[11:00pm] The situation I witnessed while returning from my office to home was disheartening. At least there were 10 such places where the demonstrators have put on fire and other disturbances. It was not more than 2km and it is impossible for any four wheeler to pass the road.
At Tinkune, there were policemen clearing the road but at Jadubuti, there were two such disturbance. If we have failed to chant press in time, we would have surely hit by bricks by the demonstrators who were there in the dark.
At Herbs Production and Processing Center, a car was burning in the parking area. We waited there till my photojournalist friend took a few photographs. The burning car could even burn the office but as we were moving, a group of army arrived who were reporting the fire over their walkie talkie.
At Manahara Bridge, a similar fire was burning just in front of a petrol pump. At Lokanthali, the temporary police post was vandalized and thrown on the road with the wire they used to protect the post thrown on the road.
At Kaushaltar, the wall of the bus stop was vandalized and with the brick, a wall was created on the middle of the road. Between Ghatthaghar and Kaushaltar, there were two places with such disturbance. At Ghattaghar, it was the similar scene.
I can assume that the similar condition is all around the capital as I heard a number of firing sounds when I was in the office. It’s turning bloody and dirty and I can only hope it will end soon.
[9:00pm] THE STATE IS TURNING RUTHLESS; the demonstrations going bloodly.
At Tinkune, just outside Kantipur Publications, a group of demonstrators were chanting slogans and had just lit a tyre on the road while a group of policemen walked towards them from Baneshwor side. As the policemen advanced, the demonstrators started entering into sideways. The police then fired two rounds of rubber-bullet blankly on them from about 200m (it was all without any warning or so..).
Then I received a telephone from one of my friends in Ghatthaghar who was reporting an incident that happened just after the curfew ended at 8:00pm. The demonstrators were chanting slogans during the blackout when a group of security men including police and army started beating onlookers who had just come out of their houses to look around. Around 10 were badly injured (one of my friends received bad injury on the head and has been rushed to hospital).
[8:15pm] One more onlookers has been killed by security forces. The death toll during onging protest has reached three with the death of Shiva Hari Kunwar, 22, of Walting VDC-7, Kavre. He was shot at when he was looking at the rally organized to protest the killing of Bhimsen Dahal at Banepa. Three others has been injured and the condition of ninth grader Mukesh Kayastha is critical and has been brought to capital for further treatment.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Kamal Thapa organized a press conference and warned people of ‘real curfew’ from Monday. To read the National News Agency news on Thapa’s press conference, click on more at the bottom of this enty.
Similarly, from my office window, I can see a group of people rallying with torch on hands and demanding black-out. Police arrived in two trucks and two vans to disrupt the rally at Tinkune just outside my office and although the major portion of the city is blackened, the torch rally outside my office ended in five minutes.
Kamal Thapa’s Press Conference News On RSS
Scroll Below for Earlier Updates
Kathmandu, April 9: Home Minister Kamal Thapa has said that the government is ready to move ahead by holding a dialogue and through consensus and collaboration with the pro-constitutional political parties.
Speaking at a press conference organized at the Home Ministry here today, Home Minister Thapa said the seven political parties have organized the so-called movement and general strike at the call of the terrorists.
The government would not at any cost compromise with violence, murder and terror, Home Minister Thapa said and added that the terrorists have been carrying the ill-intention of displacing the state power through the use of the seven parties’ flag, banner and name.
The terrorists’ ill-intention would never be successful and the government would ultimately defeat the terrorists, Thapa said and added, “It is essential for the seven parties’ leadership to understand that the so-called movement is now being guided by the terrorists.”
Though the general strike and demonstration has had adverse effect on public life the government has been observing patience and was compelled to issue the curfew order so as to arrange effective security measures.
The Home Minister also expressed gratitude to the people who cooperated with and supported the security measures.
Issuing a curfew order is not a matter of liking and hobby for the government, but the life and property of the people have been protected as a result of it.
