#39 20 - 26 April 2001 20 pages Rs 20

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EXCLUSIVE

MOBILE WARS 9

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KUNDA DIXIT IN TOKYOLike hundreds of other Nepalis, Govinda Mainali left for Japan on athree-month tourist visa in 1994 at the age of 26 to seek his fortune. Hehad got restless looking after the farm and his elderly parents in theirancestral homestead in Ilam. Although the family had property and wasmoderately well-off, Govinda knew he had to earn some money to takecare of his pregnant wife, Radha, and a daughter.Working on the top floor of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco),Yasuko Watanabe was a bright and ambitious senior economist. But atage 39, she had hit the glass ceiling in Japan’s conservative and male-dominated bureaucracy. Her father, with whom Yasuko was very close,had died when she was a teenager and she was supporting her

Here comes the story of Govinda Mainalimother and younger sister.This is the story of how fate brought a young

Nepali working in an Indian restaurant in Tokyotogether with a high-flying corporate Japaneseoffice lady who led a shadowy dual life. Theirsaga is the story of sex, murder, the shadowyworld of Tokyo’s red-light districts, and thesecretive ways of Japan’s justice system. It hascaptivated Japan now for five years. It is the stuffof thrillers—only this is not fiction.

GOVINDA, p. 4-5 Æ Govinda Mainali in Tokyo in 1996

BINOD BHATTARAI AND○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

SHIVA GAUNLEnce again the streets of the capital hadthe familiar look of a war zone.Barricades, uprooted railings, burning

government vehicles, smashed pavements andtear gas. The main opposition UML led fiveleftist allies to the streets because, they said,the prime minister was being stubborn and notresigning when they told him to.

For some time now, the UML has feltsqueezed from three sides: the Maoists, theML and the Nepali Congress. A recentHimalmedia poll (NT#38) shows thatalthough the UML is still leading, itssupport base has eroded since the lastelection—from 32 to 24 percent. TheMaoists seem to have pulled the rug fromunder the moderate communists, swingingthe political spectrum to the left. They needto woo the cadre back by rebranding itselfwith a more radical image. The UMLmanaged to bring back five of the eight leftparties that had gone over to its arch-rival,the ML. The UML is also co-opting MLand Maoist slogans: its student union nowwants to ban Sanskrit and National Anthemfrom schools, reduce fees. And finally, UMLwas getting more and more worried aboutprime minister Girija Koirala getting toopowerful within the Nepali Congress. Itdreaded the thought of a Congress-formedparamilitary that was tabled in parliamentfor ratification.

The UML’s turning point was theCongress Pokhara Convention in Januarywhen Koirala walked off with 60 percent ofhis party’s support. The party highcommand sat down and decided on a one-point agenda: oust Koirala. It roped inother like-minded parties from the left andright, and got indirect advantage becausethe Congress was so disunited. Allegationsof irregularities in leasing a jet for RoyalNepal Airlines was the perfect cover toparalyse parliament to block the twoordinances designed to strengthen thegovernment’s anti-Maoist muscles. Then,by the time the House was drawing to aclose two weeks ago, the Maoists struck

and massacred 70 policemen.The UML smelt blood, and moved in for

what it thought would be a coup de grace.Cornered, Koirala convened a NC meeting torally his party, and he was emboldened lastweek by a joint EU-US statement backing theconstitutional process, and a meeting with theking to get his pet ordinances re-promulgated.The UML and five minor leftist partiesdecided to follow through with a plan toprevent the prime minister from commuting towork. On Monday, Koirala sneaked into hissecretariat as police chased away earlyprotesters. The UML then went on a rampageburning government vehicles, barricadingstreets and destroying public property.

By taking to the streets, the UML hasgambled on a must-win outcome and, some

analysts say, has burnt its bridges. SomeUML leaders now privately admit that theyare unsure where this round of protests willlead to. And neither, it seems, does thegovernment—even though the UML’sactions appear to have temporarily patchedup rifts in the Congress. Both sides are nowwaiting for the other to blink and are tryingto gauge the public mood before decidingwhat to do next.

Police roughed up demonstrators, andtook opposition leaders, including MadhavKumar Nepal into preventive custody. Toadd insult to injury, leftist leaders had tolisten to Koirala’s plea for reconciliation onradio at the police station. “Our relation-ship with governent could deterioratefurther because it prevented peaceful

protests and picking us up from the streetswithout warrants,” UML supremo, MadhavKumar Nepal told us.

Not all UML supporters agree withNepal’s strategy. “The single-demandapproach for Koirala’s resignation is wrong,it is a dead-end street, it leaves no room fornegotiating,” says a left-leaning analyst. Butthe communist rank and file has nowworked itself into frenzy, and is in no moodto settle for anything short of the prize.“We’ll throw him (Koirala) out, if thepeople support us he cannot crush ourmovement,” MP Raghuji Pant told us.

Koirala’s inner circle seems tounderstand that the UML needs to get theanger out of its system. They don’t want tobe provoked and say the top priority is tokeep casualties low. Said a governmentinsider: “Eventually an all-party dialoguemay be what the UML needs to wriggle outof this standoff.”

But when? And how long will the streetprotests continue? All that Narhari Acharya,the Congress spokesman would tell us was:“The prime minister has sought thecooperation of all to resolve the issue, wehope the opposition would take the offerresponsibly.” But Koirala himself has left atantalising option open at the end of hisaddress to the nation on Monday evening:“I will resign the morning after there aresigns of the country getting back on track.”But even his opponents know Girija willnot do it under pressure.

Squeezed by the Maoists and the Nepali Congress, the UML isrebranding itself radically ahead of next year’s local polls.○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

FUTURE IN FLAMES: Children in Khichapokhari watch a government car burning on Monday.

o205,000,000The number of rupees theMaoists have looted from banksand savings schemes. Does notinclude gold and ornaments.1,680 Number of Nepalis killed

in the Maoist insurgencyso far.

1045 Maoists killed.347 Police killed.288 Killed by Maoists for

being “class enemies” ofwhich 152 (NC), 24(UML), 24 (RPP),1 (Masal), 1 (NSP) 86(unknown).(All government figures)

CommittingadulterationThey’re still at it. Seven tankerswere held up at the NOC depot inKathmandu over a dispute overhow to disburse kickbacks onallowing diesel they are carryingwith more than 50 percentkerosene adulteration. The goingrate per tanker is Rs 60,000.Anyone who wants to see theseven trucks can go to the NOC’sairport depot. That is, if a deal isnot struck by then. Meanwhile, agovernment committee set up toinvestigate fuel adulteration lastyear never submitted its report.

DEADENDDEADEND

MAPPING NEPAL10 -12

Under My Hat 20

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Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt LtdSanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Pulchowk, LalitpurMailing address: GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalPhones: (01) 543333-7 Fax: (01) 521013Editor: Kunda DixitDesk editors: Deepak Thapa, Samuel Thomas, Anagha NeelakantanEditorial: editors@nepalitimes.comMarketing, circulation and subscriptions: marketing@nepalitimes.comwww.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press (01) 521393

STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL

22222 EDITORIAL 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

FOREIGN HANDSNineteenth century powers had discovered one home truth aboutNepal long before we ourselves did. This country is ungovernable.After waging a costly campaign to add more hill stations to itsempire, the East India Company decided to leave the Kingdom ofGorkha alone. Invaders from the north too came sniffing around,took one look at the terrain and the squabbling populace anddecided it wasn’t worth the trouble.

We were left to our own devices, but that did not meanoutsiders did not stop interfering. Lying astride geological andgeopolitical faultlines along the Himalaya, Nepal fulfilled the role ofa buffer state in the Great Game. Even when the Anglophile Ranasruled, intra-family intrigue, conspiracies and inter-royal familyrivalries in Kathmandu were partly fomented by successiveresident envoys. No other foreigners were allowed to enter: until 50years ago, this was a Kingdom of Xenophobia.

Every small country tends to want to magnify its clout byexaggerating its strategic importance. The topography may bemurderous, the country too diverse to rule properly, but we havealways been convinced that our landlocked Himalayan kingdom isso strategically located that every superpower worth its salt is vyingto establish its hegemony here. So instead of getting on withthings, trying to resolve our problems by ourselves by makingourselves strong enough to resist outside pressures, we see theshifting shadows of daggers on the wall behind us. This has been

a self-perpetuating cycle: we have allowed outsiders to divide andrule us, and over time this has undermined our ability to stand upto them on our own terms.

These are points to ponder during a week in which our politicalcauldron bubbled with spy scandals and allegations of “foreigninterference”. New Delhi and Islamabad continued playing “I spy”in Kathmandu, and our police were coaxed into busting a Pakistanidiplomat who was said to be in possession of enough explosivesto blow parts of this kingdom to kingdom come. Then theopposition UML saw a sinister design in the joint statement by theEU and the United States exhorting our leaders to abide byconstitutional means to register their protest. Shadow foreignminister Jhala Nath Khanal countered with an acid statementvirtually accusing the United States of America of being a NepaliCongress lackey. All this did was expose the UML’s own deep-seated insecurities about its present tactic of demonstrating itsadherence to democratic values by setting public property on fireand uprooting street railings to create barricades.

What worries us now is that the geopolitics of the Great Gamemay be replaced by the geopolitics of Civilisational Conflict, a laSamuel Huntington. Whatever you may think about Huntington, weare seeing the dangerous polarisation between the US and Chinain the Asia-Pacific that he predicted a decade ago. And Chinesefears of being encircled by hostile smaller neighbours is as realas India’s paranoia of its fellow South Asians ganging up. Nepaljust happens to be “strategically located” in the middle of thispowder keg.

We have enough trouble in this country without “foreign hands”meddling with it to make it worse. Our state apparatus would do wellto be pragmatic and see how we can keep our independence intact,and not let matters get so out of control that the two geopolitical platesin the vicinity begin to pulverise the yam. For an in-between country likeours, it is better to be a bridge rather than a wedge. After all, can weafford to bite the foreign hand that feeds us? The best way to says“hands off” is to cordially shake it first.

What is the source of threat to democracy? What is the best way to solvethe Maoist problem?

(Respondents asked to rank three top ways)

overty saps energy like nothing else. Forthe destitute, the luxury of reacting toreality is inconceivable. Registering

complaint, and showing dissatisfaction withthe way things are do not come naturally topeople steeped in the tradition of deep-rootedfatalism. As such, the result of opinion pollsin societies like ours need to be taken witha large pinch of salt.

At worst, they confirm the biases ofpollsters. But even at their best, opinion pollsdo little more than reflect the concerns of thevocal middle-class. However, since it is thissegment of society that sways electoraloutcomes, political parties ignore them attheir own peril.

This class has spoken up once again, anddeclared where its priorities lie. Asked to rankthe three main problems facing the nation inan opinion poll conducted by HimalmediaORG-Marg Nepal: 68 percent of respondentsgave first priority to unemployment while 54percent were most concerned aboutinflation. Likewise, for 52 percent ofrespondents, corruption was the main issue.All three concern money.

Most of our rural as well as urban middleclass has either made its peace with the Maoistinsurgency or feels that if it keeps ignoring itthe problem will cease to exist. It appears thatPrime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala knew hisconstituency when he observed that theMaoist problem will “get solved over a periodof time”. This opinion poll confirms hisreading of the middle-class attitude thatmoney matters most.

The obsession of the vocal class withemployment goes beyond just making aliving. Getting a job gives meaning andpurpose to a middle-class Nepali.Overnight, his social standing improves. Hebecomes a person of importance in his ownright. Not having a job, irrespective ofeconomic compulsions, is a disgrace. Evenembracing sure death by taking up a gunand waging war on society looks moreattractive in comparison. Inflation is inverselyrelated to salary, and is therefore important.

Our attitude (being from a rural lower

Money matters mostPerhaps it is time Girija Prasad Koirala, who has been the prime minister for the maximumperiod over the last decade, apologised for the political economy of public deception

middle-class background, I know my kind)towards corruption is even more ambivalent.When we get to pocket tea money, it is a partof life, but when it’s our turn to pay in order toget something done, we scream with self-righteous indignation: “This country is goingto the dogs.” Complaining vociferously aboutcorruption is the most popular icebreaker, beit at village tea-shops or at five-star dinners.

Talking about corruption relieves ourconscience, without having to bear the burdenof doing something tangible about it. Maoistsknow this, so all they do is demand a cut fromcorrupt officials in their areas of influence. TheNepal Communist Party (UML) knows it too,hence it does not find it necessary to raisequestions about micro-economic policies ofstate that have encouraged the culture ofcorruption. It prefers to indulge itself in thevulgarity of a controversial aircraft leasedeal in stead.

However, there is no denying that mostpeople prefer to place economics beforepolitics. We want our politics to “do us somegood”, to borrow a popular phrase from post-communist Russia. Unfortunately, nogovernment after the Jana Andolan hasattempted to pay attention to this cry of thepeople. By ignoring the socialist principle ofspreading the money and manure around formaximum effect, the political parties ofNepal have ended up alienating most of themiddle-class.

In the first general elections held under theconstitution of 1990, all political parties,barring those of former panchas, promised tousher in one or another form of socialism. Butonce the Nepali Congress party’s majoritygovernment was formed, it attempted to pushahead with a “free market” agenda, presumablyunder pressure from donors. It must havebeen this contradiction in the ruling partythat led to the sudden dismissal of fourministers from Koirala’s cabinet and thehastily called mid-term polls.

In the second parliament also, socialists,with varying degrees of commitment to thecause, were elected with a massive majority.Apart from about 20-odd members of the

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the entirelower house of parliament was composed ofmembers who had sold dreams of socialismto their voters. But compulsions of powerforced even the CPN (UML) to makecompromises with the dominant ideologyof liberalisation, privatisation andglobalisation.

Shorn of its ideology, the CPN(UML) failed to maintain its unity andsplit in two. Divisions in the ranks of theNepali Congress were sharpened. Madeto look impotent in pushing the socialistagenda they had promised voters,lawmakers sought refuge in passing self-serving legislations like increasing theirallowances and granting themselves duty-free privileges to import four-wheel driveluxury vehicles. The people gave a similarverdict in the third parliament.

There are lies, damn lies and statistics.When these economists talk about theincrease in our economic growth rate over thelast decade, or about supposed strides made inthe expansion of public facilities, they ignorethe fact that the benefits haven’t reached eventhe lower middle-class, let alone the poor.When the system of exploitation was hiddenby an enduring patron-client culture, it didn’tmatter all that much. But now at least some ofthe exploited are also aware.

Perhaps it is time Girija Prasad Koirala,who has been prime minister for the maximumperiod over the last decade, apologised for thepolitical economy of public deception. FormerJapanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimotorecently apologised publicly, acceptingresponsibility for the failure of economicreforms initiated by him. Leaders of the NepaliCongress must also show some maturity, andstart doing what they have been promising theelectorate for all these years. Their failure hasfed the Maoist insurgency, and led to asituation where peoples’ complaints in anopinion poll are all about money.

It can be read as writing on the wall. Or asa political death warrant. Mainstream politicalparties better make up their minds now.Tomorrow will be too late.

Why is the country’s situation getting worse?(Respondents who said things were worse were

asked to rank three top reasons)

Internal rifts in the NCPower struggle among partiesMaoists’ activitiesNon-cooperation from oppositionForeign interventionIncrease in corruptionDon’t know/ can’t say (DK/CS)Others

75.23%

10.95%

6.1%

3.89%

2.01% 0.91%

0.9%

What is the best method ofexpressing political opposition?

p

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20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES 33333NATION

L E T T E R SHU-MAN RIGHTS?How long will this indifferencelast? Whatever plausible reasoncan the government have forcontinually pushing aside theissue of equal parental propertyrights for women? If the issue inquestion is the abolition of thecurrent legal property statute,which requires parents torelegate some of their propertyregardless of whether they want toor not, then I fully support that.However, if men will continue tohave that right, but women aredenied it, then there is definitelya call for reform. Nepal hassigned the Universal Declarationof Human Rights (it’s “Human”,not “Man”), it has ratified theConvention on the Eliminationof all Forms of DiscriminationAgainst Women without anyreservations. Even the 1990Constitution stipulates that thereshould be no discrimination

based on a person’s religion, caste,class and sex. Why then is theproperty issue so difficult toresolve? The argument about“disrupting cultural harmony” isludicrous. Nepali women areresponsible for a little over half ofagricultural output (not countingtheir contribution as homemakers),but Nepali men own 95 percent ofall land holdings. If all otherarguments fail, then at least theargument that anything that canhelp women catch up with menshould be welcome on the groundsof equity alone.

Sujala PantDillibazaar

BARBI don’t know why you give preciousspace in your excellent paper forradical-chic hippie era relics likeBarbara Adams. Her column “Shanti,shanti, shanti…” (#38) is the kind ofknee-jerk, infuriating, politically

correct and fashionably left-wingnonsense that we have come toexpect from bored and self-righteousexpats in Bangkok, Jakarta andKathmandu. Just who does Ms Adamsthink is violating human rights inNepal today? Cowering police whowere shot between the eyes by theirMaoist captors? Go home, Barbara,and take your Barbs with you.

Robert LidenKathmandu

DISEMPOWEREDThank you for explaining thepower cuts in “Powerless again”by Binod Bhattarai (#38) andthe graph showing the supplyand demand for electric power.

If the figures are correct,then explain to me one thing:why, during the time when thedemand is less than the supply(May-July), according to yourgraph, do we always suffer from

load shedding?Akanchhya Parajuli

Baneswor

GRASSThere is a good reason why thegrass on our side of the fence isnot as green as on the other sideas Kunda Dixit reminds us inUnder my hat, (“Greenerpastures”, #37). It is because wehave taken this beautifulBuddhist poem too literally:“Sitting silently/Doing nothing/Spring comes/And the grassgrows by itself.” Alas, too latehave we realised that unlike thedivine herb gaanja, not allgrasses grow on their own in thewilderness. And then, to topthings off, the credo of our patronstate god, Shiva, happens to be: “Ismoke grass, therefore I am.”

Ram LimbuSydney

SUPPLY

DEMAND

by HARI ROKAVIEWPOINT

n the recent public opinion poll byHimalmedia (NT#38) two-thirds ofrespondents said Nepal’s democracy

was endangered. The majority thinkthe political system is threatened byunemployment, inflation andcorruption. Maybe if the NepaliCongress government, the mainopposition, other political parties andNepal’s civil society had realised thisand done something about it, thethreat to democracy may not havereached such serious proportions.

It is not just Nepalis andpolitical parties that are concernedabout the threat to our democracy.The presiding chairman of theEuropean Union, the Danishambassador, and the Americanambassador have also expressed theirconcern about the crisis facing ourdemocracy. However, unlike mostNepalis who are concerned aboutunemployment, inflation andcorruption, the foreignrepresentatives see the threatcoming from incompletedemocratic processes, themechanism for the transfer ofpower, and the modus operandi ofthe andolans (movements).

Nepal has not been able toestablish itself as a self-dependentnation. It is poor even by ThirdWorld standards. It relies on foreignassistance, grants and loans, to payfor over 60 percent of thedevelopment budget. Domesticproduction and income from taxes andcustoms are also almost equal, theformer is 32.5 percent of the GDP, thelatter 25.7 percent (2000/2001). Lownational savings and investment alsoexplain the poor state of the economy.Revenue has not been able to grow bymore than 0.5 percent of the GDP.Because industry, business andagriculture are also in a tailspin,both unemployment andunderemployment are on the rise.

