KATHMANDU, April 1: Former Nepal prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and around 200 other activists detained since King Gyanendra seized power two months ago have been released, police said on Friday. “I’m happy, I feel fine but I will speak in detail to the media tomorrow,” Koirala said from home shortly after his release. Koirala, leader of the Nepali Congress (NC) party, was among 83 people freed on Friday in the Kathmandu Valley, said a senior police official, who asked not to be named.
“All over Nepal, a little more than 200 people have been released,” he said.
The 82-year-old Koirala had been held since February 1 when King Gyanendra sacked the government and declared emergency rule in the Himalayan nation.
“It seems the king realized that he cannot suppress human rights and democratic process so he was forced to release Mr Koirala,” the former premier’s lawyer, Harihar Dahal, said.
The king had been forced to effect the release “following continued pressure from the public,” the lawyer said. His release, Dahal added, would bring “a new momentum and added energy” to the anti-monarchy movement.
Nepali Congress student leader Shrijana Karki said the freeing of the respected politician would spur activists to mobilize in even greater numbers against the king.
“Mr Koirala looks cheerful and his health condition is good,” Karki said.
“Now we will step up our movement against the king’s moves,” she added. “We are now waiting for his (Koirala’s) guidance for our future plans.”
During Gyanendra’s emergency rule hundreds of political and human rights activists, student leaders and journalists have been rounded up, many of whom were arrested while staging anti-monarchy protests in defiance of a ban on rallies.
Nepal has come under increasing pressure from the world community, including international donors, to free the detainees and restore fundamental rights.
The Hindu kingdom relies on international donor aid and loans for more than half its development budget, a major prop for an economy devastated by a Maoist insurgency.
India has joined Britain in cutting off military aid to the country. Nepal’s ill-equipped army depends heavily on foreign help to fight the rebels, who are battling to install a communist republic.
India reacted swiftly on Friday welcoming Koirala’s release and saying it hoped all other detained activists would also be freed.
“Government of India calls for the removal of all curbs on civil liberties and fundamental rights and the lifting of media censorship and restrictions on movement to enable the people of Nepal to enjoy their legitimate constitutional and democratic rights,” said a foreign ministry statement released in New Delhi.
This, it said, would help pave the way for reconciliation between the various parties “leading to a restoration of multi-party democracy.”
India, which shares a nearly 1,600-kilometer border with the Himalayan kingdom, is also concerned the ongoing Maoist violence in Nepal could spill into Indian states where radical leftist groups are powerful.
The king said he had taken over government to control the rebellion which has claimed more than 11,000 lives since it was launched in 1996.
The freeing of the detainees comes on the eve of the start of an 11-day nationwide general strike called by the Maoists.—AFP
