Friday, April 7 2006 15:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: King Gyanendra, facing increasing protests against his direct rule over Nepal, today (Apr 07, 2006) urged factions in his Himalayan country to halt the conflict.

"Let us all pledge today to devote time for establishing permanent peace," the monarch said in the speech broadcast live on national television and radio from Birgunj, about 200 kilometers south of Kathmandu.

"It is the need of today to establish permanent peace, the king said, addressing a Hindu conference.

It was the first comments by the monarch who is facing daily protests from pro-democracy activists, major political parties and escalating violence from communist rebels.

The king did not refer to the dozens of protests in the capital Kathmandu and other parts of the country and a four-day general strike that began yesterday to pressure him to restore democracy.

Most of his speech was about Hinduism at the conference attended by priests, devotees and followers of the main religion in this nation of 27 million people.

As the king delivered his speech, hundreds of protesters clashed with police in Kathmandu and at least 150 of them were arrested in a crackdown.

The monarch says he was forced to seize power in February last year because of the growing communist insurgency, which has killed some 13,000 people since 1996. He has been under international pressure to restore democracy.

Key allies like United States, Japan and India have condemned the crackdown on protesters and urged the king to restore democracy.