Five percent of the people in the

active age group (15-64 years) areunemployed, and nearly 50 percentof the country’s total labour force isunderemployed. If 42 percent ofNepalis were said to be under thepoverty line before the restorationof democracy in 1990, today, thenumber has increased to 51percent. The price of importedpetroleum products is also going upand with that the cost of basiccommodities. Inflation contributesto the growth in corruption. Thepeople have been watching thedevelopment of underdevelopment,as they struggle to survive from dayto day. When more people areexcluded from the benefits ofdevelopment, there is bound to bea reaction aimed at those supposedto ensure their wellbeing. This isthe ruling system, in other words:democracy. Maybe, that was whatthe people were hinting at in theirresponses to the survey question.

Poverty triggers anarchy andunrest. Poverty can result from manythings, sometimes from lack ofresources at other times because ofextremely exploitative and unjustruling systems. In emerging ThirdWorld democracies such as ours,poverty results from mismanagement,lack of strategies and policies.

We’ve had much talk aboutmaking Nepal rich and successful.Our donor nations and theinternational financial institutionsthey influence have even attemptedto show us how to do that. Duringthe Panchayat days, we welcomedthem with open arms and soon theybegan to influence our policymakers. In 1987, the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF), over whichthe United States (a country whichboasts of having the world’s oldestdemocracy) has strong influence,got Nepal to sign an agreement bywhich it was able to interfere in oureconomic policy making. Its influence

continued even after democracy wasrestored in 1990, and in 1992, wewere told to embrace totalliberalisation. Our policies for the last14 years, have been guided by whatwas agreed on during the IMF’s“Article Four Consultations” withmember countries.

All governments in democraticNepal have given continuity to thespirit, policies and programmesagreed on during the consultations.So, we do whatever our donors tellus. They told us to reduce customsrates, we complied. They told us toopen all the doors to investmentand we did. They told us to increasethe electricity, water and telephonetariffs, we agreed. They told us todecrease subsidies provided to thepeople on fertiliser and seeds, andwe removed them. They told us thatthe State should not run industries.So we privatised our state-runindustries at extremely low prices(even lower than what they had costus). Still we continue to beunemployed, and unemployment isrising every year. Instead of doingbetter, companies sold to theprivate sector are running losses.National income has declined anddependency has increased.

Today over 700 projects arebeing implemented in the country—paid for through foreign loans. Theinterest and principal repaymentsare increasing every year and foreigngrants are on the decline. In 1969/70 our total debt was $34 millionand grants were $1.86 billion. By1984/85, debt increased to $535million and had reached $2.48billion in 1998/99. The share offoreign loan as a percentage of thebudget in fiscal 1995/1996, 1996/1997 and 1997/1998) increased by20.3 percent, 20.4 percent and 25percent respectively. During thesame period grants declined to 10.3percent, 9.9 percent and 9.7

percent respectively. It won’t belong before we get the HIPC —Highly Indebted PoorCountry—tag.

Why do we keep onaccepting the high costof inappropriateprojects? Maybethose who taught usto make our policiesalso taught us how totake kickbacks? As wemove deeper into the debttrap, we have to pay backboth the principal and interest.Even if the project is actuallycompleted it ends up becoming veryexpensive. We are increasingpoverty and unemployment whileusing foreign loans. Some of us havebeen corrupted by kickbacks oncontracts funded by the loans. Theprojects and policies that we havebeen forced to accept have pushedus deeper into the pit of poverty.

Today Nepal’s poverty andhunger stricken population isdemanding its right to food, goodeducation and healthcare. But theNepali Congress that has ruledfor most of the past decade andalso claims to be the guardianangel of democracy, has notbeen able to deliver. Isthis why the people andtheir representativeswho are demandingtheir rights—withinthe democraticframework—arelabelled un-democratic by donorsand internationalfinancial institutions? Is that notinterference with our basic rights?If the people cannot demand thatmuch, then what is democracyanyway?

Hari Roka is an independent leftactivist.

i

Nepalis have been watching the development ofunderdevelopment as they struggle to survive from day today. When more and more people are excluded from thebenefits of development, there is bound to be a reaction

against those supposed to ensure their wellbeing.○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Why is democracyin danger?

CLARIFICATIONSome alert readers called topoint out that in “We, thepeople” (p. 1, #38) thefigures in one of the piecharts add up to more than100 percent. The reason isthat in the question “What isthe best way to solve theMaoist problem?”respondents were asked torank their top three answers.

We have re-rendered thegraphics as more correctlyon page two (opposite) alongwith some other questionsthat couldn’t be placed in thelast issue due to spaceconstraints. Due to a designerror, the size of some of thepie slices were alsodisproportionate to thepercentages. -Ed

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44444 NATION 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

ndia’s kissing classes are aghast. An advertisement for Close Uptoothpaste has been banned for being un-Indian. A policewoman and aman condemned to die by firing squad get locked into a kiss that outlasts

the ability of the men with the guns to stay awake. The message—use CloseUp and avoid the death penalty, in a rather interesting manner. Advertisingfirms in Mumbai are protesting by holding contests to challenge thegovernment’s writ. The prize is a lifetime supply of toothpaste.

Another furore raged a few months back south of the border whenFashion Television from France was investigated by a governmentcommittee to see whether its daring costumes and scantily clad modelspassed the Indian culture litmus test, whatever that is. Editor andbroadcaster Vir Sanghvi labelled the committee “the Nipple police”and formally applied to join the ranks. What more pleasant way tospend one's time, he wrote, than to monitor closely the progress oflovely women down the glamorous catwalks of Paris to see just howmuch skin was showing. Indian film stars who’ve posed provocativelyfor magazines have been charged with obscenity, never mind that theirfilms are full of lewd exhibitions of simulated sex and that as HimalSouth Asian magazine pointed out recently, the damage done to womenand men by how they’re portrayed by Bollywood cannot be calculated.

Of course, it’s even more strict in Pakistan which styles itself,among other things, as the land of the pure. Magazines likeCosmopolitan and Vogue usually arrive a few weeks late and a quickglance through the pages told you why. Some fun-loathing devil hadtaken a black marker and obliterated any hint of a female nipple orbuttock, while leaving the men’s bodies, of far more interest tosubscribers like my wife, in glorious unadulterated nakedness.

Here in Nepal, we have our own foibles of this sort, and it’s not

confined to the developing nations, not at all. Britain used to regularly banpop songs, as too inflammatory for impressionable youth. Paul McCartney’sGive Ireland back to the Irish, the Strawbs You can’t touch me, I’m in theUnion and, of all the things, God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols were allbanned at various times in recent history.

In Canada, a boy who wrote a story about an alienated loner whohatches a plot to plant bombs at his school was picked up by the policeand held for more than a month. He committed no crime, merely wroteabout one. Police raiding parties say they found evidence that theyoung author might just have been planning to bring his fiction to life,but he didn’t. And they didn’t make the evidence public.

Americans, at least liberals and constitutionalists, take a differentapproach to things. They protect the rights of almost anyone to dowhatever they please in the name of free speech. Oliver Stone’s film ThePeople vs Larry Flynt is a classic example of this. Flynt published Hustlermagazine, an odious pornographic rag that pushed the envelope ofexplicitness, while continuing to sell in mainstream news agents and shops.He was an outspoken champion of free speech and was even shot andwounded for his troubles by an insane assassin. Police forces around thecountry tried to charge him with various offences but he always won theday. Many Americans are rightly proud of this, however much theyloathe the likes of Larry Flynt.

What gets banned when governments or elites try to think on ourbehalf often seems trivial, like the Close Up ad. Often something isindeed obscene. But what’s lost if the authorities triumph is far worsethan the potential damage to public morality. We develop, as a people,when left alone to agree on our own community standards, not thoseimposed from above. Sushma Swaraj, the anti-kisser and Indian ministerof Information and Broadcasting, the magazine censors of Pakistan, andthose who ban songs in Britain and Canada’s fiction police do the mostdamage by presuming to act on behalf of us.

Mind you, there’s nothing like a good ban to boost your profile. I’msending copies of this column to Ms Swaraj, Pakistan, Britain, Canadaet al, and hoping for the best.

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i We develop, as a people, when left alone to agree on ourown community standards, not those imposed from above.

Kiss me quick, the government’s comingby DANIEL LAKHERE AND THERE

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KUND DIXITvery day after work atTepco, Yasuko Watanabeused to take the subway

to the seedy Shibuya neighbour-hood of Tokyo to work thestreets as a prostitute. She keptmeticulous details in her diary ofwho she had sex with, when, andhow much they paid. She seemedto have a quota of four customersa night, and many of them wereillegal foreign workers living inrented rooms in Shibuya. Oneof them was Govinda, wholived with four other Nepalisnear the street corner whereshe hung out every night.

On 19 March, 1997 YasukoWatanabe’s decomposing bodywas found in an empty room nextdoor to where Govinda and theNepalis lived. She had beenstrangled 10 days previously.When the police came, theNepalis thought this was a raid toround up illegal immigrants, and

against Govinda, who they wereconvinced had killed Yasuko for the40,000 yen they were told byanother customer he had paid herearlier in the evening. They collectedevidence: pubic hair and a condomfound in the toilet. DNA tests ofboth showed they belonged toGovinda. One of the Nepalis sharinghis flat told police that Govinda hadpaid back a 180,000 yen loan to himat about the time of the killing.When the case came to trial threeyears later, the Tokyo District Courton 14 April 2000 ruled that theevidence was circumstantial andfound Govinda Mainali not guilty.Govinda was jubilant. By this time,the murder case and the sordiddetails of Yasuko Watanabe’s life hadbecome headline news in Japan. Thenot guilty ruling shocked manybecause almost all criminal cases inJapan end with a guilty verdict.

Govinda’s government-appointedlawyers successfully argued that theprosecution’s evidence was flimsy.

The semen in the condom wasfound to be at least 20 days old—which corroborates Govinda’sstatement that he had sex withYasuko more than a week beforeshe was said to have been killed.Although the pubic hair that wasproven to be Govinda’s wasproduced as evidence, two otherbits of hair which belonged tosomeone else were also found nearthe body were not produced incourt. The lawyers also allegedthat Govinda and his fellow-Nepalis had been beaten andintimidated while in custody toextract a confession. WhenGovinda did not confess, thepolice reportedly pressured one ofhis roommates to testify falselyagainst him and then deported himto Nepal. In his ruling, presidingJudge Toshikazu Obuchi said:“The possibility that the victimcould have used the apartmentwith someone other than thedefendant cannot be ruled out.There is nothing to prove Mainalicommitted the crime.”

However, the Tokyo DistrictProsecutor’s office promptly filedan appeal with the Tokyo HighCourt and also demanded thatGovinda be kept in detention. Indirect contravention of Japaneselaw that someone found not guiltycannot be kept in detention,Govinda was locked up again.Then, on 22 December last yearthe Tokyo High Court reversedthe lower court’s acquittal andsentenced him to lifeimprisonment. When judgeToshio Takagi read out his verdictin Japanese, there was a shockedsilence in the court room,according to those who werepresent. Govinda waited quietlyfor the verdict to be translated,and then shouted in Japanese:“God! Please help me. I didn’t do

it.” He then looked at the audiencein the court and repeated: “Ididn’t.” As Takagi went on tojustify his ruling, Govindacovered his ears with his handsand burst into Nepali: “I don’twant to hear this unjust rulingtranslated into Nepali. What Itold the court was the truth.”

One of Govinda’s lawyers,Asaka Kanda of Lexwell Partnerswhich is defending him for free,remembers feeling outraged: “It was

completely unjust. The judgementwas prejudiced, it refused to look atthe evidence, and was based on thejudge’s refusal to believe theevidence.” Kanda has met Govindamany times and is certain of hisinnocence. He told us: “Ever since Ifirst met Govinda I was convincedhe was not guilty. And the more Ihave investigated this case, themore I am convinced. We musthelp him go back to Nepal.” Kandaand his fellow-lawyers say this isnow no longer just the case of afalsely-convicted Nepali: “It couldhappen to any of us, it has exposeda deep-seated racism. I am sure ifGovinda was an American orEuropean he would have been freeto go home.”

The official Nepali line on theGovinda case is that he has beendetained under the Japanese justicesystem. Japan is Nepal’s biggest

donor, and this is a very sensitivecase for the Royal Nepal Embassyin Tokyo. However, the embassyhas made representations at theMinistry of Justice, and regularlysends a diplomat to visit Govindain detention.

Many other Japanese who wereconvinced of Govinda’s innocencewere similarly dismayed. JunkoHasumi of the Japan-Nepal Societytold us it was a miscarriage ofjustice. “We are ashamed that this

should happen in Japan. How couldsomeone be found guilty withoutproper criminal procedure beingfollowed, and how could theoriginal not-guilty verdict bedismissed without the presentationof any new evidence?” Hasumi andseveral other activists, includingRajan Pradhanang of the NepaliAssociation in Japan and TohruTakahashi of the National Networkfor Solidarity with MigrantWorkers have set up a lobby groupcalled “Mujichosno Govindasansasaerukai” (Justice for Govinda) tolaunch an appeal in Japan andNepal to establish Govinda’sinnocence by mobilising publicopinion in both countries. Thegroup also offers Govinda moralsupport by visiting him regularly atthe Tokyo Detention Centre inthe Kosuge area.

It was on a cold and rainy

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they fled. But Govinda later turnedhimself in to tell the police he didn’tdo it. The police took him in andcharged him with overstaying, butbegan quizzing him about the murder.Initially, Govinda denied knowingYasuko Watanabe, but laterconfessed that he had sex with herthree times, the last about ten daysbefore when she was thought tohave been murdered.

The police began building a case

Junko HasumiAsaka Kanda

Yasuko Watanabe

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Govinda listening to the guilty verdict of judgeToshio Takagi of the Tokyo High Court

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afternoon earlier this month thatwe visited the detention centre.Visitors are asked to fill out a form,and given ten minutes to meet theprisoner. Govinda walked into thecubicle across a thick plate glassaccompanied by a policeman. Hegives us a beaming smile and anamaste. He is not allowed tospeak in Nepali, and we exchangegreetings through an interpreter.Govinda looks shorter and stockierthan his earlier photographs, he hasalso grown a goatee and his hair isthinning. “I was feeling reallydepressed today with the rain. I amso happy you came,” he tells us inJapanese after we introduceourselves. “Please try to get my wifeRadha to come and visit, ask myfamily to keep writing letters.”Govinda rests his hands on a thicknote book with pages and pages ofsmall, meticulous Nepali writing.We show him an album ofphotographs of his family, but he isallowed to pick only ten pictures.We show them to him through theglass, and he picks the ones with hiswife and daughters. The youngerone was born after he left for Japanand he has never seen her. We tryto get in some sentences in Nepali(“Dhanna namannus hami tapailaiNepal pharkauna prayasgarchhaun”) but there is a sharpreprimand from the officer, who isbusy taking notes.

Govinda’s case will now comebefore the five-judge SupremeCourt in about two years time. It israre for Japan’s Supreme Court,which unlike other countries ismore conservative than the lowercourts, to overturn a verdict. Saysone expat legal expert working inTokyo who did not want to benamed: “The Govinda Mainali caseis quite typical. The reason 99percent of all criminal cases resultin a guilty verdict is that they are

mostly based on confessions.Elsewhere you establish truth incourt, here the case is taken to courtwhen it has all been decided.” Lifeimprisonment in Japan is usually 20years, and Govinda will be eligiblefor parole in 15 if he shows goodbehaviour. After the Tokyo HighCourt verdict there has also been anoutcry in Japan’s legal academia.Toshikuni Murai, professor ofcriminal law at Ryukoku Universityhas this to say: “The high court’sdecision to detain the defendantbefore the trial began was based onprejudice.” Takeshi Tsuchimoto ofTeikyo University and a formerprosecutor, agrees: “It was epoch-making that the court handed downa guilty verdict in such an importantcase on mere circumstantialevidence.” But Tsuchimoto deniesthat it was racism that made thecourt decide to detain Govinda after

the first not guilty verdict, he saysit had more to do with the fact thatNepal does not have an extraditiontreaty with Japan and that thedefendant was an illegal migrant.

Japanese journalist andauthor, Shinichi Sano, whofollowed the case has written abest-selling book called TokyoElectric Power Co. Office LadyMurder Case that investigatesYasuko Watanabe. Sano hasvisited Govinda in jail, and eventravelled to Nepal to talk to hisrelatives and friends. “I neverbelieved Govinda was guilty,”Sano told us in his living room ina Tokyo suburb. “After meetinghis family in Nepal I was evenmore convinced.” Sano has also

tried to analyse the enigmatic lifeof Yasuko Watanbe, and he hascome to the conclusion that itwas deep frustration at theworkplace and family problemsafter her father’s death that droveher to the dual lifestyle. She hadbeen passed over for promotion,and her relations with her motherwere not good. Sano has a deeperinterest in the case as a symbol ofthe hidden tensions withinJapanese society: “In Japan wehave a saying: when something isrotten, cover it up,” he says. “Andthat is what happened, the truthwas so ugly we tried to cover it up.And have a fall guy from a poorcountry that didn’t dare make a fusstake all the blame.”

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Authenticity countsIf efforts by various ethnic organisations in the country take off, theupcoming census promises a more authentic, or at least morewidely acceptable, picture of the country’s diverse peoples. TheKirant Yakthung Chumlung, an organisation working for the rightsof the indigenous Limbu population of eastern Nepal, is trainingvolunteers in villages to help people fill in census formsaccurately. Officials of the Kirant Yakthung Chumlung say peoplein the region have put down a mix of descriptions under caste,religion, and language in the past. As a result, accurate statisticson the Limbu community are unavailable. About 300,000 Limbuslive in 11 districts in east Nepal. Like-minded indigenous groupsincluding the Kirant Yokkha Chumma, the Kirant Rai Yayayakkhaand the Sunuwar Samaj Sewa will also ask members of theircommunity to report “Kirant” as their religion.

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Fed up with bandhsIt's politicians versus the public. At a public hearing last week,people vented their frustration against politicos who feel bandhsand chakka jams are an appropriate way of expressing discontentagainst the government. Businesses say they lose nearly Rs 600million each day the country shuts down. Schools say they havebeen forced to close for 61 extra days in the last nine years(including the 6 days they were forced to close down by theMaoists). The bandhs have been bad for tourism—entrepreneurssay a one-day bandh costs tourism enterprises Rs 39.7 million,and that Nepal’s reputation is scaring off tourists. A recent surveyby Himalmedia and ORG-MARG Nepal indicates that despitepoliticians’ proclivity for shutdowns, most people prefer peacefulprotests. Pro Public, teh consumer rights group that organised theforum, says 45 Nepal bandhs have been held in Nepal since the1990 People’s Movement. Ten people have died and 179 havebeen injured during these shutdowns.

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Revolutionaries uniteNow there seems to be concern about Maoists in India too. Areport in the Times of India speaks about the Indian HomeMinistry’s concern about “the Bihar government’s indifference todetect or keep a watch on the Nepali extremists [read Maoists]being trained in Bihar”. The newspaper report, quoting “informedsources”, says the People’s War Group (PWG) is training Maoistguerrillas to use small arms and explosives. PWG leaders areeven talking of creating a compact revolutionary band fromHyderabad to Kathmandu, extending its influence to MadhyaPradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, the report warned.

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Empowering didisA school ought to teach all,regardless of age. LittleAngels' Primary School inLalitpur recently proved this.Ten custodial staffmembers (didis) at theschool just graduated froma six-week adult educationprogram designedspecifically for them. This may be the first program of its kind inNepal, says principal Dr Rosemary Kerr, who wrote her PhDdissertation on Nepal's educational system. Plan International, anNGO, provided two teachers, Shifali Maharjan and SashiDhabadel, instruction in adult education. The two began to teachthe ayahs, some well into middle age, to read and write Nepaliand do simple maths. “I never imagined I would be able to signmy name. I want to learn more,” says 66-year-old GangaMaharjan, showing us her certificate.

