King's men free Deuba, 18 leaders in Nepal

Posted online: Saturday, March 12, 2005 at 0253 hours IST

KATHMANDU, MARCH 11: On a day of dramatic developments, Nepalese authorities freed former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and 18 other political detainees, presumably to deflect some of international criticism being directed at King Gyanendra’s regime.

Deuba, who is also the president of Nepali Congress (Democratic) and former home minister Purna Bahadur Khadka walked free after being kept under house arrest for more than a month.

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Their release came just one day before Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey is due to leave for Geneva to attend the United Nations’ Human Rights Conference. And it comes less than 24 hours after Pandey was bluntly told by New Delhi that it would not be ‘‘business as usual’’ unless political detainees were freed.

But if the Gynanedra regime expected its latest move to buy it a breather domestically, it received a setback. Nepal’s political parties have decided to start a ‘‘fill the prisons’’ movement on March 14, and to launch public protests despite a ban on such gatherings.

Internationally, however, the news for the regime was somewhat better as Pakistan put a new spin to the situation by offering Nepal arms and high-tech expertise to tackle the Maoists. This comes in sharp contrast to the stand taken by Britain and India to halt military assistance to Nepal, which has imposed emergency and suspended all human rights.

“We are ready to provide arms if they are required by Nepal,” said outgoing Pakistani ambassador Zamir Akram yesterday.

He added that Pakistan too was facing a terrorist threat on its western border and had developed some expertise in countering militancy that it was willing to share with Nepal.

The offer from Pakistan, which does not have very high stakes in Nepal, could ease the pressure that India and Britain have been applying on the Himalayan kingdom. King Gyanendra’s regime is desperate for military assistance and had been giving in to some of the demands made by India.

(With PTI) Sphere: Related Content