Nepal king should be tried, say Maoists

"There is no place for the King (Gyanendra) and he should be ousted," Pushpkamal Dahal, also known as "Prachanda," was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency on Saturday.

"The Nepalese people want to get rid of him as soon as possible. The people want the king to be tried in court and punished and all his wealth converted into national property," he said.

The rebels accuse King Gyanendra of trampling over the freedom of the people since he dismissed the government and seized power for himself in February 2005, and of brutally suppressing pro-democracy protests.

Nepal's parliament unanimously passed on Thursday a proclamation under which the government stripped King Gyanendra of political power and removed his control of the army.

The proclamation also declared Nepal a secular state, ending its unique status as the world's last Hindu kingdom, and ensured that the royal family would have to pay tax on properties and income.

Since his downfall, the government and Maoists have called a ceasefire and parliament has agreed to a rebel demand to hold elections for a special body that will rewrite the constitution and formally curtail the king's power.

Preparations for peace talks are well under way to end the decade-long Maoist insurgency that has claimed at least 12,500 lives, although the government has so far failed to announce a date for the negotiations.

Prachanda warned that his men would not hesitate to take up arms again if the Nepalese government repressed its people.

"As far as possible we are trying to resolve the crisis peacefully to empower the people but if that doesn't happen and again repression starts, we will have to take up the armed struggle again."

"We believe that this time such a situation will not arise because we have an understanding with the political parties," he said.

Prachanda said he was willing to reorganise his rebel army.

"We are ready to put our army under the United Nations or some other credible institution," he said.

"After a constituent assembly is elected, we can reorganise both the Nepalese army and the Maoists as per the decision of the constituent assembly," he said.

Meanwhile, extortion by Maoist rebels in Nepal is threatening hundreds of businesses still struggling to cope with months of political unrest, officials said yesterday.

They said about two dozen industries had been forced to close in the southern town of Birgunj and many others would follow suit if rebels did not stop making threats.

"The Maoists are demanding huge sums of money and intimidate the management to close plants," Bijay Sarawagi, chief of the local unit of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries told Reuters from Birgunj.