Shinichi Sano

The house where Govinda lived andwhere the body was found(above)and the Shibuya neighbourhoodwith Shinjuku in the distance.

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ILAM - Govinda’s father, Jaya PrasadMainali is 80 years old. “All I wantbefore I die is to embrace my son onelast time,” he says. Jaya Prasad used tobe the Ward Chairman of Golakharkavillage near Ilam and is a fatherfigure to villagers all around. Amonghis three sons, Govinda was theclosest to his elderly parents and waslooking after them because hisbrothers live in Kathmandu.

Govinda’s two daughters Mithila

and Elisa are nine and seven. He hasnever seen Elisa, since she hadn’t beenborn when he left for Japan in 1994.Mithila was very attached to herfather and followed himeverywhere, and he had to trick herthat he was going to the marketwhen left for the last time.

Govinda’s wife Radha is 29 yearsold and spends most of her timetaking care of his parents. Herneighbours have been kind to her,and made her the chairperson of theCommunity Forests User’s Group tokeep her busy. But Radha is moreworried about her two daughters.“Sometimes they come home cryingbecause their classmates tease themthat their daddy is in jail,” she says.“When Govinda comes back, I wouldlike to move to Kathmandu and sendthem to a good school.”

The family is well off, they own200 ropanis of prime land along thehighway, and after Govinda left ithas been given to sharecroppers.“You know, he really didn’t have togo to Japan. He just wanted tohave some income to build a housein Kathmandu,” says Radha. From

Govinda’sfamily

Govinda's wife (left) and daughtersMithila and Elisa (above).

money he sent back, Govinda hasalready built a three-storey housein Sankhamul.

Govinda was accused of murderin Japan about six months before hewas planning to come home for goodin 1997. He was earning about10,000 yen ($80) a day in salary andtips and had considerable savings. Hehad already started buying presents:toys for his daughters, an overcoat,shoes and a watch for his wife. Hewas looking forward to coming back,and in letters he wrote to hisbrothers he said he would like tostart a business or even use hisJapanese language skills to leadtrekking groups from Japan.

From his detention centre,Govinda writes regularly to Radha,sometimes translating slokas fromthe Gita. To his daughter he sendslong letters, with drawings of acomplete family with father, motherand two daughters living in ahouse in the mountains. Radhasays he doesn’t sound as depressedas he used to after the guiltyverdict last year, and seems to bepsyching himself up.

Little Angels' Schools' graduating didis

CorrectionLast week’s domestic brief Dancing for a cause contained someerrors:

The event, Summer Vibes, was not organised by Wavemagazine, but by two 18-year-olds Kashish Das Shrestha andPrapti Shakya. There were over 50 people at the event. In additionto the money raised through ticket sales, other individuals andfirms also contributed in cash and kind. The Rs 10,000 was toset up a seed fund to build new toilets for the aged at theBriddhashram in Pashupatinath. We regret the error. -Ed

Stories of severed noses and sliced earlobes strewn across the Valley’s tracksand trails peppered the revisedversion of the history of our nationalunification campaign. (It’s not fornothing, after all, that KathmanduValley used to be called “Nepalkhaldo”).

As the People’s Movement gainednew momentum, active participantsand indifferent bystanders alike beganfalling victim to the bullets of policeofficers who knew more about thesocialisation process partylessnesstolerated than about taking a straightaim on an “anti-social” target.Everybody who fell on the street,excluding perhaps those whosuccumbed to cardiac arrest of panicattacks while trying to abide by thecurfew orders, were declared martyrsto the cause of restoring multipartydemocracy. Meanwhile, the partylesspolity could proceed no further insaving itself because the internationalclimate had turned hostile. The IronCurtain had been breached in Europeand our own Iron Man (lauha purush)wasn’t interested in anything less thandeclaring total victory, notwithstand-ing the fact the movement hadn’tactually fired up people in more than adozen of the country’s 75 districts.(The reach of the 1979 studentmovement was more widespread, butthe super powers then were still busyfighting their cold war to payattention to the democratic aspira-tions of the Nepali people.)

The panchas came up with theperfect solution that would avoid

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by PUSKAR BHUSALSOMEWHERE IN NEPAL

our piece The King Smiled(#38) contained crucial insideinformation about that

crowning moment of the People’sMovement of 1990 that simplycannot be laughed off. The first thingthat struck me was the suppressed,almost subservient, tone with whichthe leaders of the People’s Movementapproached the King at the palacethat night. That approach may havebeen their way of maintaining thedignity and decorum of the royalcourt, but it stood in sharp contrast totheir fiery public pronouncements.The Nepali-people-have-spokenposturing of the commanders of themovement seemed to melt away in themidst of the persona of the supremecommander-in-chief of the RoyalNepal Army.

That next thing I got from theexcerpts from Kiyoko Ogura’s

Kathmandu Spring was a feel of thefickleness of the foundations of whathas turned out to be an over-ratedpolitical compromise. If anything, Ifind myself one step closer toconfirming my gut feeling that therestoration of multiparty democracywas a by-product of a botchedbilateral showdown whose mainagenda was the preservation of thestatus quo on mutually acceptableterms. For all it is worth, here is mytheory. The Indian trade and transitembargo was part of our southernneighbour’s effort to teach the palacea lesson that there are certain limitsimposed by geopolitics, one being thatyou don’t go up north to buy a coupleof anti-aircraft guns.

When Marich Man SinghShrestha’s government began showingtraces of an ability to resist India’spressures by importing mountainbikes and filling the airwaves withsounds and images of national pride,New Delhi decided it was time tofine-tune its policy. In hopes of furtherhumbling the votaries of partylessness,India began questioning the legitimacyof the system the prime ministerhappened to represent almostexclusively at the pleasure of thepalace. Accordingly, the People’s

Movement was being plotted as aback-up strategy. Then, the Indianvoters intervened. To the goodfortune of both Narayanhity andsoon-to-be empowered Chaksibaridarbars, long-time allies of NepaliCongress oldies took over power fromRajiv Gandhi. (It is important not toforget that the re-election of Rajiv,who was said to have been put off bypersistent personal slights from thepanchayati powerful, might havedrastically changed the course ofsubsequent events.)

The confusion accompanying thechange of political guard in NewDelhi was bound to affect the Nepaldesks at the Ministry of ExternalAffairs and the Research and AnalysisWing. One direct result was aslackening of the action onKathmandu’s streets; the stone-throwers and slogan-screamerssuddenly decided it was time to take abreak. Then, with almost equalsuddenness, history joined hands withgeography in the political arena.Hordes from Bhaktapur and Kirtipurmarched with the masses of Lalitpurand Kathmandu to avenge theaccumulation of perceived misdeedscommitted by the powerful since theearly days of the Gorkha conquest.

signing a declaration of surrender withthe external foe: it would be better tobow to your own people than to theleaders of your southern neighbour. Allthat was needed to defuse theimmediate crisis was the deletion ofthe word “partylessness” from theconstitution. The rest could be takencare of later. In retrospect, LokendraBahadur Chand’s government deservesmore credit than it has received for itsrole in bringing the People’sMovement to a safe landing.

The demise of partylessness inNepal denied India that greatopportunity of smashing and grabbinga second Himalayan kingdom within15 years. Indian leaders, schooled forthree decades in the art of alternatelyengaging and enraging the palace, wereinstead confronted with the challengeof dealing with a multitude of leadersof newly liberated and created politicalparties of all persuasions. Keepingtrack of what represented a carrot or astick to whom was mind-bogglingenough. Everything from patching upintra-party rifts to processingadditional applications for culturalscholarships became a moreprominent part of Indian diplomats’job descriptions.

Within a year, some top leaders ofthe Indian National Congress andbureaucrats were heard berating RajivGandhi’s myopic vision of whatconstituted good neighbourliness.Tanakpur, Kalapani, Pancheswor(who would have thought thatanything to do with the much-reviledquintet would continue to haunt

South Block over a decadedown the rivers?), Purnagiri, youname it, and “Bharatiya Bistarbad”becomes the instant battle cry.

In a way, we have come full circlein 12 years: We have received a newlist of 11 dos and don’ts from India,an expanded version of the original sixpresented to the Marich Mangovernment, it appears from pressreports, although we still don’t knowwhether the missive came courtesyKV Rajan, Amitabh Bachchan ordirectly through the Lainchaurdiplomatic pouch.

The streets are heating up withthe ire of a confused generation readyfor any form of hit-and-run campaignagainst a government they feelsdoesn’t represent them. The primeminister’s chief challengers within hisown fold are growing increasinglyrestive over the way he is mishandlingthe situation. Top undergroundleaders are holding secret meetingswith important members of keypower centres. Surya BahadurThapa has issued his impassionedthe-nation-is-in-a-serious-crisisstatement. Talk of amending theconstitution to accommodate allpolitical forces pervades thenational discourse.

The King, meanwhile, still wearsthat familiar smile.

(Kathmandu Spring: The People’sMovement of 1990by Kiyoko Ogura, Himal Books,2001. Rs 325)

The king is still smilingy The streets are heating up with the ire of a confused generation ready for any form

of hit-and-run campaign against a government they feel doesn’t represent them.

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ohammad Arshad Cheema, First Secretary in Kathmandu'sPakistani Embassy was arrested last Thursday in a buildingrented by a construction contractor from Pakistan. Nepal Police

said it discovered 16 kg of deadly explosives in the building, ready to beshipped to different destinations. Cheema was at the end of his tenure andwas planning to fly home after completing his assignment. He wasinterrogated by police while in custody, and was declared persona nongrata and ordered to leave Nepal within twenty-four hours. He deniedhe had anything to do with the explosives and blamed it on a “plot” byIndian intelligence.

Whatever the truth, this is serious business. Either way, it has implica-tions for our security. Whether it is true that the Pakistani was shippingRDX to India through Nepal, or if it was actually Indian intelligence thatframed him—both ways it is bad for us. Sixteen kg of RDX is no joke, itcould have blown a large chunk of Baneswor sky high.

The Indian media has predictably played up the incident citing it as proofthat Nepal is a hotbed for the anti-Indian activities of Pakistani intelligence.They have quoted Indian officials as saying that Cheema was the diplomat whoprovided the weapons to the hijackers of IC 814 in December 1999 atKathmandu airport. At that time, in a similar sting operation to the one lastweek, a junior Pakistani embassy official named Saboor was arrested anddeported amidst great hoopla for allegedly being in possession of fake Rs 500denomination Indian currency. Interestingly, Saboor had served in Nepal twoyears earlier but had been implicated in another alleged RDX operation involvingKhalistanis. The big question here is: how come our government allowed Saboorback if it knew of the previous incident.

Let us say for a moment that Cheema was indeed framed by the Indianintelligence agency, RAW, to implicate him belatedly for his role in thehijacking. If this is true then it is likely to have a very serious implication for

Nepal’s sovereignty. It would mean that India could go to any extent to curbwhat it sees as the use of Nepali territory by Pakistan for carrying out operationsin India across the open border. On the other hand, if there is any truth inIndian allegations that the RDX found in Baneswor was being sent for subversiveactivities to India, it would also have serious implications for our territorialintegrity. Nepal can’t allow its territory to be used against any of its neighbours.

Both of the scenarios described are so grave that they need urgentattention: Nepal’s very existence as an independent entity may be at stake.If there is one obsession in New Delhi about Nepal, it is the perceived lackof sensitivity in Nepal to Indian security concerns.

When news of this sort gets wide media play, it is translated in the Indian

psyche as enemies of India using a neighbouring Hindu kingdom to harmthe country with the largest Hindu population. Perceived thus, it is notsurprising that Indian public opinion towards Nepal has today changed andneeds to be remedied.

With the open southern border and Nepal’s strategic location it will bedifficult now to make our security airtight. But we have to start somewhereand we could do it by keeping a database of the comings and goings of non-tourist nationals from neighbouring countries in Nepal.

(Prakash A Raj is a Kathmandu-based writer and development(Prakash A Raj is a Kathmandu-based writer and development(Prakash A Raj is a Kathmandu-based writer and development(Prakash A Raj is a Kathmandu-based writer and development(Prakash A Raj is a Kathmandu-based writer and developmentanalyst.)analyst.)analyst.)analyst.)analyst.)

by PRAKASH A RAJVIEW POINT

Playing cat and mouse in KathmanduThe Indian media has predictably playedup the incident as proof that Nepal is ahotbed of ISI activity.○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

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Pakistani First Secretary Cheema being led away by police last Thursday, 12 April

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RAMYATA LIMBUeven years after he was drivento compose some ratherdesperate verse of a Valley

submerged in “shit”, Jagdish Ghimirestill can’t escape the stench thatpervades his home in Chobhar. This isthe holy spot where Manjushree sliceda limestone ridge in half with hisflaming sword to let the waters ofKathmandu out to create a sacredvalley. Ghimire moved here to getaway from the congestion, noise anddust of Kathmandu. Little did heknow that the river would beallowed to turn into a sewer full ofblack water.

“It’s worse in the summer. WhenI open the windows of the house itsmells like there’s a dead rat rightoutside,” he says. And sure enough,the whiff of decay and rot pervades theentire area even though the house is500 m away from the river.

At the northern end of the Valleyat Sundari Jal where the spring-fedwaters fall into a stream is the headwater of the Bagmati. Here the wateris crystal clear and cool, good enoughto scoop up and drink in the palm ofyour hand. But the river passes thesuburbs of Chabahil, past the templeat Pashupati, and through Banesworand Thapathali, meeting other

polluted rivers along the way. Even bythe time the river gets to Koteswor itis already reeking of rot.

During the dry months of Apriland May, when the flow of the wateris reduced to a trickle of a chokingviscous liquid, the river turns intowhat it really is: an open air sewer.

Kathmandu is now one of the fewcities in the world with more than onemillion people which is not locatednear an ocean or a major river. Interms of water supply for drinking andflushing its waste, the three cities in

the valley have reached the limits togrowth. Coupled with mismanage-ment, the utter disregard for wastedisposal regulations and you have theBagmati, which has become ametaphor for everything that is wrongwith Kathmandu.

With a population that hassurpassed 1.7 million, the valley nowgenerates 750 cubic metres of solidwastes every year. About 70 percentof this is disposed by themunicipality at various landfills,and 5-10 percent is recycled, therest is dumped on the banks of theriver. So the Bagmati is not just asewer, but also a garbage dump.

“Planners and those in powercoudn’t care less about what’shappening to the Valley,” says HutaRam Baidya a longtime environmen-talist and a campaigner for saving theBagmati. He does not mind takinganother visitor on a conducted tour ofthe river near his house in Thapathali.“In the mornings, the water fromthese pipes is yellow, just rawsewage,” says Baidya pointing to acavernous concrete pipe from whichuntreated sewage gushes out into the

river. Animal carcasses, rottingfurniture and garbage float aroundnearby. More than 70 percent of theriver below Teku is made up ofuntreated effluent in the dry season.

Pollution is killing the river’splant and animal life. Fish surveysconducted by the Bagmati BasinWater Management Strategy &Investment Program in the early1990s recorded 13 fish species in theBagmati River system – half thenumber recorded in 1979-80.

“It’s difficult to imagine we’rewalking along the banks of a riveraround which the civilisation of thisvalley was built,” says Baidya as weside step the remains of a dog beingdevoured by vultures. “According tomythology, the gods, including Indra,would come down to bathe in thesewaters. Today, they’d cringe. No onebathes at the ghats anymore.” Lastrites along the stone ghats fromPachali Teku to Sankhamul, amongthe most sacred stretches, areperformed with water from tubewellstoday. The ghats and the stone stepsthat once led into the water are highand dry at least 100 metres away from

the main channel. They are alsosinking due to excessive sandmining over the decades which hasalso caused the river bed to dropsignificantly.

For Baidya, who grew up near thebanks of the Bagmati, it is painful toremember what the river used to be.“I consider the Bagmati as a closerelative,” says the 80-year-old activist.The Bagmati Bachau Andolan, whichBaidya once spearheaded has fizzledout, but he is still engaged in a one-man crusade to raise publicawareness about the river’sdeteriorating condition.

Unlike other Kathmanduresidents, Baidya does not cover hisnose or wince at the stench from theriver. There’s an urgency to his stepsas he ushers along visitors, pointingout statues, stones ghats that aresinking daily, the squatter settlementsand human encroachment that havetaken over the flood plain.

“The municipality built this parkfrom the garbage it dumped here,giving little thought for the ghats andthe natural heritage sites that it hascovered,” says Baidya. Over the years,

he has written realms on the river, itshistorical and cultural significance, onthe lack of government commitmentand public apathy.

Still, Baidya does not think theriver is a lost cause. Today, he’s keento guide people along the three-kilometre stretch of river bank fromTeku Doban to Sankhamul in hopethat it will arouse the sentiments of apublic that seems to have lost its senseof cultural pride.

In 1994, Baidya spent sixmonths conducting a survey on thecultural heritage sites along theriver. It was mainly aimed atincreasing public awareness.

The findings are part of theBagmati Basin Water ManagementStrategy Investment Program, one ofthe most comprehensive studies of theBagmati River Basin, the studyhighlights necessary managementstrategies and action plans, includingthe need for proper sewage disposal,public awareness, environmentallegislation, and urban planning.

The report is designed to assistthe government with the pre-feasibility identification and

Mismanagement, utter disregard for waste disposal regulations make theBagmati what it is: a metaphor for everything that is wrong with Kathmandu.But experts agree the river can still be saved.

A sewer runs through it

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assessment of practical measures andinvestments that can improve theenvironmental quality of waterresources in the basin. The ultimateobjective is to restore the river and itstributaries to an environmentally safecondition for all users, including thewetlands, to enhance the historicaland cultural endowments along thewater courses of the basin.

Tashi Tenzing, an environmentaland sanitation engineer at the WorldBank, which funded the study sayscopies were sent to the governmentbut so far there haven’t been anyproposals to carry out or look intosuggestions made. “The governmenthas to take the initiative to transformthe measures suggested in the reportinto action,” he says.

Another activist who hasn’t yetgiven up on the Bagmati is ToranSharma of Nepal Environmental &Scientific Serivces (NESS). But he hasno illusions that it will be difficult.“Rehabilitating the river is anextremely big challenge. But it’spossible if there’s politicalcommitment, proper planning andmanagement,” he says.

Toran Sharma and his teamcarried out a water quality study ofBagmati from 1990-99 for theMelamchi Water Supply Project. Theproject plans to use excess water fromthe project after it fulfils the needs oflocal consumers, to articifiallyrecharge the Valley’s depletedaquifers and to replenish the riverwith fresh water flow.

While this may be possible inthe distant future, more costeffective and immediate action toimprove the environment would beto remove debris dumped on thebanks, to improve the Teku-Thapathali river bank as an examplefor other sacred sites, and tooperate small sewage treatmentplants as suggested by the report.

The Kathmandu municipality hasbuilt a small, simple sewage treatmentplant in Kohiti to treat the sewage ofthe neighbourhood. “It was a kind oftrial. Unfortunately it’s stoppedfunctioning after two years,” explainsBhushan Tuladhar an environmentalengineer with the Municipality’sKathmandu Valley Mapping ProjectKVMP. He says the lack ofmonitoring and commitment by thecommunity and the municipalityresulted in the failure of the plant.“Some of the pipes were stolen, too.”

Tuladhar, Sharma and Baidya allagree on one thing. The Bagmati isworth saving, and it can be saved. Allit takes is the will to save it.

