(This is the final part of series of report in The New Paper on Nepal’s former crown prince, in which he talks about his life in S’pore and meet the Singaporean woman who helped him settle in.)
A SINGLE call made by this Singapore woman can apparently move mountains in Nepal.
A king even gave up his throne after MsAngella Cheng made a strategic call.
This happened in 2006, when thousands of students took to the streets of the capital Kathmandu in demonstrations against the monarchy soon after the Maoist rebels had come into power.
Ms Cheng’s friends in Nepal had asked her for help.
So she got on the phone with former long-time prime ministerG P Koirala, who was leading the demonstrations.
“I asked him to seek an audience with then-King Gyanendra and work out a solution,” she told The New Paper.
Mr Koirala went to the palace and negotiations began in earnest.
The final outcome?
The king agreed to abdicate in favour of his grandson, Hridayendra, who was then an infant, easing the tense atmosphere.
According to Ms Cheng, Mr Koirala remarked to her then that she deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for her peacemaker role.
Call opens prison doors
Last November, when two top politicians – husbands of her close friends – were arrested, she interceded on their behalf and went to visit them when they were behind bars. “It was no easy matter – the guards refused to let me through.
“So I made calls to the Chief of Police in one instance and a Major-General in the other, and the visits were allowed.
“Till today, their wives know that I am a friend in need, and whenever they know I am in Nepal, they will whip up a feast for me,” she said.
So how did a Singapore woman acquire so much influence there, with many friendships, including some in high places?
It all began more than 10 years ago, when she was introduced to the Nepali Royal Family.
“I helped (the late) Princess Shanti, the elder sister of King Birendra, to raise funds for the country’s orphans. She was Nepal’s Patron of Orphanages. I helped raise cash which I sent over, along with used clothes, books and computers.”
Princess Shanti was among those slain in the royal massacre of 2001 when Crown prince Dipendra went berserk and opened fire on members of the Royal Family at a palace party, killing nine of them before shooting himself.
Ms Cheng’s royal connections remain strong now.
When Prince Paras decided to stay in Singapore after the abolition of the monarchy, she helped him settle down, including finding him accommodation.
Can she be a kingmaker?
Ms Cheng has visited Nepal to set up libraries, teach the children English and even cooked for them, breaking her nails, she said with a hearty laugh.
She also purchased medical equipment for Nepal’s public hospitals and co-ordinated sponsorship attachments for doctors and nurses to be trained in Singapore to upgrade their skills so that they can improve public health care back home.
In time, she extended help to Mr Koirala to raise funds to bring in urgently-needed medical experts.
Ms Cheng, 45, plans to visit Nepal during Deepavali in October and seek an audience with prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (alias Prachanda), during which she will offer him a plan which she thinks will unite the country.
Nepal is currently rocked by strife and dissent, split as it is by rifts between pro-monarchist and pro-republic factions.
“I will propose that we reinstate the monarchy, with the grandson of King Gyanendra, 6-year-old Hridayendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, as king. He will not have executive power but will be more of a figurehead, and assigned the role of doing social work.”
Why the young man and not his father, Prince Paras?
Ms Cheng believes that Prince Paras would not be a good choice as he is not popular with the people, having, as he himself has admitted, made too many mistakes to inherit the royal mantle.
Restoring paradise
And the Singaporean believes her suggestion will bear fruit as she has two bargaining chips to persuade the Prachanda government to accept the return of the monarchy.
One, the country is in dire need of infrastructural development.
An architect by training and fluent in Nepali and Mandarin, she is accompanying the Prachanda government to China to have discussions with the Chinese government on starting a number of major infrastructural projects in Nepal.
Two, through some close contacts in the Japanese government, Ms Cheng is also trying to persuade Japan to undertake some similar infrastructional projects in Nepal.
Ms Cheng comes across as a woman determined to help set things right in a country famous for its natural beauty.
Nepal is home to Everest, the world's highest peak and Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha.
