Opposition to King grows in Nepal
Kathmandu, May 3. (AP): Nepal on Monday freed the last two top political leaders who were detained when King Gyanendra grabbed power in February, but extended the detention of 175 lower-level politicians and activists, officials said.
The authorities also restored some mobile telephone service, three months after severing it under emergency rule to prevent the opposition from organizing anti-government rallies.
The king is under strong pressure from foreign governments to restore democracy and has showed some signs of seeking reconciliation with political rivals in recent days. On Saturday, he lifted the emergency rule he declared on Feb. 1, though he still tightly controls the government.
Authorities on Monday released Madhav Kumar Nepal and Amrit Bohara of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), the country's biggest communist party, said Katmandu administrative chief Baman Prasad Neupane.
Nepal was general-secretary and Bohara a politburo member of the party.
``The king may have announced withdrawing emergency rule, but in reality there are still restrictions and many politicians continue to be in jails,'' Nepal told reporters after his release.
``Unless the king gives up direct rule, restores powers back to the people and frees all political prisoners, there can be no dialogue between the political parties and the king,'' he said.
Residents of Katmandu also wanted full restoration of mobile telephone service. On Monday, state-owned monopoly Nepal Telecom Mobile restored only 34,000 of the 248,000 mobile phone numbers that had been in service when the emergency was imposed.
Nepal Telecom Director Madan Shakya said the rest of the connections will be restored in phases. It was not immediately clear whether the company would delay restoring the mobile phones of politicians.
Earlier Monday, police officers were removed from the houses of Nepal and Bohara. During their house arrest, they were not allowed to meet anyone, and could see only government-run newspapers and broadcasts.
The two were among top political leaders detained in a wave arrests in February to head off protests and opposition to Gyanendra's takeover. All of the other top political leaders already have been released, but hundreds of lower-level political leaders and activists remain in detention.
The Home Ministry said in a statement that it was extending the detentions of 175 of them, but did not give a reason. They include Ram Chandra Poudel, Narhari Acharya, Laxman Ghimire and Madhu Acharya of the Nepali Congress party, and Krishna Pahadi, a prominent human rights activist.
The king's critics condemned the move.
``This is only another proof that despite lifting emergency rule there is still no freedom and the king is still going after his opponents,'' said Basanta Gautam, a spokesman for the Nepali Congress party.
The monarch fired the government, suspended civil liberties and seized absolute power on Feb. 1, saying the country's political leaders had failed to adequately prepare for parliamentary elections or quell an anti-monarchist communist insurgency.
The king's lifting of emergency rule Saturday ended some of the sweeping powers granted to the security forces and reinstated some civil liberties.
However, censorship of the media continues, and a dozen journalists remain in jail for criticizing the monarchy. Cable operators are still banned from airing Indian news channels, which have been critical of the king's actions.
Although the constitution limits emergency rule to three months _ a period which expired Sunday _ the king had been widely expected to extend it.
The lifting of the emergency followed the king's return on Friday from visits to China, Indonesia and Singapore, where leaders pressed him to restore democracy.
International
Deux jours après la levée de l'état d'urgence au Népal par le roi Gyanendra, le gouvernement népalais a levé les mesures d'assignation à résidence qui frappaient Madhav Kumar Nepal, secrétaire général du Parti communiste du Népal (CPN UML, ''Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist Leninist''), et Amrit Bohara, membre du bureau politique de cette formation.

MM. Nepal et Bohara avaient été assignés à résidence aussitôt après l'entrée en vigueur de l'état d'urgence, le 1 février dernier.

S'exprimant au cours d'une conférence de presse, peu après sa libération, M. Nepal a lancé un appel à tous les partis politiques népalais pour lancer une initiative commune en faveur de la restauration des droits de l'homme et de la démocratie dans le pays. Il a en outre dénoncé le maintien de mesures d'exception dans le pays et la prolongation du séjour en prison de divers hommes politiques (''The king may have announced withdrawing emergency rule, but in reality there are still restrictions and many politicians continue to be in jails''), affirmant en outre qu'aucun dialogue ne pourrait être entamé avec le roi tant que celui-ci ne rendrait pas le pouvoir au peuple et ne libèrerait pas tous les prisonniers politiques (''Unless the king gives up direct rule, restores powers back to the people and frees all political prisoners, there can be no dialogue between the political parties and the king'').

Le ministère de l'Intérieur publiait pendant ce temps-là un communiqué annonçant, sans en donner les raisons, une prolongation de la détention de 175 détenus politiques.