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Huta Ram Baidya

88888 NEPALI ECONOMY

ECONOMIC SENSE by ARTHA BEED

20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

BIZ NEWS

Our aim is to bring diverse feature films fromdifferent cultures around the globe to our

audience for the “promotion of inter-culturalunderstanding”. The richness of cultures isone of the beauties of our world which isreflected in our logo that symbolises unity

in diversity.

Every month a film will be shown at theRussian Cultural Center in Kamal Pokhari ona screen 4X6m. The films are mainly fromsouthern countries, spoken in their original

language with English subtitles .

“The Cup”A film by Khyentse Norbu, Bhutan/India 1999

Sunday 22 April 5:00pmA delightful comedy about the lighter side of

life in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

“Children of Heaven”A film by Majid Majidi, Iran, 1998

Sunday 20 May 5:00pmWhen Ali loses his sister

Zahra’s school shoes the pair plan to sharehis shoes and keep it a secret from their

parents! Charming!

“The Knowledge of Healing”A film by Franz Reichle, Switzerland, 1996

Sunday 17 June 5:00pmA documentary about the secret of Tibetan

medicine and how it found its way toSwitzerland, challenging Western medicine.

Inter-Cultural Film SocietycGt/ ;f:s[lts rnlrq ;dfh g]kfn

“Mukundo”A film by Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, Nepal, 1999

Sunday 22 July 5:00pmThe story of a couple involved with a

Jhankrini who is deeply ambivalent abouther shamanic role.

“West Beirut”A film by Ziad Doueiri, Lebanon, 1998

Sunday 19 August 5:00pmA cheerful and touching story of three

beaming youths in the city of Beirut andtheir love for their Super 8 Film camera.

The Inter-Cultural Film Society is aregistered non-profit NGO. This programmeis sponsored by “Helvetas Nepal” as part oftheir interest in promoting the positive sideof national cultures and to encourage abetter understanding and affinity among thepeople of the world. Helvetas is committedto striving for a fairer world and for greaterrespect between nations.

To become a member you do the following:

- Register before the show or by e-mail:icfs@wlink.com.np

- Pay Rs.550 which allows you to see 11 filmsfrom April 2001 up to February 2002.

A detailed description of each film is availableby e-mail or before the show.

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On again, off againSpacetime Network’s (STN) plan to broadcast via satellite has been scuttled once again, this timeon the grounds that it failed to meet the requirements laid out by the National BroadcastingRegulations (1995). The Ministry of Information and Communication asked the station not tobroadcast on 14 April, its planned inauguration, because it said Spacetime’s equipment had notbeen inspected and approved and that the use of equipment other than that officially specifiedcould affect other frequencies. That’s the official version.

Unofficially, STN’s broadcasting plans have been embroiled in a controversy of sorts since earlythis year when the MOIC suddenly cancelled the network’s license over a technicality. However, inanother month or so, the office—headed by a new minister—renewed the cancelled licensewithout seeking fresh bids. STN then announced that its Channel Nepal would broadcast for fourhours daily starting 14 April, Nepali New Year, from its studio at Min Bhawan. Our sources tell usthe company does not have the bare minimum, in terms of equipment, to produce programs for thenetwork, even though it sent a crew to Rukumkot to film the Maoist attack some weeks ago. STNdeclined to respond to our questions.

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Private truck terminalIt is an idea whose time had come: private truck stops.Kathmandu’s first privately run truck stop beganoperating on at Tinthana on 14 April, and the first fewtruckers have already made use of the service. Thegovernment approved the Build-Own-Operate-Transfercontract three years ago but the launch was delayedbecause of the government’s inability to meet itscommitments—especially enforcing the parking banaround the Ring Road. “Even now the parking ban hasnot been fully enforced,” says Dr RP Singh, a promoterof the truck stop venture. The first phase of the projectcost about Rs 180 million and another Rs 180 million is to be spent on completing the secondphase. The complex is built on 380 hectares of land about 1 km off the bottleneck at the Kalanki-Ring Road junction. It has a capacity of 600 trucks. An estimated 3,600 vehicles exit and enterKathmandu Valley everyday. “We will be introducing systematic parking, a proper warehousewith considerable unloading capacity and other facilities like cafeterias, a fuel station and amaintenance workshop,” Singh told us. It costs a truck/bus Rs 100 to stop for the night, Rs 50for a day and Rs 25 an hour.

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Rupee slidesThe Nepali rupee took a further dip on 13 April, triggered by the slide of the Indian rupee, which fellto an all-time low against the dollar the same day. The IRs slide began last Wednesday overconcerns that foreign investment inflows could be drying. The dollar hit a new low of IRs 46.97Thursday and closed slightly higher at IRs 46.81. In Nepal the price of the dollar shot up by 25paisa from its opening of Rs 73.90 (buy) and Rs 74.60 (sell) to Rs 74.15 and Rs 74.85 respectively.Any change in Indian prices is automatically transferred to Nepal since the Nepali Rupee ispegged to the Indian Rupee.

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NRB GovernorTilak Rawal has re-assumed office as governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank. Rawal,who was sacked from his job last August, won a court battle seekingreinstatement on 28 March. Rawal took over duties at the central bank on 11 April.

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Cross-border callsStarting New Year this year, residents of two border towns Birgunj and Biratnagar don’t have to payinternational rates while making telephone calls across the border. This new development ispossible because of direct links between neighbouring townships, Raxaul Bazaar and Jorpanirespectively in India. Telephone calls now cost Rs 5 per minute instead of the Rs 30 in currenciesof the respective countries.

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Pashupatinath feeTourists visiting the Pashupatinath temple are now required to pay Rs75 as entrance fee. The fee, charged starting 14 April, is imposed by theTrust responsible for the upkeep of the temple complex, which is aworld heritage site. New fees are also planned for visitors to HanumanDhoka square.

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Bonus sharesThe Nepal SBI Bank is to issue bonus and rights shares to comply with the central bank rulingrequiring banks to raise their core capital to Rs 500 million by mid-July this year. In its annualgeneral meeting held last week the bank also announced an operating profit of Rs 146.7 million forfiscal year 1999/2000, up from Rs 82.7 million the previous year. Each shareholder is to get twoshares for every 10, and one right share for every two.

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Goodbye AvroOne more workhorse of Nepali domestic aviation has folded its wings. Necon Air, the only privateairline still using the British-made HS 748shas grounded its last active Avro. RoyalNepal Airlines and the Royal Nepal Armystill own one Avro each, although theRNAC plane has been mothballed. RoyalNepal Airlines bought its first two Avrosback in 1970, replacing its DC-3s. Whenprivate airlines were allowed afterderegulation in 1991, many operators preferred the familiar Avro. More passengers haveflown the craft with Necon colours since the airline began operations in Nepal in September1992. The Avro helped Necon Air corner over 55 percent of market share. Necon is now usingthe more fuel-efficient ATR-42s for all its domestic and international routes. It is acquiring athird ATR later this year.

NEW DELHI – Sometimes it isgood to run into a chukka jam in acountry other than Nepal. So, inthe middle of an indefinite taxi,auto strike and power outages inthe Indian capital, the Beed feltdistinctly at home. South Asiandemocracy remains, as always,about the power to strike and achronic shortage of power. Thedifference is the context, and here,unlike in Nepal, politicalshenanigans, uncertainties andstrikes do not affect the economicsof this country.

It is always interesting tomeet curious Nepalis on thestreets of New Delhi, whetherfrom the hills in India or fromNepal itself. But this is changing,and it appears that Delhiites arenow being asked to turn asuspicious rather than curious eyeat us.

Next to the All India Instituteof Medical Sciences lies thisinteresting lane full of lodges andhouses leased out to people whocome for treatment here, at one ofthe best medical institutions inSouth Asia. A few days ago publicservice announcements startedbeing put out asking lodge ownersand landlords to take extra cautionand double-check the identity of allpersons checking in saying they’refrom Nepal. Now Nepalis havenever been the object of suspicionhere, so this comes as a surprise notonly to me, but also to Delhiitesused to dealing with Nepalis. Thereare now forms to be filled in ifNepalis want to rent rooms. Theselittle things that happen in theback-alleys of a nation’s capital arean indication of what we can expectin the future. The identification ofNepalis with violence rather thanpeace is a matter of great concern.

In health services deliverysystems in India, both private andpublic Nepali patients are nottreated as outsiders, and they’venever been billed in dollars. Nepalisfrom right across the kingdom arethankful to institutions here forproviding them the medical aid theyneed. The major issues they talkabout are the problems with ourown health services system whererampant privatisation has not beenable to guarantee quality. The morefortunate ones line up at corporatehospitals like Apollo where theyconsult doctors more to reconfirmthe diagnosis and treatment theyreceived in Nepal.

The health sector in India mayhave its own problems—we readabout them in the papers—but theavailability and delivery of publichealth services is of a much higherstandard than anything available inNepal. There is a more professionalapproach and the people in themedical profession are concernedabout the probable backlash thatwill result from a wrong diagnosisor inept treatment. The issue ofliability is not as terrifying here as itis in the United States or someEuropean countries, but there is abasic sense of responsibility.

And what of Nepal? Publichealth service providers areinefficient and the private ones are

unaffordable. In absence of goodinsurance plans, medical servicesare moving out of the reach ofcommon people. Private hospitalsand clinics have mushroomed inthe last decade, but there isn’tadequate monitoring andregulation in place to ensure thatthese service providers in theprivate sector provide a certainlevel of quality. It is alsointeresting to see that privatehealth service providers inIndia—at least the major ones—are increasingly moving towardscorporatisation. We’re yet to seea hospital in Nepal that is acorporation and not a merepartnership of medicalpractitioners.

Across the world, healthservices are being institutionalisedand getting more consumer oriented.Government, all said and done, doesnot have the resources to providehealth services for all, so it is nowprivate sector service providers thatwill have to meet the ever-growingdemand for quality health care.There have to be privateinstitutions, but there also have tobe schemes in place to make theirservices affordable. The trick is tostrike the right balance.

(Readers can post their views atarthabeed@yahoo.com)

A trip to India highlights the inadequacy of Nepal’s health care systems.The services we pay too much for here just aren’t good enough.

In poor health

TECHNOLOGY 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES 99999

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There will soon be more mobiles phones in Nepal, perhapscheaper too—now that private and public sector players arepreparing for the cell phone showdown.

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BINOD BHATTARAIinally, there are signs of life inNepal’s mobile telephonymarket. The Khetan Group is

planning to offer its services startingAugust to compete withthe monopoly of NepalTelecommunication Corporation(NTC).

In anticipation of the privatesector rival, NTC has finally fixedsome of the bugs afflicting itsservices at the busiest base stationsin Kathmandu, and is adding sevennew bases that serve as a gateway tothe main exchange. It will be a fewmonths before the new additions are

in place andfunctioning, but they mayfinally end the “network busy” toneon your phone once and for all. Fornow, NTC’s focus is on gettinganother 50,000 lines, and bidevaluation is underway.

“In the New Road area if only 21callers could call at a time, now 42can do so at once,” says MK Shakya,Director of the NTC’s New Services,which includes mobile and Internetfacilities. The upgrade is being donewith equipment ordered for a 10,000line extension approved in Decemberlast year. NTC has expanded thetraffic channels serving New Road,Naikap, Chhauni and Gongabu, andother congestion “hot spots” inTripureswor, Putali Sadak and Patanare in the process of being fixed.

The results are already visible.NTC statistics show that the callfailure rate in the New Road area hascome down to less than one percentfrom the extraordinarily high 45-50percent. Congestion growsexponentially every time someonewho does not get through redialsimmediately, explains Shakya. “Youhad 21 slots and everyone wantedto get connected at the sametime—this problem has now beenresolved.” The industry standard forcall failure is two percent.

NTC began its mobile servicestwo years ago with 17 base stations.Problems with accessing the networkemerged quickly as subscriptionscrossed the initially planned 5,000connections for the Valley. NTC nowhas over 11,500 mobile users inKathmandu Valley, which was whythe seven new base stations have to bebuilt. Unlike fixed line telephoneswhere you get access to the entiresystem the moment you have aconnection, with cell phones you needto get into the network through thebase stations, explains Shakya.Obviously, then, having more basestations mean less congestion. Thecorporation is also evaluating bidsto add 50,000 more connections.Among the five companies that havesubmitted bids are global telecom

giants Ericsson and Siemens, who weare told are competing against aChinese company offering thecheapest system.

But NTC needs to hurry nowthat competition is snapping at itsheels. The Khetan Group has abusiness plan ready and is awaitingapproval of a new joint venture it isforming to handle its mobiles. Thisweek, technicians from Modicorp,Khetan’s Indian jointventue partner whichprovides mobileservices inPunjab,Kolkata and

Karnataka, were inKathmandu scoutingpossible locations for the mainexchange and about 20 base stations itplans to build. They also met NTCofficials to discuss interconnectivity.

But there are developments to theNTC’s advantage—a suit by NTCemployee unions in court has sloweddown the private company. TheKhetans out-bid rivals late last year tobe selected to be the only privatemobile operator in the country. NTCemployees are challenging thisdecision on the grounds that thecorporation was not given adequateprotection against the entry ofcompetition under the licensinglaw. One argument against thecharge is that NTC did not obtainits license through competitivebidding but as a “special case”,which is why the rule that ensures

protection against new competitiondoes not apply.

“We are waiting for the courtto reach a verdict,” says RajendraKhetan, but the firm is stillplanning to make all its servicesfunctional in August. The Groupplans to flood the country with70,000 connections—fromKakarvitta to Dhangadi. “We seeevery township and settlement as a

market,” says Khetan.“We will aim atmaking our serviceaffordable to anyonewith a monthly salaryof say Rs 5,000.” Toget a connection andmobile set, all you’ll

need is about Rs 15,000.Khetan’s new

company is still unnamedbut may come with theSpice brand name already inuse in India. And the gameplan is clear. “Servicequality makes the

difference, we’ll provide the rightproduct mix to the right customersegments,” says RS Desikan, ChiefFinancial Officer of ModicorpLimited. “We want to begin assoon as possible and are alreadygoing full steam with the pre-startup work.”

The NTC is eyeing the samemarket that Khetan plans to caterto. The 50,000 new lines are to besold in major townships fromKakarbhitta in the east to Pokharain the west and all majorsettlements in between. Phase twoof the corporation’s expansionwould entail uprooting some of theredundant bases from Kathmandu,Pokhara, Biratnagar and Birgunjand installing them in towns in the

mid- and far-western regions. TheNTC has one distinct advantage inthis undertaking—the existence oftelecommunication towers it ownsin all major towns.

NTC hopes to connect all thenew towns along the highwayswithin a year—and highways byanother year and half. This meansthat anywhere you are on thehighways you’ll be close enough to abase station—that would cover 40-90 km depending on terrain—to be

connected all the time. The time-frame looks promising, but theNTC’s deadlines could changedepending on how soon the bids arefinalised and how long it takes thegovernment—which is prone todelaying decisions—to select thebids and sign the contracts.

The NTC’s mobile division isalso facing delays from Rastra Bankfor approving letter of credit andother procedures. It is alsoconstrained by severe staff

shortages, the result of theblanket hiring freeze announcedin the budget.

Till the NTC is privatised, thisis going to be a battle of two titans:one private the other public sector.And the prize is the huge mobilemarket. Collections in January-February this year alone was Rs 380million. With more connectionsand right pricing, this is bound toincrease. Common economic sensesays there will be a downwardrevision in prices even beforeKhetan enters the market—provided, of course, the rest ofthe government sees reason,like certain sections withinNTC do.

1010101010 MAPPING 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

Ni70

Tukuche Peak6920

Dhaulagiri8167

STATUTORY DIRECTIVE: SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH

SAGARMATHA

View from Gokyo peak (above) of the world’s highest mountain, Sagarmatha(Mt Everest) and Nepal’s longest glacier, the Ngozumba. Sagarmatha is

flanked by lesser but nearer peaks of the Khumbu. Far off in the distance areAma Dablam and Kangtega, the elegant peaks that tower over Tengboche

Monastery. Nature at its most pristine. In Nepal.

Sagarmatha

Chumbu 6859

Chakung7029

Ghyachungkang7952

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SALIL SUBEDIhe hippies, explorers, and trailraiders—they all came toNepal in the early 70s, without

a care in the world, and sometimeseven without a map. But on theirheels came the demand forcommercial thematic or touristmaps.

Explorers like Stan Armington,author of Lonely Planet’s Trekkingin Nepal, remembers acquiringillegally photocopied maps at asmall shop across from the HotelMount Makalu, a 70s Thamellandmark. “They had some sort ofblack and white photographicnegatives of the GreatTrigonometrical Survey of India of1965. It wasn’t even a properphotocopy,” he recalls. A similarstory revolves around US Spy maps,published by the Stanford Press inthe UK in the late 1970s. MandalaMaps hand-copied these on tracingpaper and sold them as “blueprintmaps” in ammonia prints. “Theyused a primitive method ofcartography called the pantograph.It was really tough to get hold of agood map then. Now it’s amazing!”says Armington.

And indeed, maps are floodingthe Nepali market—from streetvendors to high-end bookstores,retailers are increasingly interestedin selling images of the country, hertrekking trails, small lodges, checkposts marked in blue, green, red and

yellow. The clients? For anyoneinterested in knowing where placesare—high altitude trekkers, middlehill hikers, mountain bikers,kayakers, and stargazers—there aremaps to match any curiosity.

“Private map publishing inNepal is growing,” says RameshShrestha of the Himalayan MapHouse, one of Nepal’s leading maphouses that recently joined handswith National Geographic TrailsIllustrated to produce anddistribute maps. The HimalayanMap House has 54 maps on 11regions and themes, including mapson Bhutan and Tibet, all of whichare revised and updated regularly.There are nine registered mappublishers based in Kathmandu andPokhara. “It is directly linked totourism, so our business completelyrelies on the fortunes of thatsector,” says Bidur Dongol,publisher of Shangri-la Maps, a newentrant to the game, which released21 maps in the last eight months.

Until the late 1970s, whendecent, mainly European, mapsbecame available, travellers wereeven known to have used those thatcame with Toni Hagen’s Nepal(1961). Among the first of the

newer maps were the Schneider, theAPA/Nelles, and the Berndtson andBerndtson—that they are stillpopular overseas is the best sign ofhow reliable they continue to be.The Schneider Maps are based ondata from the Topographical Surveyof India, conducted from 1968 to1974, and still have the elaboratephotogrammetrical work (makingmaps with measurements taken

from photographs) of the famouscartographer E Schneider. Thereare now six maps put out by thisAustrian publication available inNepal (updated 1999, on a1:50,000 scale).

The publication of two sets ofmaps 25 years ago marked a realmilestone in Nepali map-makinghistory—by the French CentreNational de la Recherche

Scientifique in France and byNepal’s Department of Topographyunder the Ministry of LandReforms. These were importantbecause they were easy to copy,particularly the latter, and alsoserved as base maps for a newgeneration of cartographicundertakings. Most map housestoday work the same way, off othermaps, but they insist they do a lotof homework and build on the basemaps. “The government map is ofcourse one of our base maps. Butwe use our own expertise and createa better map. We have to crosscheck our facts and profiles,because all our maps are thematic,focusing on a particular area ofinterest,” says Shrestha of MapHouse. The most important featurein creating such maps is thezooming in or out of the basic scaleand getting distances and altitudescorrect.