Ms Cheng enjoys doing social and community work so much that she quit a cushy job with a property developer to start a social enterprise, ChaCha Cottage Industry.
Her social mission and objective is to help unskilled single mothers (divorced and widowed) with home-based work, including making decorative scented candles, beauty soaps and beauty products and costume jewellery.
She hopes to empower these women to rebuild their lives and re-establish their self-esteem.
Profits from sales of these products are used to help families of these mothers pay for school uniforms, medical and miscellaneous expenses. Products made by ChaCha Cottage Industry are sold at Raffles Hotel Shop.
Said Ms Cheng: “I was once a single mum, and my journey as a single mum to a life of blessings, and wanting to move on from success to significance, spurred me to start this cottage industry.”
Now, Nepal is facing perhaps its most difficult time. Revenue from tourism, its main income earner, is falling as visitors are staying away because of the global recession.
The country is also plagued by shortages of all sorts and daily blackouts.
Ms Cheng feels she has a new peace mission to play and intends to return to Nepal soon.
Isn’t she afraid for her safety, given that the populace in Nepal is restive, crime is rampant and kidnappings take place almost every day?
“No, I know most of the politicians, including Prime Minister Prachanda, the Maoist rebel leader turned politician, and members of the royal family since 1981.
“ I have played many crucial roles in the country for the last 28 years, and the time has come for me to do my bit for the country again.”
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Nepali PM says to complete peace in 4 to 5 months
By John AcherOSLO (Reuters)- Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda said Monday that his government aimed to complete a peace process in four to five months, roughly in time for when the mandate of a U.N. mission expires at the end of July.
A decade-long civil war in the Himalayan nation ended in 2006, and Prachanda's former Maoist rebels head a coalition government after a surprise election victory in April last year.
Nepal is under pressure to complete the peace process, which involves finding a future for former Maoist insurgents now in U.N. camps, before the U.N. mission's mandate runs out.
"I think now we are going to conclude this peace process within a couple of months. We have already decided a timetable to lead this process to conclusion in four to five months," Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who goes by his guerrilla name Prachanda, told a news conference during a two-day visit to Norway.
"We want to see this process to a logical conclusion in such a way that it can be a model of peace, particularly for south Asia," he said.
Prachanda said the country already had a "very inclusive national assembly" and has drafted a constitution that will provide for a federal democratic republic in Nepal, which abolished a 239-year-old monarchy last year.
The constitution is due to be ready by May 2010.
"Federalism is going to be one of the vital issues we will discuss in the constitutional assembly," he said after signing an agreement with Norway on a deal to expand cooperation in areas such as hydropower development and rural education.
An insufficient power supply has been crippling to the Nepalese economy, which relies heavily on foreign aid and remains among the poorest in the world despite the former Maoist rebels' pledges to create a "new Nepal."
The Norwegian firm SN Power, owned by state-owned utility Statkraft and state development fund Norfund, operates the Khimti hydroelectric plant east of Kathmandu, and the company aims to expand its portfolio of hydropower assets in Nepal.
"We have huge hydro (power) potential," said Prachanda, who was scheduled to visit a Norwegian hydropower plant near Oslo on Tuesday. "We want to learn and enhance the level of cooperation in the hydro sector with Norway."
Exclusive: Nepal's ex-crown prince Paras tells how royal massacre took place
‘The smell of burnt blood was horrible’
Killer prince charged into room dressed in army camouflage and armed with four guns
IT WAS the night that sounded the death knell for the monarchy of Nepal in more ways than one.
A fusillade of bullets wiped out 10 members of the royal family, including Birendra, the popular king.
The killing was brutal. A shot to the head ended the king’s life as he lay bleeding from shots fired earlier.The finger on the trigger was that of his embittered 30-year-old son, Dipendra.
He had fired three bursts, twice from an automatic pistol. He then let fly with an M16 rifle.
The royal massacre happened on 1 Jun 2001. In two months’ time, the royal survivors will once again mark the anniversary of the tragedy.
