#239 18 - 24 March 2005 16 pages Rs 30

Weekly Internet Poll # 240. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.comQ..... Has there been an improvement inurban services in the past two months?

Total votes:898

Weekly Internet Poll # 239

Q. How would you characterise everydaysituation in Nepal in the past month?

MEDIAWATCH Khagendra Shrestha, editor of

Dharan Today daily was shot twice inthe head on 15 March by gunmen thatthe army said were Maoists. He wasrushed to hospital where he is incritical condition.

Narayan Wagle, editorof the largest-circulationNepali daily, Kantipur,was grilled at HanumanDhoka police postThursday for an hourabout a story on pro-democracy protestsnationwide. He was toldthe content of his paper on 15 Marchviolated the “spirit” of the royal move.

In Simikot the army has seized allrecent copies of Himal Khabarpatrika.Daily papers from Kathmandu have topass military censors beforedistribution in Humla.

What people say

Three-quarters of Nepalis believe in democracy More than half of them want a constitutional monarchy Only five percent are for an absolute monarchy Only five percent don't believe in a monarchy

ISSN

181

4-26

13

districts, was taken beforeFebruary First and reflects thenational mood just before theking sacked the government andimposed emergency rule.

Most of the 3,059respondents felt that although asystem in which politicalparties answerable to parliamentis the most legitimate form ofgovernment they faulted theparties and their leadership.

Interestingly, only fivepercent wanted the king to haveabsolute powers and the sameproportion were for a republic.Most felt that theMaoistinsurgencyshould be settledthroughnegotiations, but theydistrusted both the Deubagovernment (which was inpower in December) and theMaoist leadership, preferringthird party mediation by humanrights groups or the UN.

The most interestingrevelation in the poll was that avery small proportion of peopleknew or understood what theconstituent assembly demand ofthe Maoists entailed and onlyten percent actually wanted it(see box, p4). Restoring parlia-

nationwide publicopinion poll has shownthat the Nepali people

overwhelmingly want aconstitutional monarchy andparliamentary democracy—twoprovisions to which KingGyanendra reiterated hiscommitment during his royalproclamation two months ago.

The poll, conducted byInterdisciplinary Analysts withAC Nielsen in 35 sample

ment also received lowpriority, with only ten percentfavouring it.

Even though some of theresults many appearcontradictory especially regardingthe ways to overcome the presentstalemate, the Nepali peopleseem to want an overall politicalframework in which theconstitutional monarchy,parliamentary democracy and theMaoists all fit in.

By disagreeing with thedemand of the political partiesfor restoration of the house, theMaoist demand for constituentassembly and their preference fora constitutional monarchy, thepeople are sending ar messagethat they want all three forces tocome together and resolvedifferences.

How suitable isdemocracy for Nepal?

What kind of monarchy?

Editorial p2Party Nepal

Continued p4

KIRAN PANDAY

A

2 18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239EDITORIAL

Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda DixitDesk Editor: Abha Eli Phoboo, Aarti BasnyatDesign: Kiran Maharjan Web: Bhushan ShilpakarAdvertising: Sunaina Shah advertising@himalmedia.comSubscription: Anil Karki, subscription@himalmedia.comSanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, LalitpurGPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalTel: 01-5543333-6, Fax: 01-5521013Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 01-5547018editors@nepalitimes.com, www.nepalitimes.com

H

GUEST COLUMNDipta Shah

F

STATE OF THE STATECK Lal

The middle groundA rally on Lafayette Park struck chords of tolerance and democracy

such varied opinions served togalvanise (instead of weaken) theNepali community’s collectiveresolve.

Despite differences, therewas complete and unconditionalrejection of Maoist tyranny inNepal. Many also expresseddisgust at the degradation ofNepal’s political leadershipwhile hoping for a much neededreform within Nepal’sdemocratic parties. A petitionwith over 1,300 Nepalisignatories was submitted to USSecretary of State, CondoleezzaRice who was on a visit to theSouth Asian region this week.

The much sought after‘middle ground’ appeared inLafayette Park that sunnyafternoon with the emergence ofunanimity by every democraticmeasure – majorityrepresentation, a varied range ofopinions and inclusive, tolerantand peaceful expression.

All participants hoped intheir hearts that similarfreedoms would exist in theirmotherland so all Nepalis couldexercise their democratic rightsin an atmosphere of peaceful co-existence. The Washingtondemonstration followedmeetings held by a group ofprominent Nepali intellectualsat the offices of Americansenators.

The combined effect of theseseparate initiatives resulted inprecisely what Nepalis here havesought since February First: thegalvanisation of a non-partisan‘middle ground’ which serves asa forum for the majority ofNepalis living in the US to voicetheir aspiration for a peacefuland democratically vibrant

Nepal.Perhaps the most significant

outcome of this exercise was thefurther marginalisation of adivisive and destructive forcespreading extremist propagandawithin the Nepali communityin the US. The frustrationexperienced by these radicalelements was apparent inattempts at characterassassination of members of thecoordination committee of thedemonstration in Lafayette Park.

Following thedemonstration, they engaged inwhat they do best – lie, deceive,fabricate and divide. The naturaltargets were a handful oforganisers who volunteered timeand effort to mobilise thecommunity in support of peaceand democracy in Nepal.

The same radicals maybelieve that the tactics of theircontemporaries in Nepal (whichcontributed significantly to thedemise of democracy) may helpboost their egos in America butthis is hardly the case. Bystooping to such levels, theyhave irreparably underminedtheir own agenda and exposedthemselves by displayingintolerance and jealousy.

It is hoped that a similarexercise can be replicated inNepal so a peaceful andsustainable democratic politymay grace the homeland at theearliest. The sooner the myththat opposition towards failedpolitical leaders (and theMaoists) translates intounconditional support for theking is dispensed with, thesooner we are likely toexperience concrete results onthe ground in Nepal.

PARTY NEPALowever bleak things may look, every crisis throws upopportunities for dramatic change. February First has presentedNepal’s political parties with the chance to moult.

It is no great secret that the political leadership had stagnated, theylacked internal democracy, exhibited a shameless inability to worktogether not just among parties but also within their own hierarchies.Too preoccupied with power struggles, they didn’t see how far astraythey had gone. This allowed outsiders, especially after October 2002,to play politicos off against each other and manipulate them.

Their fecklessness undermined democracy, took the country to thebrink and made February First desirable in the eyes of many. One justneeds to remember the headlines from the past 10 years to realisehow deeply the rot had set in: horse-trading and floor-crossing,boycotts of parliament, politicisation of the police and bureaucracy,the cynical undermining of the democratic process for short-termpartisan gain. And all along, in the offing, was the ominous thunder ofan approaching insurgency.

Everytime this country’s politics has come to a crossroad, theparty leadership had the chance to look beyond petty concerns to thelarger and enduring national interest. Sadly, they repeatedly mistookthe cause for deeds, the process for outcome. It was as if, onceelected, the mandate was everything and they didn’t have to showaccountability. Adolescent democracies everywhere are rambunctiousand noisy. The difference inNepal was that politicians were not even fighting for seats at thedinner table, they were scrambling on the floor for crumbs. There wasjust no way this could go on.

We’re not playing the devil’s advocate here. Our political classmay not like to admit it but they handed it to the palace on a platter.But what now? February First actually throws the ball back in theparties’ court. In the public’s eye, the parties are not held in very highesteem but the people still believe in democracy and reject extremismof both the left and right (p 1, 4).

What we have seen this week doesn’t give us much hope. A rumpbroke off the RPP, the ex-PM is frothing against the media instead offorging reunification and a multi-partisanconsensus to face the king. They better get onwith shedding their old skin otherwise thepeople may start looking formore radical solutions.

or three hours on 13 March,a group of Nepalis inAmerica gathered in

solidarity to voice theirconcerns on the plight of theirhomeland and make a uniteddeclaration in support of peace,democracy and national pride.

There were several strikingfeatures of the gathering inLafayette Park in WashingtonDC. The ethnic, economic andcultural diversity was evident,there was no single dominantideology or group and thereforeno ulterior motives exclusivelyupheld.

Various groups respectfullyacknowledged differingopinions of their compatriots.There were some withunconditional support for themonarch, others voiced cautiousoptimism regarding the royalmove and still others expressedoutright disapproval of thesuspension of the democraticprocess in Nepal. For once, it

seemed, the existence of

orty-five days later, the process ofreleasing some of the detainees takenin on February First seems to be

finally under way. Sher Bahadur Deuba,the twice dismissed, used a post-releasepress meet to lash out at the media. Hismessage – the messengers did me in. And itwasn’t the message so much as the methodof delivery: he was frothing and fumingand had to be restrained by colleagues.

Clearly, Deuba has begun to showsymptoms of cognitive dissonance—adistressing mental state in which people

feelthey aredoingthings

that don’t coincide with what they know,or having opinions that don’t match theirother opinions. It is an extreme conditionof conflict or anxiety resulting frominconsistency between one’s beliefs andone’s actions such as opposingauthoritarianism but assisting in itsentrenchment.

After the spending best years of his lifestruggling for democracy, Deuba became thetool that dismantled the edifice of

Deuba’s democratic delusionsdemocratic governance. He wilfully let thetenure of local units lapse, he dissolvedparliament, declared the first emergency,censored the press and mobilised the armyto fight the insurgency. We can’t be toohard on the man, the agony of discoveringthat your actions have gone counter to yourbeliefs is a sad fate. Psychologists say thatin extreme cases, cognitive dissonance canmake the cringing sufferer do anything toget away from the persistent weight ofguilt.

Deuba may be its most visible victimbut there is a pandemic of cognitivedissonance in an entire generation ofNepalis. Born in the confusion of the post-Rana 1950s, brought up during thePanchayat’s roaring 60s, people in the 50-plus age group suddenly found after 1990that they had unfettered freedom to makemistakes. Many leaders, bureaucrats,professionals, merchants, and, yes, eventhe media, became serial offenders. Theymade errors of judgement but no effort tolearn from them. Unsurprisingly, most arenow writhing in agony recalling missedchances.

While the psychological bent of the

Panchayat generation was no doubt themain factor making Messers MadhabKumar, Sher Bahadur, Pashupati Shamsherand Badri Prasad do what they did, thepost-1990 wave of free marketfundamentalism created an intellectualatmosphere conducive to the rise of self-centred individuals.

The zeitgeist of the 1990s was Homoeconomicus—a figure motivated solely byrational self-interest. The lifespan of sucha self-centred species is naturally short.Deuba was asked to establish peace, delivergood governance and begin electionswithin six months. He not only agreed butmanaged to get the sceptical UML, cynicalRPP and suicidal Sadbhabana all on board.

After February First, none of theplayers that made all the wrongassessments (the most ingenious being theUML’s ‘half-corrected regression’) havefound the courage to apologise to thepublic. If anything, most leaders of theseopportunistic parties have been bendingover backwards to justify the unjustifiable.

It’s not just Deuba, every public figurewho failed to read the political message ofhis hasty dissolution of parliament in May2002 need to re-examine their beliefs andattitudes. Cognitive dissonance is more

pervasive in Nepali society than many ofus realise.

