Nepal's king renews state of emergency

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was expelled from the Congress Party at the weekend

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's King Gyanendra has renewed emergency rule for another three months on the request of the prime minister, the Associated Press reports.

A statement from the royal palace Monday said the state of emergency, which lapsed Saturday after two previous three-month decrees, had been re-imposed at the request of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his council of ministers.

The emergency rule suppresses press freedom and freedom of public assembly and expression.

Nepal's constitution empowers the king to impose a state of emergency for three months on the prime minister's recommendation.

Deuba was expelled on Sunday by his party, the Nepali Congress, for trying to push a six-month extension of the emergency rule through parliament, then calling November 13 elections without the support of his faction-riddled party.

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The emergency rule also allows police and soldiers wide powers to detain anyone they suspect of sympathizing with the Maoist rebels who have fought since 1996 to overthrow the government.

Gyanendra first imposed the emergency on November 26, after the rebels withdrew from stalemated peace talks and resumed attacks on police stations and government targets. The king had then extended the emergency again in February.

A power struggle is now looming in the ruling Nepali Congress party following the Deuba expulsion, Reuters reports.

Political analysts say the row has more to do with infighting in the Nepali Congress, which has dominated the impoverished country's politics since Nepal became a multi-democracy in 1990, than extending emergency law.

Nepal has been riddled by political instability since it switched from being an absolute monarchy, having 11 governments in the past 12 years.

"This emergency debate is based on political rivalry," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the top-selling daily Kathmandu Post. "They're playing power politics with the emergency."

Human rights groups say there is a major overlap between the state of emergency and the anti-terrorist law, with both allowing 90-day detention without trial and giving security forces the right to restrict peoples' movements.

Freedom of expression

But advocates of emergency rule say it also allows the government far wider powers to curb freedom of expression and assembly than the anti-terrorist law.

A senior constitutional lawyer said Deuba could remain caretaker prime minister, despite his expulsion from the party, until the November 13 elections.

"According to our constitution, expulsion from the party does not affect his position as caretaker prime minister," Moti Kaji Sthapit told Reuters. "He can continue as prime minister until the next government is formed after the elections."

The Maoist revolt has deepened the economic woes of the picturesque country, already one of the world's 10 poorest nations, scaring away tourists and hitting investment.

The six-year-old fight by the Maoist rebels to topple the constitutional monarchy and install a communist republic has claimed more than 4,000 lives -- 2,000 in the past six months.

The political crisis is the latest to rock the world's only Hindu kingdom, which was devastated last June by a palace massacre in which popular King Birendra and nine other royals were gunned down by Crown Prince Dipendra, who later shot himself to death.