In the first official admission that King Birendra and seven other members of the Nepal royal family died of gunshot wounds, Prime Minister G P Koirala and Prince Gyanendra said in separate statements that the tragedy occurred when an automatic riflewent off accidentally. However, they did not mention who fired the shots. The official radio and television stations only spoke of the demise of King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, without mentioning the cause of the death. The marked absence of the commander-in-chief of the Royal Nepal Army, General Rana, from Saturday’s cremation of King Birendra and the failure of the official media to mention his name in any context since Friday’s brutal massacre at the royal palace is leading to speculation about whether the General’s exclusion is linked in any way to the events leading up to the assassination of the late king. General Rana was not present at the sitting of the Raj Parishad, or Privy Council, which declared crown prince Dipendra as the new king. The absence of General Rana and the failure of the government to give a digestible version of the incident make it imperative for parliament to convene and demand that the full facts be placed before it. Many here are appalled at the lack of official information about the incident even 48 hours after it occurred. People have a right to know. The weekly Nepali language newspaper Himal Khabarpatrika brought a special bulletin Sunday morning with a full account of the events at the Royal Palace on Friday night. All other local newspapers continued to play safe, reporting only the official version with some minor embellishments.