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A state of lawlessness

First posted on nepalitimes.com on 11 July, 2009
After traversing Nepal for more than two months, passing 40 districts, braving highway blockades, curfews and indefinite bandas we were stopped dead in our tracks outside Pokhara.
There was no way we could get past a barricade of rocks, logs and the burnt out hulk of a bus lying [...]

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State of statelessness

First posted on nepalitimes.com on 01 May, 2009
We like to think that the most neglected and underdeveloped part of Nepal is the Karnali. But the eastern Tarai deos not fare much better.
In just about every development parameter that you care to name, these districts between Bara and Morang lag behind the rest of the [...]

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Obstacle course

First posted on Nepalitimes.com on 28 April, 2009
After braving knife-wielding protesters on highways, removing trees felled by activists to block roads and defying bandas for the past three weeks we thought we could take on anything the New Nepal had to offer.
We weren’t prepared for what Gaighat had in store for us. After joining a [...]

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- Paul Pettigrew: You will be glad to hear that the Acid Survivors Trust International has set up an NGO Burn Violence Survivors Nepal to address the problem of domestic violence that results in the victim suffering severe burn or acid injuries. We are also delighted to note that on April 19, 2009 Nepal has finally followed the example of her neighbours, by enacting the Domestic Violence and Punishment Act 2065. However we are saddened that under the Law perpetrators will only be subject to up to four months of imprisonment and a fine of Rs6, 000 (about US$76). This is pretty pathetic as the original draft had been a six-month prison term, a fine of Rs25, 000, (aboutUS$325) or both. In India for example men who beat, threaten or even shout at their wives or live-in partners can be jailed for up to a year and fined 20,000 rupees (US$273).
- May: Nepal’s “donors” instead of lavishing millions in foreign “aid” that goes back to consultants from their own countries should earmark catalytic assistance to people like Nilam and bypass Nepal’s corrupt bureaucracy. M
- radhika: Ramro Kaam! all the best!
- JA: great article, but he published the exact same story last may, with same content but slightly different wording, also in nepali times. why is this published twice? http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/2009/05/08/Nation/15931
- Ken: That’s the spirit of nationalism. We should first help our own kin rather than be anywhere else.
- Sarad Pradhan: It is a good blow to our own so called women activities who prefer to go to abroad to attend meeting or conference rather than working for needy women. She is a role model, a real hero in true sense, a woman substance and a woman who inspires others to follow. Thanks Kunda Dai for such an informative article.
- Kamal: How true that one person make more of a difference than an entire government machinery! Nilam is proof of this. Let’s all pool our resources and get her a maternity ambulance. Maybe NT could start a collection campaign. If it can help save the life even one Nepali woman, it will be worth it. Kamal Upadhya
- Aakar: Nice Story…Best of luck Nilam. Keep up the good work. I belive we need more Nilams.
- Anonymous: Brilliant, great work. This is change as it should be. You choose a path and you travel on it, regardless of what the world says. It is about your right to choose and to live that choice. The wrong is in not being true to yourself.
- Anonymous: Translating Nepali is tough. But, I find this quite an outrage. The comparison of people who died a horrible death in an unnecessary war that ultimately – more than war – cost peace for generations to come. The changing of the course of history. These incidents have been highlighted and continue to be highlighted, unlike the impression that the gentleman above seeks to give. People understand the pain and hence the outrage. As much as communists like to portray themselves as victims, it is important to call them at their game and expose the fact that they were the perpetrators of injustice and crime. Where was the need to start a campaign of murder and looting when there was already a party of communists – advocating that stance. When there were already a change in process of completion. When these same people had the right and the opportunity to start their politics. Do you start killing people, policeman or otherwise just because you disagree with...
- Blatant_Journalism: Poor Dorambe? http://www.phalano.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/conflict-i n-nepal-42.jpg http://amnesty-nepal.de/uploads/images/ai%20Bodies.jpg ———– यी पनि साधारण नेपाली नै थिए ! निसस्त्र यिनीहरुलाईपनि पछाड़ीबाट हात बाधेर कंचेटमा गोला दाखिएको थियो मानव अधिकारमा प्रवल बिस्वास राख्ने प्रजातांत्रिक सरकारको सिक्यूरिटी फ़ोर्सहरुले ! फरक येती हो यिनिहरुलाई संबिधान सभा, गणतंत्र, संघियेताको माग गरे बापत हात बांधेर गंगालाल र धर्म भक्तलाइ जस्तै गोली ठोकिएको थियो ! फरक येती हो यी दोरम्बाका साधारण नेपालीको बाऊ-बाजेलाइ काठमांडूका राणा साहेब ज्यूहरुलाई र ठकुरी हजूरहरुलाइ श्री कृष्णको गोपिनीले पाऊ-दासी बने झै “सरकार-सरकार-महाराज-महाराज-प्रभु-प्रभु” भनेर कर्म-काण्ड र पिण्ड दानको मन्त्र थोतने मौक़ा दैबले दियेन ! यिनको पनि परिवार र बालबच्चा होला नि हगी ? यिनको बाल-बच्चाको शिक्षा-दिक्क्षाकोलागी कसैले pitch-in किन गरोस ? यिनको पसीना गनाउने परिवार सदस्यहरुलाइ embrace कसैले किन गरोस — छि गनाउछ John Hoppkins मेडिकल स्कुलबाट आक्सीजन माक्स झिकाउनु...