The government would immediately withdraw the curfew order as well as the prohibitory order if the seven parties declare that they have renounced the collaboration with the terrorists and if there is improvement in the subsequent situation.
Stating that the leaders and cadres of the seven political parties should understand it clearly that this movement is not a movement for political change like in 1990, Thapa said the cadres of the parties should question their leaders about the significance and objective of the movement.
Responding to a query on the occasion, Minister Thapa said the government has been carrying out its role in a responsible manner and within the existing law and regulations and urged the media sector to disseminate information only after taking note of the circumstances involved.
The government is concerned over the incidents that took place at Chitawan and Pokhara, but misleading news have come out in connection with both the incidents.
He said, “security personnel in Pokhara were compelled to fire after their warning was ignored in course of the demonstrations”.
Likewise, the security personnel fired at Chitawan in order to control the agitators that went vandalizing one government office after another and there was also a huge explosion. Three women sustained bullet injuries in the incident, he said. RSS
[5:30pm] News from various districts say that people rallied for the democracy. In Lekhnath Municipality, more than 7000 rallied and police has to fire tear-gas shells and rubber-bullets to control the situation. UML’s Dinanath Dhakal was badly injured by the bullet while a-dozen other were injured by baton charging.
In Nawalparasi, government employees joined the protest programs while in almost all cities administrative works came to a halt after the employees protested with a black band around their arms.
The Seven Party Alliance (SPA) in a meeting this afternoon has decided to give continuity to the ongoing protest until the regressive force comes to its knees. According to their program, the nation would witness a blackout and torch rally from 8:15pm to 8:30pm this evening.
[2:00pm] Updates by Blogger Tilak Pathak Two were injured while police fired ten rounds of rubber-bullet in Lake Side, Pokhara. Police have fired hundreds of rounds of fire to disperse the demonstrators who have succeeded in vandalizing Pokhara Municipality Ward No 3 Office.
In Kathmandu too, people have defied curfew orders and vandalized central offices of Nepal Sadbhawana Pary (Mandal) and Home Minister Kamal Thapa’s Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Demonstrations continued at Kirtipur, inner areas of Naya Bazar (where Pathak lives), Tinkune Koteswor and various parts of the nation.
In Butwal, people have controlled all government offices and overwritten all instances of ‘His Majesty’s Government’ with ‘Nepal Government’. Similarly, people have controlled all government offices in Janakpur and Bharatpur (Chitwan).
The demonstrations have been going on all the day at Kirtipur despite curfew orders.
[12:00 noon] In Butwal, Gopal Prasad Pandey, the central secretary of Tribhuvan University Teachers’ Association, BR Ghimire (president of Rupendehi Journalists Association) and Karna Bahadur Karki (former central vice-president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists) were arrested early morning. In a rally organized to protest the arrests, 18 other journalists and three others were arrested.
Shiv Prasad Munakarmi, the president of TUTA appealed for the imeediate release of Pandey. “We demand immediate release,” he told UWB! on phone. “Otherwise, we will come out with a strong step.”
Tulsi Chhetri, a woman who sustained injuries in Saturday firing at Chitwan died this morning at Bharatpur Hospital.
[9:00am] – The state imposed a 13-hour curfew for today – from 7:00am to 8:00pm. The army and police had already taken their position early in the morning.
Bhimsen Dahal, who was killed yesterday in Pokhara, is from Kavre district – adjacent to Kathmandu Valley. The people of Nala, Dahal’s village, are demonstrating in Banepa today. Political parties have also planned a ‘condolance meeting’ at Banepa.
The state has denied curfew pass to Kantipur Publications and may be to other vibrant private media. The government wants to imtimidate media.
United We Blog 
Comments
125 responses to “General Strike Day IV Updates”
It is all because of Kamal Thapa, Tulsi Giri and the other bootlickers of the dictator, including the RNA’s top brass. To hide their inefficacy they are commiting yet another mistake. They might have seen their doom in dreams every day!
Chandan, say something about our dear leader Niro playing flute in Pokhara.
