Nepal: Arrests for Publishing Maoist Views; More on Killings Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Thursday June 7 11:39 AM ET (via yahoo) Nepal Comes to Terms with the Unbelievable By David Fox KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Witnesses to the bloody slaughter of Nepal's royal family confirmed on Thursday what many people in the kingdom had feared to believe -- their Crown Prince mowed down his family in a drunken rage before shooting himself. Captain Rajiv Shahi, a member of the royal family by marriage, went public with his account of what happened in the palace without waiting for an official inquiry ordered by newly crowned King Gyanendra to begin its work. The government and palace line remains "it was an accident," but Shahi's news conference at a military hospital clearly had official sanction of some kind. "What motivated him to do this I am not sure," said Captain Rajiv Shahi, who is married to one of the daughters of late King Birendra's youngest brother and a doctor in the army. "But then it was Crown Prince Dipendra who murdered the King. Anybody who touches the King is no more what he used to be. He is just a murderer." Shahi told a packed news conference in the capital Kathmandu, how Dipendra staggered drunkenly and occasionally fell as he shot his family with a variety of assault rifles. His version of events was confirmed separately by Maheswar Kumar Singh, the late king's uncle who was also present and who separately told the BBC: "One hundred percent, I am really sorry to say, it has been done by him. I've seen it. "THE FIRST SHOT" "I remember he fired the first shot. It was at the ceiling, I think, and then immediately after...kkrrr, kkrrr," he said, mimicking the sound of an automatic rifle. Shahi said Dipendra admitted earlier he was drunk. "He told me that he was a little intoxicated. At that time, since it was a family gathering, we thought it best to take him to his room. So his younger brother, myself and Prince Paras (his cousin) escorted him, carried him." But Dipendra returned, wearing battle fatigues, to begin his bloody slaughter. Shahi used a whiteboard to draw a diagram of the scene of Friday's bloodbath, and occasionally had to compose himself as he recalled the details. He told how he held a jacket to the dying king's neck to try to stem the flow of blood from a bullet wound. The king's stomach wound, he decided, needed less attention. Family friends who had spoken to survivors said they believed Dipendra had been driven to breaking point by his parents' opposition to his choice of bride. Ten people, including Dipendra, died on Friday or later from wounds suffered in the massacre. The incident has left the impoverished Himalayan country in crisis. New King Gyanendra, confronted by riots after his coronation, has yet to win over a traditionally loyal population. The government is equally insecure in its tenure. Many ordinary Nepalis, who revere their royal family as gods, refused to believe earlier reports blaming Dipendra. As some voiced lingering doubts, most were waiting for the results of the official inquiry before closing one of the ugliest chapters in the history of the mountain kingdom. A member of that inquiry told Reuters the panel had yet to begin work, but would get to the truth in around three days. Commenting on Shahi's testimony, Tranath Ranabhatt, the speaker of the lower house, said: "We don't consider what individuals say outside (the investigation). "DETAILED REPORT" "Ours will be an authoritative and detailed report." The man appointed to head the inquiry, Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya, said it could take longer than expected. "I think it will be difficult to complete the investigation in three days," he told Reuters. "If we don't finish in time we may have to request for a short extension." As the clouds which herald the start of the monsoon season gathered in the hills around the Kathmandu valley, the capital was calm. A Web site, www.nepalnews.com, was carrying details of Shahi's news conference by late Thursday, almost the first Nepali media to refer to the massacre by anything other than the official line. It seems certain official media will have to follow suit despite the arrest of the editor and two publishers of the country's leading newspaper on Wednesday after they published an article by a Maoist leader. Less certain is what the reaction of the people will be. The slain king was hugely popular, particularly after ceding absolute power in favor of a constitutional monarchy in 1990. Many had regarded him as an anchor of stability in the kingdom of 22 million people, which is racked by poverty, political feuding and a bloody Maoist rebellion. Some doubt the new king could command the same respect, and even more are wary of the fact that his son, who is next in line to the throne despite not yet being named crown prince, has a reputation of a ne'er-do-well and playboy. But Paras, who escaped uninjured from the massacre, comes off well in Shahi's account. "Had it not been because of Prince Paras, probably there would not have been so many survivors that day," Shahi said without elaborating. One analyst said the legitimacy of the monarchy could be hurt beyond repair if the Nepali people refused to believe that Dipendra was to blame for the carnage. "If they don't tell the truth there could be a revolution against the monarchy. It's a dead end," political science professor Lok Raj Baral at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University told Reuters. "The truth has to come out." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-06.07.01-23:59:12-19930