 After a week long communication block with the outside world, normal life in Kathmandu valley is returning back to normalcy.(image at left from Kathmandu Post Article on Telecommunications Restoration - please click to read more.)
The newly appointed government of Nepal plans peace talks with Maoist guerrillas who have battled successive governments. Communications have been restored in the country, and negotiators are being appointed to talk with the rebels, despite the fact that an increase in government actions against the rebels is also being initiated.
"(The government) is going to form a dialog committee that will hold a dialog with the Maoists soon," Culture and Aviation Minister Buddhiraj Bajracharya said, according to the Kathmandu Post.
While political leaders had been arrested after a state of emergency was declared and government dissolved, the King does not plan on banning political parties at this time. It was the inability of the previous government to deal with the rebels that led to the monarch sacking the government.
The rebels had maintained that they wanted to deal directly with the king, claiming that the government was simply a puppet. However, the rebels have also strongly condemned the assumption of power by the monarch and are now threatening to blockade the capital city of Kathmandu. Last august, using the threat of violence alone without having to actually use force, they were able to blockade the city, relying entirely on intimidation.
In the meantime, the foreign press has continued to condemn the emergency powers enacted by the king, citing the lack of a free press and the suspension of civil rights. there has been muted, but direct, condemnation of the king's actions within Nepal itself. Notably, the Kathmandu Post published an editorial asking the king to reconsider the curtailment of freedom of the press.
"As a legal entity governed by the law of the land, we are not in a position to challenge the government. Nor do we intend to do so. However, we strongly feel that the government should reconsider ... and let the media play its role in nurturing democracy," the editorial implored.
Journalists have noted that there are soldiers stationed in newsrooms censoring articles and deciding on whether they may be published or not.
In a related development, some 1,000 radio journalists have become jobless following the actions of last week prohibiting radio stations from broadcasting news bulletins. A The report in the Kantipur Daily, said that of 56 stations that had licenses, 41 of them were engaged in broadcasting news bulletins. One organization with 11 stations had to halt its operations entirely due to the newly enforced news blackout.
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