To assuage their guilt, Deuba’sousted cabinet colleagues may be hopingthey will be exonerated by events of evengreater magnitude in the future. Buthistory doesn’t differentiate between thewinners and losers—all have toultimately stand trial in the court oftime and own up to their past. Deubamay tell himself he did everything forthe betterment of the country butwhether victim or victor, his ‘call ofduty’ argument will never absolve himfor playing his part in a national tragedy.

Deuba’s closest parallel in thisaffliction is Haiti’s Baby Doc Duvalier.At the height of his delusion, Baby Docput up posters in Port au Prince thatread: ‘I should like to stand before thetribunal of history as the person whoirreversibly founded democracy in Haiti(signed) Jean-Claude Duvalier,president-for-life.’

In each of his three appointments aspremier of the country, Deuba has sunklower in his own eyes. The only thingthat will restore his own self-esteem isto now work for the reunification of theNepali Congress.

Let’s not be too hard on the man

F

NAREN

318 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239

LLLLL E T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R S

NOTHING TO HIDEApropos your editorial (‘Something tohide?’, #238) in which you advocate areturn to parliamentary democracy. Thepolitical parties have always failed, andare still failing, to demonstrate to theNepali people that they have a roadmapfor the way ahead. They have missedgoals and objectives the whole time. Asmuch I hate to say this, dear politicians,you have failed yourselves and failed theNepali people. Before you ask the peopleto join you once more to protest the king’smove, perhaps some introspection is inorder? Do you have answers? I am aNepali currently residing outside thecountry and here to attend an academicprogram. I follow political developments inNepal daily, hoping that someday a leaderwill emerge to steer the country to apeaceful solution. Hope is a big word, andfor now that’s all we can do. If you lead astreet protest, meeting your demand is anend unto itself…a goal. On the other handto the people your protest is just one ofmany on the way to attain the final goal.Do the politicians know what the goal is?

Sirish Bhatta, email

Thanks for your polite yet cleareditorial opinion. While freedom of speechis the rule, it is not absolute and at certainperiods (especially in wartime) speechmay be restricted for the public good. Ithink it is true of all societies. It isapparent that the censorship beingimposed in our country comes fromanxiety, cautiousness and fear on the partof the new dispensation, which wants toend the chapter of terrorism with a sort ofseriousness never seen before. Iunderstand the urgency because theMaoists killed three of my innocentcousins in the past three years ondifferent pretexts. The terrorists widelyused the media to sow fear and anarchy inthe society and press freedom served theenemies of the state more than ordinarypeople. A legitimate force like the RoyalNepali Army was even compared withMaoist terrorists and the media treatedthem at par. The authority of the state wasseriously undermined as evenestablished papers became themouthpieces of terror. I think there areenough reasons for censorship for aspecific period of time. We have to acceptthat the media still needs to learn from theanti-national elements. You can criticisethe present establishment for manyobvious reasons (and they should becriticised) but we will fail our commitmentto the nation if we insist on freedomswhich have more meaning to the terroriststhan to the common citizens.

Sriram Chaudhary, email

Amidst all the discussion and debateover solutions to the Nepal quagmire, Iwonder why no one ever took upparliamentary elections as a seriousoption. Even the Nepali media, which pre-February First was among the mostpolitically vocal in the world, did not coverthis specific issue in any detail. Why hasthe demand for elections and it’spreparation been so unenthusiastic? If theMaoists the main reason, why since 2002has there been no effort to change theirstance on this? After two years of aimlessprotesting against the king, the partiesstill continue with their vague demands ofa ‘restoration of democracy’ but still makeno mention of elections. The vociferousinternational community spares no effortin preaching to the king, but is deafen-

ingly quiet when it comes to asking theMaoists to allow elections to take place.Only elections can install a legitimatelydemocratic government in Nepal. So-calleddemocrats—both inside and outsideNepal—have never brought the only groupthat stands against a truly democraticprocess to task on this. The way everyoneis turning solely on the king to correct his‘mistakes’ you wonder why the otherextreme force in the country isn’t gettingany pressure. While we are all engaged indemonising or deifying the king, it seemswe have absolved the Maoists of allresponsibility. Their activities are taken as agiven and the other forces in the countryare expected to change their behaviour inresponse.

Abhishek Basnyat, email

Your editorial on censorship is super.You have mastered the art of expressingyourself without offending anybody. Theability to speak one’s mind, to challenge thepolitical orthodoxies of the times, to criticisethe policies of the government without fear ofrecrimination by the state is the essentialdistinction between life in a free country andin a dictatorship. But the right againstcensorship is not the privilege of just peoplelike you, it is also the entitlement of commoncitizens like me and thousands of otherswho are worried about their motherland. Ialso had the right to express myself withoutbeing censored by you when you droppedthe following lines from my letter to theeditor (‘Raw deal’, #238) in your last issue:‘Does India want democracy in Nepal? Themultiparty system and various politicalinstitutions in Nepal failed not because theking was bad or the parties were worse, orNepalis were so uneducated to live withdemocracy but because India massivelyused democracy and its tool to break thefabrics of our society, economy andnationalism. Have you ever noted theissues that democracy in Nepal had toconfront in its 14 years of democraticexperiment from the case of Tanakpur tothe latest extradition treaty forced onNepal? This is what India is doing, this timeunfortunately with the US and the UnitedKingdom’. Can you explain your hypocrisy aboutthe freedom of speech?

Dibya Gurung, New York

DOUBLE STANDARDSThanks for the interview of the Indianambassador (‘There was another road map’,#236). His opinions are clear and he mustbe appreciated for being so straightfor-ward. But how can we believe that Indiastands for democracy and freedom in Nepalwhen it has a history of intervention: inSikkim, East Pakistan, Sri Lanka and theMaldives. Bhutan is the most vivid exampleof Indian intervention in turning the crisis toNew Delhi’s advantage. All this talk ofsupporting democracy in Nepal rings a bithollow. While recent events in Nepal haveindeed been tragic, they are certainly notspontaneous.

Sita Dahal, Melbourne, Australia

Amused to read about India’s puritanlove for democracy, multiparty system andpolitical freedoms. Be that as it may, canyou conceive of a Nepali, Sri Lankan,Bangladeshi or a Bhutani ambassador inNew Delhi talking about the relevance ofthese values to the state of Kashmir,Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Khalistan andso on in an interview with the Times ofIndia? Will India like it if these ambassadors

cast aspersions on PhD scholar BadriBastakoti. If I could turn back the clock, Iwould undoubtedly write in a way thatwould more accurately reflect thenuances of such an intricate subject. Ihave been following the developments inReading since my article came out andthere is an effective status quo in place.Our community continues to attendReading hospital’s facilities and super-market floors. But over the months, Ihave learned that there are also aconsiderable number of intellectuallyinvigorating Nepalis like Badri Bastakotiand numerous others who lead andinspire our community. I now know betterthan I did two months ago because ofthe Reading Nepali community’s effortsto educate me. In the days to come, Ihope to continue learning more andengaging in genuine debate about therole of the Nepali diaspora.

Pranav Budhathoki, London

CORRECTIONThe picture of Kevin Bubriski in‘Kevin’s eye’ (#236) was byCharles Gay.

started talking about approximately 90,000men and women killed in Kashmir over thelast 17 years and the widespread humanrights violations being committed by theIndian army on these communities? Whythe double standard? India should comeclean and tell us exactly what it wants.Hypocrisy isn’t helpful.

Saroj Lamichhane Magar, Hong Kong

TWO SIDESKanak Mani Dixit’s Southasia Beat column‘Bhutan’s Lhotshampa chargesheet’ (#238)is one-sided and does not give a balancedview. You read any of the articles on Bhutanand many of the international organisationshave high regard for its governance andincorruptible government. Sadly, Nepal is avery corrupt country and your mindset toohas been greatly influenced by itsenvironment.

Dixit should take a holiday for about amonth in Bhutan, perhaps your impure mindwill be purified and you will be able to givejust and fair inputs in your articles soreaders can appreciate them.

Ugyen Tshewang, email

Thanks to Kanak Mani Dixit for oncemore drawing the world’s attention to theplight of us Bhutanis. My forefathers camefrom Purba Dui Number. I can read andwrite Nepali but the young generation inBhutan do not read or write Nepali at allsince the government has wiped out thesyllabus from all primary and secondaryeducation. I like Nepal very much but don’tlike the strong influence of Indians. Bhutanis directly controlled by India with itsdouble standards on democracy. We havethe Indian army in the heart of the capitalcity in Thimphu and all along the Chineseborder.

Name withheld, email

HYPER EMPIREI appreciate the cynicism with whichSaubhagya Shah writes in his GuestColumn (‘Hyper Empire and HinduKingdom’, #238) about the hegemony ofpowerful states and global institutions andthe strategic rather than purely principledgames they play with ‘developing’ states(such a polite euphemism). However, I’mstill rather baffled by the implication of hisclaim that it doesn’t matter which politicalagent comes to Nepal’s rescue, so long asthey can liberate the Nepali people fromviolence and fear. This is clearly intendedto suggest that the king’s assumption ofpower can do just this. I wonder if such ahopeful analysis can be sustained. One hasto ask how dismantling the institution ofdemocracy and its associated freedomswill assist in the conflict with an anti-democratic, totalitarian Maoist insurgency.There is a grave risk of giving advantage tothe Maoists, both ideologically since alltheir claims about the nature of the‘regressive state’ seem to have beenrealised, and practically, since so much ofthe RNA’s human resources have beendiverted away from its duties engaging withthe Maoists? Unless the king knowssomething significant he’s not telling us I’mat a loss to see a reasoned strategy behindwhat he claims to be doing.

P Lockwood, email

READINGI defend my writing on the Nepali diasporain the UK and Reading (‘Nepalis gounderground in Britain, #230) and on thedivision of the Nepali community alongethnic lines. But it was due to editorialalterations in Kathmandu that the article

ELECTRIC VEHICLESAfter the huge increment in prices ofpetroleum products, numerous articleshave appeared in your paper exhortingthe promotion of electric vehicles (EV). Iagree but is this technology necessarilygoing to make things better? There is nodoubt that at a time when fuel prices arerising, EV technology is more beneficialfrom the economic and environmentalstandpoint. There are more than 150,000fossil-fuel driven vehicles on KathmanduValley’s limited and congested roadnetwork. And that doesn’t even includemotorcycles. There are only 600 Safathree-wheelers and a few trolley buses.The maximum speeds of EVs onKathmandu roads rarely travel faster than30-45 kmph and thereby they compelother vehicles from running at their ownoptimum speeds, thus increasing theirfuel consumption and raising emissionslevels. Ultimately, EVs are the way to gobut for the interim, we have to think thingsthrough before raising the number ofelectric vehicles to 6,000.

Indra Maharjan, Kathmandu

TARAICK Lal writes in his State of the Statecolumn (‘Nepal’s other half’, #238) thatmadhesis needed visas to travel to theirown capital. I would like to point out that,in those days, the inhabitants of thecapital also needed visas to travel to thetarai.

N A Pityata, Kathmandu

4 18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239NATION

Nepali Times: The king has said he is rescuing democracyand wants to defeat terrorism, what’s wrong with that?Keith Bloomfield: We regard it as a backward step in termsof democracy and restoring peace, it has made the prospectof negotiations a lot more difficult. The Maoists are now unitedas never before and the constitutional forces are more di-vided than they’ve ever been.

