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.