Eight years after that horrific bloodbath, Nepal’s last crown prince, Paras Bikram Shah, nephew of Birendra, is breaking his silence.
He wants to clear ugly, persistent rumours of his involvement in the incident, though a commission has cleared him of any complicity.
Reacting to recent reports that the current Nepali government might reopen the investigation into the massacre, Prince Paras, who is now largely based in Singapore, decided to speak to senior Singapore media men.
“The Nepali people need to know the truth,” he said.
Prince Paras, 37, spoke exclusively to The New Paper over two days in the past fortnight, first at the Raffles Town Club and then at his River Valley condominium unit.
He still shivers as he recalls that night of terror.
“It was utter pandemonium. The mortally wounded were groaning, blood was splattered on the walls and floor.
The survivors, including my wife, whimpered as they crouched, some hiding behind a sofa, as bullets ricocheted everywhere.”
As he spoke, Prince Paras’ face glistened with sweat. His orange juice stayed untouched throughout the three hour-long interview.
In his desire to get the story out, the pack-a-day smoker didn’t even pause to light a cigarette.
He said: “For four years after that massacre, I was not able to sleep. Till today, the nightmare keeps coming back to haunt me.”
After the turmoil of the dreadful incident, Prince Paras and a host of other witnesses told a commission of inquiry what they saw.
Over the years, the prince has had time to think and re-think about the events of that fateful night.
Only now are some of the pieces falling clearly into place, in his mind at least, he said.
Yet nothing seemed amiss that night as family members and relatives gathered for a party in the billiards room in Dipendra’s residence on the palace grounds. This was the custom on Friday nights.
There was no sense that their life of wealth and ease was about to change, that their world was about to come tumbling down.
At 8pm, there was the first hint of trouble, Prince Paras recalled.
“I got there a bit late, but Dipendra was staggering around in the room, as if he were drunk, as he usually was. But on this occasion, he did not reek of alcohol. An hour or so later, just as the king was about to enter the room, Dipendra collapsed.
“Looking back, I now realise he was pretending. His brother, Nirajan, and I carried him to his bedroom upstairs.
“We placed him on the bed and tried to remove the Glock pistol from the holster on his left hip so that he would be more comfortable. But he suddenly woke up and told us to leave it alone.
“Then, I noticed that his Colt M16 rifle was on the dressing table, outside the cupboard where it was usually kept. I did not make too much of it as he kept six or seven guns in his room. I left the room and rejoined the party.”
The king was mingling with the older generation.
Prince Paras was with the younger relatives in an alcove where they could smoke, partly out of sight of the elders.They put out their cigarettes when the king approached the bar near the alcove.
Then, it turned violent.
“Suddenly, Dipendra charged into the room. He had changed into army camouflage. The M16 was slung on his shoulders, together with a shotgun.
“His Glock pistol hung at his hip. He fired one burst into the ceiling with his Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun, then a burst at his father. His Majesty was hit by three bullets.
“Dipendra then moved out of the room, presumably to protect the entrance.
“ I watched in great shock. I was not able to move for at least 30 seconds. Then I pulled myself together. The king’s younger sister was cradling him, his head in her lap.”
Prince Paras paused as he reflected on the sequence of events. He recalled Prince Niranjan drawing his own pistol and laying it next to the king. He was the only other person in the room who was armed.
Runs after brother
Then Prince Niranjan ran after his brother, who was outside. Was Prince Niranjan offering the king his pistol to protect himself? Or did he want to confront his brother without further bloodshed?
Prince Paras continued: “Two to three minutes later, shots rang out. Niranjan was later found with a shot in the back and two in the head. I suspect he was shot when he refused to support Dipendra in his bid to seize power.”
The violence continued. Dipendra walked back in, this time wielding the M16, said Prince Paras.
“He walked up to his father and shot him in the head at point-blank range. There was no expression on his face as he kept his finger on the trigger.”
After that, Dipendra went “berserk”, said Prince Paras. “He shot at everybody in the room, anybody who moved. He must have let fly a total of 75 rounds.
