« John McCain Gets Hung Out To Dry On Iraq As The Scales Fall From Conservative Eyes
Mass. Senate 08: Wait… there are Republicans in Massachusetts? »
Nepal: Goodbye Monarchy…Hello Republic!
Nepal has emerged as world’s youngest democratic republic after the Constitutional Assembly voted to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy. On Thursday morning, the flag of the Shah dynasty was taken down from the main palace in the capital city of Kathmandu. The palace will now be turned into a national museum, reports AFP.
The vote in the 601-member assembly saw just four lawmakers oppose the declaration transforming Nepal into a secular republic. Nepal, sandwiched between India and China, is slightly larger than the US state of New York (and half the size of Italy) and borders the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet, with which it shares the world’s highest peak, the Mount Everest.
The unprecedented vote followed a peace accord between Maoists and mainstream parties. “The Maoists, clear winners of last month’s elections, waged a decade of war to overthrow what they view as a backward, caste-ridden structure that kept most of Nepal’s 29 million people living in dire poverty.”
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the vote, saying Nepalese “have clearly spoken for peace and change.” The United States, which continues to list the former rebels as a foreign “terrorist” organisation, urged “forward political developments” in Nepal, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington. “There’s been a political transition. There have been elections. The new government is in place and moving forward.”
Nepal, with Hindus accounting for nearly 90 per cent of the population, became a British protectorate in 1816 and won independence in 1923. The hereditary monarch, traditionally worshipped as a living god, set up a system of modern cabinet rule in 1951. Multi-party democracy and a constitutional monarchy came in 1990 after a popular uprising left hundreds of people dead.
Maoists launched an insurgency to overthrow the monarchy in 1996 after boycotting elections and denouncing corruption. The world’s last Hindu king, Gyanendra, came to the throne in June 2001, after a palace massacre in which the crown prince killed most of the royal family and himself. More here…
Maoist chief Prachanda, 53, on Wednesday became the most powerful person in Nepal, who is set to head its next government after fulfilling his ambition of transforming the country into a republic, reports The Times of India. And also here…
Photo of a Nepali woman celebrating outside the Convention Hall…Courtesy AP/Mustafa Quraishi