And we are here now to fulfill that dream.
Kantipur guys, have no fear…
‘Ek mare hazar jan minchan, yo desh ko lagi shahid huna..’
Provide an uptodate reports in this blog…
I will try to post whatever i get hand to…
When we have made up our mind to fight against the STATE.. why would we need PASS from this state.
Ab bhi jiska khoon na khaula.. khoon nahin woh pani hain
Jo desh ke kaam na aaaye woh bekaar jawani hai..
RANG DE BASANTI !!!
hats off to all the journalists of Nepal and all who dare!
May all listen to their heart and follow the guidance from the one who is the father of all of us.
May his Majesty the King listen to the Wise!
Why dhoti song from Nepalisongs? I do not understand. Nothing to inspire from India, an arm supplier to both blood suckers KG & MBs.
Kantipur keep fighting, don’t back off. we are with you and will be with you no matter what !!
The country is burning and the dictator is listening to the drumbeats of the RNA. Someone please provide him a flute! The heat of the burning streets and the energy of the demonstrations would produce such a sound that the autocrat will go deaf, dig his own grave and jump into it!
why do so many ppl have problems with anything about India? stop throwing stupid comments about it. By the hindi (spanish, french or whatever you can bring here) text his intention was more contextual than the language itself.
Anyways, i hope Kantipur publications can find a way around this blockade from KG.
peace!
What happen to this blog? There is not info at all. Is that the bloggers are arrested?
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/04/09/nepali_forces_kill_2_protesters_at_rallies/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4892424.stm
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Nepal&btnG=Search+News
(Just to tell ppl how much attention Nepal has got on the international media)
Tulasi Chhetri
One more martyr in the war for freedom of this nation. Curfew throughout most of the majot cities..WE ARE WINING. just read the comment of an arnmy officer in kantipur..that’s enough to show how is everything moving….let’s pray for the ones who are giving their lives for the sake of our freedom and let’s be convicted for tha revolution…….jai nepal….
I got the news that 1 woman just died, she was injured by police bullet and just now Army killed one gal in Sanothimi, Bhaktaput.
It seems Royal (King’s) government want “Ragat ko Khola” in the country and seems that he doesn’t want PEACE for his “satta”.
do take care, you’ll not in this country if you’ll not think in time.
Inida lovers: Yes we are fighting against two blood suckers KG and MBs. Perhaps it is also right time to comment India. It is India who had been exporting problems including supply of arms to both blood suckers of Nepal. I guess we have a right to say: Hey India please take your feets from our legs. They are hurting us.
cool links there (Nepal on Foreign News )!
i saw some videos on cnn, too. the news is all over, hopefully for good.
mr. blogwatch: I am not too sure about all details but lemme share a couple of thoughts.. Let’s just say India has wrong intentions but if we don’t have the right leaders why should we have to blame India when we know we live in a world where every body, every state wants power and more power! We need to solve our problems first.
The internal source says that Gynendra is in Pokhara because he wants to be able to go in exile when there is that final push which is about to come soon. NEPAL DOES NOT NEED SO CALL KING ANYMORE. We must not let this guy be a part of governing body because he has no respect for the country, Nepali citizens and worst of all, towards legacy of Birendra.
As I write this blog, people are dancing with full blast of music damm maro damm ….. and other latest nepali hindi and hiphop numbers We just had a Nepalese cultural event in our University. Yet again Quires were presented with what Nepal is about yet another exotic shangrila far away and yes we didnot miss it . Nepal is Still a KINGDOM where different ethnicty are in subhamangal. There was nothing political or anything about current events. I was not sure I would attend the “Cultural Event” tara mukh dekhauna pani gaye.. Any way i am still positive that people are striving for radical changes we need in Nepal . But what changes current MODERN youth today infront of me while I am tying is beyond me . may be I am thinking to much radically
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-09T105650Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-244120-4.xml
(just one addition)
It looks like you are just a guest and do not know the past records of India or do not like to know. Any way it is natural that you will never sure of Inda and her intention.
