22 February,2010 01:50 PM IST | | Agencies
Nepal's only pro-monarchist group on Monday enforced a near complete shutdown in the Kathmandu valley to demand a referendum on issues like restoration of the monarchy and timely drafting of the Constitution.
Vehicles were off the road, schools and colleges remained closed and main markets shut down as Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal had called for a general strike in three districts of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. However, shops in the interior parts of the city were open despite the strike which was largely peaceful except for some sporadic incidents of violence.
"We have organised the protests to demand referendum on three key issues: deciding the fate of monarchy, whether to reconvert Nepal into a Hindu state and whether to adopt a federal system," Rajaram Shrestha, central member of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, said.
It is for the first time that the pro-monarchist group has enforced a shut down in Kathmandu following the abolition of monarchy two years ago.
Nepal had abolished monarchy on May 28, 2008 through a voting in the 601-member Constituent Assembly. Gyanendra was the last representative of the centuries-old monarchy in the country.
After the success of the People's Movement, the former Hindu kingdom became a secular state by a parliamentary declaration. The group is opposed to Nepal's in-principle adoption of federal structure through the Interim Constitution of 2007, as it claims this would disintegrate the country.
Led by Home Minister of the erstwhile royal government Kamal Thapa, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal argues that the Constituent Assembly cannot decide the fate of monarchy and a referendum should be conducted on the issue. The other issues raised by the group are price hike, corruption and rising insecurity.
"The government and the Constituent Assembly will have to be dissolved if the Constitution is not drafted within the period," Kamal Thapa said.
The group is also planning to gherao Singh Durbar, the main administrative building that houses the Parliament and the Prime Minister's office, as part of its protest programme tomorrow.
