Take a trip to the headquarters of Congress, Nepal's biggest political party, and you get a fuller picture.

"You can't see anyone," said the doorman. "They've all been arrested."

Only leading politicians have been placed under house arrest. The rank and file have been carted off to prison. The Army came here four times, said the doorman, and 42 party members were arrested. Two have escaped, and are said to have fled to India.

"It's not right what the King has done in this situation," said the doorman, in the manner of a man who can no longer speak his mind without fear.

However, the sacking of the unpopular Deuba Government is nothing compared to the King's declaration of a state of emergency, which has prompted the worst assault on human rights in Nepal's recent history. The people have had their most basic human rights taken away.

With his newly restored medieval powers, Gyanendra has "suspended" not only the right to free speech, but freedom of thought in Nepal. He has subjected Nepal's press to strict censorship. The papers carried fawning accounts of the King's power grab.

The King "suspended" the right to assemble peacefully, and the right to privacy. He also, according to the Kathmandu Post, suspended the right to own private property.

Most of these rights have long been abused by the military and the Maoists. But this week Gyanendra took it a step further. He said no Nepalese citizen could even claim he had those rights any more.

In a joint statement Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said: "Nepal's last state of emergency in 2001-2002 had led to an explosion of serious human rights violations, including increased extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and a breakdown in the rule of law." The new state of emergency, the human rights groups said, put "the Nepalese people at even greater risk of gross human rights abuses".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10009422

There are accounts of students being fired on in one town, and of numerous arrests of potential demonstrators around the country.



Nepal's national human rights commission says that after students demonstrated in the central town of Pokhara on Tuesday, the army raided their hostel at around midnight.

The commission says crying was heard from inside amid the sound of shooting and that it believes many students had been injured.

At least 250 students were believed to have been detained.
21 leaders of Nepal's biggest party, the Nepali Congress, were arrested in the western town of Kanchanpur.

The party's general secretary was being held in another western town and many district-level party leaders were taken into custody in eastern Nepal.

FROM BBC
There are accounts of students being fired on in one town, and of numerous arrests of potential demonstrators around the country.

The media is under to total censorship with armed troops stationed in television news rooms.

The king says the moves are needed to protect Nepal from its Maoist rebels.

The rebels, who control substantial rural areas of the country, are fighting for a communist republic.

Phone lines and internet links remain cut, so news of a strike called by the Maoists has not reached the public.

'Sound of shooting'

The BBC's Charles Haviland in the capital, Kathmandu, says it is becoming clear that as the king, backed by the army, tightens his grip on power, sources of dissent are being ruthlessly blocked.


A rare display of defiance in Kathmandu


Eyewitness: Scared to protest
Analysis: India's fears
Media divisions on crisis

Nepal's national human rights commission says that after students demonstrated in the central town of Pokhara on Tuesday, the army raided their hostel at around midnight.

The commission says crying was heard from inside amid the sound of shooting and that it believes many students had been injured.

At least 250 students were believed to have been detained.

Regional BBC reporters who have crossed into India to file reports say 21 leaders of Nepal's biggest party, the Nepali Congress, were arrested in the western town of Kanchanpur.

The party's general secretary was being held in another western town and many district-level party leaders were taken into custody in eastern Nepal.

Other human rights sources told the BBC that nearly 70 people were being detained at armed police force headquarters in Kathmandu.

Reports critical of the state of emergency declared on Tuesday have been banned for six months, according to a notice in the main daily newspaper.

Our correspondent says that at one major newspaper house, 19 army officers have been checking articles word for word, while armed troops are in attendance at the sister television station next door.

Talks or else?

The king's new government has told the rebels to return to talks or face other measures.

NEPAL IN CRISIS

June 2001 - Gyanendra is crowned king following royal massacre
July 2001 - Sher Bahadur Deuba becomes prime minister following Maoist violence
Oct 2002 - King Gyanendra sacks Deuba and assumes executive power
June 2004 - Deuba reappointed prime minister in place of Surya Bahadur Thapa
Feb 2005 - Deuba sacked, king assumes direct power

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Maoists ruled out any possibility of talks with the king.

It is not clear what the king has in mind if the rebels fail to re-enter peace negotiations.

The rebels had refused to hold negotiations with the last government, saying they needed a direct dialogue with the king.

Now they have condemned the clampdown.

The king's moves have been criticised by the UN, the US, the UK, India and rights groups.

He says he had to act as the government failed to protect Nepal from the Maoists.

Meanwhile, the US state department has advised American citizens against travelling to Nepal.

A planned summit of South Asian leaders was postponed on Wednesday, after India pulled out mainly because of concerns at the turmoil in Nepal.

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