I guess we nepali are taking care of one Evil and will take of others.
Demonstrations and destroying the national properties are against the constitutional protest so called illiterated-uncivilized.For this case ppl shot to death none will be responsible.
wow wow….
i think it’s the sign of end of human evolution…in another word that we (specially we nepalese) are in the verge of extinction..
hi everyone, good job !
The only victor in these four days are the Maoists. While the King and the political parties are fighting each other, they are having a romp through different districts without the media having anything bad to say about it. They have killed many innocents, yet all the media does it report body counts on both sides.Even this blog does not have much opinion on it, while the killing and abduction continues. For every one article condemning the Maoists you see one hundred condemning the army, the police or the government. Maybe Thapa is correct and the insurgents have infiltrated, and are running the show for the democratic forces. I wonder what will happen in the future when the democratic forces come to power, will they be dancing to the Maoists tunes, as it seems they have already made a deal with the devil.
Hey mister what do you think about the national properties in the dhukitis and swiss banks. Isn’t that distruction? Why don’t u shoot those bl00dy Ranas and Shahas.
Or are u one of those!!!???
This “Demonstration” is not only about now, its about all the wrongs the nepali people have suffered.
This fight wants blood. It will drink blood of the people and of the corrupt politicians. And I believe it will not leave the khandani basterds alive.
I wonder what wopuld happen if the King handed back the executive authority to these parties. Do they have a road map to transform our economy and negotiate with the Maoists? Have they even though beyond demostrations, as it seems all they are good for is opposing everything, but when it comes to governing, we know the results. Maqybe journalists should ask them what their governing and economic road map is and not just their political road map of organising demonstrations etc, this is easy, but to have a plan to get our country out of its economic doldrums and insurgency takes a lot of planning and not just last ditch efforts. I personally doubt they are ready for the inevitable hand over whether it happens today or in 2007.
Rag,
You sound like one of those Maoists. Why only Rana and Shahs, it is never ending, why not all the Brahmins and the corrupt leaders including your leaders Prachanda and Baburam who amassed a lot of wealth and all the government beaureaucrats and businessmen who have been thriving on the corrupt system and have been acuumulating wealth more then the King as well.
Let’s just kill all of Kathmandu, if we are to foll0ow your Maoist dictate, but remember not to forget the two outside the gate after you finish us al;l here (i.e. your beloved supremos).
st, you think the SPA will be worse than the royalists? The royalists get their power from the RNA, the Maoists from their PLA but the SPA must have the backing of the people to succeed. We the people have made mistakes in not correcting the SPA leaders when they messed things up. Our apathy was a big mistake. But we have learnt the hard way and will ensure that the new democratic leaders do not stray like before. After all it takes time for people to learn how democracy works and how to safeguard it from the corrupt. Look at Thailand-it’s a great example of how they have learnt not to tolerate corruption of their elected leaders.
gp
nepali people are getting victorious out of the struggle neither maoist nor parties. Though Maoist and parties also belong to people, they are just part of it. dont try to diminish the people’s fight for democracy by labelling it the infiltration of maoist. I guess you might be the one from a bunch of people praising king’s step yesterday. Now when the kg is bound to fall, you are pretendng not to accept the people’s wish and power and dedicating the victory to maoist. We shall deal the question of maoist and corrupt parties tomorrow, for that we should continue to fight for democracy and throw the king hell out of his throne. Jay loktantra.
Kirat,
Where have you been for the last fifteen years? The SPA was as bad as the royalists if not worse, the difference being the royalists took over the government when Nepal was already down on it’s knees due to the past fifteen years of bad governance, corruption and ignorance of the insurgency until it was too late. As the media was in one or the other political party pockets then, you did not get the full picture that we get in the media today (some would say too full a picture although there is supposed to be censorship, I dont see it). Even this blog and it’s sister organisation has always been in Girija’s pocket.