Madhav Maharjan of MandalaBook Point, one of the firstcommercial map publishers inNepal, says: “It’s only since theearly 90s that private mappublishers have gained ground.There has been no support from thegovernment.” Maharjan says all

credit for creating and expandingthis niche market goes to theprivate map houses. There is anofficial outlet for government-produced maps in New Baneswor,but the maps don’t really cater totourists, but to organisations. “Thequality is okay, but the marketing ispretty bad,” says Sarita Shresthawho has worked with thetopography department for almosttwo decades. Government-produced maps have improved withthe support of the Finnishgovernment’s FINIDA and theJapanese-funded JICA—bothorganisations conducted surveys forthe Nepal government.

But the Department ofTopography still has a long way togo before it can catch up with themore innovative, tourist market-driven private enterprises like theHimalayan Map House. Apart fromthe standard trekking maps, thisfirm also produces thematicastronomical, geological, river andbiking maps. There’s also what isprobably Nepal’s first astronomicalmap—The Deep Sky of Nepal—which illustrates constellations andzodiac sightings for all 12 months,and includes notes on the lore

In a country of half a million tourists each year, maps are crucial. But ifNepal’s legislature has its way, the industry may just lose its way.○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

t

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Machhapuchre6993

Annapurna South 7219

Hiunchuli6672

Annapurna I 7219

ilgiri061

DHAULAGIRI AND ANNAPURNA

A broad sweep of horizon (below) as seen from Ghorepani pass overlookingthe world’s deepest gorge, the Kali Gandaki. Towering above the valley areDhaulagiri and Annapurna, the 7th and 12th highest mountains in the world.Off to the east is unique fish-tailed peak of Machapuchre. Truly, the mostscenic places on earth. In Nepal.

a 8848

Ama Dablam 6812

Tobolabchen 6400

Kangtega 6799

behind them. “This is for stargazerswho come to Nepal to gaze at thepurest sky in the world from highaltitudes,” says Shrestha. Thebiking maps are also useful,especially 1000 km from Lhasa,with such helpful details as bikeroutes, itineraries, maintenance,campsites and speed information.

Other good trekking mapsinclude the first Panoramic Map ofNepal by Carto Atelier a Swiss-Nepali venture, which upped theprofessionalism ante when itentered the Nepali market in 1996.Trekking maps charting the courseto Everest Base Camp, SoluKhumbu, Annapurna Base Campand the Helambu-Langtang trek areby far the most popular and readilyavailable, together with street mapsof Kathmandu and Pokhara. Nepalimaps are also decent value formoney, ranging from Rs 150 to Rs800, while brand-name maps, likeNational Geographic’s TrailsIllustrated series, which are durableand have high production values,can easily run to Rs 1,050.

Commercial mapmakers inNepal have made an easy transition

to digital technology and given upmanual cartography. “We’ve evenmoved on from Auto Cad to AdobeIllustrator and are looking for othernew software to enhance ourproduction,” says Menuka Shrestha,design head of Shangri-la Maps.Design aside, there are othertechnical impediments to thecountry’s map industry—there isn’ta press capable of printing largerthan 24”x35”.

But the real danger to this newindustry comes from legal andlegislative issues, somethingentrepreneurs and independentcartographers can do little about.For one, there is no way, in Nepal’slegal system, to copyright artwork,so plagiarism is unpunished and onthe rise. Says Ramesh Shrestha ofthe Himalayan Map House: “Idon’t mind other business housescopying my data and information—a map depicts universal things. Butto copy artwork and original uniqueinformation without even verifyingwhether it’s authentic is unethical.”Such practices eventually affectquality, which would be a blow tothe map industry as a whole.

The best maps in town…are the four highly detailed National Geographic TrailsIllustrated maps delineating Everest Base Camp,Khumbu, Langtang and Annapurna. These trekking

maps arethe first in aseries ofworldwideadventuredestinationmaps.Publishedon recycledplastic, theyare water-proof andtearresis-tant maps—all for up toRs 1,050.

The scaleof the Everest Base Camp map is 1:150 000, of Khumbuand Langtang 1:25,000 and Annapurna 1: 135 000. Themaps have shaded relief to highlight trail routes,villages, cultivated areas, park boundaries and placesof interest. They include an inset on Thamel andhighlight theWorldConservationUnion (IUCN),the HimalayanTrust and theAmericanHimalayanFoundation.The maps areproduced anddistributed incooperationwith theHimalayanMap House inKathmandu. Partial proceeds from sales will becontributed to Sir Edmund Hillary’s Himalayan Trust tofund scholarships in Khumbu.

If this dispute weren’t enough,mapmakers are now up in armsagainst a new legislation that noone—entrepreneurs, bureaucrats,lawmakers—seems to know thespecifics of. General consensus isthat it revolves around the validityand accuracy of Nepal’s boundariesas depicted on privately producedand distributed maps. Map housesfear that all new projects will nowhave to go through a tedious red-tape ridden approval procedure thatwill hold up new publications andsubject them to the whims of thebureaucracy. What, ask publishers,will the government do to preventtourists from bringing inunapproved maps from overseas?Why can’t the government onlyrequire that all unauthorised mapscarry a stamp announcing that theydon’t accurately depict the territory ofNepal? Officials play shy when asked.Rajaram Chaktulli, a senior official atthe Department of Topography, says:“We don’t know what the legislationis exactly going to do. But it willdefinitely bring about changes tosafeguard the country’s sovereignty bydiscouraging and banning maps that

go against the national interest.”Mapmakers say they only wishthey were consulted in theformulation of the new law.

The Land Survey ManagementAct of 1962 (2019 BS), in its eightamendment of 2000 (2057 BS) rulesthat: if any extra-governmental partywishes to conduct an aerial survey,to use control points established bythe government, to publish mapsproduced by the government, or tosell maps published elsewhere inNepal, they must comply with allthe rules and regulations set forthby the Act.

Officials say rules andregulations are being preparednow. “As soon as the legislation ispassed by parliament, thedepartment will then have toimpose the new strictures,” saysChatkulli. The eighth amendmentalso bans maps of Nepal publishedoutside the country that aren’tjust reproductions of official maps.But many experts point to theabsurdity of the Act and thedifficulty in actually implementing it.“You can find maps everywhere. In afew seconds, you can download anymap from the Internet,” saysArmington. Shrestha of Map Houseasks: “How can you stop the flow ofinformation. What about thepragmatics of a free market economy?”

Liberal laws would attract bigcompanies like NationalGeographic to a tourist and naturedestination like Nepal to invest inNepali map houses. What we’reseeing now has the potential tothrow up a whole generation ofNepali cartographers and mapenthusiasts. How it will eventuallypan out is anybody’s guess.

1212121212 MAPPING 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

Hyattaps of Kathmandu Valleyhave traditionally focusedon places of interest to

short-term visitors—heritage sites,tourist areas, diplomatic enclaves,hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.Now, Shangrila Maps, a relativelynew entrant to the already crowdedtourist-map market, has come outwith yet another offering in the samegenre: the Kathmandu City Map.

Based on municipal plans, the 23”by 30” map has the Valley stretchingfrom Baudhanath in the east toSwoyambhunath in the west, andMaharajgunj in the north toKupondol in the south. A touristarmed with this map will have nodifficulty finding cafes and hotels inThamel, airlines and travel agencieson Darbar Marg, and banks,hospitals, embassies and governmentoffices in different areas of the city.

Like all other maps of the Valley,this one also features Thamel, DarbarMarg and the cities of Kirtipur andBhaktapur separately. One extrafeature of this map is that the city ofPatan appears in its full glory. (Noother map previously has given Patanthe spread it deserves.) And unlikeother maps, this one also lists the

MAP REVIEW by MANISHA ARYAL

bahals, stupas, and mandirsthe Valley is so famous for.

Compare this with thefree map produced by thetourism people (the oneyou are handed as you leave

the arrival area of the TribhuvanInternational Airport, for example) orthe orange Rs 30 map from MandalaBook Point, and it comes out adefinite winner. Display italongside maps producedby Carto Atelier andAtelier Maya and it’llprobably be the one tobe picked up, for thelayout is easy on the eyeand the colours subtleand pleasing.

But if you wantto go beyond thetourist areas in theValley, and locatesomeone’s house inBaneswor, or MaliGaon, forexample, the mapwill be of little help.

Like all the others in the market,this map too, is aimed at the touristmarket. Perhaps because Nepalis donot grow up learning to read/use mapsand hence do not form a significantmarket niche, this map seems toignore Valley residents and thedifferent parts of the Valley wherethey reside. Ghatte Kulo, Mali Gaon,Bishalnagar, Chandol, Battisputali,

Naya Bazaar, Samakhushi, andTahachal appear as big blobs of landwith a maze of nameless, dirt andsemi-tarred roads. Except for ahandful of movie theatres andeducational institutions that dot thespread, there are no landmarks andstreet names to guide you.

Many streets in Baneswor,Ghatte Kulo, and Chandol havelocally accepted names, and the map

could have been mademore useful fortourists as well asValley residents ifShangrila Maps haddone a little moreresearch, a little morelegwork.

Bidur Dongol, thepublisher of Shangrila Mapssays the Kathmandu CityMap does not list many ofthese landmarks and streetnames because he’s afraidsomeone will copy his work!While this might explain whythe map is a bit of an

improvement over others in themarket but stops short of offeringmore, it also means that Valleyresidents will have to continue to stopand ask for directions.

City Map, KathmanduShangrila Maps, March 2001ISBN 99933 6 009 0Price Rs 600

The new Kathmandu City Map isbetter than most, but could havebeen better.

Getting around

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by PETER SINGEROPINION

n explaining why he wasabandoning the Kyoto accord onglobal warming, president Bush

said: “We will not do anything thatharms our economy, because firstthings first are the people who livein America.” Those remarks shouldnot have surprised anyone whofollowed the American election.In the second presidential debate,George W. Bush was asked howhe would use America’s globalpower and influence. He saidthat he would use it to benefitall Americans.

These remarks would not havesurprised anyone who studied thespeeches of the President’s father.Bush Sr. said much the same thing

Americans, or ethics?It may be defensible for president Bush togive some preference to Americaninterests, but to place them above theinterests of millions of others goes beyondwhat any ethical approach can justify.

almost a decade ago, at the 1992“Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro.When representatives of developingnations asked him to put the over-consumption of resources bydeveloped countries, especially theUS, on the agenda he said that “theAmerican life-style is not up fornegotiation”—no matter what, orso it seemed to his audience, thecosts to others might be.

But it is not only the Bushadministration that put theinterests of Americans first. In theBalkans, the Clinton-Goreadministration made it clear that itwas not prepared to risk the life of asingle American in order to reducethe risk of civilian casualties.

Observing this, Timothy GartonAsh wrote: “It is a perverted moralcode that allows a million innocentcivilians of another race to be madedestitute because you are notprepared to risk the life of a singleprofessional soldier of your own.”In Kosovo restricting interventionto aerial bombardment had thisresult: NATO forces suffered not asingle casualty, but 300 Kosovar,209 Serb and three Chinesecivilians were killed.

This approach to the duties ofa national leader, stated bluntly,forces us to consider afundamental ethical issue. Towhat extent should politicalleaders see their role narrowly,and to what extent should they beconcerned with the welfare ofpeople everywhere? RomanoProdi, president of the EUCommission, and a former primeminister of Italy, responded toBush’s most recent statement bysaying: “If one wants to be a

world leader, one must know howto look after the entire earth andnot only American industry.” Butthe question is not only for thoseaspiring to be world leaders.Leaders of smaller nations mustalso consider, in contexts likeglobal warming, trade pacts,foreign aid and the treatment ofrefugees, to what extent they areprepared to consider the interestsof “outsiders”.

As Ash suggests, there is astrong ethical case for saying thatit is wrong for leaders to giveabsolute priority to the interestsof their own citizens. The valueof the life of a human being doesnot vary according to nationality.Even the Bush administration putthe lives of millions of HIV-infected Africans ahead ofeconomic interests of Americanpharmaceutical corporationswhen it reaffirmed Clinton’sexecutive order saying that theUS would not prevent African

nations licensing their ownmanufacturers to produce cheapcopies of drugs, even thoughAmerican companies held thepatents. If American interestsalways come first, that decisionwould be difficult to explain.

But, it might be said, theabstract ethical idea that allhumans are entitled to equalconsideration cannot govern theway we look at the duties of apolitical leader. Just as parentsare expected to provide for theinterests of their own children,rather than for the interests ofstrangers, in accepting the officeof president, Bush assumed aspecific role that makes it hisduty to protect and further theinterests of Americans. Othercountries have their leaders, whohave similar roles in respect tothe interests of their fellow-citizens. There is no world politicalcommunity. So long as thatsituation prevails, we must havenation-states and leaders of thosenation-states must give preferenceto the interests of their citizens.

There is some truth in this.Without it, unless electorssuddenly to turn into altruists ofa kind never before seen on alarge scale, democracy could notfunction. American voters wouldnot elect a president who gave nomore weight to their intereststhan to the interests of peopleliving in other countries. Perhaps,given the global nature of the

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The myth of the Noble SavageThe Noble Savage, long attributed to eighteenth-century philosopherJean-Jacques Rousseau, was, in fact, a racist propaganda deviceof British anthropologists to create a climate where slavery andgenocide could be mooted. The claim that Rousseau created themyth was made by one of the nineteenth century’s most notoriousracists to give weight to his belief in the notion of “inferior” races,according to a new book, The Myth of the Noble Savage.

Ter Ellingson, associate professor of anthropology at theUniversity of Washington, believes the manipulation of the mythwas part of a successful attempt by a faction of racistanthropologists to take over the anti-racist Ethnological Society inLondon in the late 1850s. The term “noble savage” was mentioneda handful of times before Rousseau, most notably by poet andplaywright John Dryden, but Ellingson maintains it had fallen out ofuse until re-invoked by the racist anthropologist John Crawfurd in1859. By attributing the myth to Rousseau, Crawfurd gave thenotion intellectual weight.

Ellingson maintains that the mythwas a vital tool, which enabled racistanthropologists such as Crawfurd topromote the centrality of race as ascientific ideology while advocatingviolently racist modes of orderingsociety. An unbroken three-month runof racist presentations followed the1859 coup of the society’s board and itwas in the first of these lectures thatCrawfurd demolished the illusion of savage nobility and deniedany non-white race any right to equality. “Crawfurd’s inauguraladdress was an announcement of the overthrow of the old waysand the ascendancy of a new anthropological racism and a newsupporting mythology,” said Ellingson. The myth of the NobleSavage then became a weapon in the Ethnological Society’sscientific-racist project of helping to naturalise a genocidal stancetowards “inferior” races.’ (The Observer)

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ED VULLIAMY IN OHIOhe ghetto has not looked like this,they say, since the days afterMartin Luther King was

assassinated. Cincinnati’s dark streetsghostly and deserted; the only soundsthe wails of sirens in the mid-distanceand the drone of helicopters castingtheir searchlight beams across thespectral slumscape.

In the ghetto, a church rally bythe leader of the National Associationfor the Advancement of ColouredPeople had ended abruptly to theanger of his audience. The NAACP’spresident Kweisi Mfume had claspedhands with the still dazed mother ofthe boy whose shooting by a policeofficer had provoked the scenes ofonly 18 hours earlier—another firstfor Cincinnati since 1967: fury andshooting, burning and lootingwhich—after two nights of theusual tragic wreckage within ghettoconfines, had broken onto thewhite man’s turf.

This time, cops were charging forreal and the crowd was shooting back.This time, SWAT teams werethrowing up barricades and theirsnipers leaping over rooftops. EveryAmerican riot tells a story, and on thesurface it is the same: an incidentundams years of tension betweenangry and poor black youths and awhite police force stained by racism.

Like its northern counterparts,Cincinnati’s slums were oncemiddle-class neighbourhoods intowhich white Appalachian hillbilliesmoved first, then sharecroppersfrom the plantations in the greatmigration north. Time was whenblacks taking the trains south fromCincinnati’s great Union Terminalwould have to occupy segregatedcompartments, while those arrivingwould be travelling with whites.

Cincinnati’s ghetto is unique—indeed “ghetto” is hardly the right

term in an urban area that is 43percent black. The community wasfounded by German immigrants and isone of America’s nineteenth-centuryurban wonders. The world has seenthese streets in the movie Traffic, withall its familiar ghetto hallmarks—ubiquitous porn shops and a rough-and-tumble summer street life.

It was here that Timothy Thomaswas raised and drove his 1978 Chevyaround. Eleven times since March2000 he had been stopped by policeand cited for 12 offences, mostlydriving without carrying his licence ornot wearing a seatbelt. The core of therow that rages not only here butacross the US is that Timothy wasvictim of what is politely called “racialprofiling”—that is, he was picked onbecause he was black.

Twice he ran from the policeas they chased him and twiceslipped the net, but the thirdtime he died from a bullet firedby officer Steve Roach. He felllifeless outside an abandonedbuilding in a little alleyway,

number 1313 Republic Street,where the tributes are modest—bottles of wine or beer on hisflagstone deathbed, and a placard:“No seatbelt equals death.”

And so it does in Cincinnati, forit was not only Timothy’s deaththat caused the rioting. Eighteenblack men and boys have been shotdead by the police in Over-the-Rhine since the start of last year—aconcentration of police violencethat outstrips any other US city.

Although the mayor CharlieLuken is no Rudy Giuliani and admitsto “a serious race relations problem”,there are few northern cities in whichblacks are so proportionatelyunrepresented in police orgovernment. While unemployment isminimal among whites at 2 percent, ittops 20 percent in Over-the-Rhine; inschools there is almost totalsegregation. Current census figuresshow Greater Cincinnati to be theeighth most segregated metropolitanregion in the US.

Another veteran who saw this

coming is Cecil Thomas, who left thepolice to head the city’s HumanRelations Commission. He warnedthat Cincinnati was “one questionableshooting away from riots.” Last weekhe was in a group of 20 who formeda human wedge between anadvancing crowd of youths andcolumns of riot police. The policeadvanced and a man called LarryBrenton shouted: “We need to takethis fucking city down! I’m tired ofgetting up every morning andfinding out someone else I knew hasbeen murdered by the police.’

Uprisings invariably throw upleaders and in this case the figure isRev Damon Lynch. Pastor of theNew Prospect Baptist Church in theheart of the ghetto, he said as heprepared to host the funeral ofTimothy Thomas: “We’ve had 15young blacks killed by the police since1995 and seven since November—Icall that consistent. In every caseexcept one the officer was white.”Cincinnati, he says, now incorporates,“the worst of the North and the worstof the South.” He has a portrait ofMartin Luther King on the wall and aKoran on the floor. “This is Eastertime,” he says, “Today is Good Fridayand we mourn. Tomorrow we burythe kid, and on Sunday we look forthe resurrection of our community.Three days of Easter.”

On Good Friday evening,women and the elderly chatter onsteps beneath the fire escapeswhile the men collect in groups tobanter. Riot police vans prowl thelittle streets, and choppers fly lowabove the rooftops. There’s a barcalled Race Cafi where drinkersare squeezing in a last Schlitzbefore curfew. “Maybe it’ll blow,”ponders Cyril Harris, 85, who hasseen it all, from Alabama to theriots last time around. “Maybe itwon’t.” (The Observer)

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tSomething sinister in Cincinnati

The Ohio city was “one questionableshooting away from riots”, and lastweek the inevitable happened.

problems we nowface, this is anargument for afederalist world,rather than onedivided into sovereign nation-states. But as long as that remainsa lofty idea without politicalsubstance, our leaders will feelthat they must give some degreeof priority to the interests of theirown citizens.

