Despite cold and rain, about sixty people from the
small Nepali community in Vancouver, British Columbia
gathered at the Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver on
February 6 to protest King Gyanendra's assumption of
executive power in Nepal. Standing on the steps which
Vancouverites have long used as a forum to express
their dissatisfaction, the demonstrators carried
banners demanding "Participatory Democracy",
"Unconditional release of all political
prisoners," and an end to the "Autocratic Regime
in Nepal."

The demonstration, organized by members of the Nepali
community in Vancouver concerned with the democracy in
Nepal, was in response to King Gyanendraís
February 1 declaration of a state of Emergency. The
King has dismissed the Prime Minister and Government,
and put the PM, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and all leaders of
the political parties under either house arrest or
military detention in unknown locations. The King
suspended fundamental freedoms of speech, expression,
and assembly and imposed restrictions on the movement
of people within Nepal and from outside. In a royal
proclamation the King denounced the political parties
while claiming to champion democracy. He has promised
to give more power to the army despite ample evidence
of its widespread violation of human rights in Nepal.

For over fifty years the people of Nepal have aspired
to a democratic polity. In 1959 they succeeded in
promulgating a constitution based on a multi-party
system, only to have it abrogated in 1960 by King
Mahendra. In 1990, after intense and prolonged
struggle they again achieved a democratic constitution
but have since had little opportunity to enjoy its
benefits. Soon after becoming King in 2001, Gyanendra
declared a state of emergency and suspended
parliament. These measures were justified as necessary
to counter the increasing strength of the Maoist
insurgency that had been building since 1996. In 2004
the King was compelled by widespread agitation to
reappoint Prime Minister Sher BahadurDeuba, whom he
had dismissed in 2002. Deuba's task was to initiate
talks with the insurgents and to hold elections by
March 2005. Meanwhile, the Royal Nepal Army, with the
military and financial support of India, Britain, and
the US, has been engaged in a brutal
counter-insurgency that has not only failed to contain
the insurgency but has escalated the violence and the
violation of human rights.

The King's arbitrary and autocratic move is a serious
blow to the democratic aspirations of the Nepali
people. This cannot be masked by the King's rhetoric
that he is saving the people of Nepal from both the
Maoists and the parliamentary parties.

We join our voice with that of all democratic people
in Nepal in demanding an immediate end of "Emergency."
The only viable solution to the conflict lies in
political institutions consistent with the democratic
aspirations of the people of Nepal.