Nepalese peace broker Koirala dies

Girija Prasad Koirala, the former Nepalese Prime Minister who brokered the 2006 peace deal that ended a 10-year conflict with Maoist rebels, died on Saturday aged 85. He had been suffering from respiratory disease and passed away in Kathmandu around midday. Thousands of people gathered at his home to pay their respects.

Photo: Reuters

G P Koirala, who served as Prime Minister four times, was pivotal in establishing peace with Maoist rebels who had waged a campaign of violence which lasted 10 years.

“Koirala, was a mass leader and a statesmen, whose knowledge and wisdom guided the polity of Nepal in the right direction at critical junctures in the country’s history,” said India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Koirala’s political career began in the late 1940s and he was apprehended numerous times by authorities for supporting democratic rule, before spending eight years in prison from 1960.

He became Nepal’s first Prime Minister in elections in 1991, helping to lead demonstrations against the rule of the king.

Then in April 2006 he supported Maoist rebels to help force former king Gyanendra to surrender his power.

The Maoists won elections in 2008, overthrowing a 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, transforming Nepal into a secular republic.

His body will lie in state at the national stadium from Sunday with his funeral to be held at the Pashupatinath Hindu temple in Kathmandu.