“Some degree”, however, doesnot mean absolute priority.Abandoning the Kyoto accord,many believe, will threaten thelives of tens or hundreds ofmillions of people living incountries too poor to protectthem from the consequences ofclimate change and rising sea levels.That is why Europeans, and peoplein many other countries areincensed at the casual way inwhich Bush assumed that “firstthings first are the people wholive in America.” It may bedefensible for president Bush togive some preference to theeconomic interests of Americans,but to put them above the life-and-death interests of millionsof human beings goes beyondwhat any ethical approach canjustify. (Project Syndicate)

Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCampProfessor of Bioethics at PrincetonUniversity, and the author, mostrecently, of Writings on anEthical Life.

i

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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EU relief ahead of UN meetBRUSSELS - The European Commission has announced a raft of“practical measures” designed to help the world’s poorest nations,including a “stronger targeting” of European Union (EU) aid on themost needy countries, the further extension of debt relief, andimproved access to European markets. The decision was an-nounced last week ahead of the Third United Nations Conferenceon Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which the Commission ishosting in Brussels from 14-21 May.

The Commission, which is the EU executive body, will eliminateall debt owed by the 40 member states of the African, Caribbeanand Pacific (ACP) group that are among the world’s 49 poorestcountries, as defined by the United Nations. The move will freeLDCs from having to repay some 60 million euros ($54 million) worthof loans dispersed through the EU’s European Development Fund,the instrument through which aid is given to ACP states, most ofwhich are former European colonies. (IPS)

1414141414 ASIA 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

look at the recent history ofrelations between the US andChina provides an interesting

perspective on the current situation.The last few decades werecharacterised by considerablevicissitudes throughout which theSino-American relationship showeditself to be fragile yet durable. Eachcrisis was followed by incrementalimprovement. Indeed, crisis hasbecome a new formula: dangerplus opportunity.

Progress and problems are two

sides of one coin. To keep up themomentum of progress, both Chinaand the United States should handleproblems properly, especially at a timewhen the new Bush administration isjust starting, and when China faces anew succession of top leadership nextyear. The six US presidents fromNixon to Clinton helped establish abipartisan consensus of continuing astable relationship between our twogreat nations. They havemaintained a One China policy. Ithink this is the legacy of our

mutual relationship for the newBush Administration. This is theframework set up by the topleadership from China and theUnited States.

Two years ago we used tosummarise the differences between theUnited States and China as the SixTs: the theft of nuclear technology,and TMD (Theatre Missile Defence),trade problems, Tibet, Taiwan, andthe Tiananmen Square-related humanrights issue. Now, I prefer to sum upour problems or concerns by three Ss

and two Ts: First, what should be ourstrategic goal? Should we becompetitors, opponents, oradversaries? After Jiang Zemin’s visitto the United States in 1997 andPresident Clinton’s trip to China thefollowing year, both leaders decided toestablish a strategic partnership in thenext century.

Today a shift is likely. The newsecretary of state Colin Powell saidat his Senate hearing, “China is nota strategic partner, China is acompetitor. And China willprobably become a potentialregional adversary, but China is notan inevitable enemy in the future.”

The good news is that China isnot regarded as an enemy. The not-so-good news is that there is atendency to downgrade our strategicgoal from partnership to competitionand even below. This worries Beijing.

The second question relates tostrategic policy. Despite elements ofambiguity, a policy of engagementdominated US-China relations foralmost eight years. Will it nowbecome a limited engagement,constrained engagement, or evenconstraint instead of

engagement—or something new?The new administration has kept

silent on this matter thus far, maybebecause the re-shuffle of the Chinateam has not been completed. It’s stilltoo early to review their China policy.

As for security, the newadministration’s attitude towardsNMD (National Missile Defence) andTMD is a major concern in Beijing. Itseems that the new administration willproceed with the MMD programme,and we can see that a clash is takingplace now over this issue, which makespeople very worried, at least in Beijing,and even Shanghai.

If the US proceeds with missiledefence in close co-operation withJapan, and if China becomescloser with Russia in response, adangerous situation will arise.This is another concern orproblem of Sino-Soviet relations.

The biggest issue confronting thenew US president is likely to be Sino-US conflict over Taiwan. The BushAdministration has emphasised that itwill continue to live up to itsobligations to meet the defence needsof Taiwan, in accordance with theTaiwan Relations Act (TRA).

It has been reported recently thatif Beijing continues to deploy missilesopposite Taiwan, this will affectWashington’s arms sales policy. We

do not think that this is fair. Instead,this issue should depend as much onAmerican behaviour as Chinesebehaviour. If the United Statesreduces its arms sales to Taiwan,Beijing will definitely reciprocate.

China and the United Statesshould look at their relationshipstrategically, from a broad perspective,and not only with a view to problem-solving. They should seek outcommon ground while retaining theirdifferences, partly by strengtheningand improving the mechanisms ofmutual dialogue. Both sides need tore-evaluate how to view each otherin the best interests of the Chineseand American people and of peaceand development.

The bottom line is that Chinaand the United States cannot andshould not be enemies. We shouldavoid confrontation and becomepartners in competition. As long asour countries promote consensus,continue our contact, enhance trust,reduce trouble, avoid confrontationand strengthen co-operation, thenChina and the United States will beable to make new contributions to thepeace, stability and prosperity ofthe world. (IPS)

Shixiong Ni is a professor at FudanUniversity, China.

by SHIXIONG NIANALYSIS

The inevitable enemy?

In the history of Sino-US ties crisis has a new formula:danger plus opportunity.

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TOM FAWTHROP IN PHNOM PENHfter three decades of conflict, relative peace has come to Cambodia. Butwar has left a dangerous legacy—the country is awash with landminesand deadly small arms and explosives in illicit hands—making this nation

a haven for the region’s illicit small arms trade.Since 1998 when the conflict ended, the government has campaigned to

collect and destroy surplus arms and weapons. At a small arms conference inTokyo in March, Hok Lundy, the country’s police chief reported that over107,000 weapons had been collected and more than 40,000 destroyed by theend of 2000. “This is the first country where the government started the processof destruction [of surplus arms] before they received international support,” saysretired Dutch General Henny van der Graaf, who manages a European Unionproject to rid Cambodia of privately-held small arms.

But the EU believes that the hundreds of thousands of firearms still outthere can potentially threaten Cambodia’s hard-won stability at any time. TheEU is funding a special project in support of the government’s arms collectioncampaign by financing a Weapons for Development programme. This pilotproject is located in Snoul district in Kratie province, 250 km from the capitaland close to the eastern border with Vietnam.

The programme hopes to mobilise public opinion for the call tosurrender all weapons in exchange for funds to build schools, health clinicsand roads. The EU is also providing $300,000 to build safe storage facilitiesfor weapons, ammunition and explosives in Kompong Cham province anddeveloping an arms registration system.

An international conference on small arms proliferation and trade in the AsiaPacific held in Phnom Penh in February 2001 noted that many post-warsocieties are plagued with terrorism and organised crime that are fuelled by thehuge stocks of arms floating around. This in turn undermines security anddevelopment; so countries can be locked in a cycle of conflict and poverty.

Two examples of post-conflict terrorism were attacks launched by a smallCambodian-American group calling itself the Cambodian Freedom Fighters,based in Long Beach, California. The CFF, composed of Khmer Rouge guerrillascommitted to the violent overthrow of the Hun Sen government, staged anattack on a petrol depot in April 2000 and opened fire on the Ministry ofDefence in November. The automatic rifles used by the CFF were mostly boughtfrom disgruntled soldiers or ex-soldiers.

The Cambodian newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea estimates there are up to900,000 unregistered small arms, even though the armed forces number only140,000. The UN mission to Cambodia (UNTAC) reported in 1993 that thesoldiers of all four Cambodian armies at the time had between them a total of320,443 light weapons. Even these figures are unreliable as all sides maintainedsecret arms caches, especially Khmer Rouge rebels who never abandoned theultimate aim to regain power through arms.

A foreign military expert puts the figure at around half a million. Illegalarms—on the black market or with the public—are said to numberbetween 250,000 and 400,000. The Working Group for WeaponReduction in Cambodia (WGWR), a local nongovernment organisation inthe province of Kompong Thom, has found that every household claims tohave at least one gun.

In the next five years the Ministry of Defence plans to demobilise another55,000 soldiers and reintegrate them into civil society. Since 1993, some 23,000have been reintegrated. International donors, anxious to prevent Cambodiandemobilisation turning into a destabilising nightmare, have pledged $45 millionin support of reducing the armed forces and returning soldiers to civil society.

Another problem, says Neb Sinthay of WGWR, is the absence of an

effective registration system and safe storage of the government’s “legalarms”: often a vicious cycle results, in which “legal weapons” are sold off bypoorly-paid soldiers, while illegal weapons that are confiscated once againbecome “legal weapons”.

There is no dearth of buyers for arms on the Cambodian black market.Burmese rebel groups, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from SriLanka (they arranged several small arms shipments from a curry restaurant inPhnom Penh in 1998-9) and supporters of Acehnese secessionists in Indonesiaare among those shopping in this busy arms bazaar. In spite of the government’scrackdown on the illegal arms trade, at Teuk Thla market in Phnom Penhtraders still take orders for weapons. In March the price of an AK47 automaticgun had dropped to $40 after police action helped depress demand. But pistolsstill fetched around $1,000 apiece.

Sinthay, who visited the gun traders in March was surprised that demandsfor more modern hardware could be met. “If you want to place an order for anew model it takes only 2-3 weeks to arrive in Phnom Penh. We can get youanything except a tank,” an arms dealer told Sinthay.

There is another hitch: EU experts note that Cambodianauthorities are reluctant to destroy all the weapons they have collectedfrom civilians and former militias. They argue that still-usable weaponsare sorely needed as reserves, as the Cambodian armed forces have nofunds to purchase new weapons.

The government’s arms control campaigns have targeted 10 out of 23provinces, resulting in the mass destruction of firearms in so-called ‘Flames ofPeace’ public ceremonies. But EU officials while appreciative of good results sofar—approximately 40 per cent of all weapons collected have been destroyed—are insisting that surplus stocks held as reserves are also burnt. The tussle—reflected in the Cambodian experience of post-war transition and its attempts tocontrol the arms legacy—is set to be closely studied at the UN Conference onSmall Arms in New York in July this year. (Gemini)

Tom Fawthrop is a British journalist who covers South-East Asia for severalnewspapers. He is currently working on a book about Cambodia’s genocide tribunal.

Three decades of conflict have leftCambodia highly militarised and a centrefor the region’s illicit arms trade.

Small arms, big problems

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No curry, FMD worryA way of seeing the so-called Third World came to Britain’s diningtables in recent weeks—or rather, went off it. Political prejudice hascome to change the evening meal. Indian cuisine is the most popularin Britain by far, with an estimated turnover of over $3 billion a year.Chinese comes next. But the affair between the British and Indianand Chinese food staled after news reports that the foot-and-mouthepidemic was caused by food from India and China.

First it was a report that the disease had originated in India. Thenthat contaminated Chinese food fed to pigs started the epidemic.Both stories were carried widely and neither was substantiated. Butthe damage was done—business in Indian and Chinese cuisine isreported down an average 40 percent. Last week over 1,000Chinese took to the streets of London in a protest march fromLondon’s Chinatown to the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture,Food and Fisheries (MAFF). The reports blaming contaminated foodfrom China had been attributed to “sources” in the ministry. Theycarried posters attacking media rumours that the disease hadoriginated from Chinatown in Newcastle Upon Tyne in north England.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown apologised to the demonstratorsabout the “source” in his ministry and said he despised the“underlying racialism.” He also blamed the media, saying suchrumours “should not have been reproduced by the press”. But somenewspapers continued to report that waste from Chinatown inNewcastle Upon Tyne had found its way to the farm where thedisease is said to have originated. (IPS)

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Derailing Track IINEW DELHI - Newly revealed Indian government curbs on delegatesfrom some nations attending international conferences in the country,have triggered loud protests. The organisers of such meetings willnow have to get the ministry’s prior approval if they expectparticipants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan or SriLanka. Meetings that “have a bearing on external relations”, mustalso be cleared by the foreign ministry. The interior ministry has alsoadvised against inviting foreign delegates if the conference is of a“political, semi-political, communal or religious nature or...related tohuman rights...which can be utilised as a platform for any particularline of propaganda.”

The order was issued last year, and though supposed to havebeen publicised widely, was actually revealed in April. Leading Indianpeace activist and women’s leader Mohini Giri says the order isabsurd because it duplicates what the foreign ministry is alreadydoing when it grants visas to delegates, and is contrary to govern-ment claims of promoting peace with arch-foe Pakistan by encourag-ing people-to-people contacts.

The so-called Track-Two diplomacy has acquired greatimportance specially after the two South Asian rivals tested nuclearweapons in May 1998. Kuldip Nayar, member of the upper house ofParliament and former Indian envoy to Britain, accuses thegovernment of “trying to stall people-to-people contacts betweenIndia and Pakistan through the order”.

But it is the tourist industry that is likely to be hurt most. “Theorganisers of conferences and seminars will now prefer to holdthem in places like Dhaka or Kathmandu where there are far lesshassles,” says a tour operator who specialises in conferencemanagement. (IPS)

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A grim reminder at a memorial stupa in the killing fields of Choeung Ek

The damaged US Navy EP-3E on Hainan island.

1515151515FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI LANGUAGE PRESS

20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Even foreigners have started commenting on corruption in Nepal. How can everyone be blamed for one person’s corrupt actions?—reacting to reports of the US ambassador’s speech at the 50th anniversary of USAID, in Kantipur, 3 February, 2001

Foreign forces don’t have any right to comment on Nepal’s internal affairs. Some foreigners are feeding saline to the Nepali Congress government but thisact won’t save this government.

—reacting to more recent comments by the US ambassador on constitutional process, in Budhabar, 18 April, 2001Madhav Kumar Nepal, CPN-UML General Secretary’s reactions to the American ambassador’s comments on two occasions.

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neededBudhabar Saptahik, 11 April

It has been recently reported thatthe Maoists looted money that wasto be distributed to the aged inSalyan district. Salyan has beenidentified as an “A class district”,which means Maoists have a stronginfluence there. Of the Rs 30,000that was to be distributed in DhargiPipal Village DevelopmentCommittee in Salyan, Maoistslooted Rs 25,700. The people’s warappears to need the sacrifice ofchildren, the blood of the aged andthe innocent. This incident hasshown how the happiness of theelderly can be stolen—this is whatMaoists resort to. Only Rs 4,300could be distributed before theMaoists struck.

Since no one had informed theMaoists that money was beingdistributed, they got angry andlooted the village and the cash. Thiswas the only way of venting theirfrustration. This action shows thebehaviour and working of theMaoists’ minds. It shows theirthinking, and needs no explanation.

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ordersDhurba Adhikary in PunajagaranSaptahik, 10 April

Last week the editor of a newspapermade a forceful request: “The primeminister should resign.” In the samemanner, using the same words, theleader of the opposition too madethis demand. It is something to beapplauded that within a span ofnine months an editor has asked theprime minister to resign. You mustconsider the editor brave.

He reasoned thus: at thepresent moment, there are twogovernments in many parts of thecountry—the Koirala governmentand that of the Maoists. The peoplecannot accept such a situation andtherefore one of them should resign.It must be the Koirala governmentthat should resign. This, in short,was the editor’s logic. This clearlyshows that the Maoists won’t behappy for long. After all,opportunistic behaviour is notbeneficial to anyone in the long run.

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Paid holidaysSamadristi National Weekly, 15 April

Accusing the prime minister ofcorruption in the Lauda Air issue,the opposition did not letparliament conduct even a singleday’s business in parliament. Manybills could not be presented and twoordinances could not be acted upon.The prime minister decided the best

tactic was an eye for an eye, and he isnot prepared to step down at all.Now, the UML is all set to stop himfrom entering parliament.

Meanwhile, questions havebeen raised over allowancesmembers of parliament receive

“The peoples’ warriors cannot be blamed...”while attending the sittings of theHouse. Only one MP, NarayanSingh Pun, stated publicly that hewould not take the allowance he isentitled to, because no work wasdone during the session.

According to sources at theparliament secretariat, an MP gets adaily allowance of Rs 200 and Rs150 a day for taxi fare when theHouse is in session. The House wasto meet for 25 days in the 57-daywinter session this year, but theopposition boycotted all these days.An MP is therefore entitled to Rs11,400 for 57 days in allowances,and Rs 3,750 rupees as taxi fare for25 days. So the total allowanceexpenditure for 265 MPs for 57days works out to Rs 3.02 millionand the total transport allowanceRs 993,000. Besides this, MPs alsoget funds to buy air tickets to theirconstituencies. Now what are theseMPs going to do? “To take or notto take” is the question.

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Oli returns moneyDrishti Vernacular Weekly, 10 April

Deputy leader of the UML inparliament and standing committeemember of the UML, KP Oli haspublicly stated that he will returnthe money he received from thePolitical Sufferers Fund. The fundhad granted him Rs 75,000.

Inaugurating a program held byINSEC, Oli said he was going toreturn the money. He stated thatthe fund was being misused and theactual political sufferers were notbenefiting in any way. According tohim the fund was benefiting thevery people who were active duringthe Panchayat regime. He said hefelt ashamed and disgraced by theway the fund was being used. Healso said that if he returned themoney to the government then itwould be misused and the peoplewould not benefit from the fund—

he did not believe in the govern-ment and so he would donate it toa social organisation or an honestcharity. Former prime ministerKrishna Prasad Bhattarai is thechairman of the one-membercommittee that administers thePolitical Sufferers Fund.

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mysteryDhurba Adhikary in PunajagaranSaptahik, 10 April

One of the 10 people nominated bythe king to the Upper House hasmet two Maoist leaders. He hasalready made news of the meetingpublic, and the deputy primeminister has reportedly termed it“mysterious”. After the attack onthe police station in Dailekh, thesituation has not only become moremysterious but also more grave.Directly or indirectly, the monarchyhas been drawn into the picture.Therefore the royal palace shouldnot remain silent now. The palaceshould provide an explanation orcounter speculation, and react insome way to defuse the situation. In1991 (2047), when the palace wasembroiled in the BCCI issue, itreacted publicly in some way.

Twelve of the 68 policemen killed in Maoist attacksin Rukumkot and Naumule two weeks ago.

Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai in Kantipur, 13 April

After the military action last September [Dunai], theimportance of simultaneous military action in thefive districts, especially in Rukum and Dailekh, isof great importance. It is important for thoseswimming in the dirty well of parliament andthose who do not understand the importance of apeople’s war, to understand the importance andgravity of this action. It is normal for those whohave always followed and supported anoppressive, class-ridden society to look the otherway or proclaim that they do not understand thisstruggle. This is not unusual behaviour on their part. Itis a tragedy that these very people pick up a 60-year old,Biseswor Pokhrel, who was a respected person of hiscommunity, take him to a jungle and shoot him dead in coldblood in an “encounter”. They picked up central committeemember Danda Pani Neupane, 55, from the streets inKathmandu, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Theseactions show that these people will do anything to stay inpower, have no feelings, do not believe in human rightsand are not humanitarian. These very people are nowshedding crocodile tears for the armed policemen killed inRukum and Dailekh. The media under their control is doing all tomake us believe that these power-hungry people really care forcommon folk and work for their benefit. This is tragic, for it isthe creation of a mirage.

But we haven’t just discovered the issues in a class-based society, a class struggle or a class war. It is for thisclass, reactionary and opportunistic, which has ruled with the helpof guns, to take responsibility for all class struggles and wars thathave taken place from when a class society was first born. Thepeople who have taken up arms to clean and clear, once andfor all, this class-ridden society cannot be held responsiblefor all the violence. These people’s warriors cannot beblamed. In the present scenario, if you analyse theworking of people’s war groups, they always, beforeattacking a police station, ask the policemen to come out andsurrender. We still have recorded tapes that support this statement andthey will be made available to those who want to listen. Incidents havemade it clear that it is only after policemen refused to surrender thatthe people’s army took action to disarm and capture these policemen,and took control of police stations. The people’s army only fired whenfired upon.

