack of clean water and basic medical facilities has highlighted the huge challenge the new government faces.

The first reports of the outbreak were in May, but emergency teams were not dispatched to the area until July, prompting accusations of government mismanagement.

Commentators say the political infighting that followed the fall of the Maoist-led government has focused attention on events in the capital at the expense of the isolated rural areas that suffered most during the war.

"What we have here is a crisis of governance -- a weak state that has no control over much of the country," said Aditya Adhikari, comment editor of the Kathmandu Post daily.

Adhikari pointed to a subsequent radicalisation of groups representing ethnic minorities outside Kathmandu that have long felt excluded from national politics.

"Groups in the Terai have already begun to form parallel systems of governance and semi-militant forces," he said, referring to the southern part of Nepal worst hit by ethnic unrest in recent years.

"The current government hasn't the legitimacy to address their concerns because it excludes the Maoists, and the ethnic groups are themselves sceptical of negotiations with this government," he added.

The Terai is important because it runs along the border with Nepal's main trading partner, India, and is home to 48 percent of the country's population as well as the bulk of its industry and food production.

The World Bank in its latest report on Nepal warned of a proliferation of armed groups in the Terai in the past two years and said the resulting violence had caused many government officials to retreat to district headquarters.

"There is a danger that tensions between diverse political and social groups in the Terai could deteriorate," it said in the report released last month.

"If that occurs, the damage to Nepal's main trading routes, investment and livelihoods could be far worse than during the 'People's War', which was largely concentrated in Nepal's hill regions."

The government has pledged to strengthen law and order, and the new budget this week provided more funding for the country's historically weak police force.

It also promised to alleviate poverty in a country where the average annual income is just 473 dollars and tackle double-digit inflation and an energy crisis that led to power outages of 16 hours a day in the capital this winter.

But many here believe little can be achieved without the involvement of the Maoists, who have already said they will oppose the new government's plans.

There are also increasing international concerns over the lack of progress in the peace process, launched when the war ended in 2006.

The mandate of the UN Mission in Nepal, charged with overseeing the peace process, expires on July 23 and is expected to be extended for a further six months at the request of the Nepalese government.

But there is little sign of any progress on the highly sensitive issue of integrating 19,000 Maoist fighters still confined to camps into the army.

"There was an expectation that the difficult part was going to be holding the election," said Sarah Levit-Shore, Nepal country director for the Carter Center NGO which provided international observers for the 2008 polls.

"Instead, the country has seen new challenges, and the need for parties to work together in good faith is critical."