“My mother took two shots in the shoulder and fell to the ground. Two other people fell on top of her, which was probably what saved her life. One of the bullets is lodged in her lung till today. Doctors say it’s too risky to extract it as it is close to her heart.”
The king’s sister, Princess Shoba, who was cradling him in her lap, put up her hand to shield herself. She lost a few fingers and there were burn marks on her face. She toppled over but she survived.
“The king’s younger brother was next to be gunned down.”
Where was Prince Paras at this time?
“We were crouching in the alcove and were fortunate not to be in the line of fire,” he said.
“I pushed everybody, including my wife, my sister and my cousins, behind the sofas.”
Then, a tinkling sound of bells outside the room caught Dipendra’s attention. It was his mother hurrying past, the sound coming from the anklets she wore.
She could have been going up to Dipendra’s bedroom to get a weapon, said Prince Paras.
“This is what I presumed happened next. Dipendra caught up with his mother at the top of the stairs and shot her. Her blood flowed down the stairs like a waterfall – it was still there long after her body was removed.”
The silence after the frenzied gunshots was deafening. The floor of the billiards room was slippery, with blood everywhere.
Price Paras stared into the distance as he recalled the horrific scene of carnage.
“The smell was horrible, that of burnt blood, the smell you get when people are shot at close range. Bodies were lying crumpled on the floor, people crying and asking for help.”
Where were the palace guards? Did they not hear the shots? They probably did.
Were they afraid to intervene or did they think Dipendra was shooting for amusement, as he sometimes did, at flower pots, at lizards?
There were times when he and his father used to test guns in the palace before deciding which one to buy for the military. Whatever the reason, they did not intervene.
The silence was broken by one final single shot, followed by a grunting sound.
Prince Paras said he heard the sound coming from near the pond in the garden. It was the same grunt he heard later from Dipendra when he took him to the hospital.
“That is why I believe he shot himself in the garden. The grunting sound was the same. It was like the groaning sound cats make at night.”
Dipendra was discovered later with a single bullet wound in the head.
But Prince Paras, who was still inside, said his priority was to tend to the people inside and get them of the palace.
“I telephoned the security people, who rushed the 14 injured, including the king and queen, to hospital. They broke a glass door to move the injured out.
“The royal couple were already dead.
“I took Dipendra and five other persons to hospital in a Landcruiser. He kept on making that grunting sound as he lay in the vehicle.”
Dipendra lived for another three days, during which time he was proclaimed king.
Prince Paras’ father, Gyanendra, who was away in Pokhara at the time, returned to the capital only two days after the shooting. Poor weather prevented his earlier return.
He became king after Dipendra’s death but was forced to give up the throne when the monarchy was abolished by the Maoist government last May.
The palace is today a national museum. The billiards room has been demolished.
Like the Nepalese monarchy, it is a thing of the past.
By Clement Mesenas & S Murali for The New Paper
********************************************* ************************
In The New Paper on Sunday (March 29, 2009), Nepal’s former crown prince revealed events that he said led his cousin to wipe out nearly all members of the royal family in 2001.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Nepal's ex-crown prince speaks about royal massacre
FORBIDDEN love is the oft-heard reason behind Nepal’s palace massacre when Dipendra Bikram Shah, then crown prince, ran amok.
But there’s more to this Shakespearean tragedy than meets the eye, said the last crown prince of the Himalayan kingdom, a cousin of the killer prince.
Opening up for the first time since the 2001 bloodbath that took place before his eyes, Prince Paras Bikram Shah, 37, said there was a web of deep-seated reasons that sparked the killing.
But the trigger was a thwarted multi-million-dollar arms deal that was to have been Prince Dipendra’s golden parachute to freedom if palace politics turned nasty.
Now largely based in Singapore, Prince Paras painted a vivid picture of palace intrigues in an exclusive interview.He has a reason for making these revelation now (see report at bottom left). He wants to tell the world how a gun deal helped destroy a long-running kingdom.