- jange: The Maoists are not the hypocrites. They are clear about what they wish to achieve and how they wish to achieve it. The hypocrites are people who, like the NT, welcome the fruits of Maoist violence as worthwhile and who regard them as, to quote NT, “the only party representing change” and at the same time try to suggest that violence such as this murder is wrong (but without actually saying so explicitly). As stated before, it is like enjoying the money from a bank robbery and regretting that the furmiture got damaged in the robbery.
- Feedback: Agree absolutely with Luba there. The Maoists are not interested in a functioning democracy and aren’t the least bit interested in a functioning justice system. They are not interested in a functioning parliament. Their only goal is exercising the absolute power. To achieve that, they will temporarily play the “democracy game” but for them it will always be only a stepping stone to their true goal. Do not be fooled. Do not trust them. Establish the law and enforce it, regardless of any membership or affiliation to which ever party. No exemptions. Without it Nepal will suffer for a long time to come. Without it, people can’t heal.
- LS: I have always had a problem with calling the conflict a “people’s war”. By definition, a war implies two or more armies fighting against each other. A civil war involves two opposing groups in the same country. But “people’s war”? People of Nepal didn’t ask or wish for this “war” and most of them were not taking part on either side. They were the third party caught in the middle, in the crossfire between the army and the terrorists, mostly being innocent casualties or even human shields. It was not their war. There are no victors in a war like this. From a military standpoint, when one is fighting against guerrilla attacks, to have any success, the accepted ratio of the army vs. guerrilla is 10 : 1. Due to the extreme terrain in Nepal the ratio might be even higher. Very few countries can afford to fight a battle like this, especially not a small country with hardly any infrastructure and industry capable of producing any...
- Luba Svrcina: Showing the brutal photograph was a clear reminder what the Maoists are all about. I truly believe your intention was not a sensationalism. The photo is a graphic document of the atrocities committed against the people. It was not shown in disrespect to the poor teacher’s family. The photo became a national symbol of ultimate suffering, a representation of what the Maoists are and of the means and methods they use. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. One privilege in a functioning democracy is a the presence of the justice system. If the murderer is known, how come the justice system stays deaf and mute and blind ???? Are the People of Nepal deaf and mute and blind ? Hardly. That is a stupid, arrogant and insulting assumption.
- Nabina: NT has become काभ्रे ? NO, we want NT to publish the criminal’s names under NT, not काभ्रे ….!
- sshakya: I remember this photo and this news of the teacher being killed and it sent a chill down my spine reading this again.. and its even more pathetic of this country or lets say the lawlessness that the mastermind is assistant to the senior Maoist leader.. that is such a shame… these criminals should be hanged till death.. and ironically they are the ones drumming the base for ‘people’s supremacy’.. they are such hypocrites to the core.. we can only hope , a distant hope that these innocent lives lost so tragically get their judgment. and those criminals are put behind bars.
- काभ्रे: मार्ने: भिम बि क र टोली, निर्देशन दिने: अहिले अग्नी सापकोटाको पिए। अब आफै पत्ता लाए।
- Jange: There is no point in shedding crocodile tears. If this killing and thousand others were necessary and justified in order to remove the monarchy and have federalism and other political advancements then we should be proud of what we have done and what we have achieved, including this killing. Otherwise it is like enjoying the loot from a bank robbery and saying how sorry you are that a few pieces of furniture were broken in the process. The Maoists killed this man, ON BEHALF OF ALL NEPALIS for the political gains that we are enjoying now. Why be ashamed of it? The government should give the killer a medal and here is the NT not even willing to mention his name. Can NT explain itself?
- Jange: The time has come for every Nepali to decide whether the Maoist violence was justified and legitimate. If you think it was justified and legitimate then you should be able to say proudly and openly and without feeling any shame and with conviction that these killings were justified and worthwhile for what they have achieved. This is a question that needs to be put directly and straightforwardly to every Maoist sympathiser and activist in our everyday lives.

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