Total votes: 1473

Weekly Internet Poll # 26Q. Do you support the five-day strike called by theMaoists?

EXCLUSIVE

#86 22 - 28 March 2002 16 pages Rs 20

Q. Is it a good idea for Prime Minister Sher BahadurDeuba to visit India?

Weekly Internet Poll # 27. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com

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SAGAR PANDIT IN DANGRam Mani Gyawali would have been alive today if he wasn’t so concernedabout the electrification of his home village of Kerunga in Argakhanchi.Ram Mani had been threatened many times, knew he was on the Maoists’hit-list and had been living in Kathmandu for the past three months. But lastweek he had to go to Butwal to take delivery of a transformer so he couldfit it in Kerunga. The family, including his wife, four children and grandchil-dren were settling down for the night when there was a knock on thedoor. “Ram Dai,” someone called.

He was overpowered by Maoists with pistols andkhukuris. There was a quick “trial”. Others overpowered hiswife and son upstairs, and looted their belongings. RamMani’s body was found later, his head was nearly severed

from his body, and there were signs of torture: long half-inch deep khukurigashes all over his body.

“The body was completely mutilated, he had been hit and slashed,” RamMani’s younger brother Laxman says. “He was killed because he loved hisvillage and wanted to improve it.”

Laxman, his wife Sita who was also beaten up, and Ram Mani’s family arein Kathmandu’s cremation site at Aryaghat this week for the 13-day mourning

period. Ram Mani was targeted because he was honest, plain-speaking and a popular VDC chairman. Last year, the Maoists

had asked for a Rs 200,000 “donation”. The brothers not onlyrefused to pay, but also held a press conference to saywhy they were not giving in to extortion.

Editorial p2Open border, closed minds

TheUltimateComputer

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Why Kolkata?

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HARI ROKA IN NEW DELHI

e can choose our friends, but wecan’t choose our neighbours. Nepaland India are stuck with each other,

so we might as well learn to get along.This week, the Chanakyapuri roundabout

in New Delhi is festooned with Nepali double-triangles flapping alongside the Indiantricolour. Prime Minister Sher BahadurDeuba’s visit to India offers another opportu-nity to mend fences, show statesmanship andtake bilateral ties to a new level of accommo-dation and understanding.

But the question on everyone’s mind is:why Calcutta? The West Bengal capital isneither a cybercity nor a Sai Baba centre.New Delhi appears to be hesitant about thecentral government taking the lead in anyfuture mediation on the Maoist problem,and is passing the buck to the Marxists inWest Bengal.

After all, Calcutta has been the trainingand ideological base for Nepali Maoists. WestBengal also has experience in dealing with andcrushing the Naxalites, and the comrades inWriters’ Building may have a few pointers forDeuba. It was Siliguri where Maoist leadersgave audiences to a procession of Nepali leftistsduring the ceasefire in October, so it is notinconceivable that a secret face-to-face meetingis on the cards over the weekend.

Deuba’s India visit comes at a time ofunparalleled crisis in Nepal. There is anemerging consensus among Nepal’s politicalparties, academics and even sections of thepublic that if India is not a part of thesolution to the Maoist problem, then it is apart of the problem. And if the twoneighbours aren’t careful, Nepal’s problemmay soon become India’s too.

The precedent for Indian involvement inNepal’s domestic politics was set way backwith the overthrow of the Rana regime andKing Tribhuvan’s triumphant return to Nepalfrom Delhi in 1950. When King Mahendradissolved parliament and banned politicalparties ten years later, the Nepali Congress

launched its armed insurrection from Indiansoil. It is not surprising therefore thatNepal’s Maoists have used the open borderand India’s vast “strategic depth” fortraining, arming and logistics.

Nepal’s leadership now realises that it maynot be able to guarantee the survival ofparliamentary democracy without some degreeof Indian help, and Deuba may be hoping toconvince his interlocutors in New Delhi andCalcutta about this.

There are episodes from recent historythat spooks Nepal’s leaders. In Punjab, in SriLanka and vis-à-vis the Bhutanese refugees,India has shown a propensity to build upfriction, get sparks flying, and then let the firesrage. In Sri Lanka the fire got so fierce, it hadto beat a hasty retreat.

Today, India has joined the United States’“war on terror”, and it cannot give theimpression of ignoring this new brand of redterror in its own backyard in the Himalaya.So, Sher Bahadur Deuba will be trying toconvince the Indian leadership that curbingMaoist activities on Indian soil is in its ownlong-term interest. He will also try to assuagethe antsy Indians about the western militaryhardware the Royal Nepal Army urgentlyrequires for its counter-insurgency operations.

The Indian response to this may be a cool“yes”, but New Delhi will draw the line atmore intensive foreign military involvement intraining and supplying the Royal Nepal Army.At the same time, India may use the opportu-nity to push forward its own mediation role, oreven propose unilateral political or militaryaction to end the insurgency.

The Maoists are in the mood to use their

new-found stature, gained from havingbloodied the army in Mangalsen, to wrestpolitical concessions. Deuba was deeplyinsulted by the Maoists’ betrayal in November,but is under pressure to smoke the peace pipeagain. The military campaign is also racingagainst time: it needs to register dramaticvictories before the monsoon sets in.

If the Indians do put forward a media-tion proposal, Deuba will have to thinkhard about the repercussions back home.Greater Indian involvement in resolving thecrisis either through mediation or militarymeans will increase Indian influence inKathmandu. Which may be what NewDelhi has always wanted, but there will be abacklash within Nepal and fuel furtherpublic mistrust of Indian intentions.

How genuinely helpful India is in responseto Deuba’s request for help will determine thefuture of not only bilateral relations, but alsothe course of the Maoist insurgency. The openborder between Nepal and India doesn’t justfacilitate free movement of people and trade. Itmay also make it easier for the sparks ofNepal’s Maoist war to spill over into thetinder-dry farms of Bihar, Jharkhand andAndhra Pradesh.

(Hari Roka is an independent leftist analystand a research fellow at the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity in New Delhi.)

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Ram Mani Gyawali

The murderous middle-groundThe Maoist insurgency has now been reduced to a body count. But behind everydeath is the loss of a loved one, a loss to society, and a family tragedy.

What does Calcutta have besides theVictoria Memorial? Lots of Marxists.

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Free editorThere are growing demands fromdomestic and international human rightsgroups for the release of detainedjournalists, including Shyam Shrestha,editor of Mulyankan, who was taken in atKathmandu airport last Saturday. Morethan 70 journalists have beenarrested since November, 28remain in detention and havenot been produced incourt. AmnestyInternational saidthis week: “It isclear there is agrave law andorder threat to the country, however insuch a climate human rights must beprotected with extra vigilance and armyand police action must keep to interna-tional human rights standards.”(See also p5)

New NIBLNepal Rastra Bank has cleared the saleof Nepal Indosuez Bank Limited to aconsortium of Nepali buyers. The newcompany will have the same acronym,NIBL, but will stand for Nepal InvestmentBank Limited. The clearance of the saleof Crédit Agricole stock came after rivalbidders played out their dispute in themedia last week. This week the NRBissued its 10th Directive on prudentialbanking and ownership, then sacked theboard of Lumbini Bank. (See also p7)

PACMANThe parliament’s anti-corruption PublicAccounts Committee is back in actionafter a reshuffle of its UML members.There seems to be no shortage ofirregularities for PAC to probe: bankdefaulters, inflated costs in roadprojects, digging into forest ministry filesand looking at the satellite licensing rowat Space Time Network.

3333322 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMES

L E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R S

NATION

by PUSKAR GAUTAMANALYSIS

Deadend deadlineith barely ten days to go before histhreatened five-day “Nepalshutdown”, Maoist leader

Prachanda issued a statement saying hisgroup is willing to announce a unilateralceasefire, cancel the bandh and resume thenegotiations broken off in November. Hiscolleague Baburam Bhattarai sent out faxeson 15 March addressed to “Dear ForeignTourists” saying they will not be harmed,but that they should avoid travelling toNepal during the 2-6 April shutdown.

Then comes news that top NepaliCongress leadership has secretly met aMaoist central committee member. Eventhough we cannot say for sure what allthese overtures mean, we can try topredict what the Maoist strategy is, basedon these developments.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deubastill feels personally betrayed by the Maoistsfor breaking off talks and attacking thearmy in November. He is no mood totalk, but even he seems to be underpressure to hold out a tenuous olivebranch. This he may do in the state thatgave birth to the Naxalite movement, andwhere Indian Maoists were ruthlesslycrushed by Indira Gandhi.

Our own Maoists may be out of touchwith international reality, but they have noqualms about using objective domesticconditions to suit their needs. Even whilethe Prachanda statement was being faxedto media, the Maoists ambushed an armytruck at Kerabari on the Mugling-Narayanghat highway and at Sanghachokon the Chautara road, killing 10 police-men and soldiers.

These attacks may have larger signifi-cance, since they occurred on mainhighways and relatively close to the capital.It is possible that the rebel leadership thinksthe time has now come to employ Mao’sdoctrine of “surround and strangulate”. Itwould be oversight to take these twoattacks as only build-up for the forthcomingbandh. The Maoists go by the book, andmay be trying to function within theirdeclared game plan of inciting a simultane-ous mass uprising and insurgency.

But these very actions point also to acertain defensiveness. The Royal NepalArmy and the Armed Police, after initial

GOOD REPORTINGThe article, (“Lull inLamjung,” #84) by HemlataRai gave a rare realisticscenario of how the insur-gency is affecting ordinarypeople in the countryside.Thanks to her and to you forsuch excellent field reportingat a time of emergency.

Budhisara RaiHong Kong

SRI LANKA’S LESSONAfter reading your editorial(“Learning from Sri Lankaand Afghanistan,” #84) myown (sad) thought is that it isreminiscent of what hap-pened in Sri Lanka twice withthe Marxist JVP. There weregenuine grievances ofpeople that the JVP articu-lated. But the way in whichthey did it, and their unwill-ingness to negotiate, madethem a terrible force. Theyused terror—for instancekilling over a hundredgovernment bus drivers justbecause they broke JVP“curfew” days. The JVP werenot prepared to negotiate:

2,100 kg migrant”, #85).Rhino conservation is asuccess story, but this isthreatened by a surge inpoaching. If this rate ofpoaching persists it couldwipe out Nepal’s achieve-ments in saving the rhinofrom extinction.

M DevkotaAustria

SHAKESPEAREWho does Kunda Dixit thinkhe is, Sir Richard Burton?His Under My Hat (“Much adoabout nothing much?”, #85)has convinced me that ourcountry is a Shakespeareantragedy in the making. I likedthe last poignant bit: “Eachnew day, a gash is added toher wounds.” Nice, subtletouch.

Rina Subbaby email

I was enthralled to read MrD’s “Much ado about nothingmuch”. I hope that once thecurrent “Tempest” passes,we will be able to say “All’sWell That Ends Well” and

inflict maximum damage onthe opposition. You neutralisea cell at Terhathum in eastNepal and they come backwith a devastating rejoinder inthe western part of thecountry. In a netwar, you knownot where the next blow isgoing to come from. Torephrase an ancient meta-phor, the Maoist centre iseverywhere and nowhere. Thegovernment’s counterinsur-gency strategy must incorpo-rate the concept of netwar andlaunch a multi-fronted offen-sive that aims to deliver notonly a crushing blow to theMaoists but also social andeconomic justice to the rest ofthe population. Salutations toCK Lal for his courage inarticulating his thoughtsboldly in the face of obviousMaoist threats.

Kanden ThebePhakhola, Taplejung

RHINOSNice piece on rhino transloca-tion by Andrew Nash (“The

unique. Thank you NepaliTimes and HimalKhabarpatrika for introducingthis bilingual writer to a largeNepali and foreign readership.

Nick Sharmaby email

A more useful way than CKLal’s concept of concentricity(“Fatal attraction,” #84) todescribe the organisation ofthe Maoist outfit is that of thenetwar. In a netwar, small,mobile, self-contained cells

operate inde-pendently to

move on and make Nepalgreat and peaceful again,“Measure by Measure.”However, currently, “Some-thing is rotten in the state ofDenmark,” so what do we do?“As you like it”, Mr. D, you caneither say “Something wickedthis way comes” and satirisethe situation or attempt toimprove it by saying that thisis “a stage where every manmust play a part”.

Bhaskar Tripathyby email

“What fools these mortals be”.Snark. Snark.

Cecile BalgosMexico City

Thanks to Kunda Dixit’s bardicbonanza we nowknow not only the hithertounknown fact that WillShakespeare actually trav-elled overland to Nepalto hone his literary skills, butalso the reasonbehind so many “whores andknaves” peopling his plays.

Saradchandrika SharmaBagh Bazaar

The Maoists are under pressure to strike a better balancebetween their armed struggle and legitimate political protest.

defeats, have made dramatic raids recentlyon rebel training camps and hideouts—anindication of better intelligence and strikecapability. All this could be contributing towidening the internal fissures within theMaoist leadership.

If the surprise attacks on the militarybarracks in Dang and Salleri signified thebeginning of the internal disagreement, thenthe recent overtures for unilateral ceasefirecould signal its end. The Maoists may stillthink they are winning the war, otherwisethere is no rationale for offering a unilateralceasefire now. It could also be that theearlier opponent of the ceasefire, warstrategist Comrade Badal, is out of actionfor one reason or other.

Even if they will never admit it publicly,the Maoists have a credibility and imageproblem. Their political hold is slipping,there is anarchy in the ranks, and they have

been damaged by the perception that theleadership depends on support from India.The same international factors that forcedthe Tamil Tigers to sue for peace in SriLanka may be pushing the Maoists tonegotiate. Prachanda and Baburam arenow branded terrorists a la bin Laden.Some of the more brutal murders ofprominent social activists and teachers inrecent months have tarnished theirrevolutionary image and early populism.The comrades now need to try and restoretheir political credentials.

This could be why the Maoists arebeing forced by public opinion to resort tomore democratic means of protest such asbandhs and dialogue. And to get there,they will even hold hands with their archenemy, Girija Koirala. In this game ofpower, the end justifies any means and noalliance is unacceptable to either side.

The Maoists had anticipated that thearmy would be deployed against them, butthey had not expected that the govern-ment would also declare a state ofemergency. This complicated theirplans to gain propaganda mileage todiscredit the army. They now have twochoices if they want to reclaim theirstanding as a political force and also getthe government to withdraw the army:continue fighting or talk.

There is a discernible trend in theMaoists overtures for talks—they havedone it either before or after every majorattack. But the Kathmandu intelligentsiais seemingly unaware of this. The rebelsfully know that if there are talks they canregroup and reassess their position. Butthey have little to lose with fighting on,since they can continue making troublefor the security forces with ambushes.