“The Nepali army was looking for a new weapon to replace the Belgian SLR. Dipendra liked the German Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle, as opposed to the battle-tested Colt M16,” said Prince Paras, who was close to the younger generation of royals.
“But his father, His Majesty, did not agree. I know that they argued over it. Dipendra was frustrated. He wasn’t happy. He told me,” said Prince Paras.
According to Frontline, an Indian magazine, the crown prince was known to have a fetish for guns and would often test out the latest weaponry that the Royal Army was planning to buy.
50,000 guns
The German assault rifle had been short-listed by the army, which was in the market for 50,000 new guns.According to Prince Paras, his cousin’s advisers had been working on the deal, which could have brought the crown prince a windfall.
“That, to me, was the real trigger. The deal would have probably been for about 50,000 rifles, which at US$300 ($454) apiece, would work out to about US$15 million.”
But why would the prince need the money? Wasn’t the family’s net worth estimated to be more than US$200 million?“Yes, but I think he was already making plans for the possibility that he would have to leave the country suddenly if things didn’t work out for him.
“I think this was his back-up plan.”
The plan ultimately cost Prince Dipendra his life, when he shot himself after the massacre.
But what could be so bad as to lead a crown prince to plot such a bloody scheme?
The palace was a hotbed of contending interests, said Prince Paras.
“Dipendra had his reasons (to kill the king),” said Prince Paras, who left Nepal for Singapore last July after his country’s Maoist government abolished the monarchy.
Breaking his long silence on one of history’s bloodiest royal moments, Prince Paras told The New Paper that Prince Dipendra had not one but three reasons for wanting to kill his own father.
The first reason, according to Prince Paras, was there for everyone to see.
On 9 Nov 1990, King Birendra promulgated the new constitution and ended almost 30 years of absolute monarchy in which the palace had dominated every aspect of political life.
Said Prince Paras: “Dipendra was never the same after his father told him in 1990 about the plans to give up the monarchy.
“He never agreed with that as he wanted to rule the country. I think he started planning his moves then.”Prince Paras grew up with the crown prince as the two were just six months apart in age.
The second reason was his love for Devyani Rana. The royal family did not want Prince Dipendra to marry her as she was from a rival family.
Not drunk
Prince Paras dismissed the notion that his cousin had shot the family on impulse after drinking heavily that night.“He had talked to us (the younger generation of Nepali royalty) about it a year before it happened,” revealed Prince Paras.
“I remember it clearly. It was his birthday (in 2000) and he told all of us that he would bring down the ‘ivory tower’. But we didn’t take him seriously. How could we?
“This was the crown prince talking. He was going to be our king. And who would believe that he would kill his own father?”
But Prince Paras said he sensed something amiss on the night of the murders when he went to Prince Dipendra’s house for one of the family’s regular Friday night parties.
“Another cousin and I asked to be excused from the party because we wanted to go somewhere else. Usually he agreed, but this time Dipendra said no. He wanted us to be there.”
And once he got there, Prince Paras noticed that his cousin was behaving abnormally, acting as though he was drunk when he clearly was not.
“I know him and I know when he had had too much to drink. He said he had been drinking since the afternoon but there was no smell of alcohol on him.
“How can that be? If he had been drinking all the while, he should have been reeking. But there was no smell.”When the crown prince’s father came into view and was about to make his entrance, the prince “collapsed” on the floor, forcing Prince Paras and Prince Dipendra’s brother, Prince Niranjan, to help him up and take him back to his room.
But that was not the last they saw of Prince Dipendra.
In an act of extreme brutality, Prince Dipendra soon returned to slaughter his entire family.
Note: Nepal's ex-crown Prince Paras spoke to Singapore media men in an exclusive interview for The New Paper on Sunday, March 29, 2009. Reacting to recent reports that the current Nepali government might reopen the investigation into the massacre, he decided to speak to media in Singapore, where he has been living since July last year.
Libya seeking migrant workers from Nepal
African Press Agency
Nepal will soon start sending migrant workers to Libya, to work in infrastructure projects after the two countries reached an agreement on the matter, APA learns here Sunday.
