ujjwal.acharya@gmail.com

It is what the King’s government is saying to the press. Like every undemocratic ruler, the King can’t tolerate any criticism and has said ‘there would be no state advertisement for the newspaper that does not support the nation and crown.’

This is a big blow of small newspaper, especially weeklies which are more vibrant in criticizing the government.’ Most of them run on small investment and don’t have sales or advertisement to support them fully. The government used to provide ads to them according to their classification performed by government agency. It was of a great support for them.

A weekly, Jana Astha, published a main story revealing the new circular by the government asking all the government offices not to provide ads to newspaper other than those run by state. They published the circular and it went wide – dailies and other paper carried the news. And minister for communication and information Tanka Dhakal had to speak about it (two weeks after the decision).

“We are seriously thinking of giving incentives to those media working for the nation and the crown, so we have stopped giving ads to the private media temporarily,” Dhakal said in a press conference.

All this comes after the media censorship that still prohibits newspaper to write freely.

And the authority is also following a double standard about news of the rebels – Maoists. The army Directorate of Public Relations is issuing daily dispatches about the death of the rebels and their surrenders, but are prohibiting media even to write a word not included in the dispatches. The authority in Pokhara summoned three reporters for reporting the torching to seven vehicles by the rebels (while the government, before the news was published, decided to compensate the vehicle owners).

This is a clear message by the King to the press: either support me or you will be left to die. Continue reading…

Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepal’s most influential political leader and the chairman of Nepali Congress, has been released from house-arrest today, the best day in the whole year to release him because it’s an April Fool day and the Monarchy of Nepal wants to fool the world by reiterating its commitment to democracy (people’s will).

Koirala, who has been Nepal’s prime minister for three times, is being taken as the only leader capable of leading the movement against the King’s Feb 1 move despite his detiorated image, and his release would certainly boost the morale of those who have already taken to the roads. With Koirala, 258 other arrested political activists have also been released.

The release of Koirala is the King’s attempt to show India that he is true to his words – he had urged India to give him 100 days. And although India has welcomed his release, it is unlikely that they will be impressed by this. Lately, there has been a few articles in Indian newspaper indicating that Nepal has joined the anti-Indian group by enfriending Pakistan and China. That impression will do no good for the country.

India has also demanded release of other leaders, including the general secretary of Nepal Communist Party – United Marxist Lennist Madhav Kumar Nepal and to curb all the restrictions on fundamental rights.

“For Koirala, as for other top political leaders similarly penalised under the king’s state of emergency, house arrest has not only meant being confined at home. It also involved an almost total severance of communications such as phone lines and the cutting of their access to independent media.” – according to BBC, UK.

BBC added: “Others, however, remain confined or detained, including the leader of the country’s second biggest party, Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is reported to be in poor health. Strict media censorship means it is difficult to know how many detainees there are.” Continue reading…

King Gyanendra is a businessman. His major investment is in the Soaltee Group, one of the major business houses of the country running a few businesses. Though publicly his involvement in business is not seen, it’s a well-accepted truth. I don’t know how much the businesses are benefiting from his direct rule, but I can safely assume that they are probably doing the best business.

This shows that King Gyanendra thrive for property. After the Royal Massacre, he became the lone heir of all the properties accumulated by the Shah Dynasty during their 300 years of reign.

The latest information is about the properties once owned by the late King Birendra’s family. There is a piece of land in the prime space at Sallaghari of Bhaktapur meant for the palace constuction of late Prince Nirajan. The land was in name of Nirajan but King Gyanendra is the owner of that land. The land was tranferred to the King’s name 22 days after he took the executive power, according to an official who works in Land Revenue Office. Why in the King’s name? Continue reading…