This is the classic Maoist pincer: in along-term people’s war, legitimate(democratic) protests make up about halfthe game plan, the rest comprises armedattacks and extortion. These two ap-proaches complement each other. Theattacks at Dang and Accham took the warto a new level, but it cost the Maoists

public support and damaged thepolitical face of their struggle. Now

they are under pressure to strike abetter balance between legitimate

political protest and armed struggle.The recent Maoist statements could

also be a plan to confuse the Deubagovernment further, by offering to talk andprying open fissures within the Congress bymeeting Koirala. But if our memory stillholds, the Maoists did exactly the samewith Deuba when Koirala was primeminister last year. That all three rebeltactics—the talks, continued fighting andbandhs—are being used together could behints (if hints are still needed) that theMaoists understand that the heavy deathtoll of soldiers in Mangalsen has littlemeaning unless they are able to show

their presence in the streets of Kathmandu.Even though it is not openly articu-

lated, the main agenda of Deuba’s visit toIndia is the Maoist problem. The possibil-ity of an agreement on joint Nepal-Indiamoves to fight the Maoists also cannotbe ruled out. If the Maoists foresee thepossibility of India attacking Nepalusing the excuse of fighting them, andhave reacted to this with their recentovertures, that is a positive develop-ment, and doesn’t harm their publicrelations either.

But the Maoists have to articulatethis analysis publicly before we canreach any conclusion. Also if they arestill rallying around the policy of usingthe “expansionists” (India in this case)to assuage the goals of the “people’swar”, then that could prove detrimentalto the country. Particularly if they thinkthat drawing India in is in their long-term interest.

(Puskar Gautam is a former Maoistdistrict commander for Okhaldhungaand left the movement three years ago.)

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they wanted complete statepower. So they were destroyed(at a terrible human cost) bythe state, which used terroristmeans as well. Today we livein a free society. If the JVP hadwon, I doubt it. A pure militarysolution was possible in SriLanka, perhaps because therich-poor divide is less acuteand the country is much morecompact. Nepal is much largerand the terrain much moredifficult, the state cannotconcentrate its forces suffi-ciently for such a direct militarysolution. Perhaps Nepal willneed a dual track military andpolitical solution.

J de SilvaColombo

CK LALI am writing to thankyou for bringing usCK Lal, who weekafter week amazes uswith the breadth and depthof his knowledge. Hisanalytical skill andcomprehensive under-standing of a widerange of subjects is

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22222 EDITORIAL 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMESNepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd,Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Editor: Anagha NeelakantanDesign: Kiran Maharjaneditors@nepalitimes.com, www.nepalitimes.comAdvertising: Sunaina Shah advertising@himalmedia.comSubscription: Anil Karki subscription@himalmedia.comSales: Sudan Bista sales@himalmedia.comSanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, LalitpurGPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalTel: 01-543333-7, Fax: 01-521013Printed at Jagadamba Press: 01-521393

STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL

WOPEN BORDER, CLOSED MINDS

constructive. The nearest we got to such a state was probablyduring the premiership of IK Gujral when the doctrine that wentby his name took shape. The 1996 trade treaty dramaticallyboosted bilateral trade. Unfortunately, we never took full advan-tage of the treaty to put our own house in order by identifyingproducts for a manufacturing and industrial base. The renewalof the treaty last month was two steps forward and three stepsback, and signified, finally, the demise of the Gujral Doctrine. Butour business elite must realise that greater value addition onexports is actually in our own long-term interests, not India’s.

The list of festering problems with India is long: embank-ments along the border, Kalapani, Pancheswor, the cancella-tion of PIA overflights which penalises Nepal for the inability ofIndia and Pakistan to get along, restrictions on Nepal’s exports,delays in getting the Birgunj dry port going, and the state-instigated propaganda about ISI activities which has helpeddecimate Indian tourism to Nepal.

The latest thorn is the widespread perception in Nepal thatthe Maoists receive support from across the border. To be sure,the Indian foreign minister did hastily declare the Maoists“terrorists” in November. But Delhi hasn’t moved much beyondthat. The Indian government may not be supporting the Maoists,but it is not doing much to curb their activities on its soil either.

The lesson from all this is that bilateral relations betweenNepal and India need to be addressed at the highest politicallevel. We can no longer leave it to the babus on both sides. Wecan no longer try to solve the problems piecemeal as and whenthey crop up. As long as there is no political understandingbetween India and Nepal, there will always be some crisis orother threatening ties.

t is getting increasingly difficultto tell the difference between thepresident of the Nepali Congress

Girija Prasad Koirala and UMLSecretary General Madhav Nepal.At every public platform these daysthey are spouting the same script:that a constitutional amendmentrushed through the present sessionof the parliament will magicallysolve all the country’s problems.They are like itinerant salesmen atRatna Park peddling potions:“Babuji, Bhaiyaji, buy and applyJalim Lotion; it is guaranteed tocure all your ailments.”

At a colloquium organised bytarai intellectuals last Saturday,Koirala and Nepal were onceagain doing their duet insistingthat the amendments theypropose in the constitution willsomehow address all the concernsof tarai people in addition tosolving the Maoist problem.

It was difficult to find how thecry of the tarai can be reconciledwith the desire of the two mainpolitical parties to share power atthe centre. The question ofresolving the issue of citizenship ofNepalis of tarai origin was the one

The sigh of the taraithat concerned the audience. But,sadly, even though both leadersrepresent tarai constituencies, theyfailed to realise the magnitude andgravity of the citizenship crisis.

Like other pahari bahuns theycouldn’t control the urge to give alesson or two to the eminentaudience on the importance ofbeing “a Nepali first, and then amadhesi”. Predictably, no one waseven amused, let alone inspired.People of the tarai, especially thosewho live in Kathmandu andendured the insanity of the HrithikRoshan episode, know only too wellwhat it means to be a lesser Nepaliin a country obsessed with thePanchayat-era project of militantNepalipan. In fact the term itself isethnocentric and inimical todemocracy and pluralism.

The history of Nepal’s main-stream cultural hegemony datesback to the Rana oligarchy whenthe values of the ruling class wereforced upon the entire population.Minorities were either patronised

or tolerated, but they were neveraccepted as equal partners insociety. King Mahendra introducedan innovation to enforce hegemonyby shifting from punitive toremunerative methods. Thethreat of punishment for a non-conforming population wascoupled with rewards and benefitsfor those who agreed to be co-opted. This was the period whenmiddle-class madhesis began todiscard their dhotis en masse.

This elitist tactic of creatingand exercising hegemony through acarrot and stick approach, however,had limited effect since it involvedonly those who had a direct stake inthe state apparatus. The toilers ofthe tarai were left alone to shoulderthe burden of cultural diversity aslong as they didn’t pose a threat tothe ruling elite. It was the Nav-Ratnas of King Birendra’s court thatintroduced a much more subtle, butsinister, method of creating aNepali monoculture. Through theuse of language and symbols, a

consensus was sought to bemanufactured around the identityof the country’s cultural elite. Andit was peddled as a desirable Nepaliidentity through the use of religiouspractices, controlled educationsystem and organised media.

This was the idolatry method ofcreating hegemony. Symbols weremanipulated to persuade thevictims that it was in their bestinterest to obey authority. Perhapsthe main purpose of the project ofNepalipan was to establish theunquestionable supremacy of thecrown in Nepali society. But thetemple built to house the deityhas acquired its own sanctity overa period of time, and a cult ofNepalipan continues to thrivearound the ideological constructof Panchayat.

In this manufactured consent,an ideal Nepali wears mayalposh-suruwal, speaks Sanskritised Nepaliwith a bahun accent, prays to 33crore Hindu deities, looks downupon the female of the species as

lesser creatures, and treats everyone else as the “other” that needsto be resisted in order to preservethe purity of the self.

If this description reads like acaricature, just ask any proudNepali what it means to be one.It is this mind-set that needsimmediate attention if MessrsKoirala and Nepal are seriousabout “the problem of citizenshipof tarai people”. And it can’t beresolved by a hurried constitu-tional amendment.

A very large section of Nepalisof tarai origin face hassles gettingcitizenship certificates. And it isalmost impossible to address theproblem of fundamental rightswithout rationalising citizenship-related constitutional provisionsfirst. But the core issue is the veryconcept of Nepalipan itself. It’s thedefinition of this term that willdetermine the fate of plurality anddemocracy in Nepal.

Citizenship is a right that can’tbe denied to any Nepali, and theKathmandu elite is not bestowingany favours on tarai people byraising this vexing issue with a senseof urgency. It’s the moral obligation

of all political parties to keep thepromise they made to the electoratethrough their election manifestos.But the political class must alsoraise issues that are equally urgent,and perhaps even more important.

People of the tarai need equaland just opportunities to engagethemselves in building a pluralisticNepali identity. The languages ofthe tarai have to be saved fromextinction. There has to be achange in the attitude of thecultural elite that makes the taraiattire—dhoti-kurta, lungi-ganji orpaijama-kamij—the butt of poorjokes. Above all, madhesis need to beaccorded the respect that is due toevery Nepali in a democracy. TheNepali Congress and the UML caninitiate this process without waitingfor a constitutional amendment.

More than the problems of thepast or difficulties of the present,the constitution has to makeallowances for the challenges that asociety may have to face in thefuture. Any changes envisaged mustgive the disadvantaged—includingmadhesis—a greater say. It can’t justbe an alibi for leading political partiesto share the spoils of office.

The manufactured consent of mainstream Nepalimonoculture must be replaced with an inclusive pluralism.

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henever a new Nepali leader travels to India to payhis mandatory homage to the Delhi Darbar, the mainquestion at home is always: what is he selling off this

time? It is no different this week. Even before Prime MinisterSher Bahadur Deuba left on Wednesday for Delhi, parliamen-tarians were vociferously demanding that the veil of secrecyover the visit be lifted. This is understandable, becausehistorically our leaders haven’t brought back much from India.More often than not, they end up giving something away.Usually a river.

The level of Indian aid for infrastructure and other projectsin Nepal is now the lowest it has ever been. And Deuba’spresent visit comes at a time of unprecedented national crisis.The Nepali state has never been this feeble, hence thesuspicion in Kathmandu that Delhi will use this weakness toexact secret deals.

Our distrust of Big Brother is nothing new, and it pre-datesthe independence of the Republic of India. The unified Nepalnation was a young and xenophobic entity, and we didn’t trustthe British East India Company in Calcutta. In fact the twobelligerents collided and went to war in 1814.

With the Ranas, Nepal turned anglophile and in doing so,antagonised the native Indian public. Generations later, thereis still residual historical memory among north Indians ofNepali soldiers coming to the rescue of the British in Lucknowin 1857, and of the involvement of Gurkha soldiers underGeneral Dwyer in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

After independence, the love-hate relationship between usgot more acute. And every new episode—from the 1950 treaty,through the Kosi agreement, the blunder of Rajiv Gandhi’s

blockade of our border, to Tanakpur and Laxmanpur, the HrithikRoshan riots and the torturous talks to renew the trade treaty—confirmed Nepalis’ worst fears about India’s “grand design”.

In the messy post-democracy period, it didn’t help that ourknee-jerk politicians milked latent anti-Indian sentiment for all itwas worth at election time. One ex-prime minister (who shallremain nameless) even tried to assure Indian leaders duringa visit to Delhi—after being elected on a vigorous anti-Indianplatform—not to take his rabble-rousing speeches seriouslybecause “aap samajte hain, elections mein kya kya karnapadta hai”.

Keeping relations tense and primed to be chronically atbreaking point doesn’t do the people of either of our countriesany good. It is time we realised that the futures of Nepal andIndia are intertwined. The Nepali people and this country’sgovernments must show pragmatism and look for ways we cantake advantage of India’s vastness, rather than working our-selves up into an insecure frenzy about it.

Indian leaders and business leaders, for their part, mustrealise that a prosperous and stable Nepal of 24 million poten-tial consumers is in its own national interest. Petty-mindednessdoes not befit a nation of India’s stature. Destabilising Nepal,

and keeping it poor byhassling it on trade will

help neither country.It is hard to

remember any timein the modern history of

our nations when relationswere actually cordial and

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44444 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMES 5555522 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMESNATIONNATION

by DANIEL LAKHERE AND THERE

urtling along the Mahendra Highway between Narayanghat andNepalganj, I wondered about the wisdom of my journey. Once darknessfell, the trees and towns lined a road empty of all but ghosts. And I don’t

believe in ghosts.Not even a cigarette glowed at roadside tea stalls as the real pitch dark of late

night took hold. Petrol pumps sat untended. Houses were shuttered tight. Wedrove on, intent on arriving alive and laughing at our fears. For just what were weafraid of? Normally a long drive on a South Asian road at night is a series ofnarrow escapes and horrific encounters, not with armed men or bandits but withnight buses and trucks driven by drunken maniacs.

In India, I once counted 16 major road accidents along a 100 km stretch inRajasthan. The recent spate of buses plunging off cliffs in Nepal is another face ofregional road terrorism. But no, we weren’t afraid of our fellow drivers.

On the odd occasion when a set of glowing headlamps popped out of themurky gloom ahead, relief flooded through us like lava. Apparently, otherdrivers felt the same. High beams were dipped almost from the moment we hoveinto view, a far cry from the usual practise of blinding the oncoming traffic out ofsheer idiot glee. We slowed down as we approached each other, flicked right turnindicators on and even honked horns as we roared past each other. The fearwould pounce anew as the jeep jolted into fresh darkness, alone again, or so wehoped.

I suppose we were worried about Maoists or nervous members of the securityforces. But in fact, we saw neither. There was one army checkpoint pastNarayanghat and the few soldiers were too busy to spare us a second glance. Nopolice gates were manned and the place where I have always got the most rigorousthird degree, the Armed Police Force camp just before Kohlapur, had turned itslights off. The sandbagged sentry points were empty, no gun barrels pointed at us

Fear stalks Nepal’s dark and deserted highways at night.Afraid of the dark

as we juddered by at a blazing 90km/h. It was 11PM, Nepal StandardTime.

Not that that night was asignificant downturn in the mood ofthe day. Even driving along a sunlithighway in this country is prettydepressing. From just past Thankotto Bharatpur to Butwal, thegovernment has seen fit to turn theroadside into something resemblinga war zone. Buildings deemedencroachments have all been levelled,smashed, even set on fire. Familiessquat in piles of rubble and cookover open fires. They sleep undershelters made from plastic andfabric. In the ruins of their ownhomes. Now I know that encroach-ing on public land, or someone’sprivate property, is a bad thing. It isnot to be encouraged. Yet did theofficial who gave the order to smashall those peoples’ homes, shops and

businesses wonder about the timing of the thing?Conventional wisdom in times of national crisis is that people—non-

combatants, civilians, potential victims of violence, budding recruits to revolu-tion—need encouragement, tolerance, perhaps even bread and circuses. Theydon’t need their lives devastated. I dare say more than a few people signed Maoistmembership cards sometime after they watched their homes demolished.

