Friday, February 25 2005 11:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: In the first-ever interaction with Nepalese media after his power grab, Nepal King Gyanendra yesterday (Feb 24, 2005) said that countries, which suspended aid such as India should "tell us what their agenda is" and claimed he was fighting for democracy and against terrorism.

"When we are fighting for democracy and against terrorism, Nepali people want to know what our 'friends' are thinking. We want our friends to help us by word of mouth and by deed. If that is not the agenda they want to go along, then they should tell us what their agenda is," the private Nepal news website has quoted the King as telling a select group of Nepali media at the Narayanhiti royal palace.

"Now, clearly the message is some of our friends have decided to suspend aid, that too the military aid, and Nepali people want to know what their message is," he said, without directly referring to India and Britain, who had suspended military aid to Nepal following the February 1 royal takeover.

"Are they telling us that we should not fight against terrorism, that we should put our democracy into jeopardy?" he asked.

"When we have chosen to uphold democracy and fight against terrorism, why are they shying away from helping us? I can see one thing clearly emerging out of it. Our objectives are the same. We are going to meet somewhere. But we have chosen may be different paths in attaining that objective."

"We expect our friends to understand that we are moving in that path," the King said, adding, "We should not be surprised that some of our friends have expressed dissatisfaction with our move but some of our friends have welcomed it."

"They must say what they must say and we must do what we must do," Gyanendra said.

"We will no more tolerate terrorism and we want that political parties, too, should come up with clear views on this issue," he added.