Isn’t suspension of military aid going to hurt the fight againstterrorism?The biggest single help to the Maoists was February Firstand not any suspension of military aid. In a functioningdemocracy like the UK, it is very difficult to explain to electedrepresentatives that we regard the king’s move as a backwardstep while at the same time arguing in favour of continuing tosupport a military structure.

But we would certainly expect the king to deliver on whathe’s quite clearly promised in his proclamation and in variousother contact we’ve had with him, which is an early lifting ofthe state of emergency, release of all political prisoners,some opening of meaningful dialogue with the political parties,and some serious move on human rights including renewingthe mandate of the NHRC, full access without prior noticeand restrictions to places of detention through bodies likethe NHRC and the ICRC.

Isn’t the choice between democracy and terrorism?We believe that the best solution to the conflict in Nepal is anegotiated solution. We believe that the political parties anddemocracy have to be part of a successful negotiation,therefore we see the biggest single thing that we can do tohelp to beat the Maoists and help the people of this country isto support the political sectors, the democratic space againstattempts by both sides to polarise opinion in this country. Wewill refuse to be polarised and be given the only option betweenone violent solution and another violent solution.

There seems to be unprecedented convergence between theUK, US and India on policy towards Nepal.There is almost total convergence between the three countriesyou mention, we are in very close consultation.

Nepali Times: It’s been half a century since Nepal and Chinaestablished diplomatic relations, how would you describe thepresent state of relations?Sun Heping: China and Nepal are traditionally amicableneighbours and the present bilateral relations are excellent.There is no outstanding problem but friendship between ourtwo countries. Both can take pride in the peaceful trustworthyconduct of bilateral relations on the basis of equality. In recentyears, the exchange of high-level visits has been frequentand cooperation in various fields has expanded. Crown PrinceParas’ visit to China last year further strengthened China-Nepal friendship and neighbourly partnership. This year marksthe golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relationsbetween us.

Do you also see a role for the proposed Kosi-Lhasa Highwayto facilitate China-India trade?Economic globalisation and regional cooperation areinternational business trends and countries are heavilyinterdependent in international trade. Both India and Nepalare China’s close neighbours. If there is a certain form ofeconomic cooperation that all three can benefit from, we shouldsit down and explore its feasibility. As far as the specific

issue in your question, we should listen to Nepal government’sview first.

What is your government’s position on the February Firstchanges here?It is essentially Nepal’s internal affair. As a friendly neighbour,we sincerely hope that Nepal can realise social stability,economic development and national reconciliation. Meanwhile,we respect the choice of the Nepali people for their socialsystem and development in line with Nepal’s national realities.

How seriously does the Chinese government regard the anti-government insurgency in Nepal?As Nepal’s close neighbour, China is concerned about theissue of anti-government insurgency in Nepal. We stronglycondemn any violent activities against civilians and civilinfrastructures. Peace and stability in Nepal is not only in theinterests of Nepal and its people, but is also conducive toregional peace and stability. We hope that the peace processhere can be restarted as soon as possible so lasting peacecan be realised at an earlier date.

What would you say are China’s main foreign policy andeconomic concerns vis-à-vis Nepal?China always maintains an independent foreign policy of peaceand its policy towards its neighbours can be summarised asbeing a friend and partner, living in harmony and sharingsecurity to help them prosper. I should say that to promotefriendly relations and cooperation with Nepal in all fields is thepriority of China’s foreign policy towards Nepal.

Is there any geopolitical sensitivity about Nepal’s location asfar as China is concerned?You can change a neighbour but you can’t change aneighbouring country. Bordering the Tibet Autonomous Regionof the People’s Republic of China, Nepal is very important tothe stability and prosperity of Tibet. We feel very lucky andhappy to have a friendly neighbour like Nepal. We appreciatethe friendly policy towards China that the king of Nepal andthe Nepali government have always adopted, and that they donot allow any anti-China activities on Nepali soil.

One country,

“It is Nepal’s internal affair”Chinese Ambassador Sun Heping

MIN BAJRACHARYA

The nationwide Contemporary Political Situation inNepal opinion poll was conducted byInterdisciplinary Analysts and ACNielsen and fundedby The Asia Foundation. A closed-endedquestionnaire was administered on 3,059respondents in 35 sample districts in November andDecember 2004. Eleven field supervisers and 48enumerators took part.

Full report will be available after 30 Marchida@wlink.com.np

Constituent what?Despite the debate in the media about the Maoist demand for elections to a constituentassembly, only half the Nepalis may have heard of the term. Among those who haveheard of it, half claim that they understand what it means. But in reality only half of thosewho claim to know what it is actually understand the concept correctly. All in all, lessthan 15 percent of Nepalis understand what a constituent assembly is all about.

Predictably, there seems to be a correlation between education level and position onconstituent assembly with university students showing the most support for it. Also,those younger than 45 were much more open to the idea than older age groups.

from p1

Hear, hear

Conclusions of past public opinionsurveys in this country (Nepali Times,#38, #115, #140, #218) have proven timeand again that the people have a greatdeal more wisdom than they are givencredit for. They are pragmatic, not swayedby slogans and extremism, they have theirpriorities well figured out, and theyknow who the crooks are.

An overwhelming majority of Nepalisstill favour a democratic government. Inspite of everything that has gone wrong inthe past 15 years, they don’t blame thesystem. They do identify specificdisadvantages of democracy, and in orderof priority, they are: misuse of power bythose who wield it, corruption,politicians forgetting constituencies afterbeing elected, politicisation of theadministration and continuous protestsby opposition parties.

Despite these drawbacks, they say thetwo most important advantages ofdemocracy are: freedom of expression andthe right to elect rulers.

The people overwhelmingly reject

republicanism and an absolute monar-chy, and if the proportion of thoseundecided on the role of the monarchy(14 percent) is excluded, support forconstitutional monarchy becomes 63percent. However, there is an age andeducation factor in responses. Peopleabove 56 and the less educated seem tobe the one ones most in favour of a moreactive monarchy. Most with collegeeducation or higher favour a fullyconstitutional monarchy, although it isin this age group that republicanism hasthe most adherents.

On the Maoist insurgency, mostrespondents felt the priority should befor negotiations. They reject options likesuppressing the Maoists militarily andstrongly believe that the ongoingconflict can’t be resolved by militarymeans. They blame the failure of past

Public’s understanding of constituent assembly

What kind of rule is legitimate?

Can the conflict be resolvedthrough talks?

What kind of constitution?

negotiations on the lack of flexibility onthe part of the government and the Maoists.Three-fourths of the respondents believethe conflict can be settled throughnegotiations. A significant numberfavoured third party mediation by the UN(20 percent) human rights organizations(25 percent).

Sudhindra Sharmaand Pawan Kumar Sen

Are the Maoist leaders seriousabout peace?

518 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239BUSINESS

P

What is you current policy on development and humanitarianaid?They are under review. There are parts of it which weredependent on the continuation of the IMF/World Bank programand since these are not going to be submitted to the IMF/WBboards for the moment, it follows that our programs can’tproceed. There are some projects which no longer make senseand are no longer justifiable in parliamentary terms. But ofcourse we continue to want to deliver real assistance to thepoor including those in the remote areas of the country. Wewill be assessing those programs under a number of criteriaincluding the safety of our staff and practical realities. Thedevelopment space is getting restricted by both sides in theconflict.

Do you think your pressure tactics are working?The king has said to us that he needs a bit of time in order towork out a plan abot what he is going to do during the nextthree years. While we would like to see some hint of actionon many of the demands that I put forward, we would waitand see what he comes up with before taking our thinkingprocess further. The same is true for the political parties ifthey come up with a plan in order to produce a coherentand structured platform, which we can then support.

Some senior politicians have been released.We would see those measures as being very limited steps inthe right direction. And in some cases they have beencountered by further arrests, they release some with one handand arrest others with the other hand. We would be looking atactions and not words, we have heard again and again whatdifferent governments are intending to do and we have learntonly to respect what is actually done. Some of the people theking has surrounded himself with do not encourage us tobelieve him when he says he’s interested in returning todemocracy.

Are you satisfied with the moves here to fulfill human rightscommitments ahead of the Geneva conference this month?The king said in his proclamation the government is keen torespect human rights yet at the same time there has been

intimidation of human rights activists many of them not al-lowed to leave the Valley.

There is no effective monitoring allowed, access todetainees is restricted, UN observers who’ve come herehave found a record number of disappearances, there arequestion marks about the future of an independent humanrights commission, these are all issues that will be raised inGeneva.

But I don’t want you to get the impression we are not justas worried about Maoist violations, they have been behavingpretty appallingly themselves, extorting money, recruitingchild soldiers and so on. We believe the democratic space,and I include in that the civil liberties and respect of humanrights, has to be an essential part of the solution to the conflict.

Democracy goes much much wider than the political partyleaders but you don’t encourage the emergence of a maturedemocracy by locking up party leaders. Civil liberties and

o Bronson, the author of arecent bestseller Whatshould I do with my life?

writes that in good times, peopleonly talk about changingthemselves. In bad times, theyhave no option but to change.Today in Nepal what changesmust we expect our politicalparties, press and human rightsorganisations to make to continueserving the public interest?

Pundits tell us how Nepalipolitical parties represented thepublic’s concerns on the nationalstage. They repeat this so oftenthat their claim has a tofu-is-good-for-you-because-it’s-good-for-you logic. In reality, Nepalisrarely had the luxury of freelychoosing their representatives.They always had to choose fromcandidates fielded on their behalfby Kathmandu-based politburo-like central committees of variousparties.

In such a system, those whowon elections saw that to winagain in future, all they needed todo was keep party leaders inKathmandu happy, even if thatmeant neglecting voters’grievances. Such perverse

Not too lateIt is time for all to do some serious soul-searching

incentives meant that voterscould do little to punish badrepresentatives by electing newones, and the same old certifiablecrooks kept getting re-elected onaccount of their loyalty to partyleaders and not to the voters. Overtime, ordinary people failed to seejust how representativemultiparty democracy concretelyserved their interests.

In theory, a free press isindeed a cornerstone ofdemocracy. But in the last 10years, vast changes have comeabout in the Nepali mediaindustry to make anyone ask howfree it really is. The partisanpress, for instance, has long beenideological and shrill, proppedup by parties’ un-audited money.The higher-end players havegrown to be merely corporateentities whose business modelcalls for proximity to those inpower while squeezing employeeswith bad pay.

Some Kathmandu-centricmedia leaders saw that donorswere willing to throw untoldsums of money at proposalspeppered with ‘conflict’,‘governance’ and ‘empowerment’,there was an explosion of ‘media-and-society’ type workshops andseminars. Of course, it is rude toask just what the verifiableimpact all that work had. Still,

media leaders sank low when theyaccepted the government’s largesselast October, even when theaccompanying 11-point mediapolicy was aimed at makingjournalists lick the hand that fedthem. That’s why it is difficult totake the media’s present chestthumping seriously.