After policemen surrendered orwere captured, it is clear that all effortswere made and are still being made toprovide them proper security. It is clearthat those policemen who refused tosurrender and fired upon the people’sarmy in Rukum, Dailekh, Dolakha andPalpa died in the crossfire while thosewho surrendered in Dhading were notkilled or tortured. The government hascreated a lot of problems for thosepolicemen who surrendered. They havemade life hell for these people whojoined the police in search of a betterlife. This shows the mindset of areactionary and opportunist class. Then,the ruling class makes a mockery ofpeople’s sentiment and states loudly andclearly that children had to complete thelast rites of their fallen parents. And atthe same time the children of our fallencomrade and alternate politburo memberSuresh Wagle were not given this right.The question now is not of sentimentsbut of the parameters and rules of war.We request all those who areconnected with this to alwaysremember this.

The incident that created a storm ina teacup recently was when leaders ofour party met leaders of political partiesand also met Ramesh Nath Pandey.Definitely, under the guidelines of ourparty and under the leadership ofcomrade Prachanda, some of ourleaders did meet him. There is nothing tohide or feel ashamed about. In fact, we met many leaders, of left-leaning parties and also those in no way associated with leftist forces.We wanted to make public who our leaders met from other parties, butsome leaders requested us not to make their names public andtherefore we could not do so. We are not holding these meetings withany hidden agenda. It is out in the open, without any agenda other thanthat which will benefit the nation and the people. We will continue this

as long as we feel that it is of some benefit to thecountry. Everyone knows of our intentions and we

will continue to meet leaders of all parties whounderstand that the nation is going through hardtimes. We feel that it is necessary to continue adialogue with all political parties and not onlywith the government—after all, who knowswhen it will fall.

Our party feels that these meetings havebrought out into the open the different positions

of various political parties. The political thinking ofall parties has been made very clear. What is very

surprising is that our meetings with various leadersare being pushed to the sidelines and only that

particular meeting with Pandey is being highlighted.What is the motive behind this? We are surprised that the

very people we met are now raising a hue and cryabout our meeting with Pandey. Since Pandey is aking’s nominee in parliament, we feel that many peopleare sowing doubts in the minds of the people, byasking if we are really opening channels to the palace.We knew Pandey was the king’s nominee and we stillmet him. People should not be in two minds about this.People should realise that we met him not because he isthe king’s nominee but because of his personalstanding. In fact, people should realise that ifcircumstances demand, then we revolutionaries willnot shy away from directly meeting even the king. Webelieve that, in these trying times when we are at the

crossroads, revolutionaries must widen their thinking,parameters and minds. We will rise over and above this

divided, class-ridden society society, and will give a fittingreply to those Indian stooges and opportunists. We will givenew direction to the nation and ingrain in people nationalist

feelings.Our party leader Prachanda, in his latest press

release, has again made clear that our party is all abouthelping the nation in these difficult times and that we will

do all that we can to provide relief to the nation. He has clearlystated that our party is ready to help in finding a solution. For this tohappen, we again state that a dialogue without any preconditions mustbe held. All that we want is that the demands that we made whenPadma Ratna Tuladhar first got in touch with us should be fulfilled. Oneof the demands is that a complete list of all people missing or held

should be made public and theirwhereabouts declared. I do not think thatthere can be any simpler or more flexibledemand than that. What is more importantis that, at a time when there is massiveinfighting within the ruling party andwhen the prime minister is caught inmassive corruption charges, thegovernment may not be capable ofmaking the right moves—to even hopethat the right moves will be made isfoolish. It is not difficult to comprehend,after listening to Koirala’s stooges, thatthey are prepared to take the countrydown with them and that they are quitecapable of it.

How the ruling party is going to act isthe topic of all discussions nowadays.We hope that there are elements withinthe ruling party that will sidetrack thefascist, anti-national and corrupt Koiralafaction and try and solve the manyproblems that the country is facing. Wesincerely believe that there are elementswithin the Congress who will be able tocreate the right atmosphere andconditions under which a dialogue canbe held. Also, if we are really seriousabout solving the problems of this nation,then we should clearly define theparameters under which we can getdown to work. Our second partyconvention has made the parametersclear: an all-party conference should beheld, a national conference should beheld, an all-party interim governmentshould be formed. Then, elections should

be held to the constitutional assembly and this assembly should finallydraft a people’s constitution. For the last five years we have beenwaging a people’s war and have had many successes. We are nowproposing the simplest and easiest ways that the problems of thisnation can be solved. We feel that all responsible parties and peopleought to take this our proposals seriously and give them some thought.We are very hopeful that people will do that.

Narayan Singh Pun

KP Oli

MIN

BA

JRA

CH

AR

YA

MIN

BA

JRA

CH

AR

YA

1616161616 SPORTS 20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES

Study in Central College, Sydney AustraliaDiploma/Advanced DiplomaInformation Technology ManagementAccounting MarketingTravel and Tourism International Business

Foundation Studies Program with entry to University of Western Sydneyafter successful completion of the course.

Applications are now invited from students who are interested in applying for July16th or October 2nd 2001intakes. On the spot offers to suitable applicants. Students with IELTS 5 or higher can apply.

PERSONAL INTERVIEWSMr. Michael Pickles - Student Services Manager, Central College Nepal is now available for

confidential interviews in Kathmandu.Venue: Central College Desedi International Pvt. Ltd.

Pani Pokhari (opposite Japanese Embassy)

Phone: 413493, 417696

Interviews are by appointment only.

Check us out online. http://nepalteen.com/centralnepal/

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Olympic politickingThere is growing concern amongst members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)over the sudden decision by outgoing president Juan Antonio Samaranch to introduce rulesfor the election battle for the most powerful job in the world of sport.

Only five months ago Samaranch announced in Lausanne that there were no rules for thecandidates battling to replace him when he stands down this July. But since then the 80-year-old former Spanish diplomat had a change of mind and requested the IOC’s ethicscommission to draw up a list of campaign rules which it unveiled earlier this month.Candidates are barred from having meetings topush their case, banned from colluding with oneanother and trips to visit members to promote theircampaign are limited. All IOC members arebanned from announcing who they support.

“Frankly the whole thing smacks ofmanipulation. Samaranch knows who he wants toreplace him and the rules appear to clearly favourhis chosen candidate,” one IOC member told themedia. Another member described the campaignlaws as “draconian.” “I have never seen anythinglike them,” he said. “It’s like going back to theStalin era.” Although none of the five candidates,Jacques Rogge, Kim Un-Yong, Dick Pound, AnitaDeFrantz and Pal Schmitt have publicly criticisedthe rules, at least three are believed to haveprivately announced their anger to friends.

According to several sources, Samaranchfavours Rogge to replace him and that he had tobe recently talked out of coming out and giving hispublic support to the Belgian surgeon. Publicly Samaranch has always refused to commenton the race to succeed him. “All the candidates are strong,” he has repeatedly said. Onesuggestion doing the rounds of IOC members on three continents is that Samaranch isconcerned by the growing strength of Kim’s election campaign. Despite being given asevere warning over his part in the Salt Lake City scandal, the 70-year-old Kim is beingtouted as the strongest contender to challenge Rogge, who is seen as the front-runnerthanks to his large European power base. “Kim is very strong and getting stronger,” saidone IOC member. “It would be a great mistake if anyone was to underestimate him. LikeRogge, he has a powerful power base.”

If either men falter before the 16 July election, Canada’s Dick Pound would quickly fill thegap. The IOC marketing supremo has frequently been used by Samaranch in the past to“clean up”. It was the 59-year-old Pound who Samaranch called on to sort out the Salt Lakescandal. His inquiry led to the expulsion of six members and the resignation of four others.He was also put in charge of setting up the World Anti-Drug Agency. “Dick is bright, clever, anda doer,” said one supporter of the former Olympic swimmer.

But critics claim that it is his outspokenness that will harm him. “We need someone incharge who understands politics. Not someone who shoots from the hip,” one member said.American Anita DeFrantz and Hungarian diplomat Pal Schmitt have also thrown their namesinto the ring but both are considered outsiders. (sportsfeatures)

Hungry Sir Alex○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

JOHN GREECHANir Alex Ferguson’s personalvalue system dictates that,title or no title, his

reputation rests on winning theChampions League at least oncemore before he stands down.Others are happy to judge himpurely by his achievements—andhail him, prematurely perhaps, asthe greatest manager in history.

Former Manchester Unitedstalwart Steve Bruce, a rock onwhom Sir Alex built his firstchampion Old Trafford team,believes the weekend’s thirdstraight Premiership title hasalready established Ferguson as amanager without rival. Bruce said:“Look at the trophies he’s won.Has anyone been more successful?To win so many things, with twoclubs as well, is quite staggering.He has to be one of the truegreats. We talk about Sir Matt,Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, but Ithink in many people’s eyes he’sbetter than any of them.”

Bruce is obviously biasedtowards the former Aberdeenmanager who bought him fromNorwich, then teamed him withGary Pallister and provided theguidance for an honours-ladenplaying career. There is warmth asthe pupil, once seen as a successorto Ferguson, talks about themaster—though his argument isstill based on logic. “His bigstrength is his hunger and desire tokeep on winning,” said Bruce.“Once he’s won something, it’s juston to winning it again and again.That’s in you—you’re either awinner or not—and he’s got it inabundance. It is the key toUnited’s success. The players hesurrounds himself with are usuallywinners, too. He met me at theairport when he signed me fromNorwich and I could tell rightaway that, under all this sternexterior, this aggressiveness, therewas a great sense of humour and acharm about him.”

It says much about the club’sdevelopment, not to mentionFerguson’s priorities, that it wouldbe considered a catastrophe to exitEurope’s premier club competition

Manchester United’s Sir AlexFerguson is being hailed as thegreatest manager ever. Now Man Uneeds to win the Championship.

even at this late stage. Bruce bearsthe scars of an earlier age, whenEuropean football was just one longgame of catch-up for United—whooccasionally had their hands andfeet tied together. The new Wiganmanager, remember, scored the firstgoal in United’s remarkable Cup-winners’ Cup Final victory overBarcelona almost a decade ago. Itwas to prove a turning point. “Thatwas a huge springboard for Unitedbecause it was the first year Englishclubs were allowed back intoEurope,” said Bruce. “It was greatUnited were at the forefront andto beat mighty Barcelona gave usall confidence. Winning the FACup in 1990 gave us the belief tocompete in Europe, but the bigthing for that squad was to go onand win the League. It had been26 years since United had wonthe title, so it reminds you ofwhat a huge thing it was.”

Regular domestic successfollowed, but conquering Europetook a little longer. Bruce recalled:“In the 1994 Champions League, itwas unfortunate because wecouldn’t play our best side becauseof the three-foreigner rule. Withme, Pally, Denis Irwin and Paul

Parker at the back, PeterSchmeichel behind us, Ryan Giggsand Andrei Kanchelskis out widewith Paul Ince and Roy Keane inthe centre, then Mark Hughes andEric Cantona up front—it was avery, very good team. But we hadto go to places like Barcelonawithout Schmeichel and Cantona.It would have been lovely for the‘94 team to have had a run inEurope but we had one arm tiedbehind our backs.”

You could almost hearFerguson talking as Bruce added:“All of us, once we’d won theLeague, wanted to go on and winthe European Cup. It took until1999 for the club to do it and, ifyou’re looking for the nextprogression, they’ve been to thequarter-finals twice and won itonce in the last three years—sothey’re getting to the stage wherethey’re among the best teams, ifnot the best team in Europe.”Maybe, if a second ChampionsLeague title is attained, evenFerguson himself will allow themantle of “best ever” to rest easilyon his shoulders. For now, he willjust have to deal with otherspressing his claims. (soccernet)

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111117777720 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMESCULTURE

by DESMOND DOIGSAVING FAITH

he palace is centuries old and inall probability it stands on olderfoundations. Built partly by the

Malla kings, it was added to by theGorkha monarch Prithvi NarayanShah when he overran the Valley ofKathmandu in 1768. The autocraticRanas who held sway for 104 yearsadded a touch of Kathmanducolonial. The present king, BirendraBir Bikran Shah Dev, who residesin a modern palace a couple ofmiles away, has had the ancientbuildings painstakingly restoredrather than added to.

Partly open to the public, theold Darbar is a gem set in thecentre of the city. There are at leastten courtyards or chowks,embellished with polished brick andexquisitely carved wood, gildedmetal intricately fashioned, whiteplaster tracery on white plaster,carved stone, painted wood, and abrilliance of statuary and temples.

There is but one commongateway to all this magnificence —agolden doorway known as theHanuman Dhoka. It takes its namefrom the kneeling figure of Hanumanthat guards the gate, a statue socovered with years of votive dress andvermilion that it has lost its shape.

A mouth silently snarls in thescarlet, featureless face. Scarletrobes drape its powerful figure. Atinsel-edged scarlet cloth covers itshead and eyes. Tourist guides willtell you that his eyes are veiled toprevent him from seeing the eroticcarvings on the nearby Jagganathtemple. He is shielded by a paintedNepali umbrella that is changedonce a year. And attended by youthswho climb like monkeys onto the highpedestal to offer votive offerings andgive prasad in return.

Hanuman was greatly regarded bythe Mallas who claimed descent fromRam Chandra. His image is seen in allthe old palaces of the Valley andcountless are his shrines. Thevermilion Hanuman at the o1dKathmandu palace gate was erected atthe command of King Pratap Malla in1672. At that time, the palacegateway was probably made of heavywood and iron. In 1810 the reigningGorkha king decided upon theextravagance of a golden gate. Therewas one of exceptional beauty in theroyal palace at Bhadgaon and greatwas the rivalry between these cities.

Unfortunately, the basic copperfrom which the gate was fashioned

was obtained by melting down platesinscribed with the history ofKathmandu, and so were lostinvaluable records of earlier rulers andtheir times. But then history is full ofsuch careless excesses. Looking at thehandsome gate today one is just happyit is there. Though he didn’t know itat the time, the king was providing atourist attraction that sets thousandsof cameras clicking today.

As I sat sketching, an Americanmatron insisted her husband takeyet another shot of the gate, thistime without her. When hehesitated, she said, “Go on honey,it’s real gold.” Well, he might havewished the same of her.

Beside the awesome Hanuman,the gate is guarded by Shiva andShakti riding lions; painted stonestatues that predate the vermilionmonkey god. Above the goldendoorway and a panel of painteddeities are three groups of figures.

The gate of thevermilion god

Benju SharmaFEMALE DESIRE

by MANJUSHREE THAPANEPALITERATURE

One is of Krishna and two gopinis.Another is probably of King PratapMalla and his queen, and the thirdis thought to represent a scene fromthe Mahabharat.

Supplementing all these divineforces are two Gorkha guards, onedressed in the ancient black and whiteuniform of Prithvi Narayan’s soldiers,armed with a musket, long bayonetfixed, that makes it taller than theman, and the other in modern armygreen, carrying a cane. The blackuniformed troops attend everyimportant festival, carrying standardsand flags as old as the history of theGurkhas and marching to the music offlutes and drums.

A small fee gets one through thegate into the palace. Rather, into theNasal Chowk, the largest courtyard inthe sprawl of royal buildings. Legendhas it that King Pratap Malla, a poetand dancer of renown, once dressedand danced publicly as Narsingh,

which so infuriated the god he cursedthe king to dance forever. The king’spassionate pleading and his promise tohave a statue worthy of the god madeand installed at the spot lifted thecurse. Just inside the gate is a strikingblack marble image of Narsinghdecorated with gold and silver: theking’s penance.

It is in the Nasal Chowk, lookeddown upon by many splendouredtowers and temple spires, that theShah kings are crowned.Distinguished visitors crowd threesides of the courtyard, a militaryhonour guards the fourth. Accordingto ancient Vedic rites and at the exactmoment considered most auspiciousthe king is crowned, his queen by hisside. They then sit on a golden throne,under a canopy of raised serpentheads, and the royal couple accept thehomage of all present.

The king and queen arrivethrough the Hanuman Dhoka dressedin simple homespun and leave in silksand brocades, magnificently crownedand bejewelled. Outside waits theroyal tusker, richly caparisoned,which leads a procession of howdahelephants through the main streetsof Kathmandu.

Kings, queens, nobles, courtiers,conspirators, assassins, pleni-spotentiaries, invaders, soothsayers,priests; the gate of the monkey godhas seen them all. And now it is theturn of the tourists. Perhaps KingPratap Malla foresaw their comingwhen he had erected, near the gate, aslab of stone engraved in severallanguages, a word in English, a couplein French. Obviously no one told himabout Spaniards, Japanese andRussians.

(Excerpted with permission fromIn the Kingdom of the Gods,Harper Collins, 1994.)

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he female body is strangelyabsent in the literature ofNepali women. Men have

sporadically written “highliterature” on the female body,and Nepali pornography is ofcourse centred on this subject,but by and large, womenwriters, even those who take upfeminist concerns, haverefrained from writing openlyabout the female body. A kind ofHindu prudery prevails in women’s literature: love isshown as a play of pure emotions; sexuality is eitherabsent or muted; desire is (often heavily) metaphorised;ancient cultural allusions (to Draupadi, Radha, Sita,Meera) substitute for a more direct, more contemporaryaddress to women’s free will. A few women writers doaddress the issue of female sexuality, and of the femalebody, in the context of the economic and psychologicalexploitation of women—a very important angle, to besure, yet no one writes to claim the strength, resilienceand beauty of the female body, no one writes onwomen’s complex pleasures: there is no Nepali AnaïsNin. The effect of this silence on the part of women isthat the literary representation of the female bodyremains in the control of men writers; and women areassigned the subordinate position of reading men’swritings on their own bodies.

In her poems, Benju Sharma goes as far as anyNepali woman writer in giving voice to female desire. Inour small, everyone-knows-everyone, nosy, critical,gossippy, petty-minded andultra-conservative society, itis no mean task for awoman to risk her personalsocial standing by writing asSharma does. The piecebelow echoes the refrain ofsome of her best poems: anuninhibited request for loveand pleasure. It exemplifiesthe boldest writing onfemale desire by a womanwriter—and also perhapspoints to the need forwomen to be even moreintrepid in laying full claim totheir bodies.

COME

Springcome in the lips oftender budsCome red and fierysprouting passion oncheeks ripenedby the scarlet of rhododendronsTake me soaringon the wings of horsesneighing far abovepurple jacaranda treesBinding me in the clasp ofvelvety tips of green grassslash through all these barswith your swordand seat me in a honeycomboverflowing withthe elixir of beesSet me on a dinghybobbling on swelling waves,and cover me withthe sheltering embrace of the whole skyTie me with the mighty limbs ofboughs and branchesA few outcroppingsyou might have to levelA few cratersyou might have to fillSo comegathering the force of a bulldozerCome as ferocious Bhairava

This poem is translated from Sharma’s poetrycollection Aandolanpurwaka Bandha Abhibyaktiharu.

Hanuman Dhoka takes its name from the kneeling figure ofHanuman that guards the gate, a statue covered with years ofvotive dress and vermilion.

