KATHMANDU, April 30: Nepal’s lawmakers unanimously backed the first step towards curbing the powers of the nation’s monarch on Sunday and called on Maoist rebels to renounce violence and end an 10-year insurgency. The move came at the end of a tumultuous day in Nepal’s political life after the 84-year-old premier was sworn in by the monarch whose power he has promised to curb.
Girija Prasad Koirala took the oath in front of King Gyanendra just hours before legislators acted on demands from hundreds of thousands of protesters to call elections for a new body to end the monarch’s sweeping powers.—AFP