Few doubt the energy of ourhuman rights organisations. Buttheir tamasha tactics have robbedthem of opportunities to buildsystems to safeguard rights.Almost a decade after civiliansstarted disappearing in Nepal, westill don’t have a basic legalarchitecture to start accounting forthem. Likewise, those who havelost loved ones to atrocitiescommitted by both parties haveyet to find legal and humanitarianrecourse for sustained assistance.With so many rights organisationsaround, one would think thateach would specialise on anaspect of the problem. But all thatthey appear to agree on is thelowest common denominator:repeated street rallies, trite callsfor peace and dramatic arrestscenes played to the gallery ofdonors. All these have left themwith little time for unglamorousand dirty-your-fingernailsperseverance to help make ourimperfect legal system start takingthe rights of victims seriously.

human rights go hand-in-hand with democracy and so dograssroots organisations and participation. Press freedom isessential as apart of the democratic space. Full press freedomshould be restored, not just taking out the security forces fromthe offices but withdrawing some of the instructions that havegone out shortly after the king’s takeover. All these elementsare a part of a future prosperous and peace-loving Nepal andthat’s why we are so put out by the political developments inthis country.

What should happen, then?There is a huge gap in confidence between the king and thepolitical parties and it is mutual. What needs to happen isfor both the king and the parties to forget mutual recrimina-tion, develop a common platform for getting back to peacenegotiations through restoration of democratic processes. Weneed to strengthen democracy not undermine it. Onlydemocracy in the end can combat the political aims of theMaoists.

Doesn’t everything you’ve said in this interview amount tointerference in Nepal’s internal affairs?I have been here nearly three years. Whenever I or any of mydiplomatic colleagues say anything that people don’t like theyaccuse us of unwarranted interference in internal affairs,whenever I say something they do like they come up to meand congratulate me for speaking out and saying things whichpeople inside the country don’t dare to say.

“We refuse to be polarised…”British Ambassador Keith Bloomfield

two viewpoints

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‘Wrongly killed’The Royal Nepal Army has admitted that Maina Sunwar of Kharelthok,Kabhre, was wrongly killed in detention. Last year, 15-year-old MainaSunuwar (see ‘Maina’s story’, #222) disappeared after securityforces took her away from her house accusing her of being a Maoist.Suspecting extrajudicial killing, human rights activists started acampaign demanding her whereabouts. Eight months later, herparents found out that she had been killed. With Nepal beingspotlighted at the UN human rights conference in Geneva this month,the army finally issued a statement on Monday saying: “The Court ofInquiry has begun investigating Maina’s death. The incident wasfound to be a mistake.” It added the security personnel involved in theincident would be court martialled and strict action taken againstthem.

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Donors meetA group of Nepal’s development partners met in London on 11 Marchto discuss development issues in the light of the changed politicalcontext in Nepal. Reps from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany,The Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, UK and EU discussed currentsteps to review projects in Nepal, including immediate measures andplanned action. Implications for development co-operation posed bythe human rights situation in Nepal, restrictions on civil liberties andthe scope for international co-ordination at the 61st session of theUNCHR in Geneva were discussed. It was agreed that donors shouldbe allowed to work according to the Basic Operating Guidelines toensure development access to the poor. The donors agreed to sharestrategies and plan for the continuation of support to Nepal’s NHRC,and to continue ‘constructive interaction’ with the WB and the ADB onthe development effectiveness of their portfolio of support for Nepal.

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Building anewDr Prabha Basnet, member secretary of the Social Welfare Counciland Tewa’s guarantee group’s representative Prisma Singh Tharujointly inaugurated Tewa’s office building atDhapakhel on 9 March. The construction work inbeing done in phases.

BENETTON BUZZ: Benetton showroom in DarbarMarg has introduced their new Spring Summercollection 2005. It includes a complete collectionof casual wear for women, men and children.

BHASWOR OJHA

STRICTLY BUSINESSAshutosh Tiwari

NEW PRODUCTS

6 18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

SELECTED MATERIAL TRANSLATED EVERY WEEK FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Robin Sayami in Himal Khabarpatrika, 14-28 March

“By now it should be clear that authoritarianism is not the way of the future: it is thelast gasp of a discredited past”

President George W Bush on 9 March in a speech at the National DefenceUniversity in Washington DC.

Tulsi Giri speaks out

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Which CongressDeshantar, 11 March

Which camp does the only livingfounder leader of NC, K PBhattarai, belong to—NepaliCongress or its breakaway NC-D?The question has puzzled many,but Bhattarai is all set to answer.He will become a NC member ofLalitpur district’s constituencynumber one convention, whichtakes place this week. Bhattaraihimself decided to be themember of the Mahasamiti after adelegation of the NC-D met theoctogenarian leader.

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Info vacuumNepal Samacharpatra, 13 March

FM stations are bewildered withthe latest directives from thegovernment prohibiting themfrom broadcasting news, notices,articles or opinions that are notpure entertainment. According tonational transmission rules andregulations 1995, if the directivessent by the government areignored, punitive action will betaken against the violators asstated in the Civil Code.Attached with the new directive,the Ministry of Information andCommunication had sent anothernotice containing anti-Maoistinformation with a CD preparedby the Defence Ministry forbroadcast.

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Still the sameNepal, 20 March

Since the Panchayat era, civilservants have been usedpolitically. They are kickedaround like footballs from onegoal post to another. Instead ofstrengthening the bureaucraticinstitution or making it efficient,it has been weakened due topolitical dictates thus affectingthe work and position of thebureaucrats. The recent transfer ofsecretaries is just another proofthat things haven’t changed.There is no difference between

Interview with First Vice-chairman Tulsi GiriBBC Nepali Service

BBC: What is the reason made you come back?Tulsi Giri: (Laughs) It’s not about what I want. It’s theking who wants certain things achieved and I’mhere to help him to the best of my ability for thecountry’s sake.

But you’ve been away a long time. How familiar areyou still with Nepal’s ground reality?Even if I was away I used to keep in touch.

People are surprised that you came back.How can I answer that? It’s not for me to say whythey are surprised.

Were you aware that the February First move wasbeing planned?No.

You are now a senior official, what is your priority?It is not my priority. The king has laid out hispriorities in his proclamation. He said that thecountry is in a big crisis because of terrorism andeveryone has to work together. Since then, the kinghas repeatedly expressed his commitment towardsa constitutional monarchy and functioningdemocracy. He doesn’t want a democracyin name only, he wants it to function. Butfor that the first priority is peace andorder. Whoever is disturbs the peaceand order has to be dealt with and anatmosphere created to allow politicalprocess to move ahead.

So how can you deal with those whoare endangering peace?That is a government policy questionand I can’t give you the details.What I can say is that, asthe king said in hisproclamation, everyoneshould pull in one directionand those who are on thepath of terrorism shouldabandon it and join themainstream. Whoeverhelps will be welcomed.

But the rebels have saidthey won’t listen?That’s up to them,whether they want tolisten or not. But weshouldn’t be blamed forthat. They can’t accuse theking of not giving them achance. Nowhere in the worldhas the road they have takenled to progress.

That’s what you say but the Maoists say that theiraim is to topple the monarchy. They are convincedthat they are carrying out a successful revolution.How can you reconcile this?They are entitled to believe whatever they want butwhat I am trying to say is that the road they havetaken has never led to peace anywhere in theworld. Terrorism has only terrorised the people, ithasn’t resulted in social reform. Terrorist tacticswork best when governments are weak and inNepal the past 15 years is proof. They (the rebels)are free to believe what they want but the Nepalipeople don’t believe in them.

Are there any moves towards negotiations?Not by me. But if they’re ready, we are ready.

There has been a lot of criticism from outside thecountry and talk of aid cuts.That is a natural reaction based on their politicalideology. But in state-to-state relations there areother issues. They haven’t cut off aid, somecountries have suspended it and this can be liftedthrough negotiations. In the age of globalisationthere is interdependence but you can’t force anycountry to do anything. It just doesn’t work.

The people have misgiving that pillars of thePanchayat like you and Mr Bista have been

brought back.How can I help it if people have misgivings? I

have clear instructions from the king aboutwhat I have to do. If you start listening topeople who have misgivings you don’t getanywhere.

Why did you give up on Nepal and liveabroad for so long?

Again, you’re asking a personal questionand I can only say I had personal

reasons.

Were you frustrated withNepali politics?Maybe at that time I wasfrustrated, not just withNepali politics but withpolitics in general. Iwould like to drawyour attention to theextremely serioussecurity situationhere, in homes andin villages across

the country there isgreat misery. The king is

trying to rescue the country.I want to assure you thatthere are no politicalambitions behind theking’s move.

multiparty government andPanchayat regime when it comesto politicising the bureaucracy inwhich civil servants are forced toact according to political dictates.

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DisplacedRajdhani, 12 March

DAILEKH—The villagers ofSalleri and Naumule have fled tothe district headquarters after theMaoists threatened to kill thosewho rose against the rebels lastDecember. Out of 416 families,218 have been forced to flee theregion. Though 133 families havereturned, 65 families still live inthe camp for displaced people inthe town. According to the DalitWelfare Association, though theMaoists have asked the villagersto return home, many still fearfor their safety.

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ForewarnedJhala Nath Khanal, acting generalsecretary, UML, in HimalKhabarpatrika, 14-31 March

The eighth meeting of theparty is taking place in secret.We have formed a team, of whichI am the coordinator, to evaluatethe last 14 years within the nextthree months. The committee was formed

to understand why democracywas lost though the politicalparties had networks throughoutthe country. In these 14 years, we did

some good work and made somegrave mistakes. We are lookinginto our own weaknesses to putthem before the Nepali people.

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My abductionJB Pun Magar inHimal Khabarpatrika,14-28 March

I was on my way to meetdisplaced Nepali families inAligara of India as part of myassignment to cover the anti-rebeluprising near the border areas ofKapilbastu and Rupandehi. As I

KIRAN PANDAY

Interview with the last Panchayat Prime Minister, Marich Man Singh onBBC Nepali, 6 March

BBC: One-and-a-half months have elapsed, you have kept quiet.Marich Man Singh: Not really. I have been quite busy monitoring thepeople’s reaction. I sense that the king judged the people’s sentimentswell. The people want peace to be given first priority.

What kind of role should the parties play? Should they just agree witheverything the king says?The parties should be independent but that should not be misused tocreate rifts. And now they have the opportunity to realise their pastfollies and start practicing a healthy and clean democracy.

But if parties have made mistakes, should they not be punished by thepeople instead of the king?Elections are the only medium through which the people can do so. If thepeople’s representatives are unable to hold elections, how can thecitizens identify with them? Without peace there can be no elections.

Will that happen through talks or by force?A political solution is so far the best option. My advice is peace ispossible only through talks.

The Maoists want a republic and the king favours a multipartydemocracy. How can the two agree?There could be a realisation that they (the Maoists) are walking on thewrong path. Establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat is not the solution.

“Even small g]kfnLg]kfnL

718 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

Deuba blames messengers

was about to climb into a jeep tocross the border, four men onmotorbikes who said they wereMaoists took me away.

Only a month ago, the Maoistleader of Nawalparasi andKapilbastu had called me on thephone and asked me to meet himto discuss my reports on childsoldiers and anti-Maoist vigilantegroups (‘Giving children afighting chance’, #227). He evensent two of his cadres to fetchme. But I told them I had urgentwork and fled to Kathmandu.

The day before my abduction,I met two members of the Maoistspecial task force near theRupandehi and Kapilbastuborder and I knew the rebels hadme under surveillance. I did notpanic, I was used to thesesituations while reporting onconflict. Only a few months back,the lieutenant of Taulihawabarrack had threatened to shootme.

