From the Hindustan Times ROYAL COUP: GROUND ZERO - Nepal army guns down students Avirook Sen Kathmandu, February 3 ON FEBRUARY 1, Nepal didn't just get a new authoritarian dispensation, reports trickling in suggest that it may have also got its own version of Tiananmen Square. The scales are different, but in the tourist town of Pokhra, the Royal Nepal Army is reported to have used chopper fire on student protesters. "We have information that there was such an incident from very reliable sources", said Kedar Prasad Poudyal, acting secretary, National Human Rights Commission. Here, according to informed sources, is what happened. Almost as soon as King Gyanendra issued his February 1 proclamation, students at the Prithvi Narayan College campus in Pokhra came out in protest. The RNA was at the gates of the campus in no time, but the students held the soldiers off: they would not let them in. Held at bay on the ground, the RNA responded with choppers, firing at the protesters from the air. About 15 students are said to have taken bullets. The soldiers returned to their barracks at about 6 pm, but at around 2 am there was another raid. This time, the RNA entered the hostel and picked up between 200 and 250 students. Those who were injured in the chopper fire earlier in the day were not taken to hospital, said sources, they were shifted to the barracks instead. In the meantime, there were similar protests at the engineering college campus in the same town. Here, however, the students appear to have escaped. Pokhra, about 200 km from Kathmandu, is a major tourist destination. It is also an RNA divisional headquarter, with a large army presence. The P.N. College is one of Nepal's better known educational institutions. It is a multi-discipline school with a distinguished commerce department. Reports coming in suggest that the arrested students are being tortured. "People say that they have heard screams", said a source. It is not clear if there have been any fatalities. Nepal's Human Rights Commission issued a statement on Wednesday, but did not make any mention of the Pokhra incident. The statement said: "As a member of the United Nations and a state party to all major human rights treaties, it is Nepal's responsibility to protect human rights of the Nepalese people."