(UPDATED 1217GMT 1803 NST)
KATHMANDU, Feb 26: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal cut the ribbon at the main gate of the Narayanhiti Palace Museum in the capital on Thursday to formally inaugurate the museum. The museum will formally open to the public from Friday. [break]
Speaking on the occasion Prime Minister Dahal said he would reopen the investigation into the 2001 Royal Palace massacre. He said that though officials informed that the Tribhuvan Sadan has been brought down as it was badly damaged during the shootout, he believed that this was done with the motive of eliminating evidence of the massacre.
"As the first prime minister of Republican Nepal, I vow to reopen investigation into the massacre and punish the culprits," he said.
Dahal said the massacre was the bloodiest in living memory and shook all Nepalese.
"Birendra, who was a liberal king and whose pictures people hung in their houses, was killed with his entire family right in this place (Tribhuvan Sadan). We were informed (by the previous speaker) that the whole building has been brought down. But this also wiped out all evidence that people need to know to find out the real killers," he said.
Dahal alleged that the Royal Palace masaccre gave birth to a culture of impunity in Nepal. He also termed as superficial the investigation carried out back then.