In Nepalganj, at the end of the journey, we drove through streets that areusually grid locked with traffic, vehicular, human and animal. It was coldand the orange glow from the streetlights illuminated little. Shadowy figuresat the edge of the pools of light turned out to be policemen, sticks tuckedunder their arms as they watched us drive by. A desk clerk jerked awake aswe walked into our hotel.

Apparently, we weren’t expected as there is a “curfew” along theMahendra Highway. No traffic after 9PM or some such rule. If that’s true,no one enforces it. Perhaps they don’t have to. Fear patrols the countryside.

The next morning dawned with the usual cacophony of border town life.Creaking cycle rickshaws headed to and from the frontier. Businesses raisedshutters and sweepers swept. In a cloud of dust, another day began. And westill had to get home to Kathmandu. This time, the checkpoints functionedand we wrote our vehicle details at least 12 times. The Armed Police checkedour camera gear and asked tough questions in a disbelieving manner.

It felt a lot more like a state of emergency. Not that there was any comfortin that. Fear doesn’t sleep in the daytime. It just lurks out of sight and waitsfor a chance to wreak havoc once again. Just like it does every night.

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Detained editorsShyam Shrestha, editor of the monthly magazine Mulyankan, is the latest to join the lengthen-ing list of persons detained by the security forces. Shrestha, who was on his way to Delhi toattend a conference last Saturday, was picked up at the Tribhuvan International Airport alongwith two human rights activists. The editor of the left-leaning paper was detained nearly threeweeks after Gopal Budathoki, editor/publisher of the vernacular weekly Sanghu was detainedby security forces. The whereabouts of all four are still unknown. In a special editorial thisweek, Sanghu criticised the government for wrongly accusing Budathoki of being a Maoistsupporter and of printing news that undermines the efforts of security forces. In the case ofBudathoki’s abduction, says the editorial, the security forces have undermined the law insteadof maintaining it. Mulyankan sources have criticised the government for targeting Shrestha,who has distanced himself from the armed “People’s War” and was instrumental in organis-ing the three rounds of talks between the government and the Maoists last year.

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Problematic posterA classic case of good intentions gone bad: an award-winning poster designed for the Family PlanningAssociation of Nepal and published in a major daily onthe occasion of International Women’s Day has comein for criticism. A number of women rang the paper tocomplain that the poster, which depicts a woman as anegg-laying hen, is offensive and slights the dignity ofwomen. Poster designer Balaram Jana doesn’t agree.“The poster title ‘Am I a man’s wife or a rooster’s hen?’speaks for itself,” he says. “A woman is not a baby-making machine that she has to suffer through thebirths of dozens of babies just to ensure the continuityof the family line. In my capacity as a man, I waspresenting before society the suffering of a mother andseeking a response. I was supporting women, offeringsympathy towards the suffering they endure in child-birth.” The poster’s sub-title reads: “A husband plays amajor role in ensuring the reproductive health of hiswife.” FPAN says the poster draws society’s attention towomen’s reproductive health. “Individuals may interpretthe poster differently, but in no way, does it debasewomen,” says one FPAN official. OK, bu what about good taste?

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“Visit Nepal,” Baburam tells touristsBaburam Bhattarai, in a letter addressed “Dear Foreign Tourists” says his Maoist party hasnothing against the tourist industry or foreign tourists visiting Nepal. “Foreign tourists aremost welcome in the country and will be so in future as well,” he writes, and goes on to invitetourists to visit Maoist “base areas”. He also bashes globalisation and Nepal’s “heredi-tary autocracy”, warning tourists not to patronise airlines and hotels owned by them.Baburam says “honoured guests from neighbouring India” need not be unduly perturbedabout visiting.

But western embassies in Kathmandu feel this is the first time the Maoists havemade a direct threat against tourists, by telling them to stay away during the five-daybandh next week, and travel advisories are being updated. Baburam ends his letter bysaying: “In view of the five-day long Nepal bandh (i.e. general shutdown) from April 2 to April6, 2002, and the subsequent surcharged atmosphere in the aftermath, the foreign tourists arewell advised to skip the tour itinerary, if any, for the said period. We deeply regret the inconven-iences likely to cause to you all.” If you say so, comrade.

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Gains for womenThe year 2002 has begun well for Nepali women. First, the formation of a National WomenCommission was announced on International Women’s Day, 8 March. Nearly a week later, theHouse passed the much-debated Women’s Bill with an overwhelming majority. And this week,leaders of major political parties signed a declaration committing themselves to developingpolitical leadership among women. Well and good, says Sahana Pradhan, leader of theWomen’s Pressure Group and Standing Committee member of the CPN (UML). But thesenior politician cautions against being too optimistic—she says the Bill still fails to recog-nise women as independent individuals, rather than simply a man’s daughter or wife. Also,there’s no point in reserving seats for women in politics, says Pradhan, whether it’s 33 or 40percent, if men stand in their stead. She also stressed the need for women to be representedin any process to amend the constitution.

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Tengboche just did itGood news on the tourism front. The Tengboche Devel-opment Project in the Everest region, has just won theTO DO! 2001 award, announced on the occasion ofthe 36th International Tourism Exchange in Berlin.

Rather than just serving as a picturesque backdropfor tourists, the Tengboche Monastery, the spiritualcentre of Sherpa culture, has played a proactive role inpromoting sustainable tourism. The 1995 TengbocheDevelopment Plan, initiated by the TengbocheRinpoche (right) and Nepal-based architect and townplanner Michael Schmitz, has actively promoted themonastery (at 4,000 m) and the habitat of the Sherpapeople. The monastery is trying to attract 30,000visitors annually, so the surrounding villages benefit,and has built the necessary tourism infrastructuresuch as toilets, drinking water facilities, hydropower-generated electricity, and a telephone connection. Aneco-centre built in spring 2000 teaches visitors aboutSherpa culture and sells locally-made souvenirs. Theincome generated here is used to train monks tospread the message in their communities of environ-mental protection and conservation.

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HEMLATA RAI IN LAMJUNG

he Lamjung Hospital is, byNepali standards, sophisti-cated for such a rural

setting. But even more surprisingis that this 25-bed hospital ismanaged entirely by the commu-nity it serves. While the rhetoricof “community-participation” hasbecome a development cliché inNepal, this hospital is anythingbut. Here is a hospital for thelocals, by the locals and of thelocals.

This new concept of commu-nity hospitals in Lamjung andDhulikhel might be the beginningof a quiet revolution in healthcare in rural Nepal. Organisationsinvolved in these two hospitalsare beginning similar projects inRukum, Dhading, Kavre andSindhupalchok. “Deliveringhealth care is easier than itlooks—so long as decisions areallowed to be made by localpeople where the hospitals arebeing built,” says Dr Ram KanthaMakaju, director of DhulikhelHospital. The trick is to take thelocals into confidence, and letthem run it.

Even so, the larger publichealth picture in Nepal is prettydisastrous. There is on averageonly one doctor for every 20,000people. In remote areas—wheretrained health practitioners rarelywork—this ratio is down to onedoctor for 100,000.

A 2000 World Bank Studyshows that public sector spendingon health care, including donorexpenditure, is a mere $3.10 perperson per year—far less than the$12 needed to provide a basichealth care package. The result,the report says, is inadequatehospitals, doctors and servicedelivery. One high-rankingofficial at the Department ofHealth Services told us there is anew problem: “Political instabil-ity and interference are destroyingthe health sector in Nepal.Political patronage make the

To take health care to the people, take it away from the government.A tale of two hospitals

government employees unac-countable and irresponsible,making the delivery impossible.”

The only way to keep healthcare out of reach of politicians inKathmandu and to make itaffordable is to mobilise localresources to set up and run ruralhospitals. So, in 1991, the newNational Health Policy wasformulated to decentralise healthcare systems and make them moreregionally grounded. Finally,there was a chance that the slogan“Health for all” would not justremain a slogan.

The first step was to handover sub health posts, the mostbasic health care units in nearlyevery one of Nepal’s 4,000 villagedevelopment committee (VDCs),to community management.

That process is still underway.But bigger initiatives are alreadycoming up. The new hospitals inLamjung and Dhulikhel are two

exemplary, and different, modelsof community hospitals. Both aimto deliver inexpensive services andbe self-sustaining. And thoughthey are more expensive thangovernment-run institutions, theyare cheaper than the privateclinics and hospitals inKathmandu Valley and othercities that residents of these areaswould have to come down to.

Dhulikhel Hospital is alreadysupporting itself, and offered freeor heavily-subsidised treatmentworth Rs 3 million last year. Andin its four months of operation,the new management of LamjungHospital generated 70 percent ofthe centre’s running cost fromservices and sale of medicine,despite the 30 percent subsidy onall hospital services and drugs.Administrators in Lamjung toldus they hope the hospital to beable to support itself in just twomore months.

The handover of LamjungDistrict Hospital to the commu-nity was in keeping with officialpolicy to make local level healthcare units more autonomous, andgive them a more prominent rolein the planning and managementof curative and preventive healthservices.

Presently, Human Develop-ment and Community Service(HDCS), a national NGO, ishelping a local non-governmentalgroup, the Lamjung IntegratedCommunity Health Centre torevitalise the formerly govern-ment-run district hospital. Thenew management was given Rs 10million worth of infrastructureand about over 1.5 hectares ofland. HDCS, a sectarian organisa-tion funded by European Chris-tian groups, plans to spend Rs 93million on renovation and newbuildings and Rs 25.7 million onhospital equipment.

Since it is a governmenthealth institution, the LamjungHospital is entitled to receive Rs1.5 million and three healthpersonnel including a doctor, andthe community itself plans tostart a kitchen to raise money foran endowment fund. The mater-nity and children’s wards areunder construction, and thegeneral ward is already opera-tional. Soon, the administratorshope to double the hospital’scapacity to 50.

“We are here to serve thepeople and share the burden ofhealth services with the govern-ment. Our policy is to comple-ment and improve what is alreadyhere rather than funding newinfrastructure,” says Dr TirthaThapa, executive director ofHDCS.

In five years the HDCS willbow out and the LamjungIntegrated Community HealthCentre will be fully responsiblefor the hospital. This model holdshope for people at the village anddistrict level, and the HDCS hasreceived requests to help revital-ise existing health facilities in sixother districts. A year from now,the organisation hopes to beginwork on the Chaurjahari Hospitalin Rukum.

The Dhulikhel Hospital in

Kavre is a little different—it wasstarted by local residents in 1996.Twenty-four Dhulikhel farmersdonated 2.2 hectares of land, andthe hospital itself was set up withsupport from the DhulikhelMunicipality, a consortium ofEuropean donors called NepalMade, and the Dhulikhel HealthService Association. Localscontributed Rs 6 million,matched by a municipality grant,to create an endowment fund.

Since the Dhulikhel Hospitalis a non-governmental initiative,it does not receive governmentgrants, although it is givencustoms breaks on the import ofequipment. It wouldn’t work in aless prosperous district either—itis far too expensive—but theDhulikhel Hospital is successfulenough that it runs four satellitehospitals in Kavre, Dhading andSindhupalchok.

To be sure, neither of thesehospitals is entirely problem-free.For one, both rely on assistancefrom international donors, whichdoesn’t make them completelyself-sustaining. DhulikhelHospital is lucky because it has ahigh proportion of local staff anddoes not encourage foreigndoctors or health workers to stayfor long. This puts it in a positionto develop the human resources it

T

The Tengboche Rinpoche

“He was the type thatdidn’t tolerate anynonsense,” Laxmansays of his brother whowas even jailed duringthe panchayat for tellingKing Birendra that thesystem was corrupt andunrepresentative.

Ram Mani was killed,but there are hundredsof others who are caughtbetween threats from theMaoists and the counter-insurgency campaign ofthe security forces.According to the tally ofthe human rights organi-sation INSEC, over 500of the 1,700 peoplekilled since 23 Novem-ber were non-combat-ants. The line betweenwho is a Maoist and who is not gets blurredwhen ordinary villagers are forced to join therebel force.

Urmila Oli of Purandhara VDC in Dang isan inmate at the military camp in Ghorahi.She was the appointed head of the “peo-ple’s government” in her village by theMaoists after her husband Bhim Bahadur Olijoined the rebels about two years ago. “I am

not a Maoist, they mademe one,” she told usbefore breaking down.Seeing his mothersobbing, Urmila’s two-year-old son startedcrying as well.

There are manyother “accidental Mao-ists” in Ghorahi. JanBahadur Pun, 16, tookpart in the battle ofKapurkot in Decemberand was forced by theMaoists to be a porter,ferrying fallen rebels outin a doko. “With them Ihad to walk long dis-tances without food orrest,” says Pun. “I wasin school when theycame and took me in.”Many of those in deten-

tion told us they were enlisted as militia aftertraining to use a musket for seven days.

Pun’s camp mate, 17-year-old KhadgaBahadur Buda of Rolpa, has a differentstory. He signed up because he had to fulfila family duty. “They came and told my fatherto send a family member to join the militia,”says Buda. “They would have killed himotherwise.”

will need when it expands from70 beds to 130 in 2004. Since itis the brainchild of one man, DrRam Kantha Makaju, there maybe questions about its long-termsurvival.

Its Christian identity may bean obstacle for Lamjung Hospital

in establishing the sense of localownership required for anysuccessful community enterprise.Its dependence on bideshidoctors is another drawback—when we visited the hospital itwas being run by four foreigndoctors, without any

Nepali doctors.Sharad Onta of the Public

Health Concern Trust (PHECT)warns of other problems.“Handing over the managementto local institutions and commu-nities without preparations,without training to enhance theirabilities, might mean a biggerpublic health disaster.”

This is a potential pitfallwhen local communities are notconsulted right at the start.

But government officialsdismiss Onta’s concerns. “Weare not forcing them to take overthe management of sub healthposts, but we will allow them towhen they feel they are ready forthe responsibility,” counters DrDB Chataut, director general ofthe Department of HealthServices.

An analysis of the healthsector done by the department in1999 showed that equitableaccess to healthcare remainedelusive for most Nepalis. Themain obstacles: weak manage-ment of public health facilitiesand institutions, inadequatecompliance with existingguidelines, a near absenceof quality of care protocols,and poorly defined roles andresponsibilities for healthauthorities.

Chataut says the Lamjungand Dhulikhel models offer newhope. He says: “We hope toinvolve local communities inmanagement and encourage themto monitor care.”

from p1

Lamjung Hospital’s maternity ward, still under construction.

Dhulikhel Hospital plans to expand to 130 beds in two years.

Watching and praying for a sick child in Lamjung Hospital.

“Accidental Maoists”

Boys accused of being Maoists indetention in Ghorahi, and Urmila Oli withher two-year-old son.

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77777NEPALI ECONOMY 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMES

INTERVIEW

Howís business?Everybody is aware that tourist arrivals were downby about 20.7 percent last year, this year the numberhas been falling faster every month. Qatar wasfortunate; it did very well and brought in quite a goodnumber of adventure tourists last year. Also RoyalNepal Airlines pulled out of the European sector lastyear and we could get that traffic. We did a loadfactor of over 80 percent, which is very, very goodin aviation.

