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KATHMANDU Nepali Times (independent),
June 7: At this moment of instability and lawlessness, many
may be tempted to fish in muddy waters. But doing so would only
invite more grief to the people and the country....The question
now is not tied to an individual, party, or ideology, but to
the existence and future of the entire nation. At this moment
of great tragedy and grim crisis, any force, whether political
or nonpolitical, that pushes the nation into further anarchy
should not be tolerated....If the nation does not survive this
crisis, neither will we and our various selfish ambitions.
—Hari Roka
NEW DELHI The Statesman
(independent), June 6: That there’s more to the explanation
of the blood-soaked royal dining room in Kathmandu than was
officially provided has been clear almost from day one. Now,
with experienced observers putting the weight of their assessment
behind what plain logic seemed to have indicated, the most crucial
question for New Delhi is how to react to the new royalty....Indian
diplomacy needs to take into account three basic factors in
reacting to the Nepalese situation. First, the strong suggestions
of a violent palace coup. Second, possibilities of India’s
not-so-friendly neighbors increasing their activities in Nepal.
Third, and very strongly related to the second, Indo-Nepalese
economic relations.
KOLKATA Bartaman (Bengali
language), June 6: The coronation of Nepal’s new
king, Gyanendra, had to be held by imposing a curfew....The
military had to be summoned to maintain peace....Unrest is
being created by a powerful organization that aims to bring
an end to monarchy....The organization is the Maoist communists
who have close links with the ISI [the military Directorate
for Inter-Services Intelligence] of Pakistan....There is a
deep conspiracy behind the killings....It would be very bad
for India if the Maoist force captures power. China will be
able to use Nepal for anti-Indian activities....India must
take proper security measures based on this reality.
TURIN La Stampa (centrist),
June 5:
Gyanendra is, since yesterday, the new king....Among the many
explanations that have been given for the assassination of
the royal family, the one that convinces most people is conspiracy....The
Rasputin of the case is Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala—Hindu,
conservative, and with many sympathies among Indian nationalists—who
has never demonstrated enthusiasm for the democratic attitude
of King Birenda. Gyanendra, say the people, could be an easier
substitute, one with a more conservative attitude.
—Françoise Chipaux
JAKARTA Kompas (independent),
June 8: In Shakespeare’s classical drama, the young
prince Hamlet who was in a state of “love intoxication”
went crazy and slew his own royal family....Dipendra (the
Nepalese crown prince) was upset and went mad because the
king and queen refused to accept Devyani Rana as his future
wife. The black-haired aristocratic Rana was described as
beautiful, talented, smart, and very suitable to become a
queen.
BLENHEIM, New Zealand The
Marlborough Express (conservative daily), June 7:
Eighty percent of Nepal’s people are desperately poor
subsistence farmers living in semifeudal conditions who live
short, miserable lives in great squalor, trapped at the bottom
of a rigid caste system and largely ignored by governments
in Kathmandu. It is precisely their own impoverished and downtrodden
supporters who will pay the heaviest price if the Maoists’
war expands and prospers, but they have a lot of support.
Nepal is probably in for a hard time—and for a long time.
Continues Above 
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| Nepalese
women tend a shrine built to honor King Birendra and his
family (Photo: AFP). |
BANGKOK
Krungthep Turakij (center-left, business), June 7: Nepal
is another country where kingship is dying. The new king, Gyanendra,
is only a cover-up for a coup d’état putting an
end to the monarchy. The king figure is needed at the interval
before the real mastermind makes his appearance....If the country
lost two kings in three days, it won’t take long to count
down the last day of the new one. Nepal will be the next country
with no king.
—Chakkrit Permpoon
OSLO
Aftenposten (conservative), June 6: A whole royal
family shot dead while dining in their palace....This is an
unparalleled event. Not since the czar and his family were
mowed down after the Russian Revolution has the world experienced
such a princely massacre....The event is all the more harrowing
for the inhabitants of Nepal that the head of this last Hindu
royal kingdom is divine, an incarnation of the god Vishnu;
that the crown prince, according to latest information, went
amok because he was refused marriage with the woman he loved;
and that the romance had run aground because of investigations
made by court astrologers. Not even with the wildest fantasy
could a novelist have invented such an unrealistic story.
