Nepal situation delicate, says India
Nepal situation delicate, says India
NEW DELHI (Agencies): India said on Monday it was watching the turbulence in adjoining Nepal and described the situation in the landlocked nation as "tense and delicate."
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told reporters New Delhi had offered to help the government of his Nepalese counterpart, Girija Prasad Koirala.
"We are seriously studying the developments in Nepal," the Press Trust of India quoted Vajpayee as saying from the quake-hit state of Gujarat.
"We are confident that the situation will improve. I have spoken to the Nepalese prime minister and we have assured them of our cooperation."
Vajpayee rejected speculation that last Friday's massacre of almost all of Nepal's royal family was part of a plot.
"I don't see any conspiracy from here," Vajpayee said.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesman, Raminder Jassal, said it was not possible for New Delhi to corroborate individual incidents in Nepal.
Foreign ministry sources said Indian observers in Kathmandu were closely monitoring the rising violence in Kathmandu, specifically looking for any anti-India incidents that may erupt. India led the international community in mourning Friday's massacre of King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and several other members of his royal family.
Nepal's 22 million citizens are in mourning, many of them with heads shaven in a centuries-old Hindu tradition. But the grief is not just over the brutal killings. It is about the very future of the monarchy, Nepal's fountainhead of strength, after the death of its most popular king ever.
"I don't see any hope. The past king was such a great democrat, such a great personality," said popular Nepali novelist Diamon Shumshere Rana.
"No one can replace King Birendra, no one can be like him," he said in his assessment of Prince Gyanendra, who was enthroned on Monday. "When I think of my country, everything is dark before my eyes."
Meanwhile, Britain's foreign ministry on Monday warned its nationals against non-essential travel to Nepal because of unrest following the massacre of the royal family.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office also said Britons were among foreigners stranded at the airport at Kathmandu, capital of the tiny Himalayan kingdom.
She said the travel advice issued to British people considering going to Nepal had been revised since members of the Nepalese royal family were gunned down at a palace banquet.
"The advice now is against all holidays and other non- essential travel to Kathmandu," said the spokeswoman. "A curfew has been declared in the Kathmandu Valley.
"In addition to that we have got British tourists and residents stranded at the airport. The police have stopped all traffic going in and out of Kathmandu involving tourist buses." She added: "We are talking to police about a convoy."
One person was reported dead after street protests turned violent. Police used tear gas and fired warning shots to disperse the demonstrators.
Hundreds of soldiers of Britain's famed Gurkha regiment held a memorial service on Monday for the slain members of Nepal's royal family.
Around 800 members of the Nepalese regiment - which has served former colonial ruler Britain for 180 years, its soldiers distinguishing themselves as fierce and fearless fighters -- laid individual flowers in front of pictures of King Birendra and Queen Aiswarya.
"There is a deep feeling of shock and sadness here," said army spokesman Paul Beard after the service at the regiment's barracks in Folkestone, southern England.
"It has come as a bitter blow to everybody that this has happened in their peaceful country. I don't think many have come to terms with what has happened."
"It was quite a moving event to see each soldier lay their flowers individually, much as people did for (Princess) Diana when she died," Beard said.
The Union Jack and the Nepalese flag were draped either side of the portraits. Flags throughout the camp were being flown half mast as a mark of respect.