Are you expecting to repeat that this year too?Comparing the situation right after what happened inthe US last September and now, I must say peoplehave begun to travel again. Other countries aregetting many tourists and we are also hopeful.

How has the state of emergency affectedtourism?We were initially telling tourists it was safer to travelto Nepal after the emergency. Unfortunately, manyincidents have taken place since. This has sent outnegative signals and affected us a lot. All airlines didwell in October-November, flying in adventuretourists. But we lost much of the white collar, high-yield traffic, which has affected us very badly.

Has the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) doneenough to counter that?They are trying their best to spread the word.Together we met different resident ambassadors andrequested them to soften their travel advisories.They said they understood our situation, but alsohad their limitations and had to report what washappening. As far as safety is concerned, thewhole world is unsafe. Nobody expected the TwinTowers to be hit.

The Indian traffic was almost nil last season. TheNTB is trying to revive it. Indians are still wary abouttravelling to Nepal, but because they don’t go beyondthe Valley or Pokhara, we need to tell them moreeffectively that it is safe to come. The NTB has amajor problem, which is money. You cannot domarketing with a limited budget.

What have you done to restore confidenceamong travellers?We tell prospective visitors that with the emergencyin place the government has better arrangementsfor security in many parts of the country. We alsotell them that we do have a Maoist problem but notall over Nepal, there are areas where we stillhave peace.

Some Nepali workers headed to the Gulfcomplain that Qatar discriminates againstthem on the service front. What do you have tosay about this?We also get complaints from time to time. As an

Joy Dewan, president of the Nepal Association of TravelAgents (NATA), is also the General Sales Agent for QatarAirlines. Qatar flies daily to the Doha and is the only airlinethat provides daily connections from Kathmandu to Europe.He also runs Zenith Travels and is the GSA for Dragon Air andAir Lanka.

“We need peace.”

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airline for us everyone is the same and we providethem similar services. There is no discriminationbecause the bottom line is the fare and workerspay the same fares as white-collar travellers.

But you do have different check-in countersfor the workersÖYes, that is to expedite the check-in process.Because most of the Nepali workers travelling aregoing abroad for the first time, we have to almostshepherd them, we are there to help and guidethem. If they were checked in with other passen-gers, there could be delays. The separate counterhas been set up for their convenience.

Do you think the governmentís plan to bailout hotels is good enough?We sought help because this is what is doneelsewhere. In Sri Lanka, after its airline lost fouraircraft, the government immediately developed apackage with discounts not just in hotels andairlines, but across the board. It gave othercarriers incentives to maintain frequency by givingconcessions in navigation, landing and groundhandling charges. Most people fly in to Nepal,which was why we asked for similar conces-sions. We’ve had several meetings with thegovernment and they’ve agreed in principle. We’rehopeful a decision will be taken soon.

How have travel agencies been affected?As bad as hotels. NATA has asked for governmenthelp, because they are helping the hotels. Theyhaven’t responded officially and we are stilllobbying.

We have an oversupply of tourism serviceproviders. Isnít this slowdown a chance forconsolidation rather than total bailout?Unlike garments or carpets the tourism industryhas remained good over the long term and there isscope to make more money. We cannot blamethe hotels and related travel industries. Asregards consolidation, I agree there should besome policy on control and we’re working onone with the ministry.

What else can be done to help the industrytoday?We want the situation to return to normal. We wantpeace. The government has to sort out the problemwith the Maoists. I’ve already said that in mostcountries the situation has come back to normalafter 11 September. But it hasn’t here, because ofthe Maoist problem. The government needs to finda solution by means of negotiations or whatever.On our part, as businesses we remain optimisticabout our ability to sell Nepal for as long as wehave our natural beauty.

Our hearty Congratulations on the happy

occasion of the National Day of the

Islamic Republic of Pakistan !

We express our best Wishes for further strengthening

the longstanding friendship

&

co-operation between our two Nations.

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BINOD BHATTARAIast week, the Nepal Rastra Bankpulled the plug on Nepal BankLimited (NBL) by dissolving

the board of directors and replacingit with a three-man managementteam. Now comes phase two of theplan: bring in a management contractto turn the ailing bank around.

But, even if everything goesaccording to plan, it may be early Junebefore the Irish ICC Bank may actuallyland here to take over the NBL’srestructuring. A 21 February RastraBank letter blamed NBL directors offailing to run the bank, and challengedit to prove otherwise.

The NBL’s proposed reforms mayhave begun, but the entire exercise isfraught with accusations of insiderlending and counter-allegations ofpolitical interference by the outgoingdirectors. There are threats of litigation,and if that happens the reforms maynot be as clear-cut as many had hoped.

Rajendra Khetan, who controlsabout nine percent of NBL’s stock,wants a thorough judicial probe on thebank’s failure and has also beenknocking on the doors of the parlia-ment’s Public Accounts Committee.He asks, “Does dissolving the boardmean those that who wrecked the bankbefore we came on board are absolved?”He squarely blames decisions takenwhen government still controlledmajority stock as responsible for themess the bank is in today.

Another former director, LokBhakta Rana had sent a 6-pageclarification to the central bank beforethe board was dissolved, which notonly names names of top governmentand NRB officials, but also hintsat a lawsuit.

“The litigation is ready,” Rana toldus. “I am weighing the options before

Loans unlimited

going to court, I will sue if I seedevelopments that take place from noware against the interests of the bank.”

Former shareholders told us thebank’s downward slide began in 1996/97 when politically-tinged loans wereapproved at a phenomenal rate. Therecord was the approval of 205 loans ona single day when Sher Bahadur Thapa(now being probed by the anti-corruption body) headed its mainKathmandu office and the directorswere Biswonath Sapkota, BishwamberPyakurel, Mukunda Aryal, PrafullaKafle and Jharendra S Rana.

Few disagree with the Rastra Bankdecision on NBL, some formerdirectors even say it should have beentaken last year after KPMG auditorsfound a Rs 5-6 billion hole in theNBL’s net worth. Since things have notimproved since then, it is a good guessthat the bank is still deeply in the red.

Despite this, some former directorsthink the bank is still viable, especiallyif the government were to help crack thewhip on defaulters. Says Khetan: “I amcertain that the parties can pay but the

government would have to makethem.” An earlier central bank reporthad charged Khetan with attemptedloan swapping, he denies borrowingfrom the NBL.

The NBL’s board was aninteresting mix: two businessmen,two lawyers, two professionals andtwo government officials. However,in practice the team was divided onalmost every decision largely becauseof conflicting interests of thepowerful business lobbies theystood for. The Golchas and Khetanshad two directors each.

A list of Top Ten NBL borrowerswhich was published by Deshantarlast week, and confirmed by ourbanking sources, reads like a Who’sWho of Nepali Big Business: theAmatya Group and the GolchaOrganisation lead the lot in terms ofloan size and unpaid interest. Othersinclude Arun Chand (Basulinga SugarMills), B.K. Man and Jit B Shrestha(Radisson Hotel), the Hyatt Hotel, theChaudhary Group (Mahalaxmi SugarMills), Sashikanta Agarwal and theGolyan Group (Reliance Spinning),Sashikanta Agarwal and Saraf Group(Everest Sugar Mills), GorakhkaliRubber Industries and the JyotiGroup. Their dues add up to overRs 3.3 billion.

Over at the Rastriya BanijyaBank, Deloite Touche Tohmahatsu(DTT) has put its taking over themanagement on hold pending asecurity assessment. Nepal’sfinancial sector reform is fundedwith a $25 million World Bankloan, and another $10 million grantwill come from Britain’s DfID.

LNepal Bank Limited has amassed Rs3.3 billion in bad loans.

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66666 NATION 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMES

by PUSKAR BHUSALSOMEWHERE IN NEPAL

ith tourist arrivals duringShivaratri having fallenwoefully short of expecta-

tions, the despondency that hasdescended on the hospitality industryis bound to deepen. If a cleanerBagmati, pre-festival road shows inIndia and seven festival sub-commit-tees couldn’t draw too many devotees,it means we can’t afford to sit on thatlist of tour operators the Chinese havebeen reminding us to send.

There was encouraging news,though, in one category of pilgrims.Hermits converged on the Pashupatiarea in hordes, by up to three timesthe usual assemblage, according toone estimate. Legions of half-nakedfakirs have always been an integralpart of Shivaratri festivities. But youhave to consider this year’s arrivalsin the context of the run-up to theVishwa Hindu Parishad’s soil-sanctification ceremony in Ayodhya.It would be safe to believe that the

hype surrounding the Ram templeceremony held back many Shivafollowers already on their way toKathmandu.

In the relative sparseness of thePashupati premises last week, thebareness of the nanga babas wasparticularly conspicuous. This ledsome locals to suggest imposingquantitative restrictions on this bandof believers from next year. Those stillcomplaining about the concessionsNepal had to make in the new tradetreaty with India may be tempted toslap retaliatory quotas immediately.But prudence dictates againstpunishing devotees who probablydon’t know where their zinc oxideand acrylic yarn come from.

To be sure, the surge in thenumber of sages didn’t mean muchfor the likes of Deopatan’s rudrakshasellers. Instead of eyeing the details ofretail receipts and the central bank’sIndian currency reserves, however, we

should try to remain focused on thebroader picture. What inspired somany saints to come marching inwhen staying away from Nepal hasbecome the best travel decision ofthe year? Having severed their tieswith the world as we know it, thosesages that followed the news weren’tdeterred by the tight securityarrangements or the prospect of adiminished circulation of loosechange. No crisis can stop followerswho really want to see their sweetlord. The 1970s Bollywood number,“Let’s go to Kathmandu, wherewe’ll meet Shambu”, remains theShivaratri anthem for many acrossthe southern border.

These hermits may haveabandoned their families and friendsin the pursuit of the eternal truth,but they are worldly enough tounderstand the futility of trying toconvert the godless. If the Maoistsand their fellow travellers consider

religion to be the opiate of themasses, our sages have long con-vinced themselves that bhang andganja are the surest road to spiritualfulfilment. The Bankali monkeys,too, had a better taste of the tipsinesstheir human cousins were revellingin. (Personally, I can’t help wonder-ing where we would be today if someof our alienated lads and lasses hadturned to grass instead of grenades.)With that kind of realisation comesrapture. Life is a momentarymanifestation between two non-manifestations. Resignation to yourephemeral existence eases therespiratory system all the way untilyour last breath. On the Day ofJudgement, the bourgeoisie andproletariat stand on the same sidecounting their karma points andconcluding whether they qualified forparadise or perdition.

That’s a lesson perplexedNepalis could profit from. Sitting

loosely on the saddle of life keeps youhalf-prepared for the fall. Ask notwhat your politicians can do for you,ask what you can do to help themfeel more comfortable in their seats.If they believe they have a securetenure, they just might start doingnice things to accumulate gooddeeds. Even if they don’t, it’s nobig deal. It’s not as if we’ll bearound forever to regret ourmoments of compassion.

To rekindle a nation-wide spiritof otherworldly existence, religionshould be able to leave its footprintsin all walks of life. A gentleman’srecent suggestion that Nepalpromote dope tourism as aneconomic stimulant may have beenway ahead of its time. But isn’t suchsagacity what statesmanship is allabout? Our tourism officials couldwork on bringing out a conceptpaper in time for the 12th Plan. Weshould, however, grant fast-track

approval to faith-based links abroad inorder to elevate the quality ofgovernance. One former vice-chancellor of the Royal NepalAcademy has proposed banishing ourfeuding Kangresi patriarchs to thecontemplative climes of Kashi as away of cleansing the body politic.With Girija Prasad Koirala andKrishna Prasad Bhattarai out of theway, the torch can be passed to thethird generation of Congress leaders.That could inspire the young andrestless in the other parties to bear theburden of leadership. By returning tothe Durga and Dasasumedh ghats oftheir younger days,

Koirala and Bhattarai would alsobe restoring a glorious tradition. EveryRana prime minister who didn’t die inoffice went on to seek solace onIndian soil. (In fact, one primeminister of the staunchly swadeshiPanchayat days broke his self-imposedvow of political silence in Bangalorelate last year to explain why Nepal’scaves and crannies were morecombustible than Afghanistan’s.)

Admittedly, it would requiresupernatural determination to liveeternally in the spiritual realm amid allthe acts of commission and omissionaround you. Rest assured, though, adesire to have the best of both worldshas ceased to be a symptom of aserious personality disorder. The nexttime you’re at Pashupati, ask the firstsage you see how long he thinks theprime minister would continue inoffice. If the recluse refuses to give youanything more than a sanctified stare,just look around. You’ll find enoughlay people in the hallowed premisesready to offer their homily.

BandsbelieversofAsk not what your politicianscan do for you, ask what youcan do to help them feel morecomfortable in their seats.

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ALEXANDRA ALTERn the eighth century, the IndianBuddhist saint Padmasambhavauttered the following prophecy

predicting the spread of Buddhismto the west: “When the iron birdflies and horse run on wheels, theTibetan people will be scatteredacross the face of the earth, and thedharma will come to the land of thered men.” True to his words,Buddhism has become increasinglypopular in Western countries overthe last few decades, due in largepart to the Tibetan diaspora, whichhas made Tibetan Buddhistteachings and practices widelyavailable.

Yet, accurate as his insight was,Padmasambhava’s prediction wasincomplete. Not only has Buddhismtaken root in the west, a growingnumber of Westerners are alsojourneying east to study Buddhism.With its diverse religious landscape,Nepal has long attracted spiritualsojourners enchanted by its uniqueblend of Buddhism, Hinduism,tantrism, animism and shamanism.And in recent decades, increasingnumbers of visitors have come notjust to observe the varieties ofreligious experience here, but alsoto learn something about thesespiritual practices.

Mainstream tourism in Nepalmay be experiencing a drought, butforeigners intent on studyingBuddhism are still coming insurprisingly healthy numbers. TheTashi Lhatse Guest House inBauddha told us that he usuallyhouses all the students inKathmandu on the Naropaprogram. This spring the programwas cancelled, but this hasn’taffected business, he says. With 40rooms full of other tourists whowant to get deeper into Buddhism,he’s got nearly 100 percentoccupancy. Other guest houses inBauddha also say that thoughThamel might be faring badly,they’re doing quite all right. At atime when hotels around town areeither closing or laying off staff on adaily basis due to a scarcity oftravellers, the idea of a temple hallcrammed with enthusiasticwesterners may seem slightlyincongruous. But go to ChokyiNyima Rinpoche’s famous Saturday

morning teaching a few minuteslate, and you’ll be lucky to find anempty cushion. Rinpoche’sSaturday dharma talks have becomea tradition over the last 20 years,and they represent just one of theways in which he embraces westernBuddhist practitioners. In 1981,Rinpoche established the RanjungYeshe Institute, a school forinternational students, and morerecently, the Shedra program,which is modelled after a traditionalBuddhist college.