—Ulf Andenæs
HAVANA
Juventud Rebelde (Communist Youth), June 4: Adding
to widespread mistrust among the general population about
what really happened last Friday in Kathmandu are declarations
issued by Nepalese rebel forces, which have been active in
the Himalayan nation for the last five years. According to
them, the massacre of the royal family is the result of a
conspiracy among conservative forces inside and outside Nepal;
they accuse Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and international
Islamic fundamentalist groups of having eliminated King Birendra
because of his liberal beliefs.
ZAGREB Vjesnik (pro-government),
June 4: The drama of the Nepal royal family is developing
expected twists and turns and more and more unconvincing versions....According
to two versions, everything...was caused by Dipendra’s
intention to marry his chosen one from the aristocratic family
Rana that ruled Nepal until 1951....The Rana family is the
deadly enemy of the royal family. That Dipendra’s chosen
bride is a Rana is another Shakespearean motif. The love of
the Nepalese Romeo and Juliet could have calmed and solved
the animosity between the two families....In any case, along
with the royal victims, the truth also died and will probably
never be discovered.
—Tomislav Butorac
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NAIROBI
Daily Nation (independent), June 5: As we mark
20 years of HIV/AIDS, the message coming out of the United
Nations is grim: The epidemic is still in its early stages
in many parts of the world....For us in Kenya, the statistics
point to between 600 and 700 deaths daily….Kenya may
have declared AIDS a national disaster, but there are still
indications that we are not moving fast enough to mobilize
support for those living with HIV/AIDS or to head off new
infections.…We must mobilize every single sector to play
a more active role in dismantling discrimination against people
affected by AIDS, making drugs available at affordable prices,
and focusing on preventive measures.
EDINBURGH The Scotsman
(independent), June 5: When the emerging virus was first
reported in an obscure medical journal in the United States
20 years ago today, five young gay men from Los Angeles were
the victims. Nkosi Johnson, the 12-year-old South African
who achieved worldwide fame when he challenged the AIDS policies
of his country’s president, is one of the most high-profile
cases, indicating the ability of the disease to strike anyone
down. He died on Friday. Yet after the stark tombstone adverts
of the 1980s warned us “Don’t die of ignorance,”
the epidemic didn’t materialize in the UK on anything
like the scale predicted. That, and reports of the success
of combination therapies in Western countries in recent years,
seem to have lulled people into a false sense of security.
NEW DELHI The Indian Express
(liberal), June 7: At an international conference on HIV/AIDS,
an Indian delegate boasted that his country was relatively
better protected from the disease because Indians were a moral
people who were faithful to their spouses. While it may be
tempting to believe him, statistics have a nasty way of puncturing
such fantasies. According to the latest data from the National
AIDS Control Organization, India is home to an estimated 3.86
million people afflicted by this condition….Given these
figures...it seems there is nothing that is more likely to
further the spread of the disease than complacency and self-delusion,
both of which we seem to have rich reserves of….When
it comes to HIV/AIDS, the ostrich act does not work.
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TOKYO Mainichi Shimbun
(centrist), May 31: Since it was first reported in June
1981, 58 million people have contracted HIV and 22 million
have died. There were more than 36 million HIV sufferers in
2000. In eight African countries, more than 15 percent of
the population has HIV....According to the World Health Organization,
the numbers of those with the disease have increased 50 percent
since 1991, and 95 percent are in Africa and in developing
countries. Although Asia has fewer sufferers than Africa...the
numbers of those with the disease may surge.
SINGAPORE The Straits Times
(independent), April 27: In the West, they should concentrate
their efforts on getting more funding for research on an AIDS
vaccine. Since the discovery of AIDS 20 years ago, worldwide
funding on such research has amounted to little, compared
with the billions spent on researching AIDS treatment. The
reason is simple: vaccines...are far less profitable than
medication....That being the case, drug companies cannot be
expected to take the lead on vaccine research; governments
and foundations must. They have combined to increase funding
in recent years, but more needs to be done.
ALBERTA Calgary Herald
(leftist), June 6: As North America marked the 20th anniversary
Tuesday of the first diagnosis of what has come to be known
as AIDS, activists warned that future generations will demand
an accounting for why the disease was allowed to ravage huge
tracts of the developing world....AIDS continues unabated
in the developing world, where the toll promises to be so
high as to be almost unfathomable….World bodies such
as the United Nations...have warned that the disease could
destabilize whole countries.
—Helen Branswell
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