Kirat, I have been reading your opinion for some time. I am really inspired to visit this blog on and on to make sure not to miss the well said comments like yours and Buda pandit
Bravo,
I am certain you support one SPA member or the other. That is why you feel this way because you are directly involved in all this. But I am sorry to tell you the fact is SPA does not have the support it once enjoyed even five years ago and is nowhere close to the support it enjoyed in 1990. All the rest of us wish for is for you to end your demonstrations quickly so we can go about and get to work. Please tell your leaders that.
Thanks Bravo, I am flattered. st, please read what I wrote properly. Once we achieve democracy we the people must be the vanguard and not allow the SPA to mess it up like they did before. I know the SPA betrayed us from 1990 to 2002-we have to be alert to stop that from happening. The people of the country together aren’t a helpless lot you know.
Kirat,
How are you going to achieve that? Please let us all know. As we can see they are the one’s who hold the rock hurlers in their grasp ans the3 security forces will aslo be on their team once they form a government. If we had them in check before, the King would be nowhere in the picture today. So please let me know how, and dont say by waiting for the next elections.
st like I said we the people-just like the people of Thailand recently-must put pressure via protest. If enough of us protest for the greater good it will work. It has happened everywhere in the world we are no different. Don’t be such a pessimist!
Best wishes for you bloggers and the people of Nepal! See also my blog entry on Nepal here.
dear gp,
What the heck wrong in supporting one of the members of SPA. ..somebody qouted yesterday one of the american’s president in this blog..people get the leaders they deserve..when we are not awaare of our responsibilities and we show complete apathy towards the politician’s wrongdoings..how do we expect them to do right things..I was chatting with one of my friends yesterday…he was very frustrated not being able to make with other friends to play marriage (playing card) because of imposed curfew…see how are youth population is completely indifferent about politics and ongoing movement..let me tell you all of those my friends are well educated and must of them are enginners..I asked him why the hell you guys want to play cards today when every nepali abroad are so concerned about the situation of the country and sticking with the computers…he said that he doesnot want to participate because of corrupt leaders.this has been the situation of our country for so many years.. I mean to say here that, as long as , people dont get interested in or at least aware about the politics of their country…you dont expect good leaders to rise……and paticipation of people and expression of their opinion is only possible in democracy…thats is the reason we are currently having the leaders like kamal thapa..sacchit samser and giri..and we can no way correct them. once the democracy prevails..we can throw away the people like koirala and makune if they dont correct themselves..
But i want to say you gp , i dont support any member of SPA..i only suppot their ongoing movement because of novel people. Even though I dont support any memeber, i dont again see it wrong by any means someone supporting SPA. only some leaders are corrupt..not like monarchy where everyone is corrupt and anti people
Bravo Bravo! Well put. After all politics, no matter how much we dislike, it effects everything about our lives. Might as well make sure it effects us for the better.
By the way the quote was from George Bernard Shaw.
Well said “st”
I doubt now,This blog is belongs to Girija,so whatever he does,this blogsite will be the first movement flash news of Girija.
So sad on Nepalese Stone Heads ,they still believe those old folks to bring Democracy without any ambitions,i can’t immagine how worsen will be after the king…SPA is the main root of problems in Nepal…am very sad on innocent people too who are killed in priceless.
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2006/others/feature/apr/news_feature03.php
well as Bravo said I too don’t have a least support to the SPA , won’t feel sorry if any leader of the alliance gets killed , badly bruised or even if all of them get hurled behind the bars. Rather, I’ll be happy. NEVERTHELESS, I do hope this movement succeed in ousting the king out of his power since I’m a pure ANTI_MONARCH: But if this protest becomes a success and still the SPA decide to
retain the monarchial system, I won’t ever forgive them. ‘Coz i’m in favor of REPUBLIC be it democratic or tyrannic.