Chokyi Nyima says he has seena surge and diversity in foreignersinterested in Buddhism in recentyears. “Before, we used to get onlyhippies. Now we get hippies,yuppies, doctors, scientists. Peopleof all nationalities. Teachingwesterners is easier now. Western-ers are studying comparativereligion and so forth, and thismakes it easier for them to pick upthe Buddhist teachings.”

As home to 15,000 of the110,000 Tibetans in exile, Nepalhas become an important centre forthe study of Tibetan Buddhism,second only perhaps to Dharamsala.

With about 25 monasteries,Bauddhanath attracts not justcurious cultural interlopers, butearnest spiritual seekers. Whatseparates spiritual tourists fromyour average vacationer visitingPashupatinath to gawk at thecremation sites is their sincereintent to practice the tradition.

Distinguishing spiritual touristsfrom other travellers is not diffi-cult—rather than cameras, theycarry beads and prayer wheels. Atypical scene at Double Dorje, apopular tourist restaurant inBaudhanath, includes a group offoreigners gathered around atable, spinning prayer wheelsthroughout their meal.

Besides the number of Western-ers one often sees engaged in ritualsaround Bauddha, evidence of theburgeoning popularity of Nepal as ahaven for the spiritually fatiguedalso lies in the growing number ofTibetan masters teaching in Englishor using a translator. Just eightyears ago, only two lamas taughtforeigners. Now, there are innumer-able dharma talks for westerners,and a wide array of programs of

Buddhist study, from classicalmonastic-style education to morecreative approaches, such asabstract mandala painting.

Though many Valley residentstend to summarily categorise allwestern Buddhists as residualhippies looking to revive thepharmacological mysticism of the1960’s, today there is a gradationof approaches among theseseekers of peace and truth, andKathmandu is a particularlyattractive destination because itprovides something for aspiringBuddhists of every inclination.

Many people, for instance, arecollective energy junkies. Justwitnessing life in Nepal, wheremany spiritually-minded touristsbelieve religion infuses all activity,inspires them to delve deeper intoan interest they already have, oreven take time off from the usualtourist treadmill and adopt areligious practice. “You see thecharisma of the people. Theirreligion speaks through theirfaces,” says Miriam Bruhelmann,who is in Nepal from Switzerlandto study Buddhism. Othertourists are drawn in by theopenness of the Buddhisttradition. “Buddhists tolerate all

religions and really accept you theway you are,” said FrancescaFittipaldi, who is visiting from Italyand participated in a three-daymeditation course at the HimalayanBuddhist Meditation Centre. “Idon’t even think of it as a religion,it’s just a way of living,” she added.

With all its offerings forforeigners, Chokyi Nyima’s monas-tery at Bauddha has become a locusfor Western Buddhist practice.Fifty-three students from 21countries are participating in theShedra program this year—a heftynumber, considering other academicprograms such as SIT and Naropacancelled their Nepal programs. “Iguess dharma practicioners are hardto scare off,” said Thomas HoveDoctor, one of Chokyi Nyima’swestern translators. Having seenhow eager this class of tourists is formore and longer programs thatenable them to live in Nepal a littlelonger, next year Shedra will launcha full four-year BA program inconjunction with KathmanduUniversity that will allow interna-tional students to remain in Nepalfor years at a time on a student visa.Eventually, the Ka-Nying ShedrubLing monastery plans to offer fullMaster’s and PhD programs for

western students.One of the Shedra program’s

marks of distinction is the authenticBuddhist education it offers, whichhasn’t been available to western laypractitioners in the past. Thecourse of study, taught by eruditeTibetan Buddhist scholars,emphasises internalising Buddhistteachings rather than merelyregarding them as abstract philoso-phy. “We don’t want to be like awestern scholastic institution,where you often find a very dryapproach to Buddhist philoso-phy,” says Kevin McMillin,administrator of the Shedraprogram. “Our classes are taughtby learned khempos (scholars andreligious teachers, often heads ofmonasteries) who have studiedwith great masters and have somerealisations themselves. This addsto the richness of the material.”

Chokyi Nyima’s Shedraprogram, while unique in offeringan authentic Buddhist education tolay practitioners, is but one of thenumerous programs of Buddhiststudy available to westerners inNepal. A less traditional atmos-phere is provided by the Naropaprogram for Buddhist Studies,which, as it enters its seventeenthyear, is the oldest program of itskind. “Naropa’s expertise istranslating Buddhist traditions intoa western context,” explains ClarkeWarren, a Buddhist scholar andprogram director of Naropa.“Unless they’ve had a few years ofpractice, it’s difficult for westernstudents to appreciate the tradi-tional shedra style.” Naropa alsobases its program at Bauddha, butunlike the Shedra it is not affiliatedwith a particular monastery.Rather, it is a branch of NaropaUniversity, a non-sectarianBuddhist institution founded byChogyam Trunga Rinpoche in theUnited States in 1974. ChogyamTrunga, a Tibetan master from theKham region, studied at OxfordUniversity and, steeped in westerntraditions himself, taught essentialBuddhism in a way easy for thewestern mind to grasp. Rinpochediscouraged his students frombecoming overly intrigued withTibetan rituals because adoptingsuch colourful practices might giverise to what he famously termed“spiritual materialism.”

Honoring Chogyam Trungpa’s

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minimalist and somewhat austereprescriptions for spiritual practice,Naropa encourages its students to“do away with any fantasy andfascination with regard to Bud-dhism.” According to Warren, whohas lived in Nepal for eight yearsand been a Buddhist practitionerfor over 30 years, studying Bud-dhism in Nepal allows students to“see what is universal and essentialabout Buddhism and what isdependent on its cultural environ-ment. The Tibetan Buddhist ritualsaren’t fascinating for the monkswho practice them, they are

grounding them in reality.” TheNaropa program was cancelled thisspring after two students wereevacuated from their field studylocations in Solu Khumbu lastNovember because of Maoistactivity in the region. One gets thesense, however, that Naropa’s longhistory with Nepal won’t bepermanently interrupted by thecountry’s current problems—students are already applying forthe program in autumn this year.

While the Shedra and Naropaprograms epitomise respectively theclassical and westernised ap-

proaches to Buddhist practice, forthose seeking something inbetween, a blend of traditional andwestern teaching styles is availableat the Kopan Monastery and theHimalayan Buddhist MeditationCentre. Founded by Lama Yeshe in1970 at the request of his westernstudents, Kopan offers meditationcourses throughout the year. Theirmonth-long November course isusually the biggest draw, and had180 international participants lastyear.

The courses at Kopan aretaught by Ani Karin, a western nunwho articulates the Lam-rimteachings, or the stages on the pathto enlightenment, in a unique andhighly accessible manner. Equallyadept at distilling difficult conceptsinto clear English is Ani Siliana, anItalian nun who runs the three-daymeditation courses at the HBMC.

Both she and Ani Karinexplicate Buddhist principles clearlyand precisely to encapsulate theflavour of the teachings as well ascompensate for unavoidablecultural differences.

“Lama Yeshe wanted westernersexplaining Buddhist meditation toother westerners,” Siliana ex-plained. “I may just have anintellectual understanding of theteachings without the actualrealisation, but because of mybackground maybe some people canrelate to Buddhism more easilywhen I explain it.”

Rather than providing atemporary retreat from reality, themeditation courses at Kopan andthe HBMC help westerners toestablish an enduring practice whenthey leave Nepal. “People say it’seasier to practice in the east, but Ithink it’s more essential to practice

in the west—to look at the mindwhen it’s bombarded by stress andother factors,” Siliana said.

Though some may dismissBuddhism’s widespread popularityabroad in recent decades as apassing trend, western Buddhism isalready the subject of scholarlyattention. Citing the numerousforms Indian Buddhism gave birthto as it spread throughout Asia,scholars and practitioners alike arespeculating as to whether westernBuddhism might be in an incuba-tion stage in places like Kathmanduand at meditation centres in thewest. “Tibetan Buddhism is goingglobal and it is transforming intonon-Tibetan Buddhism,” believesWarren. Browse through thereligion section of any largebookstore in the US today, and youwill see works with such titles asBuddhism Without Beliefs,Buddhism in Plain English, BlueJean Buddhism, and Diary of aWestern Buddhist Nun, whichseem to indicate the effort of anincipient religious movement todefine itself according

to its own cultural precepts. Butwill Himalayan Buddhism lose itsattraction for westerners once theirown traditions are in place? Warrenbelieves that any attempt to divorceBuddhism from its origins willprove futile: “There needs to be abalance. On the one hand,westerners are developing their ownapproaches, but they’re alsodependent on the sources ofBuddhism.” Sightseeing may be on a

Spiritual tourists are flocking to Nepal.And they aren’t all old dharma bums.I

Studying Buddhism in NepalStudying Buddhism in NepalStudying Buddhism in NepalStudying Buddhism in NepalStudying Buddhism in Nepal Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Centre. 221875

http://dharmatours.com/hbmc Rangjung Yeshe Institute for Buddhist Studies. 483575

http://www.cbs.edu.np Kopan Monastery. 481268

http://www.kopanmonastery.com Gaden Yiga Chozen Center, Pokhara.

pokharacenter@yahoo.com Naropa University

http://www.naropa.edu/studyabroad/nepal/program.html

Students at the Shedra program run by the Ka-Nying Shedrub Lingmonastery in Bauddha (left and above).

downturn, even trekkers andadventure tourists may be thinkingtwice about Nepal, but forKathmandu Valley, its monasteriesand lamas, it looks like few thingswill deter the seekers of truth, notnow, not in five years’ time.

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Rewarding cooperationTOKYO - Pakistan is still reaping the economic and diplomaticdividends of siding with the United States and its crackdown onreligious extremism. Tokyo has eased Islamabad’s debt burden andlifted economic sanctions in place after Pakistan and India conductednuclear tests. “Japan will collaborate closely with Pakistan in thereconstruction of Afghanistan,” Koizumi said last Thursday. Seniorofficials of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party assured Musharrafthat Tokyo “would not hesitate to cooperate” to help Pakistan’s stabledevelopment. Musharraf also lobbied for more Japanese investmentsin Pakistan, and called upon Japanese entrepreneurs to considerinvestment in the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan. (IPS)

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Follow the moneyWASHINGTON - US President George W Bush said last Thursdaythat his administration will contribute $5 billion over the next threebudget years to help developing countries, the single largest aidincrease in US history. The United States has been under fire asWashington’s level of donations has fallen over the last 15 years toabout 0.1 percent of GDP, the lowest level of all industrialisedcountries. But Bush had one caveat: assistance would be directlylinked to private investment and the policy reforms needed tostimulate it. Some activists assailed the announcement. SameerDossani, programme coordinator with Globalisation ChallengeInitiative, said, “It sounds like a new way to subsidise US companiesworking in the developing world.” Much of the money, he predicted,would seep into infrastructure projects. (IPS)

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If the US nukes ChinaBEIJING - After expressing its “deep shock” at Washington’scontingency plans to use nuclear weapons against China in emer-gency situations, Beijing has called on the army to be ready formilitary struggle. President Jiang Zemin, chairman of the powerfulCentral Military Commission, urged China’s armed forces last weekto make “solid preparations” for combat and “follow closely the latestdevelopments of military strength in the world.” The Los AngelesTimes reports that a Pentagon scenario envisioning a US nuclearstrike against Beijing was the case of war between China andTaiwan. The countries in the Pentagon’s other scenarios includedIran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Russia and Syria. (IPS)

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Back to AfghanistanPESHAWAR – After a sluggish start early this month, last week theUNHCR’s first repatriation centre at Takhtabaig in Khyber, 36 km shortof the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, registered as many as 350vehicles carrying 9,000 Afghans in a single day. Since then, thenumber of returnees crossing the Torkham border post has beenincreasing day by day. The UNHCR plans to repatriate 400,000refugees this year, with six more centres around the country. Eachreturning family gets $100 as transportation expenses, an assist-ance package of 150 kg of wheat, five kg of soap, plastic sheeting,bedding, quilts and a kitchen set. The majority of those going backare Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras and Turkmens. Pashtuns seem reluctantto return fearing hostility from other ethnic groups. Meanwhile inmany places in Afghanistan, particularly in the north, thousands ofdisplaced people live in camps in squalid conditions after they fleddrought conditions elsewhere. Aid agencies are encouraging them toreturn to their homes, to make it easier to deliver assistance. (IPS)

War paint

f modern science exemplifies thedialectic of good and evil thennothing represents evil so clearly as

the research, design and production ofnuclear weapons of mass destruction.In the bomb lies the spirit that couldnegate all.

The failure of the West toinaugurate a process of nucleardisarmament has led states elsewhereto acquire plutonium and manufacturetheir own bombs. Nowhere is theprocess more frightening than inSouth Asia. Neither India nor Pakistancan afford this weaponry. Bothcountries would benefit enormously ifthe billions spent on nuclear armswere used to build schools, hospitalsand provide clean water in the villages.Rationality, alas, is the first victimwhen these two countries quarrel. Afew years ago, during the militaryskirmishes in the snow deserts ofKargil, nuclear threats were exchangedby both countries on 13 separateoccasions. The recent war in Afghani-stan has further destabilised theregion. On 13 December last year,armed Muslim fundamentalists

attacked the Indian parliament, hopingto provoke a conflict between India andPakistan. They hate the country’sleader, General Musharraf, forbetraying the Muslim cause and sidingwith Washington. And they hate theHindu fundamentalist party that rulesIndia. The tragedy is that they cameclose to inciting a war.

The Indians argued that if the UScould bomb a country and change itsgovernment while searching for theterrorists who ordered the hits on thePentagon, why shouldn’t India be ableto do the same? The logic is impecca-ble, but the outcome could be acatastrophe of massive proportions.Pakistan’s rulers responded with anuclear threat: if their country’ssovereignty was ever challenged theywould use nuclear weapons.

Under US pressure, Islamabadshifted rapidly into reverse gear. On12 January the General made alandmark speech. Pervez Musharrafoffered India a no-war pact, de-nuclearisation of South Asia, closure ofthe jihadi training camps in Pakistanand a total transformation of Indo-Pak

relations. While hard-line fundamen-talist newspapers attacked him, thecountry remained calm. Not a birdtwittered, not a dog barked. So muchfor the view that ordinary Pakistanisare obsessed with the “Islamic bomb”.

There is, however, a vocalminority for whom the bomb makesup for the lack of everything else. It isa substitute for lost pride, basicamenities, a ruined economy and afractured culture. The Koran plus anuclear missile equals a strongMuslim state. The fact that Pakistan isthe only Muslim state to possess theseweapons becomes, for some, asubstitute for oil. Our bomb, boastthe nuclear nationalists, will defendIslam against all its enemies. And sothey parade cardboard missiles anddisplay the potent emblem on bus andbullock-cart alike. Ask them if theyrealise it could lead to disaster andthey look upwards and mutter:“Everything is in the hands of Allah.He will decide.” This primitive beliefin predestination could wreck theentire subcontinent if the weapons everfell into the wrong hands.