My kidnappers blindfoldedme and locked me up at theIndian border village ofSidharthanagar and told me towait until their leaders arrived.The next day, I demanded to beallowed to make a phone call. Ataround 8PM that night, theyasked questions with a BhojpuriHindi accent and referred tothemselves as Maoists. An hourlater, six to seven people mademe walk blindfolded for twohours after which I heard thevoice of Pritam Pande, leader ofan anti-Maoist vigilante groupwhom I had covered inNovember. “Welcome, journalist,”I heard him say. Only then did Irealise that my abductors weren’tMaoists at all. They interrogatedme and accused me of writingagainst other anti-Maoist groupsin Kapilbastu, Rupandehi andNawalparasi.

What I found strange was thatsome of them were askingquestions on a highly intellectualplane in fluent Nepali and Hindi.After three days my abductorsreleased me but not without afinal warning: “Be careful aboutwhat you write, next time youwon’t be spared.”

countries have pride”But neither perhaps is the king’s direct rule.There are many opinions but my only concern is what the public has tosay. And all the people desire is for someone to deliver them peace. Asthe head of state the king can’t keep quiet and do nothing for the people.

But there are risks involved for the king in such direct rule. There aredangers of international interference. Should such risks be taken?Just because we are a small nation, we should not be afraid of takingrisks. Outside forces have to understand that even a small country hasits pride.

If the Panchayat system were still in place, would we be seeing thiscrisis?Yes but the level of violence would not be as intense. Nobody wouldhave gone to such extremes. What we need is genuine and continuedpolitical reforms.

What do you think of the international pressure for the release ofpoliticians?The state of emergency is temporary. Instead of pushing for freedom ofindividuals we should think of national security. Fundamental rights areimportant. But these unlawful groups are misusing such rights.

Have you been offered any position in the government by the king?Not so far. (laughs)

If you received an offer would you accept it?I will not back down if the nation feels my need.

MIN BAJRACHARYA

Kantipur, 13 March

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba lashed out at reportersduring a press conference at his Budanilkantha residence onSaturday, the day after his release. “I warned you that a time wouldcome when there would be censorship but you didn’t listen did you?”said the visibly angry Deuba. “Today I am deliberately toning downmy words so it will be possible for you to publish them.”

Asked to compare the currentstate of emergency with that duringhis tenure (in 2003) Deuba replied,“In my time, you criticised me,wrote nonsense against me,blasted me, can you do that now?All you can report is jindabad thisand jindabad that,” Adding, “I am aperson who wants the best formonarchy. I want democracy towork with monarchy. But you always called me a palace puppet,didn’t you say such nonsensical things?” As Deuba got more andmore worked up, his wife Arzu, Prakash Sharan Mahat and MinendraRijal had to calm him down. But Deuba went on to accuse the pressof politically motivated criticism against him. He said he told theking: “I am not the problem, why should I resign?”

Deuba said he had given the Royal Nepali Army everything itwanted. “What the army said, I did, I increased the defence budget,bought four helicopters, recruited 11,000 soldiers. And the king doesthis after the army had been strengthened and if it hadn’t beenstrengthened, Maoist violence would have escalated,” he said. Asthe journalists were leaving Deuba said: “Publish what I’ve said andI’ll consider you all bahadurs.”

8 30TH YEARS LATER IN CAMBODIA

Memories of a

abolished, everyone ate in groupkitchens, communes were set up,religion was banned, childrenseparated from parents, everyonedug irrigation trenches or plantedpaddy 14 hours a day. As foodgot scarce, the elderly and infirmwere led off at night to beexecuted usually by blows to thehead. Intellectuals, academics,traders, writers, artists weresingled out to be killed.Estimates vary, but by the timeVietnamese forces liberatedPhnom Penh in 1979, between 1-1.5 million Cambodians out of apopulation of 7 million had beenkilled or had died of hunger ordisease. Among the dead werefive out of Prince Sihanouk’s 12children.

Although the Khmer Rougehad sealed off the country fromthe outside world, wordimmediately started filtering outof the atrocities. The UnitedStates, still smarting from itsdefeat in Vietnam, consideredthe enemy of its enemy a friend.China and Thailand looked away,too. And even though millionswere forcibly displaced andhundreds of thousands werebeing killed, the internationalcommunity rewarded ‘DemocraticKampuchea’ with a seat at theUnited Nations. The year thatMao Zedong died in Beijing, hisincarnates in Cambodia began toimprove on Mao’s vision of apeasant utopia.

The Khmer Rouge wasparanoid about infiltration.When the purges began, theywere brutal and widespread.Tuol Sleng was where thoseaccused of being spies and theirfamilies were interrogated,tortured and executed. Not evenPol Pot’s closest friends from hisParis days, Hou Nim and HouYubon were spared. Both werekilled in Tuol Sleng in 1977. PolPot couldn’t have not knownwhat happened to his comrades,but took it as a sign of ideologicalpurity that not even those closeto himself were spared.

The head of Tuol Sleng S-21was Kiang Khek Iev (alias ‘Duch’)and he took meticulous care tophotograph all inmates anddocument their interrogation. In1979, when Vietnamese forcesarrived, besides mass graves theyalso found piles of photographicrecords which later becameexhibits at the genocide museum.The skulls and bones arepreserved in a staff roomconverted into a shrine, inclassroom after classroomthousands of photographs ofmen, women and children stareat visitors. On a recent trip, wewatched as an Australian touristcame upon a blown-up black andwhite portrait of a mother withher baby who were executed. Shecouldn’t take it any more and ranout of the room, sobbing. Hercompanions were all moist-eyed.

The classrooms are allpreserved as they were found:divided into hundreds of tinycubicles two metres by one withchain and shackles, a bowl andtoilet tin. Other classrooms wereinterrogation chambers with thetorture implements on exhibit.

There have been many PhDtheses and books written aboutKhmer Rouge atrocities, yet thequestion that still haunts us iswhy? How can anyone ever

justify such barbarity? Why didthe world look away: was it shameof defeat in Vietnam or guilt overthe B-52 bombings? Has the worldlearnt its lesson? Can it happenagain?

Sadly, there have beengenocides in other parts of theworld since 1975. Yet, there arelessons from Cambodia: that geo-strategic importance can be asmall nation’s curse, that violenceultimately devours the verypeople who unleash it, rulersneed to implement genuine andtimely reforms so grievances don’tpile up, violence thrives whenthere is no democracy andaccountability, conflict has thetendency to spiral out of controland threaten the very existence ofnations. And the bitter-sweetproof in today’s Cambodia thateven though darkness and evilmay befall a country, itscivilisation will at some pointemerge with its humanity, dignityand integrity intact. It may takethree decades but its people willlearn to smile again

Recently, at a Phnom Penhtemple a group of people litincense and prayed for the longlife of one man: Comrade Duch,the director of Tuol Sleng. Theywere the few survivors of hisinfamous prison and didn’t wantthe ailing Khmer Rougeexecutioner to die before hestood trial for crimes againsthumanity.

A longer version of this articleappeared in Himal Khabarpatrika

KUNDA DIXITin PHNOM PENH

FROM SCHOOL TO CONCENTRATION CAMP TO MUSEUM:A visitor peers at photographs of inmates exectued at the Tuol Slengprison in Phnom Penh (above). Classrooms were divided into hundredsof cells or torture chambers (below).

a fter 30 years, even genocideturns into a touristattraction. The Tuol Sleng prison

in Phnom Penh has become justanother stop on Cambodia’stourist itinerary. After walkingpast exhibits reminding them ofthe Khmer Rouge holocaust andbrutality too horrible to imagine,visitors come out into theblinding sun to be greeted by agift shop.

There are DVDs of the TheKilling Fields, books on theKhmer Rouge period, Vishnureplicas from Angkor Wat andother tourist trinkets. Youwonder what is more troubling:evil or its banality.

Tuol Sleng is like no othermuseum, it is a memorial toinhumanity, preserved to remindus of the cruelty that mankind iscapable of. If such things couldhappen here, they can happenagain anywhere. One in sevenCambodians died during theKhmer Rouge reign of terrorbetween 1975-1979, and nearly12,000 of them weresystematically slaughtered herein Tuol Sleng. Among them, twothousand were children.

This used to be a three-storeyschool on a sleepy coconut-linedside street in Phnom Penh. Theclassrooms have cheerful,chequered yellow-and-whitetiled floors and the playgroundhad slides and swings. You canalmost hear the sound of happychildren shouting, running alongthe corridors. Today, there areonly thousands of pictures ofthose executed and their ghostsroam the classrooms that wereturned into torture chambers.

Exactly 30 years ago thismonth, the Khmer Rouge overranPhnom Penh, its victoryhastened by the senseless carpetbombing of the Cambodiancountryside by American B-52sin a desperate last-ditch effort toplug the Viet Cong’s supplyroutes into South Vietnam. Bythe end of March 1975, theAmericans had been defeated inVietnam and the Khmer Rougewas poised at the gates of PhnomPenh. The US-backed regime ofGen Lon Nol collapsed and therebels overran the city soon after.Prince Norodom Sihanoukreturned from exile in China –and Cambodia became theworld’s first and only Maoistmonarchy.

In the 1930s, Khmer Rougeleaders Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan,Ieng Sary and Son Sen hadgraduated from Cambodia’s eliteschools and were hand-picked togo to France for higher studies. InParis, they were influenced byVietnamese communists andsoon came to believe in theinevitability of an armed struggle.But, being extreme nationalists,they fell out with theVietnamese, and went on topropound a “cleanrevolution…an improvement onLenin and 10 years ahead ofMao”. Pol Pot boasted that hisrevolution was “not just a classstruggle but a revolution againsthistory itself”.

By mid-1975 it was becomingchillingly clear what he meant.Cities were evacuated, money was

PICS: KUNDA DIXIT

918 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239

holocaust

Getting Away With Genocide : Cambodia’sLong Struggle Against the Khmer RougeTom Fawthrop, Helen Jarvis

Voices from S-21:Terror and History in Pol Pot’sSecret Prison David Chandler

Brother Number One:A Political Biography David P. Chandler

How Pol Pot Came to Power :Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in

Cambodia, 1930-1975Ben Kiernan

BOOKS ON CAMBODIAN HISTORYWhen the War Was over: Cambodia and theKhmer Rouge RevolutionElizabeth Becker

Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields:Memoirs by Survivors Dith Pran

A History of CambodiaDavid Chandler

Dancing in Cambodia, at large in BurmaAmitav Ghosh

10 18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239INTERNATIONAL

Bush nominee: Paul WolfowitzS Deputy Defence SecretaryPaul Wolfowitz, chiefarchitect of one of the most

unpopular wars in US history, isPresident George W Bush’schoice to head the World Bank,the world’s largest developmentagency.

His nomination has sparkeda wave of outrage amongdevelopment groups, who blamehim for promoting unilateralismand militarism in US foreignpolicy and for lack oftransparency in bidding forreconstruction contracts in Iraq.

“He’s a man of goodexperiences. He helped manage alarge organisation. The WorldBank is a large organisation; thePentagon is a largeorganisation—he’s been involvedin the management of thatorganisation,” Bush told a pressconference on Wednesday. Hedescribed Wolfowitz, 62, as askilled diplomat, referring to hispositions at the StateDepartment and his tenure as USambassador to Indonesia in1980s. Bush also said Wolfowitzis “committed to development”.The nomination was quicklywelcomed by James Wolfensohn,the outgoing World Bankpresident, and by Rodrigo Rato,the managing director of the

Bank’s sister institution, theIMF. Wolfowitz’s nominationwould be subject to a routinevote of the World Bank’sexecutive directors.

