At the 2005 Dhaka SAARC summit, King Gyanendra correctly reminded the civilised nations of their double standard in dealing with violence and Nepal’s Maoist insurgency. He also argued against bringing in Afghanistan (proposed by US and India) into the South Asian regional body because that country was occupied by external powers. Unable to stall Afghanistan’s entry, he sought to bring in China as an observer. The King failed to perceive geopolitics of the new millennium. By labeling Afghanistan as an occupied country he also contradicted himself. His questioning of Hamid Karzai’s credential, by default, would endorse the Taliban undermining his own logic of ‘fight against terrorism’. King Gyanendra, unpopular in Nepal, had opened a new front without wherewithal to deal with the consequences.

Subsequently, in TV interviews in Kathmandu Excellency James Moriarty advised the King to abdicate. Indian Ambassador Syam Sharan would dig old connections with the Indian communists as New Delhi’s South Block began choreographing events in Nepal to teach the "bastard" a lesson. A ‘political project’ would unfold, the king removed and Nepal would become a federal republic with the Maoists at the helm. Senior national security officials and intellectuals of India would publicly suggest that "The Maoists would be more sympathetic to India and benign rulers of Nepal than King Gyanendra". Following the April 2006 demonstration, the King relinquished his power to the parliament he reinstated which had been dissolved by the then elected Prime Minister.

Two years later in April 2008, Girija Prasad Koirala completed an election that would position the Maoists as the largest party, putting post-monarchy Nepal under their tutelage. By entering into a deal with the Maoists without their full-fledged disarmament and renunciation of violence, Koirala had already committed political harakiri. While this lacuna in Nepal’s peace process was perhaps in-built, the speech by comrades Prachand and Babu Ram in Kathmandu’s Shaheed Manch on 30th May, made the extent of that harakiri even clearer. Thundered the duo, the march to "New People’s Republic" of Nepal is on."

more at thulididi.b l o g s p o t.com