Gyanendra of Nepal

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King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal (born July 7, 1947) has been the King of Nepal since June 4, 2001. Gyanendra came into power in unusual circumstances (See: Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah).

As the second son of King Mahendra, the infant Gyanendra was declared king for two months (1950–1951) when the rest of his family was in exile in India, but was not internationally recognized. His grandfather Tribhuvan was returned to the throne shortly after, when the Rana family conceded power.

Fifty years later, when his nephew Dipendra purportedly staged a murder suicide, killing most of the family, including King Birendra (Dipendra's father, and Gyanendra's brother), Gyanendra became king again. The killings by the late crown prince Dipendra has remained a controversy. The official investigation report mentions that Dipendra was drunk and was not able to control himself and yet it claims that within less than half an hour he carried four weapons and fired indiscriminantly. Moreover, Dipendra was right handed and the entry wound was found on the left temple. All these issues have made people suspect that it was not Dipendra who killed the royal family but somebody else. Given these circumstances, some Nepalese have lost the faith they had in the monarch as an incarnation of a god.

King Gyanendra is married to Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah, they have two children:

Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev (Born December 30, 1971)
Princess Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi (Born February 29, 1978)

As king he has sought to exercise active control over the government, twice in three years dismissing the Prime Minister to appoint governments of his choosing. His brother Birendra had negotiated a constitutional monarchy in 1990 in which he, as King, played a minor role in government, and Gyanendra's changes to this constitutional settlement have been met with censure from critics of his government. Gyanendra took control once again on February 1, 2005, accusing prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's government of failing to make arrangements for parliamentary elections and of being unable to restore peace in the country, which currently suffers from widespread terrorism and insurgency from Maoists. [1] Gyanendra promised that peace and democratic institutions would be restored within three years, but the insurgents' threat of "a massive bloodbath" if elections were announced dissuaded Deuba from doing so, and their opposition will likely continue in the face of whoever leads the government under Gyanendra [2] [3] (who for the time being appears to be serving as his own prime minister). The period of direct rule has been accompanied by what critics claim is repression of dissent [4]. International organisations have expressed grave concerns about the safety of journalists and human rights activists, following the king's decision to restrict civil liberties, including freedom of the press, the constitutional protection against censorship and the right against preventive detention [5], seen by Gyanendra, claiming "democracy and progress contradict one another", as a necessary step in restoring peace to the country.

In April 2006 constitutionalists staged protests and strikes in Kathmandu against Gyanendra's direct rule. These protests drew support from journalists, lawyers, and other groups. The royal government responded by passing a curfew, which police enforced violently by beating protesters with canes or firing on them. The government's response drew condemnation from several countries including India and the United States. On April 21 Gyanendra announced that he would yield executive authority to a new prime minister chosen by the political parties to oversee the return of democracy. (See also: April 2006 Nepalese General strike.)

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