Pakistan’s nuclear capacity hasbeen used by the jihadi as a guaranteeof their untouchability. No more. IfPakistan is permitted to keep its bombit will have to disarm the groups whomight use it. Some of these elementsare present inside the army. India’sresponse is, therefore, vital. If it reactedgenerously the entire politicallandscape could be altered to thebenefit of both countries. But Indiarefuses to budge. It talks of “minimumnuclear deterrence” and has declinedthe no-war pact offered by its oncerecalcitrant neighbour.

By rejecting General Musharraf’soffer, the Indian government has onlyexposed the hollowness of its professedcommitment to nuclear disarmament.The folly of India’s rulers has beencompounded by the test-firing of anew Agni missile on the eve of itsRepublic Day celebrations on 26January. Apart from being anirresponsible and provocative gesture,the test is a reaffirmation of NewDelhi’s resolve to proceed with itsnuclear arms programme. Theadvocates of a short sharp war againstPakistan are largely confined to thewell-off urban middle-classes in India.The poor do not favour conflict. Theyknow the dangers it would create insideIndia, with its 200 million Muslims.Even among the middle classes thedesire for a war would fade if they wereconscripted. For unlike Osama’s gangthese are armchair fundamentalists whoare unlikely to feel the pinch unless thewar goes nuclear. Plutonium is a greatleveller.

New Delhi sees itself as a potentialworld power. It craves a seat on theSecurity Council. It argues that if smallEuropean countries like Britain andFrance can possess nuclear weapons,then why not India? The simplestresponse here would be to extendnuclear disarmament, but the West isunlikely to oblige. The stalemate inSouth Asia will continue. (The Independent)

(Tariq Ali’s latest book, The Clashof Fundamentalisms: Crusades,Jihads and Modernity will bepublished by Verso in April.)

by TARIQ ALIOPINION

or the first time, the world is within striking distance of ending globalpoverty. Preposterous? Perhaps. After all, the poor seem to be everywhereand are increasing in numbers due to global recession, population growth,

and economic mismanagement from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Yet, I’ll stick to myclaim. If the world—especially the US and other rich countries—shift a smallamount of their military spending to meeting the needs of the world’s poorest, ourgeneration could free humanity from poverty’s iron grip.

I am not speaking of relative poverty, the nearly inevitable fact that somemembers of society are worse off than others, though that varies society to society. Iam speaking of the gut-wrenching, life-threatening poverty of living on less than$1 per day. The world today has it in its power to eliminate those extremeconditions. The world’s richest countries have continued their economic ascent forgenerations, carried forward by the flowering of science and technology. Althoughpoor countries seem to be falling ever farther behind, the truth is more heartening.Large parts of the so-called developing world, especially in Asia, have madeincredible strides away from absolute poverty. China is the most striking success,with hundreds of millions enjoying higher living standards in the past twentyyears, including better health, nutrition, and sanitation. India achieved notablesuccesses more recently, though much remains to be accomplished.

The poorest of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa and in remote areas of LatinAmerica and Central Asia have not benefited. At least a billion people, perhapsnearly twice that, live with hunger, disease and impoverishment. In many of thesecountries, there has been regression, not progress, in the past twenty years. Diseasehas swept Africa, with the AIDS pandemic and the resurgence of malaria andtuberculosis. Hunger afflicts hundreds of millions, as world weather patterns seemto become more erratic, with more dangerous droughts and floods. Millions dieeach year of poverty, for lack of access to better health care, nutrition, and otheressential needs. The extreme poverty of the bottom billion is shocking, morallyintolerable and dangerous—a breeding ground of disease, terrorism and violence.

Rich countries could help the poorest of the poor by providing just a tinyfraction of their yearly national income—or, indeed, of their military spending—to overcome the crises of hunger, education, and disease. That aid, combined with

by JEFFREY SACHSCOMMENT

the market-based economic growth, could end extreme poverty. Rich countries arecommitted to working with the poorest countries to meet these objectives. But aswith many promises, America and other donor countries have so far failed to liveup to their pledges. At the UN’s Millennium Summit in September 2000, worldleaders issued a declaration calling for action now, so extreme poverty can bedramatically reduced by 2015. They even pledged to mobilise financial assistance.

Within the broad Millennium Declaration is a set of specific targets, andexplicit, detailed commitments for reducing poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy,and environmental degradation. For example, rich and poor countries togetherhave committed to reducing infant mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015,compared with 1990 levels. For dozens of countries that target is not being met,because too little money is invested in health. Many studies, including those I didfor the WHO, show that for a modest amount of money—perhaps an extra $50-$100 billion per year in aid from rich countries—the Millennium DevelopmentGoals can be achieved. That may seem like a lot of money, but not in comparisonwith the $25 trillion income each year earned by rich countries, or the roughly$500 billion spent annually on their militaries.

Much of the world looks at the US and other rich countries with resentment,feeling that they don’t keep their commitments to help less fortunate countries.The rich world can redeem itself and promote its interests in global peace andprosperity by proving that the Millennium Development Goals are not emptywords. The key test of those commitments will be at this week’s UN Conferencein Monterrey, Mexico on Finance for Development. The conference’s bottom line:where is the money to fight poverty and disease? Will the rich follow promiseswith actions? (Project Syndicate)

(Jeffrey D Sachs is professor of economics and director of the Center forInternational Development, Harvard University.)

Rich countries have made many promises.Monterrey is the time to make good on them.

Keeping their word

Some Pakistanis decorate cars and shops with images of their“Islamic Bomb”, but many fear an all-out battle with India.

I

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1010101010 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMESTECHNOLOGY

he personal computer on mydesktop is hundreds of timesas fast, and has thousands of

times as much memory as themainframe computer that served myentire university when I was astudent. Such advances in theprocessing speed and storagecapacity of computers are expectedto continue until the laws ofphysics impose certain limits. Afterall, we cannot shrink atoms orincrease the speed of light.

Now, imagine a computertechnology that eventuallyapproaches these limits. Imaginefurther that every star in everygalaxy in the observable universecould somehow be fashioned intocomputers of this “ultimate” type.That would be a lot of very fastcomputers. Or if they wereconnected together we could thinkof them as a single, massivelyparallel computer: call it the“Universe Computer.”

Admittedly, there are tasks—word processing, for example—atwhich this imaginary computerwould be no more useful than anyone of its constituent computersoperating independently. But forlarge, repetitive trial-and-errortasks, such as code breaking, thespeed and power of this integrated“Universe Computer” would bevastly superior to anything we

The Ultimate Computer

“Almost anything becomes a computer if youshine the right kind of light on it.”

could ever hope to build, right?Hold that thought.Quantum theory—the branch

of physics that deals with elemen-tary particles and the microscopicproperties of matter—has producedsome of our deepest insights intonature, and describes somestartlingly counter-intuitivephenomena. For example, it impliesthat elementary particles, ratherthan being located at one positionat a time, travel on several trajecto-ries simultaneously.

No one disputes that quantumphenomena, if they could beharnessed, would revolutioniseinformation processing, enablingways of computing that no existingcomputer, even in principle, wouldbe capable of duplicating. Amongthe tasks for which quantumcomputing would be ideally suitedare “algorithmic searches.” Putsimply, algorithmic searches arewhat computer programmers use asa last resort when looking for amathematical needle in a haystack:they make the computer try everypossible answer in turn until it findsthe right one.

Obviously, the resourcesrequired for such searches areproportional to the number ofpossible answers: common sensetells us that trying a thousandpossibilities requires a thousand

times as many operations as tryingone. Trying a million possibilitiesrequires a million times as manyoperations.

But our ordinary common sensedoes not apply in fundamentalphysics. In 1996, the computerscientist Lov Grover discovered aquantum algorithm—a way toprogram a quantum computer—that could try out a millionpossibilities in only a thousandtimes the time needed to try one,and a trillion possibilities in only amillion times the time of one, andso on, without limit.

What would happen inside aquantum computer when itperforms an algorithmic search?The unseemly truth is that mostphysicists are perplexed andembarrassed by this question. Manyexplain away quantum phenomenawith weasel words, or worse, theysimply eschew explanationaltogether. True, quantumphenomena cannot be observeddirectly. But we can deduce theirexistence and attributes bymeasuring their effects on thingsthat are directly observable. Wehave never observed live dinosaurs,either, but we know they existed—

and quite a lot about how theyworked—from fossil records.

A growing minority of physi-cists, myself included, accept the“many universes” interpretation ofquantum mechanics. We concludedthat what we observe as a singleparticle is really one of countlesssimilar entities in different uni-verses, subtly affecting each otherthrough a process called “quantuminterference.” To us, no mysteryexists in quantum computation,only wonder.

Quantum computing, accord-ing to this view, is possible becausea quantum computer performs vastnumbers of separate computationsin different universes and thenshares the results through quantuminterference. The equations ofquantum theory describe thisphenomenon step by step. Butbecause such information sharing isachievable only through quantuminterference, these same equationsalso drastically limit the types oftask that quantum computationshould be able to perform, or speedup. Direct communication betweenuniverses is, for example, ruled out.

In fact, only a handful ofpotentially useful quantum

algorithms are known at present.Grover’s algorithm is one. Otherknown quantum algorithms will easilybe able to crack the most widely usedsecure cryptographic systems of today.Coincidentally, cryptographic systemswhich themselves use quantumcomputation are already common-place in laboratories, heralding thedevelopment of communication thatis both perfectly secure—even againstquantum attack—and immune tofuture advances in mathematics ortechnology.

Quantum cryptographyhappens to be relatively easy toimplement. Unfortunately, we haveno computers powerful enough torun any other useful quantumalgorithm; building powerfulquantum computers is a majorscientific and technologicalchallenge for the coming decades.But theoretical physicists alreadyknow how many different types ofcomponents are required to make aquantum computer, and howcomplicated these componentsmust be. The astonishing answer isthat virtually any interactionbetween two information-carryingentities, including atoms orelementary particles, will do. As thephysicist Seth Lloyd commented,“almost anything becomes acomputer if you shine the right

kind of light on it.”It has long been assumed that a

single type of machine, given timeand memory, could simulate thebehaviour of any other state ofmatter. It turns out that existingcomputers, or even the imaginary“Universe Computer,” are not theones. But a general-purposequantum computer would be. Inquantum physics, this “computa-tional universality” is part of theessence of all matter—and thus ofthe comprehensibility of nature. Noother branch of physics involvessuch wide-ranging interactionbetween theory, experiment,technology, and philosophy. Noother field of scientific researchholds more promising implicationsfor our understanding of theuniverse.

(David Deutsch is visitingprofessor of physics and afounder member of theCentre for QuantumComputation at TheClarendon Laboratory,Oxford University, andauthor of The Fabric ofReality.)

T

by DAVID DEUTSCHCOMMENT

131313131322 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMESHISTORY AND CULTURE

Back at Sundarijal >7

The psychological priceof public appreciationTuesday, 11 January 1977No news, no newspaper, no contact from outside, no medicines,no doctor. We get food and other articles from home, but nonews, not even small chits of paper with the list of articles sentto us by our people. Total segregation. GM (Ganesh Man Singh)has a theory. He feels that since this condition can’t be contin-ued, this entire arrangement of our detention in Sundarijal isimpromptu, suggesting that the king has a need to discussthings with us before final decision is taken about us. The strictisolation imposed on us is also indicative of the same policy.The army people in charge of us tell us that everything is impro-vised. This lends support to GM’s theory.

Pant the camp commander (Major) says that he has instruc-tions that all the rules of detention from the previous time willapply on this occasion also. He thought that we could writemonthly letters and would be allowed to interview close (asdefined by them on the previous occasion) relations on thesecond of each month according to Nepali calendar hoping thathe is correct I wrote letters to Sushila and Prakash.

Today is 28th of Paus. Tomorrow I hand over the letter to thepeople, and by the next week latest they would be cleared bycensor—if communication through letters would be permitted asper previous practice Major thinks that Rosa may not be allowedto interview me, she being not close enough in relationship with

Nepali Times continues serialisingBP Koirala’s English diary writtenfrom inside his prison cell in 1977.One more day of homesickness,loneliness and boredom atSundarijal during which thehighlights are: freshly launderedclothes and a visitor bringing acake. BP is also concerned aboutthe financial state of his family.

me according to their definition. She will have a secure specialpermission as she had done before. GM thinks that eitherinterview will not take place at all or the king would see usbefore the second of Magh. GM is being consistent in thisprognosis—his theory. I am not sure of anything so far as thepalace is concerned. As a matter of fact the Major has beeninducing me to write monthly letters.

In the evening Pradeep, GM’s son brought some deliciouscakes from Café de Park. Rosa sent my clothes after washingthem. Inadvertently perhaps, the slip with the list of clothes sentwas left in the bundle. The sight of Rosa’s characteristichandwriting gave me some joy.

I have written a sentimental letter to Sushila. The thoughtthat the letter would pass through various hands and thescrutiny of many people now fills me with some embarrass-ment. Expression of sentiments is considered to be privilege ofan actor who is paid to express them in public. What is goodand what is proper? To bottle up your feelings may be proper,but is it good (beneficial) to? What maybe manly is not neces-sarily good psychologically. You have perhaps to pay a heavyprice in psychological terms to earn appreciation from thepublic. I have written to Prakash about how to manage house-hold and education finance by disposing of the Biratnagarproperty and the ornaments of Sushila and Nanu. This letter isalso embarrassing

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JULIO GODOYPARIS - French museums haveengaged in a war of words over thecontrol of archives containing materialrelating to the pre-colonial heritagefrom Africa, Oceania, Asia andAmerica. Until 1998, all documentsrelating to pre-colonial societies werewith the country’s Museum ofAnthropology. However, PresidentJacques Chirac recently announced thesetting up of a new exhibition centreto house what he called “first arts” orrelics belonging to non-European precolonial societies.

The new centre, to be called theFrench Museum of First Arts, isexpected to officially open its doors in2004. A brochure on the newbuilding says it will concentrate oncultural material from the so-called“primitive peoples” before the adventof colonialism. President Chirac saysit was set up after “a number of artistsand intellectuals, from Claude Lévi-Strauss to Pablo Picasso, expressedtheir wish that France recognise theforgotten civilisations from Africa,Oceania, Asia, and the Americas.”

But critics have dubbed itMuseum Chirac and wonder wherethe government will get the material to

“First Arts”Does France need anothermuseum with ethnologicalartefacts and non-European arts?store in the new building. TheFrench Museum of Anthropology,which was founded in 1937, says itplans to continue displaying thepieces it has in its custody but iswilling to organise the exhibits sothey do not clash with the theme ofthe new museum.

Critics are questioning the needfor a new museum, saying theexisting ones fulfil the needs. PierreDelannoy, a journalist who hasresearched on the subject, says thatby setting up the museum Chirac“suggests that in the past the Frenchmuseums did nothing to honourpre-colonial civilisations, which iscompletely false.”