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20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES1818181818 CITY

ABOUT TOWN

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Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue

26-12 30-12 30-12 28-13 28-13

DSES

- 18-04

-2001

0500

GMT

KATHMANDU

This week’s unexpectedmosoon-like showers resultedfrom clouds moving into a lowpressure trough over the Bay ofBengal, and this is now movingwestwards and dissipating.Still, there is a fresh cloud bandover Afghanistan which willhover over Nepal on Fridayperhaps bringing light showersin the mid hills and flurries anddrizzles in the higher reaches.Thick snows on the highpasses will keep themimpassable for trekkers for awhile. The chances of cloudydays with passingthunderstorms after afternooncumulus buildup are high. Cloudcover will cap the temperatureat 30 degrees, and keep minimain the 10-12 range inKathmandu.

by NGAMINDRA DAHALNEPALI WEATHER

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 102.4For inclusion in the listing send information to editors@nepalitimes.com

For insertions ring NT Marketing at 543333-36.

MOVIES British Film Festival

Billy Elliott Sunday, 22 April and Wednesday, 25 AprilElizabeth Friday, 20 April, Monday, 23 AprilLA without a map Saturday, 21 April, Tuesday, 24 AprilFree screenings, all at 6pm in Krishna Hall, Gopi Krishna Cinema, Chabahil. Organised by the BritishEmbassy, the British Council and the Nepal Britain Chamber of Commerce. Sponsored by Gopi KrishnaMovies, Qatar Airlines and Nabil Bank. 410798 The Cup The 1999 Bhutanese/ Indian film by Khyentse Norbu. Presented by the Inter-Cultural Film

Society. Sunday, 22 April, 5pm. Russain Cultural Centre, Kamal Pokhari. More info at icfs@wlink.com.np Nepali and Hindi movies online ticket booking at www.nepalshop.com

EATING OUT The Shangri La Jazz Bar Savour delights by French chef

Phillippe Carpentier and Narayan Gurung’s special menu allthrough out this month along with jazz music by Cadenza(Tuesday and Thursday), Irish music by An Saine (Wednesdayand Friday). 412999 Everest Hotel Punjabi Food Festival at The Far Pavilion

until 22 April, with authentic condiments and accompaniments.Barbecue at the Ropes, 12 noon-2.30pm daily at The SkyTerrace. Saturday Splash, brunch buffet with use of the pool, Rs555 per head, including a soft drink or beer, Rs 229 for children under three ft, including a soft drink.488100 Stupa View Restaurant and Terrace at the Baudhanath stupa. Pizza from a clay oven, vegetarian

specialties. 11am-8pm. 480262 Soaltee lunch buffet at the Garden Terrace Restaurant. International cuisine, salads, soups, desserts.

Rs 700 for full buffet. Rs 450 for soup, salad, dessert. Rs 300 for salad. Rs 450 for children under four ft.Taxes applicable. Movenpick ice cream Exotic desserts at the new ice-cream lounge on Darbar Marg.

MUSIC 1974 AD in Concert. 1974 AD play on the occasion of the release of their new

album Satabdi. Royal Academy Hall. Friday 20 April, 5.30pm. Tickets Rs 1000, 500,300, and 200 at Nanglo Bakery outlets, Bob’s Down Under Kumaripati, Archies-DurbarMarg, Wizzo Jawalakhel Classical Sitar Pilgrims Book House auditorium, Thamel. Sundays, Tuesdays and

Fridays 7.00pm to 8.30pm. Rs 300.

EXHIBITION Contemporary Graphic Prints The Nepal Association of Fine Arts (NAFA) in collaboration with the

Indian Embassy and the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) presents 81 graphics by 34 renownedartists like MF Hussain, Laxmi Goud and Gogi Saroj Pal. The exhibition earlier travelled to Havana,Lima, Bogota, Panama, Caracas, Venezuela, Hongkong and Dhaka. 15-30April, NAFA Art Gallery. Naxal Jewellery Exhibition and Sales Designs by Florence Dupoizat and Angela Soulier, executed by the

women from the Vedfon Family Project. Organised by Alliance Française, Vedfon & ACP/Dhukuti. 24-27April, 9am-6pm at Alliance Française, Thapathali Book Festival Huge clearance sale with savings up to 90% off on thousands of books, journals,

magazines, and handicrafts. 10% discount on all food at the restaurant. 8am-8pm. 18-26 April, PilgrimsBook House, Thamel. Nepal Vision II Paintings by Roy Breimon and Vaclav Pisvejc on exhibition. Roy Breimon, from the

USA paints in a technique called ‘reverse image’ painting and his medium is acrylic on Plexiglas. Friday,20 April. 5.30pm, Indigo Gallery, Naxal. Jomsom to Muktinath Exhibition of water colours by Neera Joshi Pradhan. Park Gallery, Pulchowlk.

15-30 April, 10am-6pm. 522307

LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS Community Irrigation: Approaches to improving agricultural output while protecting Nepal’s

environment Lecture by Rishi Neupane and Arjun Shah with video and book display. Monday, April 23,3pm. American Center Auditorium, Gyaneswor. 415845 Asia Pico Hydro Manufacturers’ Training Course Hosted by Nottingham Trent University, UK with

Energy Systems, Kathmandu. The course will teach manufacturers about the production and assembly ofpico hydro systems— turbines, generators and controllers. Balaju Technical Training Centre 23 April-4May. More info: Bhola Shrestha Energy Systems 372171, esystems@info.com.np

MARTIN CHAUTARI Classic Literature Discussion Series 5: Shankar Lamichhane’s “Abstract Chintan Pyaj” Pandits:

Khagendra Sangraula and Ashutosh Tiwari. Unless noted, all discussions are in Nepali. 24 April, 5.30pmat Martin Chautari, Thapathali. 246065. POBox 13470. chautari@mos.com.np

EARTH DAY The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is organising a variety of events on the occasion of Earth Day.

500 students, academics, teachers and conservationists are expected to attend the daylong programme.Participation open to all. Sunday 22 April. Bakhundole. info@iucn.org.np. 527781

CLASSIFIED

Kodari Eco-Resort Tatopani. A few minutesfrom the Tibetan border, peaceful andpleasant stay with delicious food and friendlyservice. Hiking, Tibetan border shopping, hotsprings in Tatopani. Rooms with attachedbath in the Resort and lodge-type rooms withcommon bath at the Roadhouse. Specialrates for Nepalis, expats, travel agencies.kodari@mos.com.np, 480262.

Discount on international publicationsincluding World Bank Group, Zed Books,WHO, Kumarian Press, ADB, CENS, KitPress, Intermediate Technology, ASM Group.Also supply worldwide Internet directories,trade show directories, journals, books,magazines, trade information of generalinterest. Everest Media Int’l Services. POBox5443, Dillibazar. Tel 416026. Fax 250176.emispltd@wlink.com.np

Exotic orchids and dwarf azaleas for sale,extremely sophisticated. Call Dinesh or Pinkiat 424877 or email dipi@infoclub.com.np

The momos are here. Where are you? Forthe best and most tasty momos rememberus. Bagbazaar Swadista Momo. Near theAradhana complex.

Why use MoneyGram to send money toNepal? It’s a fast, safe, easy, reliable andconvenient way to receive money in minutesaround the world. EasyLink,moneygram@visitnepal.com.www.visitnepal.com/moneygram. 416239,420985.

Kathmandu Ornaments All kinds of gold andsilver ornaments. New Baneswore. 494541,498999.

Dolphin Guest House Modernaccommodation with rooftop garden.Excellent value and friendly service. POBox12170. Thamel. Dolphin@wlink.com.np.

Printing Media Printing, book-binding, paper-ruling, hit-print, exercise books, and paper-cutting. Ranamukteswore. Shyam KrishnaDangol. 247759.

One World Travel and Trekking ExperienceNepal, Tibet and Bhutan. Kamaladi, nearChina Southwest Airlines. 422783 435478.oneworld@ccsl.com.np.

Deepjyoti Boarding Secondary School,Gongabu. Highly qualified teachers. Englishatmosphere. Library facilities, equipped lab,computer education, fine arts, martial arts,electronics, music, dance. Hygienic boardingfacilities. 353677.

Camera WorldWe sell Nikon, Minolta, Canon, Olympus,Pentax, Ricoh. We repair all kinds ofcameras. New Road. 221083, 242861.

Aquamarine EnterprisesManufacturer, exporter, wholesaler of Nepaligems and silver jewellery. Showroom atBasantapur. POBox 1529. www.aquamarine-nepal.com. aqua@ntc.net.np. 244567.

Micro International New Creative WorksManufacturers and suppliers of shields,trophies, medals, mementoes, plaques,educational materials, souvenirs, and otherproducts. Tripureswore. POBox 25162.newbikasdh@info.com.np.microinternational@hotmail.com. 262071.

Yamaha keyboard and Oscar mountain bikefor sale Yamaha PSR320, 64 keys. Inputs:MIDI sustain. Rs 15,000. With catalogue.Oscar mountain bike. Aluminium frame, 21speed, plastic mudguards, detachable frontwheel, lock. Eight months old, hardly used.Ring Girish or Salil evenings at 353963.Email samudra@post.com.

Car for sale.Mitsubishi Lancer ’75 model, but in topcondition. Very low mileage. Cheap! Emailjanaki_gurung@yahoo.com.

Fancy wedding cards and all offset andscreen-printing chemicals and materials.Contact PBI Traders, Baghbazar, 246061.

Sorbin Optics Ban tole.Remember for sunglasses, frames, contactlenses and solution. 226194. Also ComfortOptics, Chhetrapati, Thamel 266119.

Hotel Sharma Ganagabu, discount forgroups, students, long-stay. Bath attached,hot water, TV, STD, ISD, parking, roomservice, restaurant. Also DK Sharma Travelsand Tours. 350770. Horizon@ccsl.com.np.

Tamrakar Opticals,Kalimati. 9am—7 pm. Doctor available. Newfashionable sunglasses, frames. Opticalparts and repairing. 274196.

Naya Lito baby food and Nitti Gritti Porridge.In all major department stores.

Car for Sale.1987 Toyota Tercel 4WD Station Wagon. DutyPaid. 5 Door, 5 speed manual, 1452 cc petrolvery good condition, 112000km. US$7,600(NRS 560,000) Call Lee or Lynn Poole at524202 (Home) or 521377 (Work)

1919191919

HAPPENINGS

FOOD

BACK TO THE TEMPLE: On the last day of the Bajrajogini Festival inSankhu on the valley’s eastern rim, devotees pull the figure of the goddess to thetemple on the hill on 16 April.

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crazy whirl of lines depicting pizzas atFire and Ice. Look for the collectionbehind the counter.

Anna Maria once toyed with theidea of opening a branch in Pokharabut finally didn’t. “Since the Pokharamarket is seasonal, I wasn’t toointerested,” she says. However thesedays, Anna Maria has bigger plans.“My dream now is to open a similarpizzeria in Rome. I will take my staffthere in turns,” she says. Anna Mariais extremely happy with her crew—they all like to work together. “Theyare the best. In fact I supervise fewthings,” she says.

Well, if all her dreams now leadto Rome, it won’t be long before thechosen pizza there goes fromNeapolitan to Nepali—it’s easy toimagine Anna Maria and her Nepaliteam wooing the Italian capital withthe finest pizzas at the Fire and IceKathmandu Pizzeria—that’s thechosen name.

d Naples Nepal

Anna MariaWifeman

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SNOW ON SWAYAMBHU: This exhibit, the Nepal Himalaya Mandap,won first place at the EXPO 2000 in Hanover, and was covered in late springsnow recently. The Nepal pavilion got 3.5 million visitors.

FOREIGN HAND: Washington Post correspondent, Pamela Constable, shares adigital snap with a policewoman during the riot on Putali Sadak on Monday.

Anna Maria wants to take her Nepali Neapolitan pizzas to Rome.○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

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SALIL SUBEDIon’t let the name intimidateyou. Thamel’s Fire and Icepizzeria is as laidback as they

come—at least for the four hundred-odd customers who make their wayhere each day for wonderful, realNeapolitan pizza, good service and afestive atmosphere.

Step inside and you willunderstand why the woman who runsthe place, Anna Maria Wifeman,named her pizzeria Fire and Ice. Thisis bold fusion: the hottest Nepaliingredients yielding the coolestNeapolitan delicacies. “It is a perfectcombination,” says 50-year old AnnaMaria, who has brought the best ofher homeland to Thamel.

You might not catch theMediterranean breeze or hear folksingers playing the mandolin whileyou stuff yourself, but what you willget are pizzas in the best Neopolitantradition—Margherita, Napoletana,Salame, Pollo, Calzone, Paesang—with the choicest toppings of tomato,cheese, ham, pineapple, green pepper,ginger, oregano and others. Thenthere’s the Zuppa di Verdura (homemade minestrone) and Passato diPomodoro (tomato soup) and not toforget the salads like the Insalata andthe Pasqualina. The place also servessome fine wines and old whiskies.

The pizzeria bustles after six inthe evening and there is no let up till8.30. Waitstaff in white Fire and Iceembroidered T-shirts flit across theaisles. Three oven boys continuouslycheck on the pizzas in the moderatelysized Moretti Forni Modulo ovenimported from Italy. Customers hangaround, waiting for a table. “It wasimportant to bring in an Italian ovenand accessories for a genuine Italiantouch,” says Anna Maria. “When we

first opened in January 1995, we werenervous about how to treat ourcustomers,” she recalls. There werefive staff to start with, now there are35, at the kitchen, office and counter.

The best thing is that Anna Mariahas been able recreate the genuinetaste of a Neapolitan pizza withnothing but local ingredients. “I get allmy ingredients from the local market.They are all readily available, andfresh,” she says. However, Anna Mariadoes perform some “magic” athome—a trade secret she will notreveal. “The secret is in the tomatosauce. The formula is a little secret ofmine,” she smiles.

The décor is eye-catching too.The ceiling is lined on all sides withrich free-hand Mithila frescosdepicting red-hot chilli plants. “Italianpeople take the red chilly as a sign ofgood luck. See, here we have goodluck everywhere,” she laughs. Theplace has its regulars, commoners,celebrities and royalty alike. The

crown prince, Dipendra, is one.Richard Gere, during a brief visit toNepal, came over for an ice cream,but unfortunately the machine was

under repair. F&I attracts all types—mountaineers, trekkers, artists, spiritualtypes and gurus, musicians, budgettravellers and locals.

What’s special about what waslong considered a peasant’s meal inItaly for centuries? The popularising ofthe modern pizza is attributed to abaker of Napoli, Anna Maria’s

hometown. Today’s pizza evolved andspread to northern Italy and beyondand firmly established Naples as thepizza capital of the world. “It is asocial thing. It brings family memberstogether. Isn’t it wonderful for afamily to sit around a big table andchat and eat!” says Anna. Incidentally,she is a mother of five—fourdaughters and a son.

Anna Maria looks after every littlething, bustling around constantly—making seating arrangements, takingorders, serving and at the same timechecking that the flavours are all theyshould be. And then she has a wordwith her dear customers before sayinggoodbye. It is a world of hard work,perfection and grace. The kids love itthere too—she hands them paper andcolours if she notices they’re boredand lost among chatting or otherwiseinvolved adults. And just before theirparents bid goodbye, the kids handher their contribution—a sketch or a

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20 - 26 APRIL 2001 NEPALI TIMES2020202020

FAIR AND LOVELY

by Kunda Dixit

Under My Hat

f we weren’t already renowned the world over as thecountry where burning tyres on the streets is anexpression of adult franchise, then we would have

been famous for our habit of bursting into verse at theslightest provocation. This is a nation of poets. In thelast census, nearly all Nepalis ranked “composingpoems” as theirthird favourite past-time after “nosepicking” and“blackhead squeezing”. Young and old, married orunmarried, Congress or UML, we write poems for norhyme or reason. Our budding bards start young,versifying about everyday objects around the house,like this eulogy to a domestic pet whose soul wastragically separated from his body by the municipality’scanine death-squad. “Ode to a dead dog” was writtenby young Phanindra of Mt Xixapangma LowerSecondary Boarding School and Bar, (Pvt) Ltd.

My dog’s name was JonnyHe used to be very funnyWhenever I gave him a pokeHe would tell me a jokeOne day the mayor(The big bad dog slayer)Left a buff sizzler at our doorSo, Jonny is a joker no more.See what I mean? OK, the iambic tetrameter in this

one may be a bit off whack, the rhymes may need somefine-tuning, and the pathos may be a trifle laboured, butno one will deny that Phanindra is going to be a multi-award winning poet laureate one day. Go on, read it again.Feel the rhythm of the words and the evocation of thetransgenic affinity between human and non-human,

hat do you do if youare a woman andhave already

climbed Mt Everest? You climbit again. That is what LhakpaSherpa has decided to do. Butthe drive and determination thataccompanied her first ascenthave dimmed for this 28-year-old climber from the BarunValley. “The urge to summit isnot as intense as before,”she says.

Last spring, the tall, sturdyclimber (described byMountainzone.com as “cute asa button”) became the secondNepali woman to climb Mt

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From bad to verse

half-a-dozen times or more)Lhakpa is off to Everest againthis season.

“But this time, I’m nottaking any risks. It’s not do ordie, anymore,” says Lhakpawhose eight-year-old sonattends boarding school inKathmandu. This spring, sheis accompanying a group ofinternational climberscleaning up garbage on theupper reaches of Mt Everestfrom the northern Chineseside. Lhakpa plans toconcentrate her energies onthe climb - sponsored byJapanese Everest summiteerKen Noguchi and Kathmandu-based Asian trekking .“Weather permitting, andcircumstances being right, Iwill attempt the summit, butno fool-hardiness,” she says.

Lhakpa, who returnedrecently from a two-month visitto the United States, whereshe went climbing inCalifornia and climbedskyscrapers in New York,decided not to prolong herstay. The mountains werecalling. “The US was great.Very clean and very big. But Imissed home and my baby. Imissed the language, Imissed the chillies. And ofcourse, I missed themountains.”

Back on topexplore the inevitable impermanence and suffering thataccompanies life. The use of the past tense in the veryfirst line imbues an early tension into the poem, andyou can almost hear Jonny’s canine clowning aroundand his by-gone bark. The young poet also gives awayhis predilection to buff sizzler, and he has let slip hisown anti-Marxist-Leninist and pro-Unified-Marxist-Leninist leanings by using invectives like “big” and“bad” against our town’s illustrious current mayor.

Let’s read another poem by a college student whichwon the first prize in the Patriotic Category in thisyear’s All-Nepal Zonal Level Futuristic Stars Poetry

KnockoutTournamentorganised by theMinistry of Prose

and Poetry:O! Nepal!Crimson land of rhododendronLandlocked mountain kingdomShaped like an octahedronYou are like my MomThe nine-colour danfe flaps his wingsThe razor-sharp khukri swingsYour feathers are like rainbowGo, Nepal! Go, Go Go!Here, again, we see from the very first sentence

that the caesura underscores the young poet’sexpansive optimism for his motherland, in the secondline there is an almost mundane allusion to our sealesslocation, and a choking appeal through the intimate“Mom”, then a series of dactyls bring us in quicksuccession the symbols of the national pheasant,national blossom and knational knife.

Poems like these from our new generation ofyoung turks gives us hope that there is still a brightfuture after our octahedrons join Jonny in the happyhunting grounds. As long as we have poetry in us,we can hold our heads high in the communityof nations.

Everest. A day later,another Sherpawoman, PembaDoma, summittedthe peak from Tibet.Their successesfollowed those of

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa whobecame the first Nepali womanto summit Everest in 1993. Shedied on the descent.

The only climber of a five-member Sherpa women’steam to reach the summit fromthe south side in the spring of2000, Lhakpa braved intensecold, strong winds, and thethreat of frostbite to realise herlifetime dream to stand on topof the world. Despite a distinctlack of enthusiasm to keepdoing Everest over and overagain like some of her malecolleagues (quite a few ofwhom have climbed Everest

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