Many activists were shockedat the choice predicting a newphase of confrontation betweenthe global social justicemovement and the World Bank.“In his career, Wolfowitz has sofar not shown any interest inpoverty reduction,environmental protection andhuman rights,” said PeterBosshard, of the InternationalRivers Network.

Wolfowitz was behind the

EMAD MEKAYin WASHINGTON

2003 US decision to excludenon-US companies fromcompeting for billions of dollarsin Iraqi reconstruction contracts,a move that fueled internationalfury and accusations that theUnited States was partlymotivated by oil in its invasionof the oil-rich Arab country.

“Wolfowitz’s role inpromoting economic changes inIraq and elsewhere suggest hewould work to push the Bank tofocus even more on imposing so-called ‘structural adjustment’policies like forced privatisationand indiscriminate tradeliberalisation, policies which

You have to be a Wolf to U

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Nepal figures in Condi’s tripUS Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may not have includedNepal in her Asian tour this week but the kingdom loomed large inher discussions in New Delhi and Beijing.

At a joint press conference with Indian Foreign Minister NatwarSingh in New Delhi on Wednesday, she spoke of the need for KingGyanendra to restore the democratic process in Nepal. “There needsto be a return to democracy in Nepal and that must happen very, verysoon. As a great democracy, India along with the United States,really must stand for exactly that,” she said adding that the UnitedStates and India have had excellent cooperation in addressing theNepal situation.

“I do not expect democracy, whether in South Asia or the MiddleEast, to be ‘American style’. The important thing is that there besystems that respect human dignity, that respect the rule of law, thatrespect the right to say what you wish and worship as you please.And that can take many different forms,” she said. Indian envoy to

Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjeewas in India then forconsultations.

Rice also discussed issuessuch as Indo-Pak ties,Afghanistan, Iraq, west Asiaand other issues of mutualinterest with India’s ForeignMinister Natwar Singh. Marking

her tenure early with suitcase diplomacy, Rice is in Asia this weekwith stops in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, before turning toChina, South Korea and Japan to take up the thorny issues of NorthKorea and China-Taiwan relations. She praised the progress thatIndia and Pakistan have made toward peace. Improved relationsbetween the two countries have resulted in a bus service across thedisputed territory of Kashmir, which is to begin this April.

Rice also said that India and the United States would enhancetheir defence cooperation. Both she and Singh said noannouncements would be made on arms sales however. Singh addedthat the two had discussed defence issues and supplies, includingthe sale of F16 jet fighters to Pakistan. Pakistan has been requestingthe United States to sell F16s to its military but India is opposed tothe move and says the planes could be used against India in aconflict. Rice also made it clear to India that the United States hadsome reservations on India’s permanent membership in the UNSecurity Council.

In Pakistan, later on the same day, Rice met with PresidentPervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. She said thatPakistan was a key ally in US-led war on terrorism and a pivotalcountry in South Asia, a model for the Islamic world.

1118 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239INTERNATIONAL

wo stories, one from the shores of theArabian Sea and the other from theKashmir Valley. A diving accident, a

land mine, two lives from Pakistan andIndia transformed.

Umair, the engineering student fromKarachi in his wheelchair and Khurram, thepeace activist from Srinagar with his plasticleg, are driven by far more than the urge toovercome their respective disabilities. Forboth, transcending their physical limitations

is tiedup withtheirwork forpeace.

Both were at the Seventh Convention of thePakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peaceand Democracy in New Delhi last weekend.

Shallow diving in Malir, Karachi, sixyears ago cost Umair the use of both legs.Pulling the pieces of his life together whileadjusting to life in a wheelchair, he wantedto do something for others but not just inPakistan. He undertook a peace march onhis wheelchair from Wagah to Delhi anddistributed medicines and wheelchairsalong the way.

“I wanted to take my hand-controlled caralong in case I needed it. The Indiangovernment said they would agree ifPakistan gave permission but they didn’t,”says Umair. Last year while searching the

web for an organisation to use as aplatform (“I knew I couldn’t do it on myown”), he stumbled upon the website ofthe Pakistan India Peoples Forum forPeace and Democracy, now in its 10th

year. He became a member and theorganisation sponsored his visaapplication but the Indian governmentkept his passport for six months beforereturning it with regrets citing ‘securityreasons’.

“He should make a symbolic crossingat Wagah on his wheelchair and then takethe bus to Delhi,” commented a seniorIndian foreign ministry official at ForeignMinister Natwar Singh’s reception inDelhi for the forum delegates. That iswhat Umair did, on this first visit to Indiaalong with his parents and 300 otherPakistani delegates, to attend theconvention.

The authorities are still not willing toallow him to travel to Delhi on his own buthis brief meeting with Foreign MinisterNatwar Singh at the reception yielded aray of hope. Singh directed officials toarrange an appointment for Umair at theIndian Spinal Injuries Centre, in NewDelhi. His visa has been extended and hehas undergone a preliminary examinationat the centre.

Khurram was an activist coordinatorof the Jammu & Kashmir Coalition of

Civil Society (www.jkccs.org), anindependent organisation devoted tocovering human rights abuses, withparticular focus on youth, students andwomen. Last January, their volunteers actedas bodyguards for the Kashmiri leader YasinMalik, who was wandering at the WorldSocial Forum in Mumbai as though he hadn’tan enemy in the world. Although notaffiliated with any political party, activistswere only too aware of the possiblerepercussions of any attack on Malik.Among them was Khurram, who also foundtime to liaise with media, providingindependent insights into the human rightssituation in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

PERSONALPOLITICAL

Beena Sarwar

Two disabled people—one Indian, onePakistani, devote their lives to peace

Umair and Khurram

Retiring: James Wolfensohndisruption, together withWolfensohn’s tendency to drivethe bank into new areas such ascultural preservation, explain thedamning press commentaryaround the midpoint of histenure.

Wolfensohn overestimatedwhat his outreach to NGO criticswas likely to accomplish. Butnone of it insulated the bankfrom the anti-globalisationprotests of 2000 or from someferocious campaigns to blockparticular bank projects. Theintimidating effect on the bank’slending was profound. For muchof Wolfensohn’s tenure, the bankshied away from controversialinfrastructure projects that mightincur the wrath of environmentalactivists. In 2002, the bank’s

stunned managers were treated toa presentation on how far thistrend had gone. In each of thethree previous years, projectlending by the bank’sunsubsidised arm had been lowerthan in any of the previous 20.

This retreat might have beendefensible if it had won the bankpeace with its activist critics butcritics are as vociferous as ever. Itmight have been defensible ifinfrastructure were somehowunimportant to development. Butwithout power projects, there canbe no industry and little growth,without water projects there canbe few gains in public health,without roads, commerce will berudimentary.

As Wolfensohn’s decade atthe bank draws to a close, the

n 1 June 1995, JamesWolfensohn became theninth president of the

World Bank. Four years later, hebecame the third president inWorld Bank history to bereappointed to a second, five-yearterm.

A naturalised Americancitizen, he announced in Decem-ber that he would step downwhen his term expired. On 1 June2005, a new president willtakeover.

Wolfensohn’s record is not allpositive. Like most newcomers,he believed that a managementshake-up could make the bank asefficient as a private company. Asa public institution, the bank isanswerable to a board of directorsand representing shareholdinggovernments, that meets twice aweek to pose nitpicking questionsabout projects, forcing managers tospend days chasing answers. Thenthey complain that the bank isslow and bureaucratic.

At the same time, the bank’srich-country shareholders feel freeto pile more mandates—dosomething about AIDS, promoteprimary education, fosterentrepreneurs and so on—andthen feel equally free to excoriatethe bank for lacking focus.Perhaps because his early tenurecoincided with the stock marketbubble, which was accompaniedby a bubble in the reputation ofmanagement gurus, Wolfensohnoverestimated the magic thatprivate sector practices couldwork: he convened a buddy groupof private sector CEOs to launch amanagement shake-up thatalienated his staff and burned up$250 million. This cost and

In April, Khurram was among thoseinjured in a landmine blast at Kupwara innorth Kashmir during an election monitoringround. Fellow activist, Aasiya Jeelani, 29and the 34-year old driver of the vehicle,Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, died in the blast.

The mine was planted by a non-localmilitant organisation. “They called up laterto say sorry, and that they had not meant totarget us.” Khurram wants peace in theregion—not the “peace of a graveyard but ajust and lasting peace”. This would meanthe world to both young men.

Beena Sarwar is the op-ed editor ofThe News in Karachi.

T

institution finds itself in aposition depressingly like that of1995. It remains indispensable:no other institution can rival itssophistication in dealing withdevelopment and developmentseems even more important to therich world after 9/11. But thebank remains vulnerable. To theold attacks from left and right, thebank must add two newchallenges.

The first comes from debtrelief. If the World Bank is toforgive 100 per cent of someborrowers’ debts, what happens tothe resulting hole in its balancesheet?

The second challenge stemsfrom the uncertain state of thebank’s theory of development.The biggest developmentsuccesses of recent times—China,Vietnam and to a certain extent,India—have taken the WorldBank’s advice only selectively.The bank has reacted byacknowledging that a competentstate which can implementpolicies consistently may mattermore than the policy chosen—meaning that its own role aspolicy adviser is of secondaryimportance. This new humility isadmirable but it involves a risk.Can the bank continue to solicitmoney for its soft-loan windowwhile acknowledging that itcannot determine developmentoutcomes?

The bank’s future cannot betaken for granted and the characterof the institution’s next leadermay have a big impact on itsstability. Some of the namescirculating in Washington, likePaul Wolfowitz, are alarming. At atime when the salience oftransnational threats has becomeconventional wisdom, we may beabout to squander the best tool wehave to manage them. (Prospect)

have failed to create growth andhave exacerbated poverty acrossthe globe,” said Neil Watkins,national coordinator for the anti-debt campaigning group JubileeUSA Network.

“Paul Wolfowitz is the mostcontroversial choice Bush couldhave made,” said Njoki NjorogeNjehu, director of the 50 Years IsEnough Network.

“Wolfowitz brings noapparent development experienceto the job but offers a record ofunabashed militarism andunilateralism that representsexactly the wrong direction forthe World Bank,” said RobertWeissman, director of EssentialAction.

Others disagree. “His term asan ambassador to Indonesiataught him a lot aboutdevelopment,” said PeterTimmer, senior fellow at theCentre for Global Development inWashington, who comparesWolfowitz’s anticipatedleadership of the World Bank tothat of Robert McNamara, aformer secretary of defenceduring the Vietnam War.McNamara later became thelongest-serving president of theWorld Bank, institutingsweeping changes.

Those against Wolfowitz areplacing their hopes on a strongEuropean opposition. Europeanstogether form a substantialenough bloc that they couldreject the US action. The USpresident, by custom, selects thepresident of the World Bank. Themanaging director of the IMF hastraditionally been a European,handpicked by Europeangovernments. (IPS)

lead the World BankO

1318 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239SPORTS

TEE BREAKDeepak Acharya

T

ast month, when theRegional CricketDevelopment Committee of

Nepal Cricket Associationplanned to launch a femalecricket tournament, they werelaughed at and ridiculed.

