Nepal After the Massacre
The shocking murder of its royal family in June 2001 changed the course of Nepal’s history. On the massacre’s 25th anniversary, the country appears to be changing direction again.
It is a quarter of a century since Nepal’s crown prince Dipendra gunned down most of his family at a grim dinner party, and transformed his country’s future. Among the dead were his parents, King Birendra Shah and Queen Aishwarya, his sister Shruti, brother Nirajan, and five other relatives. Finally Dipendra himself was shot, in what the official inquest determined to be a suicide. Perhaps a military aide-de-camp put an end to the rampage. The right-handed prince was shot through his left temple, and among those in the know in Kathmandu a certain military officer is sometimes said to have killed him.
Why did Dipendra do it? He had bad habits with drugs and alcohol, and a fascination with guns. His parents had said he could not marry his girlfriend, an aristocratic woman whose lineage was objectionable. Possibly he hoped that after killing his family he could become king and marry whoever he liked.
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