Nepal political parties call for mass protest, halt to tax payments

Sun Apr 16, 10:01 AM ET


AFP
Nepal's sidelined political parties called for a massive pro-democracy protest in the capital on Thursday and urged citizens to stop paying taxes and utility bills to help bring down the royal government.

"We appeal to people from all walks of life to participate in the (mass demonstration) on April 20," a coordinating committee for seven major parties said in a statement on Sunday.

"As a part of a non-cooperation movement against the autocratic royal government, we call upon the taxpayers not to pay any kind of taxes to the government and also for consumers not to pay anything for water, electricity, telephone or other services."

The call was made on the 11th straight day of strikes and protests against King Gyanendra's seizure of power 14 months ago. The stoppages have created shortages of food and fuel in the capital and sent prices soaring.

The parties also called on Nepalis working abroad to halt remittances to family members for the time being.

In the last fiscal year, Nepalis officially sent back one billion dollars and another billion dollars through informal channels. The remittances are crucial for the economy along with tourism and farming.

The parties also urged a boycott of businesses owned by the king and the royal family, including a five-star hotel and a tobacco company, and asked donor countries to halt aid which accounts for a major portion of the annual budget.

They asked Maoists rebels with whom they have formed a loose alliance to join the latest move to force the king to restore democracy.

On Sunday gasoline was scarce and there were long lines at the army and police-run pumps, the only ones still open. Prices for vegetables have soared on dwindling supplies.

The parties ousted when Gyanendra sacked the government started the latest strike on April 6. It included a unilateral ceasefire by the rebels in the capital.

The protests have since snowballed into daily clashes even though riot police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges against demonstrators.

The government initially tried to prevent large-scale protests by banning public gatherings, calling day and night curfews, cutting mobile phones and rounding up hundreds of political activists.

Under the sustained pressure, the king last Friday called for elections and police have shied away from enforcing a ban on all gatherings.

Around a dozen hotel and restaurant workers were arrested after more than 1,000 protesters took to the streets in the tourist area of Thamel on Sunday, an AFP reporter said.

Other small rallies were staged in the capital and on the main ring road. Opposition parties said the demonstrations were growing.

"Our movement will continue until we achieve our goals. People across the country have shown their support to our ongoing movement," said Yogesh Bhattarai, a spokesman for the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist).

The call for a general strike meant public transport was unavailable Sunday, with inter-city and local bus stands deserted and almost all businesses closed.

"Very few trucks supplying food have entered the Kathmandu valley over the past few days," said Binaya Shrestha, planning officer of the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board which supplies 325 wholesalers in the capital.

Housewife Rajnai Kumar said the price of onions rose to 100 Nepalese rupees (1.38 dollars) a kilogram (2.2 pounds) from 25 rupees two days ago.

"How are we going to survive if the price continues to soar?" she said.

Officials at state-owned Nepal Oil said the strike had cut supplies to the capital.

"Not a single oil tanker has made it to the capital since the first day of the strike," a company official said on condition of anonymity.

Gyanendra has justified his power grab, which has drawn international criticism, by saying political parties had failed to crush the Maoist revolt that has claimed at least 12,500 lives in the past decade.