Not anymore. In a short time,the committee was been able tofind a large number of girlsinterested in playing the game.Committee members went school-to-school and handpickedaspiring players. They were givena crash course on the game andwhat has surprised everyone isthe extent of this hidden talentof female cricketers in ourschools.

In March, scores of highschool girls with virtually nogame experience participated inan inter-school tournament. And,beat this, they played pretty well,too. The number of participantsexceeded the expectation of theorganisers. “The enthusiasm forthe game and their participationhas thrilled cricket lovers,” saysLekh Bahadur Chettri, chairmanof the committee.

Mangal Prasad High School(pictured) beat Suryodaya HighSchool with eight wickets duringthe finals on 5 March. The teamcaptain Nairi Thapa alone scored37 runs for two wickets.

Suryodaya lost all wickets duringthe first batting in 18.5 overs andmanaged to score 74 runs.

Mostly beginners, the girlshad to be taught how to hold thebat for the first time only amonth ago. But they learnedquickly and pretty soon werescoring runs and shatteringwickets. The spectators wereencouraging and no one booed orteased them. Binu Budamagar ofAngels High School was declaredthe Best Player while Mangal’scaptain Nairi won the Man of theMatch award.

Encouraged and ready-to-go,the girls are now bubbling withenthusiasm. They are even

demanding a national levelfemale-only cricket tournament.“We are eager to make thishappen,” says Binu who is nowthinking of turning to cricket fora career. “Until a month ago, I hadno clue about cricket. Now I’mobsessed with it,” she adds. “Iwant to participate in thenational championship.”

Jay Kumar Nath Shah,president of Nepal CricketAssociation can hardly believehis eyes. “This is amazing. Weshould be working towardsmaking this national,” says Shah.

And why not let them playthe boys and perhaps even beatthem at their own game.

Bowled over by girlsWho says cricket is only for boys?RAMESWOR BOHARA

in NEPALGANJ

L

he smile on the faces of your students when you are trying toteach them golf is the most satisfying moment. Their faces justlight up when after a few lessons, they start hitting the ball

solidly and score well. Every now and then, some of the beginnersthat I coach give me the opportunity that makes everythingworthwhile.

Most recreational golfers work hard on improvising long gamesrather than honing short ones. Almost every one of them tries towhack the ball a few yards long and straight. I have looked into the

importance of the mind toproduce better results. Everysport needs a combination ofvarious things to achieve the best

results. Let us look into the other more important aspect thatcontributes to better performance on the golf course—the soundtechnique. It is the best way to swing the club to hit the ball straightand long or just perform better in general.

Recently, I’ve been working with many golfers and found thatmost had common problems: no shoulder turn on the back swing, notdropping the right shoulder on the start of the downswing and notrotating the hips through the shot. Golf professionals can usually hitthe ball up to 100 yards longer than most club golfers without mucheffort. They use their shoulders and hips to help hit the ball whereasthe club golfers just use their hands.

For consistent results, one must turn the shoulders at least 90degrees especially after reaching the top of the back swing. Thismagic move is dropping the right shoulder, then turning the hip toallow the club to come from the inside path increasing the chancesof hitting the ball more solidly.

There are a few checkpoints to ensure the magic move: on theback swing, turn your shoulder until your left shoulder touches thechin. At this point your hands should not be higher than yourshoulders.

On the down swing, right hand golfers should drop their rightshoulder. To create a solid angle of attack in order to hit the ball, theshaft of the club needs to be parallel to the target at this point. Thenturn the hip to bring the club head back to square position at impact.The hip turn can be crucial in hitting the target and remember tokeep both hands straight before taking the swing up to the finishingposition. This is the magic move that can help you generate morepower and swing speed.

Deepak Acharya is a golf instructor and Golf Director atGokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa, Kathmandu.

prodeepak@hotmail.com

Just some simple steps couldmake you king of the green

The magic move

RAMESWOR BOHARA

Girls of Mangal Prasad High school with their trophy.Girls of Mangal Prasad High school with their trophy.

12 18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239REVIEW

iven the subject matter it is perhapsunderstandable why Outfoxed is onedocumentary going straight to DVD rather than

to the cinemas. After all, it is one thing to upsetGeorge Bush and McDonalds but a whole moredangerous business risk to court Rupert Murdoch’sdispleasure.

Directed by Robert Greenwald, it is ashamelessly partisan expose of the way in whichMurdoch’s Fox News Channel has become little morethan a Republican mouthpiece, brow-beatinginterviewees who don’t subscribe to the party line,firing staff of the wrong political persuasion and, morescarily, distorting the news to present its version ofthe ‘truth’ to the American public.

Newspapers have, of course, always shownpolitical bias but imagine if a British news presenterstarted badmouthing andridiculing Blair orHoward during asupposedly objectivenews report. That’s prettymuch the situation with Foxwhere daily editorial contentmemos are issued to the staffoutlining the political agenda forthe day.

Basically, George Bush isgreat, Democrats suck, foreignersand liberals are the enemy. Duringthe run-up to the elections, therewas even a concerted effort tosuggest John Kerry was French.Using interviews with mediapundits and former employees whoeither jumped or were pushed,Greenwald unfolds stories that

George Orwell is alive and kicking in the doublespeakworld of an unfair and unbalanced news channel

Fox huntwould be too implausible in a work of fiction.

A former presenter recalls being reprimanded fornot making Reagan’s birthday into a bigger story.News becomes misinformation spun to reinforce aclimate of fear and therefore dependency on thepresident. Speculation and hearsay becomes fact byrepetition. The son of a man killed in 9/11 isdemonised during an interview for daring to questionthe war on Iraq.

All that plus a montage of sound bites thateffectively lets Fox News bury itself while constantlychanting its hysterical official catchphrase–‘Fair andbalanced’.

Given there are no examples of practice fromother networks to afford comparison and despiteMurdoch’s vast empire of print and TV mediaGreenwald focuses solely on Fox News. Balanced

probably isn’t exactly a term you’dapply to the documentary either.

But, then you wouldn’texpect a documentary on

Goebbels to be particularlyeven-handed either. It may

have made and illustrated itspoint long before the end creditsroll but it’s a fascinating, and at

times, a grimly funny piece ofwork which, if nothing else, goes a

long way to explain why 67 percentof Fox viewers believed SaddamHussain and al Qaeda to beconnected.

Screening:Outfoxed, The Film Club

20 March, 5PM atYala Maya Kendra, Patan Dhoka.

Tickets Rs 50. 5542554

f cartoonist Durga Baral’s paintingsdisturbed you last October, wait till yousee his latest pen-and-ink drawings.The dark silence of their mutilated

subjects is beyond the satire sketches thathis aliasBatsayanmighthave

been associated with. On display withother works by celebrated artists at theSiddhartha Art Gallery’s Celebrating Line,it completes the exhibition’s outline of arthistory and artistry in Nepal. But with art,

these drawings reflect the changing state ofthe state.

The collection begins with Tej BahadurChitrakar’s Head Study of an Old Manbased on his academic background inwestern art. Chitrakar was one of the firstNepalis to receive formal education in finearts. His rough full-length sketch of a manand a woman done in 1924 is among theearliest known Nepali pen-and-ink works.The holes that time has burned on theseworks tell of the need for preservation ofthese sketches of history.

“We need art management in Nepal,”

G

Outlines These drawings trace not justthe advancement of art but alsoNepal’s changing times

Tapoban retreatThirty young artists have returned tothe serenity of the jungle at OshoTapoban, Nagarjun. They retreated fora weeklong intensive workshop calledUttishta–A New Beginning. Organisedby Sutra, the artists were required towork with site-specific artworks andinstallations. The completed exhibitionwill be open to visitors on 19 March,10AM onwards at Osho Tapoban.

says Ratan Kumar Rai, president of theNepal Water Colour Society and one of theexhibiting artists. “Nepali artists havenever really sat down to discusspreservation of artworks.”

Drawings and sketches retain theartist’s ideas in the raw form withmistakes, experiments and corrections.These drawings also record the changingperspectives of the Nepali people in thelast 81 years. Uttam Nepali’s drawings fromthe 1950s have character-driven subjectswhether it is a picture of a hermit or astreetscape. This was his pre-abstract era.

Drawings from the 1980s and aroundthe time King Birendra proposed to callNepal a ‘zone of peace’ revel in the wonderand beauty of the country and its people:Jan Salter’s portraits of bright-eyed ethnicpeople, Shankhar Raj Suwal’s stylisticdepictions of the Glory of Nepal and Peaceand Compassion, Sharada Chitrakar’s fine-lined temples before her Bungadeo series.They are a celebration of peace, nature andthe joy of being.

Sashi Bikram Shah’s Composition I, abeautifully detailed piece of work withbutterflies begins the 1990s segment.Ujjwol Kundan Jyapoo’s works picks upthe thread with his 1991’s The Gift, a manbestowing a child to an imperial figure. Hishouses and streetscapes have dizzyingoptical illusion-like outlines saying whatyou see is not what you get. The 1990swere an experimental stage for most artists,some drawing nature and others theiremotions.

In the later years, Sashi Bikram Shah’sterror-stricken horses and people gallop in.Manuj Babu Mishra, the artist who hasconfined himself to his residence for morethan a decade now, marks them with hisdisillusioned surrealistic self-portraits.Ragini’s Arrested Time series chains thesetogether with the landmarks ofKathmandu. And Durga Baral’s darkcompositions of 2005 characterise themood with sealed countenances andmutilated limbs.

Celebrating Line at SiddharthaArt Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited, until 13 April.I

REVIEWAbha Eli Phoboo

KIRAN PANDAY

Durga Baral’s pen-and-ink Composition III.Durga Baral’s pen-and-ink Composition III.

1518 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239

DOG DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN: Former Prime Minister Sher BahadurDeuba with his son, Jayabir, and the family boxer, Alex, the day after hisrelease from house arrest.

KIRAN PANDAY

PLAIN SPEAKING: Social Science Baha organised an evening ofBhojpuri and Maithili on 12 March at the Yala Maya Kendra on theoccasion of a conference on the Nepal Tarai.

KIRAN PANDAY

KING AND COUNTRY: A rally organised by various schools andreligious organisations in support of King Gyanendra’s February Firstmove in Kathmandu on Saturday.

KUMAR SHRESTHA/NEPALNEWS.COM

LET THERE BE LIGHTS: Rembering all Nepalis who died during themonth of Phalgun in the conflict at the monthly Himsa Birodh vigil atMaitighar Mandala on Monday.

ALL SMILES: Winners of the FNCCI-NYEF award, Dileep Agrawal ofWorld Link and Srijana Thapa of Photo Concern, with their trophies atthe boss Top 10 Business Excellence Award ceremony on 11 March.

KIRAN PANDAY

A

RAM HUMAGAIN/NEPALNEWS.COM

t a time when the countryand its armed forces areunder the human rights

spotlight, there sometimesemerge stories of bravery,humanity and sensitivity tosuffering. It is a messy war,Nepalis and killing Nepalis, andfirefights like Bardiya on 6 marchshouldn’t be seen as a victory ordefeat. That is the message from MajGen Deepak Bikram Rana(pictured) who took media andhuman rights activists to the site.There were dozens of bodies ofMaoists along the sides of theroad, captured weapons werelined up. But Maj Gen Rana worea pained look on his face as heshowed the visitors thebodies. “I can’t say Ifeel happy about this,

A Nepali firstin fact I am filled with sorrow,after all they are all Nepalis,” hesaid, “in war time you either killor get killed, but I wish it wasn’tlike that.”

