Nepal extends sweeping detention powers

The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance or TADO was introduced by a civilian-led government to combat an increasingly deadly Maoist insurgency. It has been extended on a six-monthly basis ever since.

"The king has given his assent to the extension of TADO for the next six months," the senior home ministry official said, requesting anonymity.

On February 1 Gyanendra dismissed a multi-party government led by Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba and seized control of Nepal, vowing to tackle the Maoist revolt that has claimed 11,000 lives since 1996.

TADO authorises security officials to hold anyone suspected of involvement in guerrilla activities for up to six months as well as to search residences.

Government officials say the act is needed to fight the rebels but human rights groups say it has led to widespread human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, Nepal's former premier who was sacked by King Gyanendra for failing to crush a Maoist revolt has called for greater international pressure on the monarch to restore democracy in the Himalayan kingdom.

"We are in really deep trouble, our people are suffering," Sher Bahadur Deuba said in an interview published Monday in The Times of India.

"There has to be much greater international pressure (on Gyanendra to give up power)," said Deuba, speaking to the newspaper in Kathmandu.

Nepal authorities freed Deuba last month after six weeks of house arrest.

The country's political parties have been virtually muzzled by emergency rule imposed by the king February 1 outlawing freedom of speech and police have quickly broken up demonstrations to protest Gyanendra's power grab.