Nepal has given approval to two manpower agencies to send Nepali workers to Libya, and about 500 Nepalese will leave soon for the north African country, reported the local press quoting officials from the Nepali Department of Foreign Employment.
“We will start sending Nepali workers to Libya after sorting out issues related to wages, facilities and pre-departure costs,” said Chandra Prasad Joshi, under secretary of the department to “Nepal News”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is communicating with the Libyan authorities to establish labor relations, and has proposed to Libya for the sending of more Nepali workers, added the newspaper.
SOS Manpower, one of the two manpower agencies, started the selection process from last Friday. "We have got a call for 298 workers," said Bibek Shrestha, business development officer of SOS. "All Libyan demands are for unskilled labor," he added.
“WON — a Korean Construction Company has already forwarded demand for more than 2,000 Nepali workers to work in infrastructure projects in Libya,” said Som Lal Bataju, vice-president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agents to the local news website “myrepublica”.
A total of 244 Nepali job seekers had left for Libya during the fiscal year 2007/08.
“Nepali recruiting agents have assured that Nepali workers would get wages between US$175 and US$250 excluding overtime benefits in Libya,”said myrepublica.com.
The Nepalese newspapers saw the new agreement with Libya as quite important, as the key labor destinations in east Asia and the Middle East are cutting demand for workers amid the deepening global financial crisis.
Libya has emerged as an encouraging destination for Nepalis who want to work in its infrastructure sector, said the local press.
The number of Nepali workers leaving for foreign employment during the first eight months of the current fiscal year has decreased by 17 percent as compared to the same period last year.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, the number of migrant workers departing for overseas destinations during the period has been 126,812 persons, compared to 152,682 previously.
Nepal will soon start sending migrant workers to Libya, to work in infrastructure projects after the two countries reached an agreement on the matter, APA learns here Sunday.
Nepal has given approval to two manpower agencies to send Nepali workers to Libya, and about 500 Nepalese will leave soon for the north African country, reported the local press quoting officials from the Nepali Department of Foreign Employment.
“We will start sending Nepali workers to Libya after sorting out issues related to wages, facilities and pre-departure costs,” said Chandra Prasad Joshi, under secretary of the department to “Nepal News”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is communicating with the Libyan authorities to establish labor relations, and has proposed to Libya for the sending of more Nepali workers, added the newspaper.
SOS Manpower, one of the two manpower agencies, started the selection process from last Friday. "We have got a call for 298 workers," said Bibek Shrestha, business development officer of SOS. "All Libyan demands are for unskilled labor," he added.
“WON — a Korean Construction Company has already forwarded demand for more than 2,000 Nepali workers to work in infrastructure projects in Libya,” said Som Lal Bataju, vice-president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agents to the local news website “myrepublica”.
A total of 244 Nepali job seekers had left for Libya during the fiscal year 2007/08.
“Nepali recruiting agents have assured that Nepali workers would get wages between US$175 and US$250 excluding overtime benefits in Libya,”said myrepublica.com.
The Nepalese newspapers saw the new agreement with Libya as quite important, as the key labor destinations in east Asia and the Middle East are cutting demand for workers amid the deepening global financial crisis.
Libya has emerged as an encouraging destination for Nepalis who want to work in its infrastructure sector, said the local press.
The number of Nepali workers leaving for foreign employment during the first eight months of the current fiscal year has decreased by 17 percent as compared to the same period last year.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, the number of migrant workers departing for overseas destinations during the period has been 126,812 persons, compared to 152,682 previously.
Hundreds of Tibetans protest in Nepal
Associated Press
Kathmandu, Nepal
Hundreds of Tibetans exiles, including Buddhist monks and nuns, protested in Nepal's capital Saturday, chanting slogans against China and demanding an end to its rule over their homeland.
The protest marked the anniversary of the date Beijing crushed a 1959 Tibetan uprising, sending the Dalai Lama over the Himalayas into exile and placing Tibet under its direct rule for the first time.
