Smooth transition expected in Nepal

New Delhi, June 3: Official circles here expect a smooth transition in Nepal after Friday’s royal massacre and do not apprehend any adverse fall-out for Indo-Nepalese relations if the Regent Gyanendra finally succeeds King Dipendra, who is on life-support system and considered unlikely to recover.

King Dipendra, eldest son of King Birendra, who is said to have pumped bullets at the royal couple and six other members of the family and later shot himself, is struggling for life in a military hospital in Kathmandu.

“Dipendra is clinically dead with little hopes of pulling through,” sources here said.

Gyanendra, 53, younger brother of assassinated King Birendra, is expected to ascend to the post of the constitutional monarch of Nepal, subject to the Government State Council giving its consent. Since the procedures for succession had been followed very strictly inspite of the scale of tragedy, Gyanendra is unlikely to face major hitches.

Though not having directly held any position for dealing with India, Gyanendra, an intellectual, has had frequent interaction with Indian experts on environment-related issues, the sources said. While in some quarters, questions have been raised about his possible hand in circulation of anti-India Nepalese propaganda material since the advent of democracy there a decade back, they said such reports had been doing the rounds even earlier but were not substantiated. Analysts were of the view that Indo-Nepalese relations, which have moved on the track of normalcy marked by a series of high-level exchanges, would remain unaffected under the new dispensation in the Himalayan Kingdom.

Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad says he does not foresee any radical shift in that country’s stand towards India. A well-read man and a lover of Indian classical music, Gyanendra is said to have a progressive outlook on international relations, they said.

Gyanendra was away in the winter palace of Pokhra and could not attend the Friday dinner when all immediate members of the royal family get-together.

Though the Himlayan kingdom is in a state of shock, the people will rally around to facilitate a smooth transition, the sources said, observing this was not a political issue but a royal tragedy. (PTI)