Former King Gyanendra Shah, who is on a trip to Gandaki and Dhaulagiri zones, has cancelled his trip to Myagdi headquarters Beni on Friday after the political parties declared a bandh (shutdown strike), to protest his visit.

Shah apparently cancelled the visit owing to security concerns. The local police administration had said on Thursday that no special security would be accorded to him.

A committee of local pro-monarchists formed to host the former king in Beni said all the programmes in which Shah would participate had been cancelled.

Meanwhile, today's Myagdi bandh has been called off after the cancellation of Shah's visit. Major political parties like UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, UML and CPN-Maoist had jointly called the bandh. nepalnews.com