Sources at the Museum ofAfrican and Oceanic Arts haveexpressed fears that they will beexpected to give up at least two-thirds of their collections to the newmuseum, and curators at theMuseum of Anthropology havegone on strike to protest againstwhat they call “the destruction” oftheir venerable house. The Museumof Anthropology spends only12,000 Euros a year in the purchaseof new pieces. At the same time, thestate has allocated 230 million Eurosto buy material for the new museum.

Stéphane Martin, director of thenew Museum of First Arts, says thecriticism is unjust and unfounded.He says the new museum will displaythe material in a modern and unusualway aimed at attracting audiences.Martin rejects the accusation that theMuseum of First Arts will expose thepieces out of their cultural context.“For example we will show a maskfrom Alaska, from the kwakiutlpeople, donated by Claude Lévi-Strauss to the Louvre many years ago,”

Martin claims. “When you open themask, you will see an old film, shot in1914 by the great photographerEdward Curtis, and that showsnatives, clothed in bear skins, dancingin preparation for the chase of thewhale,” Martin adds. “Wonderful!Such things the knee-jerk ethnologistsat the old museums cannot do.”

The “knee-jerk ethnologists”even accuse the new museum of“illegal trafficking” of pre-colonialmaterials. In 1999, in a letter toPrime Minister Lionel Jospin,André Langaney, director of thelaboratory of biological anthropol-ogy, complained that the newmuseum had triggered “a freneticpurchasing of so-called primitiveart, provoking the intensification ofthe pillage of anthropological sitesin Africa, America and Asia.”

The government has suggestedtransforming the Museum ofAnthropology into a Museum ofNatural History. Critics areoutraged. “Ethnologists in Franceare a very small elite, about to(become extinct). Asking theMuseum of Anthropology to forgetexotic things and occupy itself withnature is like asking for a perma-nent ban on genetics,” PierreDellanoy wrote. (IPS)

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1212121212 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMESFROM THE NEPALI PRESS THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

“Daughter was hoping she could also have her share of the family property.”Cartoonist: Ramesh Bista

Gorkhapatra, 18 March

QUOTE OF THE WEEKThe country is currently facing four basic problems. First, there’s a lack of values and morality, second, a lack ofgood governance, third, that of social justice and equality, and fourth, that of empowerment

— Kamal Thapa, spokesman, Rastriya Prajatantra Party in Budhabar, 20 March

Deshantar, 17 March

Following are excerpts of the report prepared by theNepali Congress committee on constitutional amend-ment that included Mahanta Thakur, treasurer of the party,and Central Working Committee members ArjunNarsingh KC, Krishna Sitaula, Laxman Ghimere andKB Gurung.

Issue citizenship certificates based on the electoralrolls used during the 1979-1980 referendum.

All executive functions, except those specifically left tothe discretion of the king, should be carried out by theCouncil of Ministers.

To be a main opposition MP, the member’s partyshould have won at least 10 percent of the 205 seats ofthe Lower House.

Membership of the National Defence Council shouldinclude the prime minister, the ministers of defence,home affairs, finance, the Foreign Minister, Chief of ArmyStaff, Inspector General of Police, and head of theintelligence department. The secretary of defence shouldbe its member secretary.

The prime minister’s position should be strengthenedby guaranteeing the prime minister’s right to dissolveparliament [Article 53 (4)].

There should be a permanent committee withmembers from both houses of parliament to formulatenational policy.

The Finance Bill and related procedures should besimplified.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should beappointed upon the recommendation of the Constitu-tional Council after extensive public hearings.

Responsibility should be delegated to the electeddistrict, village and municipal authorities to make thempro-development and responsible.

Maximum participation of women, dalits and peoplefrom disadvantaged groups should be ensured in locallevel institutions.

One head and two commissioners each should beappointed at the Commission for the Investigation ofAbuse of Authority and the Election Commission. For thePublic Service Commission one chief and up to eightmembers should be appointed after public hearings.

All appointments to government posts and servicesshould be done only on the recommendation of thePublic Service Commission.

The king should not appoint the Attorney General.The office-holder should change with a change ingovernment.

There should be a system to investigate the heads ofconstitutional bodies through a committee of the LowerHouse and base actions, including impeachment, shouldbe recommended to the concerned agencies for action.

Heads of constitutional bodies too should, by law, besubject to anti-corruption investigations.

The sitting prime minister should be required to forman all-party election government within seven days ofthe declaration of general elections to the House ofRepresentatives.

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Drunk flyingRajdhani, 18 March

The Royal Nepal Airlines Corpora-tion has begun its investigation ofCaptain Kundan Giri, who isaccused of flying under the influenceof alcohol. The investigation wasbegun after JS Coloon, a passengeraboard RNAC’s 757 flying in fromHong Kong to Kathmandu on 1November 2001, sent the corpora-tion emails last week accusing Giriof drinking hard liquor on duty andmisbehaving. The investigation wasdiscussed last Thursday by thecorporation’s department heads.Captain DMS Rajbhandari, head ofthe corporate department, said Giriwould be asked for an explanation.The investigation will be conductedunder the supervision of the head ofoperations, MD Lama.

Coloon says that right after hehad bid goodbye to his family atHong Kong’s international airportand was awaiting his flight to Nepal,where he had planed a vacation, hesaw Captain Giri drinking hardliquor in the airport restaurant. Theemail goes on to say, “ At first Ididn’t realise that the person inuniform drinking was a pilot. Then,as we were boarding the plane, wesaw the person enter the cockpitswaying and shouting in his nativelanguage. My wife got afraid andwhen we asked the cabin attendant,we found out that his name wasKundan Giri and that he was aprominent pilot with RNAC. Theattendant said Giri would not beflying the plane.” The email furthersays, “Even then, we were veryscared, and when we arrived inKathmandu the captain was stillwalking around drunk and shouting.We have flown on many distin-guished and reputed airlines, andafter that incident we did notwant to return home on RNAC.We made up our minds to neverfly on RNAC.”

That particular flight had overone hundred passengers includingthe director general of the CivilAviation Authority Medani Sharma,Capt NJ Shrestha, Capt ShukraRana, and Capt Santosh Sharma. ANepali passenger aboard the flightalso said that Capt Giri probablywas under the influence of alcohol.Under the rules of the InternationalCivil Aviation Authority, a pilotcannot fly for six hours after

consuming alcohol or otherintoxicants. The concernedcountry’s civil aviation authorityhas the right to take action againstthe offender and even ground himif need be.

Capt Giri claims there is notruth in the accusation. He toldRajdhani, “ I too have receivedthat email. It tarnishes not just myimage, but that of the entirecorporation. If I am guilty thereshould be strict action, otherwisewhoever made this up should bebrought to trial.” According toGiri, certain department headsand pilots of the RNAC, ap-pointed under pressure from theMinister of Tourism and CivilAviation Balbahdur KC, areconspiring against him. Sourcesat the RNAC say that Giri wasappointed assistant director ofthe corporation a year ago on therecommendation of HomeMinister Khum Bahadur Khadkaand former Foreign MinisterChakra Prasad Bastola.

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Starting anewHimal Khabarpatrika,14-28 March

Hundreds of women from theBadhi community, a communitytraditionally engaged in the sextrade in some mid-west and mid-hill districts of Nepal, are lookingfor alternative work. Led by SafeNepal, an NGO that works withthe community, and the CentralBadhi Women’s SamanwayaCommittee, more than 200 womenfrom the Banke, Bardiya, Kailali,Kanchanpur and Dang have signeda paper renouncing the sex trade.The signature campaign continues.

In addition to this, fewer youngBadhi women are entering the sextrade as NGOs including SAFEhave set up hostels where they canstay and study instead. So far, 350Badhi girls are studying in fourhostels in Nepalganj, Rajapur,Lamki, and Ghorahi, and a primaryschool for Badhi girls is being runin Nepalganj. Five Badhi girls fromthese schools are currentlypursuing higher studies at theMahendra Bahumukhi Campus inNepalganj. One of the girls, RamKumari, has not only marriedand set up house, she alsoteaches children from hercommunity. Five years ago, sheattended the internationalchildren’s conference organisedby UNICEF in New York.

During the last decade, Badhiwomen have begun leaving the sextrade due to growing socialawareness as well as the AIDSscare. They have gotten organisedand asked the state for assistancethat will help them lead betterlives. Their demands include theprovision of employment opportu-nities depending on their abilities,skills-training to ensure alternativeemployment, and credit schemes.They have also asked for reserva-tions in the public and privatesectors, free higher education, andcitizenship for children born towomen in the sex trade. Recently,100 Badhi girl students from Dangheld a silent procession to stir uppublic support for their demands.

The Badhi Women’s

Samanwaya Committee has set upbranches around Banke, Bardiya,Dang, Kailali, and Surkhet, butwomen involved in the campaignhave been affected by the emer-gency. Due to security problems ithas become difficult to travelthrough the villages. ShaguniNepali, the coordinator of thecommittee, says the group’s mainfocus is to encouraging women tomarry after they receive skills-training. Depending on theirabilities, the committee also triesto organise jobs for women inNGOs, private industry, andgovernment offices.

Badhi women are discrimi-nated against socially and legally.Their children don’t get birthcertificates—statistics show thatthere are at least 300 unregis-tered Badhi children. Govern-ment officials say they cannotissue the certificates without thefather’s name. As a result, over 60percent of Badhi youthdon’t possess citizenship certifi-cates either.

The community’s economicstatus is also pathetic. Accordingto a survey of 232 Badhi familiesconducted by Action Aid twoyears ago, only two families havemore than seven bighas of land,four families own four-six bighas,and five families own one-fivekatthas. One hundred and twelvefamilies have less than a kattha,and 109 families own no land.

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Message to rebelsNepal Jagaran, 18 March

An appeal from the securityAn appeal from the securityAn appeal from the securityAn appeal from the securityAn appeal from the securityforcesforcesforcesforcesforcesMaoist workers who are ready todie! Please know the followingabout your leaders!!

The children of the command-ers you have so much faith inenjoy luxurious and secure livesabroad with the funds youstruggle to collect.

Your commanders havemanaged to set up huge bankbalances abroad for a securefuture with the unaccountedmoney you collect from varioussources.

When your commanders toldyou the arms dealers had cheatedthem of huge sums of money,they were in fact funnelling itaway to their own bank accounts.

Your local commanders havealready built houses inKathmandu and other cities inthe country. Their families live inthe security of cities, not indangerous villages.

Your commanders have beentreating women workers ascommodities to be enjoyed. Someof them have been compelled tocommit suicide after they becamepregnant.

You simple citizens may havelow incomes, and you are beinglured to your death with dreamsof unattainable luxuries only toforward the personal interests ofyour commanders.

Instead of providing treatmentto wounded workers, yourcommanders bury the alleged‘martyrs’ alive.

Your right to observe yourreligion and culture has beencurtailed, your religious freedomhas been blunted.

To surrender Hang your weapon on your

left shoulder with the barrelpointing downward.

Remove the magazine from

your weapon. Raise both hands up when

approaching the security forces. The person in front should

hold this pamphlet on his righthand.

Come in groups of less thanfive persons.

The security forces willwelcome you and provide you hotfood. They guarantee you willlive.

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Enough apologiesNepal Samacharpatra, 18 March

Letter to the editor from AbhayaShrestha, Anamnagar

The news item titled “Forcedbandhs and strikes bad for theMaoists”, published in the NepalSamacharpatra of last Monday[11 March] used the words“Maoists call for bandh from 2-6April”. Wasn’t this more of anadvertisement for the bandh?When even those of us who livein the capital were not aware thata five-day bandh had been calledby the Maoists, how wouldpeople living in other areas knowabout it? Yet, because of thisarticle, everyone will know aboutit a month in advance. This willcreate panic among the people

even before the fact, will it not?Sure, we would have found

out about this sooner or later,but what I am trying to say isthat this article served more as anadvertisement calling for thebandh. Placing a bomb in agarbage container in Mitrapark,Chabahil, targeting civilians andtorching a bus carrying common-ers at 4AM on the first day of thenationwide bandh on 21-22February have all only shown thatthe Maoists are nothing morethan terrorists. Dr BaburamBhattarai said they had made amistake, asked for forgiveness andsaid that such acts would nothappen again. But on 3 March, aday before they again called for aclosure of educational establish-ments across the country on 4-5March, another bomb went off ina remote village school inSankhuwasabha district andkilled a student. Is Dr Baburamagain going to ask for forgiveness?Have people’s lives become socheap that the Maoists can justkill anyone and ask for forgive-ness?

Legal action might still betaken when a stray dog dies buthuman lives have become verycheap. If the Maoists who committhese crimes are punished by theMaoists themselves, then perhapsthe people will be a little happier.Have they been able to take actionagainst corrupt leaders or corruptgovernment officials in the districts?Which ideology of Mao are theytrying to implement by hurtinginnocent people? What are theytrying to do by shaming the Nepaliarmy? Isn’t this more like teasing ahungry tiger? Let there be no morebandhs. If it is absolutely necessaryto have them, then why not restricttheir duration? This might bebeneficial to both the Maoists andthe people.

151515151522 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMESARTS

NEPALI SOCIETY

hen DipendraGauchan cast BrindaAdhikari in the award-

winning docu-drama Ujelinine years ago, the eight-year-old girl had no idea what wasawaiting her. Ujeli wasbroadcast on more than 20television channels all overthe world, and with it, Brindaalso became well-known.Today, she is preparing to takeher School Leaving Certificateexams and wants to studyscience if she does well.

But life after Ujeli wasn’teasy. Rasuwa’s traditionalsociety wasn’t willing to resteasy about the fact that such ayoung girl had played the roleof a married woman. “Thepeople in our village didn’tunderstand then that this wasa film, a story, and I was reallyhassled,” she says. A localnewspaper took up Brinda’scause in 1996 and a group ofpeople petitioned the SOSHermann School to provideher free education. Although

the school only took in or-phans under six years,Brinda’s was an exceptionand the school consented.

The school expected a lotfrom Brinda, but the trauma ofher early fame, and the oftenunfriendly attention of hervillage had left its mark on theyoung girl, and she turnedinward, shunning the leader-ship role the school wouldhave liked her to take. SaysShankarprasad Poudel,principal of the SOSHermann’s School, “Perhapsdue to the psychologicalimpact of the whole episode,she only adjusted two or threeyears later. But now she takespart in the different schoolactivities, even plays and othertheatrical productions. We areconvinced that she hasoutstanding talent, and if shegets the opportunity she cando very well.”

Brinda is the youngestdaughter of ChintamaniAdhikari, a farmer from Betini

in Rasuwa district. Sheactively took part in culturalactivities in her village as achild, and even won severalprizes. How she landed herstar role in Ujeli is an interest-ing story. When the film unitshowed up in Brinda’sclassroom and asked after themost talented child, theteacher pointed to Brinda. Noone at home knew about it.“They only found out afteralmost half the shooting wascomplete. But no one saidanything, they all liked it,”smiles Brinda. She has fondmemories of the time, despitethe difficulties that followed.

