The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, June 11, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

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Probe panel gets four more days

Kathmandu, June 10
The high-level committee, probing the June 1 killing of Nepal’s King Birendra and eight other royals, was today given a four-day extension to gather more evidence, palace sources said.

The two-member committee, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice K.P. Upadhyaya, was to have submitted its report today after a three-day probe.

The extension was given by King Gyanendra to allow the panel to gather more evidence and complete its inquiry, the sources said.

During its investigations that began on Friday, a week after the palace massacre, the committee had visited the shooting site at Narayan Hity Palace and Birendra Military Hospital where the survivors are being treated, besides talking to royals, including Queen Komal Rajya Lakshmi Devi and other eyewitnesses.

The committee has been armed with sweeping powers to examine royal witnesses and carry out ballistic tests of weapons used.

The committee has the Speaker of the Lower House, Mr Taranath Ranabhat, as its other mentor.

The committee’s work was delayed following the resignation of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Madhav Nepal, from it, questioning constitutional procedures that led to its appointment by the new King following widespread violence by protesters demanding an impartial inquiry in the palace killings. PTI

Little faith in probe panel
Pushpa Adhikari

Kathmandu, June 10
An air of sadness and uncertainty lingers on the streets with mourners continuing to offer flowers and vermilion to portraits of the slain royal family members.
Nepalese continue to pour in to the capital to pay their last respects. Gyani Acharya (70), travelled with her son from Sindhupalchok district, some 70 km east of the capital, to Narayan Hiti Palace.

Gopal Shrestha, a shopkeeper in downtown Kathmandu, walks 3 km every day to a portrait in front of the royal palace to observe a one-minute silence in memory of the King.

“I do not believe a son can kill his father. I heard that Crown Prince “sarkar” was very nice and obedient. There must be a conspiracy,” 45-year-old Shrestha says.

He does not believe the high-level committee set up to probe the massacre will ever be able to find the truth. “Even if they find or suspect something, they will never be able to report it to the public.”

Like Shrestha, most Nepalese have been plunged into uncertainty about their equation with new monarch King Gyanendra. The King, the younger brother of King Birendra, is not known to mix much with the public. Some are even scared that the incident could sabotage Nepal’s 12-year-old democratic system.

“People are keen to know the truth about the event, whether it was an accident or incident,” says Jhalanath Khanal, chief of the International Department of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).

“I do not personally believe that then Crown Prince Dipendra did all this, and there is no evidence to back up this claim. I hope the investigation committee will be able to bring out the truth,” he says.

Meanwhile, the two-member committee appointed by the King and headed by the Supreme Court Chief Justice visited the site of the carnage at the palace. IANS