Police did not stop the 500 protesters _ who were holding candles, waving banners and chanting "Stop killing in Tibet" _ from marching for about an hour on the outskirts of Katmandu.
"We are here today to offer our prayers for those killed in Tibet and demand that the Chinese authorities stop killing and torture in Tibet," said Tashi Tshering, 35, a refugee living in Katmandu. "We are also demanding basic human rights and the release of all political prisoners in Tibet."
Nepalese police have been ordered to stop all Tibetan street protests against China, but the demonstrators avoided arrest by staying close to a Buddhist shrine.
Security was stepped up around the Chinese Embassy and visa offices, with traffic diverted from the area to prevent any protests there.
There have been few protests by Tibetans in Nepal this year. Last year, there were almost daily demonstrations against a Chinese crackdown in Tibet that followed anti-Beijing riots. Thousands of Tibetan refugees live in Nepal, while thousands more are allowed to pass through the country on their way to Dharmasala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Hundreds of Tibetans exiles, including Buddhist monks and nuns, protested in Nepal's capital Saturday, chanting slogans against China and demanding an end to its rule over their homeland.
The protest marked the anniversary of the date Beijing crushed a 1959 Tibetan uprising, sending the Dalai Lama over the Himalayas into exile and placing Tibet under its direct rule for the first time.
Police did not stop the 500 protesters _ who were holding candles, waving banners and chanting "Stop killing in Tibet" _ from marching for about an hour on the outskirts of Katmandu.
"We are here today to offer our prayers for those killed in Tibet and demand that the Chinese authorities stop killing and torture in Tibet," said Tashi Tshering, 35, a refugee living in Katmandu. "We are also demanding basic human rights and the release of all political prisoners in Tibet."
Nepalese police have been ordered to stop all Tibetan street protests against China, but the demonstrators avoided arrest by staying close to a Buddhist shrine.
Security was stepped up around the Chinese Embassy and visa offices, with traffic diverted from the area to prevent any protests there.
There have been few protests by Tibetans in Nepal this year. Last year, there were almost daily demonstrations against a Chinese crackdown in Tibet that followed anti-Beijing riots. Thousands of Tibetan refugees live in Nepal, while thousands more are allowed to pass through the country on their way to Dharmasala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Nepal’s minorities find their voice
By Harry Sanna
In the rocky savannahs of Nepal’s southern Terai plains, a people long-silenced by a centuries-old Hindu monarchy are beginning to make themselves heard.
Since the country’s democratic end to a decade-long civil war, Nepal’s minorities, including more than one million Muslims, are gaining a political voice for the first time in the Himalayan nation’s history.
With the constitution currently being redrafted by Nepal’s new federal republic, a swathe of minority groups, many from the poor districts in the south, are pressuring the government to include articles legitimising their own identities.
In early March, Tharus, one of the ethnic minority groups living along the 1,700km Indo-Nepal Terai border region, held a two-week strike to demand recognition. Several days later, a prominent Muslim group made the same move.
The government signed an agreement with the group a day before the strikes were scheduled to begin, promising inclusion in the new constitution.
Among their demands are a Muslim Commission with connections to the government, an autonomous Madrasa Board, a Haj Committee and greater legitimacy for Islamic law.
“This is the most opportune time Muslims have ever had for ensuring greater rights,” said Bhaskar Gautam, a political analyst specialising in the matter. “Getting their place in the constitution is very important for them, as it is for all Nepal’s minorities.”
According to a census published by the government in 2006, Muslims make up 4.2 per cent of the country’s 30 million population, and Birganj, a border town and trade link between Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar, is fast becoming the epicentre for Muslim politicisation and progress.
“In the coming days, we will start our mighty struggle,” said Mohammed Lal Babu, a Muslim activist. “Nothing comes without agitation, procession and protest. We will be taking it to the streets very soon.”
A key fighting point is identity. In early 2007, the ethnic Madhesi in Terai started their demands for recognition. While many Muslims are currently trying to separate themselves from the Madhesi’s demands, others in the community see the struggle as a united front.