Today Brinda lives in theSOS Children’s Village, onlygoing home over Dasain. Andshe still loves to act. She alsowants to learn dance, buthasn’t had the chance. Alwaysup for a good story, Brindaloves reading Nepali andEnglish novels, as well aswatching Nepali and Hindifilms, and the news and otherworld events on television.The school is willing to helpfund acting lessons for Brindaif she decides she wantsthem, and can handle thepressure. “She is nationalproperty, and everyone shouldsupport her. We too will helpher,” says principal Poudel.Today when Brinda goes backhome, the villagers treat herwith respect, a far cry fromtheir earlier jibes.

LifeUjeliafter

W

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This satellite image of the subcontinent taken on Wednes-day morning shows a band of clouds stretching acrossfrom the Arabian Sea to the Pamirs which is a part of alow pressure circulation over Iran. The front is moving ina north-easterly direction and is expected to bringovercast skies and a hazy outlook over central Nepalover the weekend. The system lacks moisture however,and will not bring more than drizzles. A recurrence ofcontact between cold winds from the Tibetan plateauwith warm moisture-laden convection over the southernHimalaya which caused Sunday afternoon’s hailstorm isnot expected to recur till midweek.

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Radio SagarmathaP.O. Box 6958, Bakhundole, Lalitpur, NepalTel: ++977-1-545680, 545681 Fax: ++ 977-1- 530227E-mail: radio@radiosagarmatha.orgwww.radiosagarmatha.org

Mon-Fri 0615-0645 BBC World TodaySat 0615-0645 BBC Science in ActionSun 0615-0645 BBC AgendaDaily 2045-2115 BBC g]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfDaily 2245-2300 BBC g]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jf

on FM 102.4

/]l8of] ;u/dfyf

BOOKWORM

Courtesy: Mandala Book Point, Kantipath, 227711, mandala@ccsl.com.np

Nagarkot Special at Naked Chef bed and break-fast, two-way transport, three-course gourmetdinner. Rs 1,440 or $19. Reservations: 441494,680006.

Semi-furnished spacious house in quietresidential area near UN complex suitable for foreignfamily. Contact 521024.

English teacher required Part-time hours.Excellent pay and conditions. Must be nativespeaker. Tel: 429590

Reflexology! The therapist applies alternatingpressure to the feet. It reduces stress, promotesrelaxation and good health. Emailbuddhasfeet@yahoo.com or ring 410735

Stupa View and Restaurant & Terrace atBaudhanath Stupa. Well-appointed restaurant andterraces with views of stupa and Himalayas.International vegetarian specialties, pizza from clay

oven, ice cream, soft guitar tunes on Fridays,Saturdays, Sundays from 5PM on. Special eventson full moon. Open daily 11AM-8.30PM. 480262.

K-Too! Beer and Steakhouse not the “longest”,“highest”, “first” or any other superlative. Just arelaxed, easy-going bar and restaurant with thecoldest beer and juiciest steaks this side of themoon. By the Kathmandu Guest House. 433043

HMB Mountain Biking Have your bike serviced orrepaired by HMB’s Professional Mechanics at theHMB Workshop. Riding gear, accessories and partsavailable. Second hand bikes bought/sold/hired.New and reconditioned mountain bikes for sale.Himalayan Mountain Bikes—Tours and Expeditions.437437.

Palms at unbeatable bargain prices ArecaPalm, Chamaedora Palm, Phoenix Palm. We haveBirds of Paradise, Nolinas, Ficus. Call Mani Rai at424877 after 2PM.

EXH IB I T IONEXH IB I T IONEXH IB I T IONEXH IB I T IONEXH IB I T ION The Wild Tribes Of Ethiopia American photographer Robert Studzinski. Park Gallery,

Pulchowk, until 31 March. 10AM-6PM, except Saturdays. 522307 Lives and Work of Nepalese Children Exhibition of the work of Nepali child photographers.

28 March-13 April, Nepal Art Council, Baber Mahal. 220735 Prints by Noriko Saito, Japan. On show at the Siddharth Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited. 18-

31 March, 11AM-6PM except Saturdays.

E V E N T SE V E N T SE V E N T SE V E N T SE V E N T S Shakespeare in the Valley Rato Bangala School presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 28, 29

and 31 March, Russian Cultural Centre, 5.15PM. 534318, 542045 Festival of War based on episodes from the Mahabharata. Annual drama production of Studio

7. 19/20/21/26/27/28 April and 3/4/5 May at The Naga Theatre, Hotel Vajra. 271545 The Warring Shaktis: A Paradigm for Gupta Conquests Presentation with slides by

Professor Katherine Anne Harper, Loyola Marymount University, LA. 25 March, 4PM, Royal NepalAcademy, Kamaladi. Royal Nepal Academy and the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Francophonie Party for French speakers. Songs and a play. Rs 500, members and students

Rs 350 only, both with wine and cheese. 22 March, 6PM, Alliance Française, Thapathali. 241163 Peace rally Show your commitment to a peaceful Nepal. Start from Patan Mangal Bazar, in front

of Krishna Mandir. Walk from Mangal Bazar – Lagankhel – Kumaripati – Jawalakhel, ending in front ofLalitpur Municipality. 22 March, 3.45PM-5PM

MUS ICMUS ICMUS ICMUS ICMUS IC Sounds of Spring Everything from rock, classical, jazz, funk, fusion, blues, Latin jazz, big

band, R&B, Nepali folk, salsa, and contemporary Nepali music. Rs 1,500 per head including dinner, 30March, 6PM, Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza. 273999 Kathmandu Jazz Festival Don Burrows and the festival all-stars backed by Cadenza, with a

five-course meal. 22 March, Shangri-La Shambala Garden Cafe, Kathmandu. Tickets Rs 1,980 atUpstairs Jazz Bar, Shangri-La Hotel and Gokarna Forest Golf Resort.

FOODFOODFOODFOODFOOD Holi Hangama Special Holi sekuwa and fusion music. Rs 555

per person, Rs1,010 per couple. 28 March, Dwarika’s Hotel. 479488 Tempting Trout Special menu with a wide variety of fresh

trout dishes. Until 31 March, Alfresco, Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza.273999 The Best of Ghar-E-Kabab Celebrating 20 years: 50 percent

off F&B during lunch, dinner 20 percent off, two tables pay the pricefrom 20 years ago. Until 4 March, Hotel de l’Annapurna. 221711 The new Roadhouse Café Completely redesigned with

separate bar seating and coffee bar. Original Mediterranean speciali-ties and wood-fired pizzas. The Roadhouse Café, Thamel. Taste of Beijing Roast duck and other Chinese meat, fish and vegetarian delicacies. Beijing

Roast Duck Restaurant, Birendra International Convention Centre. 468589 Newari Bhoj Traditional snacks, drinks and meals, outdoors or indoor, in a restaurant designed

by Bhaktapur artisans. Lajana Restaurant. Lazimpat. 413874 Complete dining experience Seasonal greens, meats from the wood fired oven with

speciality sauces and fresh herbs. Premium wines, special desserts. 5.30PM onwards daily. RoxRestaurant, Hyatt Regency Kathmandu. 491234 Charcoalz Grilled delicacies from around the world, glass of lager, live music, strawberries with

cream. Non-vegetarians Rs 595 and vegetarians Rs 495, tax included. Poolside, Yak & Yeti. 248999 Singaporean and Malaysian food Satay, rice, soymilk dishes, curry puffs and more. Near St

Mary’s School. Sing Ma, the Food Court. Foodcourt@wlink.com.np. 520004 Variable chef special luncheons Especially for office goers at special rates, 12-3PM.

Dwarika’s Hotel. 479488 Lunch, tea and dinner European and American cuisine with fine wines. La’Soon Restaurant

and Vinotheque, Pulchowk. 535290 Barbecue lunch with complementary wine or beer for adults, soft drink for children. Saturdays

at the Godavari Village Resort, Rs 650 per head. 560675

G E T A W A Y SG E T A W A Y SG E T A W A Y SG E T A W A Y SG E T A W A Y S Stress busters Day at the spa with meditation session, talk on stress management, and have

a poolside meal at the Terrace. Rs 1,200 per head. The Club At The Hyatt. 491234 Getaway to Thailand One-way flight Kathmandu to Bangkok, $210 including insurance

charges. Going Places Travel, Kathmandu. 61-23402, 251400 March Madness Special daily rate with set meals, luxury ‘on stilts’ cottage and pickup, $10 a

day. Park activities extra. Jungle Base Camp Lodge, Bardia National Park. 61-31691, 251400 Want a break? Short breaks and special offers at Dwarika’s Hotel. 479488 Rhododendron Getaway at the Horseshoe Resort in Mude, three hours from Kathmandu. Two

days of rhododendron walks in forests, package tours at $30 per day, all meals and sauna included.Email resort@horshoe.wlink.com.np Lakhuri Bhanjyang Getaway Breathtaking views of Kathmandu Valley 15 km/ 45 minutes from

B&B Hospital. Adventure Tented Camp and Country Kitchen, Lubhu, Lalitpur. Weekdays ring 418922,9810 26637.

Mother Sister Daughter: Nepal’s Press on WomenSancharika Samuha, Kathmandu, 2002Rs 325This collection of newspaper articles from English-language newspapers and translated fromNepali-language newspapers focus on how society sanctions inequality and cultural control,on women’s health, discrimination and violence. It also focuses on stories of women empow-ering themselves, and on first-person accounts and opinion pieces on gender issues.

Dangerous Wives and Sacred Sisters: Social and Symbolic Rolesof High-Caste Women in Nepal Lynn Bennett

Mandala Book Point and Columbia University Press, Kathmandu, 1983/2002Rs 800

Bennett, a development anthropologist, examines the social construction of gender amongBahun and Chhetri Hindus in rural Nepal. Through a detailed examination of the social,

mythical and ritual structures that shape the interaction between men and women, this studyreveals the symbolic roots of women’s power and the complex social institutions, norms and

beliefs that seek to contain that power and direct it to perpetuate the patrilineal group.

The Eastern Stories Joseph Conrad, ed. Ban Kah ChoonPenguin Books India, New Delhi, 2000Rs 472Conrad travelled around south-east Asia as a young sailor from 1883-1889. This collectionbrings together his most representative stories from the area, set in Java, Borneo, Singaporeand Sumatra. They portray life during a period of rapid colonial expansion when life waschanging dramatically. Characters are captured in moments of confrontation, often tragic,between differing ways of life, as European culture comes into conflict with indigenous Malaytraditions.

1616161616 22 - 28 MARCH 2002 NEPALI TIMES

CDO Regd No. 194/056/57 Lalitpur, Central Region Postal Regd. No. 04/058/59

by Kunda Dixit

Under My Hat

Thompson

Where : Russian Cultural Centre, KamalpokhariWhen : 28, 29, 31 March 2002. Two shows on Friday and Sunday.Time : 5:15 p.m. every day, Friday and Sunday also 1:00 p.m.Price : Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000

Call for tickets : 534318, 542045, 522614

Proceeds will go towards a scholarship fund and improving sports and library facilitiesat Rato Bangala School, as well as for Student Council activities.

Rato Bangala School

Announces

The Theatre Event of the Year!William Shakespeare’s

A MidsummerNight’s Dream

Directed by Jessica Marlowe Goldstein

Dry days are here againA fter gooseberry wine, the most overrated liquid in the world is probably

water. Cosmologists tell us that life on other planets is impossible unlesswater is present. However, I know from personal experience in my own

tole that semi-intelligent life can flourish despite not a drop of water havingflowed out of our taps since the reign of King Amsuvarma. This is proof thatwe don’t really need water at all to keep body and soul together. We can carryon in this trajectory through our current incarnation, as well as future cyclesof life and re-birth, with no water at all. We don’t need any H

2O, thank you.

So very kind of you, sir.Generations of Kathmandulays have grown up in total absence of water, and

our bodies have evolved gradually through a process of natural selection to adaptto this waterless world. The trick is to replace water with other vital liquidswherever possible, and recycle every drop. There are households in our neigh-bourhood, for instance, that have completely done away with washing. To cleansoiled Y-fronts that they have been wearing every day since the commencement ofthe current state of national emergency, they use a process called “dry cleaning”,which means spreading said undergarment on an ironing board and sprinklingliberal amounts scented talcum powder on it. Voila! Undies look and smell as

good as new.Brushing teeth is a very water-intensive exercise.

But many of us have totally obviated the need forwater and toothpaste after discovering that one canbrush one’s teeth with great efficacy if one gargles witha bottle of beer (“Probably the Best Mouthwash in theWorld”) and then using the ensuing froth tovigorously brush all nooks and crannies within our

oral cavities. Whiter, healthier teeth, no plaque, noneed for water, and a great way to start a

new day.There must have been a huge

shortage of water in ancient Egypt,because we know from historicalparchment records that Cleopatra

bathed in asses’ milk. Thehistorical records don’t tell uswhat Mark Antony thought ofthis practice, or if he in fact

joined her in the tub to do asinine things, but it did save Egypt a lot of watersince we are told that Cleopatra was in the habit of bathing quite often.

Now, we are acquainted with quite a lot of asses in our own little neighbour-hood, but none of them are presently lactating. This rules out bathing in asses’milk for us for the time being, but where there is a will there is a way. Thosedesperately in need of a bath can join the entire city at the Dasarath StadiumSwimming Pool which has recently been converted into a giant communalbathtub where the entire Valley comes to take a dip and clean the black stuff thatgathers in the gap between their toes. All we have to do is enforce a mandatorybath at the Dasarath Stadium for politicians and bureaucrats so they can washtheir greasy palms and ensure a squeaky clean administration.

In its effort to conserve water, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has bannedspitting in public and private places. Studies have shown that an average citydweller spits several dozen times an hour. All added up, this represents agrievous loss of moisture from the body and could lead to serious dehydration.Now that we are aware of this, all we have to do is to swallow copious quantities ofsaliva during the day to quench our thirst. In this way we no longer need to buymineral water Thirst-Pee (Registered Trademark, Patent Pending).

Water also used to be needed for irrigation, but not any more. Many of ushave perfected innovative ways to keep our gardens moist. Dogs are trained tolook at the rose bush and pots of dodecatheon as the perimeters of their domain,which they then approach at regular intervals during the day, lift their hind leg,and turn on the sprinkler. For more water-intensive plants like the Delphiniumbelladona, you can employ the services of the zoo elephant, Gajaraj, which willnot only irrigate your garden, but also replenish the flowerbeds with valuablephosphorus and nitrogen-rich nutrients.

At this rate of water conservation, it is highly probable that we will notneed the Melamchi project at all, and can use the 24 km tunnel to run ahigh-speed train to connect Sundarijal with Tarkeghyang so that the peopleof Upper Helambu can commute to and from Dasarath Stadium to cleantheir toes on a daily basis.