Portal:India/Today's selected article/April 20, 2006



Nepal is a landlocked Himalayan country in South Asia, bordering Tibet to the north and India to the south, east and west. Nepal has the distinction of being the world's only Hindu state, with over eighty percent of the people following this faith. For a relatively small country, the Nepali landscape is uncommonly diverse, ranging from the humid Terai in the south to the lofty Himalayas in the north. Nepal boasts eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest on the border with Tibet. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. After a long and complex history, during which the region has splintered and coalesced under a variety of absolute rulers, Nepal became a constitutional monarchy in 1990. The Maoists have sought to overthrow the monarchy and establish their own form of republic; this has led to a civil war in which more than 12,000 people have died. On February 1, 2005 with the stated pretext of quashing the insurgents and restoring elected democracy to the country, the king declared a "state of emergency" and assumed the role of Chairman of the government, assuming all executive powers. The King's government subsequently released party leaders and officially ended the state of emergency in May 2005. (more...)