The Maoists ambushed anarmy convoy on the Nepalganj-Guleria road near the Indianborder and killed four securitypersonnel. The soldiers radioedfor reinforcements and theRangers soon arrived. Some 48Maoists were killed, and therewere dozens of wounded Maoistswho had been evacuated to thesurrounding villages. Maj GenRana’s instructions to his troopswere clear: “Our wounded Maoistbrothers should be given propercare, we don’t kill anyone who isunarmed. We are all Nepalisfirst.”

If only there were more likeMaj Gen Rana on both sides, the

war perhaps would be foughtby the rules and it

would be easier tofind a resolution.

Rameswor Bohara

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14 18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239CITY

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Call 4442220 for show timings www.jainepal.com

KATHMANDU AIR QUALITY

KATHMANDU VALLEY

by MAUSAM BEEDNEPALI WEATHER

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue

26-10 27-10 28-11 29-12 28-12

Two storm systems have moved throughNepal in the past week, bringing moisturethat got regurgitated into local convectionsover the mountains. What it did was keepthe maximum temperatures from going ashigh as we had predicted last week. We arenow going into uncharted territory as thewesterly fronts are superceded by localthunderstorms. Being a wet winter-springexpect more of these isolated storms alongthe midhills and mountains. This satellitepicture taken on Thursday morning showsanother fresh moisture front heading our waybut its advance may be thwarted by a highpressure system over northern India.Conclusion: the mercury level of the Valleywill fluctuate due to sunny intervals duringthe weekend but will rise thereafter.Afternoons will be breezy.

Good < 60

Ok 61 to 120

Unhealthy 121 to 350

Harmful 351 to 425

Hazardous >425

Putalisadak Patan H Thamel Kirtipur Bhaktapur Matsyagaun

6 - 12 March 2005 in micrograms per cubic meter.Source: www. mope.gov.np

The average concentration of fine dust less than 10 microns in diameter in Kathmanduwas slightly lower than last week but that was because the monitoring station atPutali Sadak, one of the most polluted spots in the Valley, was unserviceable.Which doesn’t mean the air wasn’t bad, in fact the monitors may have conked outbecause they got choked with pollutants! The readings in the other stations werepretty much the same as the previous week. There will be more ambient dust asthe dry season sets in, we’d take out the face masks if we were you.

Now Showing: Karam

Karam is the story of one man’s retribution dealt to him by life, retributionborn out of his dark past. John (John Abraham) is an assassin whoworks for mob boss Captain (Bharat Dhabolkar). One fateful day, Johnends up killing an entire family. As he stares into the eyes of the littlegirl whose life is slowly ebbing away from her, realisation hits John. Hedecides to quit and start a life without bloodshed with his wife Shalini(Priyanka Chopra). But as per the Karmic laws of life, John’s plan andfate are in direct opposition. Captain is facing a major threat from arival don Yunus (Vishwajeet Pradhan). When he is nearly killed by anassassin, Captain decides to teach the city a lesson. His plan is so bigthat it’s never been dreamed of. Karam is the quest for one man’sredemption set in a high-octane emotional thriller.

FESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSUttishtha Open Day at Osho Tapoban on 20 March, 10 AM onwards. 4242106Hidden Devotions Paintings by Robert Passing, until 22 March atGallery Nine, Lajimpat. 4428694Festive Images Paintings by Pradip K Bajracharya at Buddha Gallery,Thamel. Until 27 March. 4441689Reflections from Tibet Photos by Kevin Bubriski at Indigo Gallery, Naxal.Until 31 March. 4413580Tsunami Close up Photos by TV Cakenberghe at Via Via Café, until31 March. 4700184Celebrating Line Exhibition of drawings from Nepal at Siddhartha Art Gallery,until 13 April. 4218048Magic Pencil Artworks by Britain’s best children’s illustrators at theBritish Council, Lainchor. Until 6 May. 4410798Interior Exterior Exhibition at BICC, 16-20 March.

EVENTSJust Divine Jack Daniel’s Chill Out Night at Latin Quarter, Baber MahalRevisited on 18 March, 8PM onwards, Rs. 500.Alumni Day of St Xavier’s School on 19 March at St Xavier’s School,Jawalakhel, 9AM to 10PM. Contact 4414785, gaa@gaa.org.npGyanodaya Festival Live with 1974 AD on 19 March, 12AM-5PM atGyanodaya Residential School, Khokana, Lalitpur.Outfoxed Documentary by Robert Greenwald at The Film Club, Baggikhana,Patan Dhoka on 20 March, 5PM. Tickets Rs 50. 5542544Francophonie Week with French food at the Alliance Française,Tripureswor, 21-24 March. 4241163Annual Peace Ride Nepal on 24 March, Kathmandu-Chitwan/Pokhara,Rs 3,550, includes three-nights lodging and food. 4440462French Speakers Evening at the Alliance Française, Tripureswor on24 March, 6PM onwards. 4241163KICC Good Friday Service on 25 March at The NorwegianSchool, Jawalakhel, 6.30 PM. 5525176KICC Easter Sunday Service on 27 March atThe Church of the Assumption, Dhobighat, 11AM.1905 Sundays Garage sale, pet practices & more.Jat Sodhnu Jogi Ko Play directed by Anup Baral atGurukul, Setopool, 5PM. Till 10 April. 4466956Fun in the Sun at Hotel Shangri-la, Lajimpat.Rs 499 for adults, Rs 299 for children. 4412999Art workshop for kids at Buddha Gallery. 4441689Rugby Practice Every Saturday. 4435939Sanibaar Mela Every Saturday at the DharaharaBakery Café, 12AM-5PM.The God Dance of Kathmandu Valley Tuesdays at Hotel Vajra.

MUSICNight for Tsunami Kishor Gurung live at Shankar Hotel, Lajimpat on18 March, 6.30 PM. Tickets Rs 1000. 4261831, 4410151, 55221113Live Jazz by JCS trio and Peter McTwister, Thursdays at Full Moon Bar,Mondays at New Orleans Café, Thamel. 4700736Live with Abhaya and the Steam Injuns at Dwarika’s Hotel. 4479488Fusion Time Mondays at Jalan Jalan Restaurant, Lajimpat, 7PM. 4410438Live Music at Juneli Bar, Hotel de l’Annapurna, Darbar Marg. 4221711Good Time Blues Band at Rum Doodle, Fridays, 7PM onwards. 4701208Classical music Fridays at Hotel Vajra, 7PM. 4271545Jatra Saturday nights with Looza, 6.30 PM onwards. 4256622Jukebox experience Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Rox Bar.Jazz at Upstairs, Lajimpat. Wednesday and Saturday, 7.45 PM onwards.

FOODPersian BBQ at Dwarika’s Hotel, Battisputali, on 25 March, 7PM. 479488LQ Cauldron Six days a week except Friday at Latin Quarter Salsa Bar,Baber Mahal Revisited. Rs 1,500 per pot, order in advance. 4254260Arniko Special Lunch at Hotel de l’Annapurna, Darbar Marg. 4221711Exotic Seafood at Rox Restaurant, Hyatt Regency. 4491234Delicacies Pastas and snacks at Roadhouse Café, Jawalakhel. 5521755Farm House Café Delicious meals at Park Village Hotel. 4375280Café Bahal Newari cuisine at Kathmandu Guest House, Thamel. 4700632Dwarika’s Thali Lunch at the Heritage courtyard. 4479488The Tharu Kitchen at Jungle Base Camp. Junglebasecamp@yahoo.com

GETAWAYSCelebrate Spring Holiday Packages with Tiger Mountain. 4361500Shivapuri Cottage Nature, peace and bird watching at 6,000ft. 4354331Chiso Chiso Hawama Special packages at Club Himalaya. 4411706Jungle Base Camp Lodge, Bardia, special package and prices.junglebasecamp@yahoo.comMalaysia Dream Holidays Packages starting from Rs 45,500 per person.4247215 extn 013-14, malaysiaholidays_marco@polo.com.npTemple Tiger Special Easter Bonus for expats. 4263480

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18 - 24 MARCH 2005 #239

UNDER MY HATKunda Dixit

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

espite all the efforts emergency personnelhave taken on a war-footing these days toensure everyone sings hosannas, there are still

some naysayers out there who are moaning andgroaning. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Here we are, trying to liberate the public fromhaving to listen to boring FM discussions that usedto go on forever and forcing them to broadcast 24-hour music and the nabobs of negativism aren’tsatisfied with the song selection. We got rid of

those irritatingmobile phonesthat always gotcut off in mid-conversation,

and the fusspots want their darling little vibratorsback. Pampered brats! Let's spank them.

We started collecting garbage at 8PM and nowthe neighbourhood dingo pack is complaining thatwe have deprived them of their midnight snack. Wepatched the potholes along the main thoroughfaresand shopkeepers are now whining about speedingmotorcycles. We made Sunday a working day tomake the workforce more productive and they wantdemocracy reinstated. You give them an arm, andthey want a leg.

Complain, complain, complain, that’s all theyever did around here. That’s why we had to threateneditors to make them shut up, and now they’recomplaining that they can’t complain anymore. I’lltell you what was wrong with this country: therewere just too many civilian liberties. How soothingit has been for the past two months not to have tolisten to the media telling us how bad things are.Now we can pretend everything is hunkydory in theboondocks. What a relief we can’t hear thegrumbling, it was getting unbearable.

One thing us yesmen are definitely notcomplaining about these days is the ban on mobilephones. An average Nepali used to spend two hourson theirs cells every day, multiplied by the number

Stop complaining, or elseof users all over the country we have already saved13.2 million manhours (which is equivalent to 5million horsepowers in the metric system) to bechanneled into much more productive activitiessuch as re-registering everything in sight.

Now that the UTL and mobile phone users havere-registered, why stop at that? As long as we are atit let’s re-register the whole darn country. Let’s re-apply for membership of the United Nations, theNon-maligned Movement and the group of Last-but-not-Least Developed Countries.

Every Nepali will henceforth have to re-registerto prove that he or she is indeed of a woman born.This will require them to obtain new birthcertificates that puts it all down in writing that theywere reincarnated as Nepalis in their present life.That should prove beyond doubt that all of us arereally here in time and space and not in a paralleluniverse.

The next step is to re-register all marriages. Fornational security reasons, all Nepalis of reproductiveage and above are hereby required to get married allover again, renew their marriage vows and get newmarriage certificates. (Those born out of wedlockmust get their parents married first before theythemselves tie the knot.) It has also come to ournotice that many Nepali males are illegallycohabiting with members of other sexes without aproper license. Those with two or more spouses willhave to remarry them all individually again and getre-certification in triplicate duly notarised by a firstclass gazetted officer.

Then there is the pesky issue of death. All thosewho have died in the past year, please go to theMinistry of Vital Statistics and get your death re-registered. Sunday is now a working day at theministry.

I am sure that with these elaboratesecurity safeguards in place we can allcollectively look forward to a bright and securefuture as a nation and people.

D

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