Kirat,
The “people of Thailand” that you refer to was actually the opposition party with all their clout. Further, I think it is bad and not good for democracy when a elected member of parliament is asked to step down as the PM when his ruling party want him as their leader. Further, this was not a case of a PM whose electorate was old, he had again just been re-elected, and this is the same PM who had great praise from the international community for his reforms. Let me remind you that the Thai PM’s stance on being PM was positive before his audience with the KIng, after which he back tracked and said he would not take up the position. Your comparison with Thailand is completely based on the wrong assumptions. The Nepali PM’s of the past is nothing like him, and to pretend that we are in the same scenario is naive.
Bravo,
There is nothing wrong in supporting the SPA, but dont be deceived by your commitment to the SPA and feel everyone supports them as well. And dont think that because the rest of dont support the SPA that it is anti-democratic or autocratic. In the same tone, the rest of us neutrals can very well view you as a pro-Maoist and therefore anti-democratic and fascist communist as well.
st, I’m sorry but you are an idiot. You said you did not want to wait for elections well I showed you an example in democracy where you don’t have to wait for the normal election cycle. The “opposition” are the people too. Who is comparing PM’s or scenarios? I’m just trying to tell you how things work in a democracy that people are involved in.
We the people must accept blame for letting the political parties create the mess they did during 1990 till 2002. We could have made a difference but we were too apathetic, hoping things would change for the better instead of making things change for the better.
I get the feeling some of you are just arguing for arguings sake.
Well remember everytime you post something your intelligence is on display too.
Kirat,
The political parties themselves have to be really democratised first. That means letting people like you and others who may be interested the chance to prove themselves within the party ranks without nepotism and dynasty like rule. The Thailand case is a case where an opposition party was able to pressurise the PM to resign. Although as I said it is bad for democracy, the pressure worked due to a strong lead in the opposition and support from theiur King as well, and not from the general public, most of whome supported the Thai ex-PM’s party in the election (therefore his party won). Otherwise if these institutions are left to the “family” to run as a “family business”, the result is what we have today in Nepal and even in advanced democracies like France the general public have had to resort to the streets and anarchy because these people have not been included in the political process and are under-represented in the major political parties. Our institutions – parties, judiciary, security forces have to be all inclusive, and merit should be the order of the day and not rabid loyalty, psycophancy and nepotism.
St, First comes first. The one who rules with the gun needs to be ousted first. Because he does not tolerate dissent. Then will come the turn of the other bad guys to be ousted.
And Kirat,
Before you call me an idiot (too late to say that), let me remind you that back in the 90’s when we had a healthy parliament with the Congress in the majority, and GP was prime minister, the parliament had called for a vote of no confidence, instead of GP taking it he dissolved parliament and called for mid term polls.
When he does it the next time do you think you can get people out on the streets to overturn the verdict? You’ll probably end up getting stoned by his henchmen on the streets. You maybe arguing for arguments sake, but really it is naive to think that people like me will just say alright to all your views when we have lived through all these screw ups and have seen all that could have been a lot better. It’s not a question of arguing for the sake of arguing, but more a question of what I or you may believe in. Otherwise why the hell would I waste my time here writing my two paisa worth of thoughts?
Kirat,
Post 1990 , GP Koirala came first, much before Gyanendra was King. So apply your rule there.
As for me, I think the King has to step down, but so must the leaders. No first come first served, it has to happen together. King steps down, and new leadership takes over. The chicken and the egg can both do it together.
fine st, because you hate GP, Deuba go with the King. That seems to be your point.
Kirat,
You also write that the one who rules with the gun needs to be ousted first. You may have forgotten but the first to rule with the gun was the Maoists. How come you don’t tell them to go first? And where is the pressure from the people that you have mentioned regarding the Maoists? Why all this rage against the King and the RNA and not much steam against the Maoists? I’ll tell you why – it is because the Maoists will shoot first and ask questions later.
This Andolan has nothing to do with Nepal.
We are having a revolution for the sake of revolution. We are dismantling little by little every little working institution we had, including democracy…
Will removing the King make things better for Nepal ?? I don’t think so.. but we will have a new king .. Mr Prachanda … he must be laughing in his sleep now that the stupid nepal leaders are basically fighting his cause …