Mr Babu, 41, is one such activist and a member of the Madhesi Muslim Forum. His beliefs, different from some of his peers, lie in the connections between Madhesis and Muslims.
“Madhesis are a very disenfranchised community, but Muslims are marginalised for being both Madhesi and Muslim. They are the most marginalised in all of Nepal.”
The history of Muslims in Nepal sheds light on the complexity of their current identity crisis. Academic sources claim that Islam was introduced to the Himalayan kingdom via Arab traders, who established a route into Tibet. The majority, however, are Indian Muslims, with a large portion settling there after fleeing to the foothills from the British Raj after the Sepoy rebellion of 1857.
The economic situation for a majority of the Muslim population is grim. Many working in traditional jobs such as tailoring and watch repairing are being forced out by growing industrialisation. Others farm, living hand to mouth. Bashir Harwari, 51, runs a laundry in Birganj.
“The lack of education is a big problem for us. We have been oppressed for so longer under a Hindu monarchy, and now we have very little.”
To try to better their conditions, many have moved to Middle Eastern countries in search of work.
“Some of them are doing OK, but most of them are living in the very worst of conditions,” Mr Gautam, the political analyst, said.
Another key grievance the Muslims have is the state of madrasas, which first began to spring up in Nepal after multiparty democratisation in 1990. Today, there are several thousand.
Most of the funding for madrasas comes through zakas, localised Islamic community funds. But with a lack of investment, many are unable to fulfil their duties by preparing young Muslims for higher and college education.
“Under the terms of zakas, the madrasas rely on the funding by the community,” said Mohammed Habiburrahman, the vice principal of a madrasa in Birganj.
“We are a very poor community, so how much funding do you think we can provide? We need madrasas guaranteed and constituted by the government.”
In rural areas, many still practise elements of Islamic law, however, there is no legal legitimacy for this in Nepal. The taking of multiple wives and the talaq, where a man can divorce his wife without any justification, is still considered illegal under the country’s laws; which pressure groups are now pushing to have legitimised on a localised level.
After the democracy movement of 2006 and abolition of the monarchy in 2008, Nepal officially announced its position as a secular state, ousting a Hindu monarchy that had been in place for 240 years. Since then, tension has simmered over religious issues in the small nation.
Aside from its position as unofficial headquarters for many Muslim groups, the Terai has been a flashpoint for communal attacks between Hindus and Muslims. After the announcement of secularism in 2006, Hindu nationalists rioted in Birganj, closing the city down for days. Last year, there were two separate incidents of mosques being bombed in which two people died.
“For the most part, we are in social harmony here,” said Babujan Ali, a recognisable face among Birganj’s 30,000 Muslims.
“However, nowadays there are some radical groups who want to disturb the peace. There are some Hindu fundamentalists who come [to the Terai] make trouble, then flee again back to Kathmandu.”
Mr Ali, 60, is a member of Nepal’s Haj committee. In his work with hajis, he has become a figurehead in the push for more rights for Nepal’s would-be pilgrims. Currently, the home ministry is in charge of deciding who may, or may not, make the journey. This, Mr Ali believes, is unacceptable.
“We want independence and autonomy from the government,” said Mr Ali, who recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, along with 476 other Nepalis. “While the government’s funding for my trip was adequate, there must be more for the community.”
Further clouding decision-making over such demands have been periodic reports of Islamic fundamentalist infiltration across the belt, fed primarily by the Indian media. The claims, ranging from Pakistan’s secret intelligence and al Qa’eda funding to exiled Kashmiri separatists, remain unsubstantiated.
Modern history in Nepal has shown that political grievances, such as that of the country’s Muslims, can lead to extended periods of conflict. Aggravating this further is the weak presence of representatives currently – only 17 MPs, out of a 601-seat assembly, are Muslim.
However, the current climate undeniably shows that the time has never been better for Nepal’s Muslims to fight for their rights.
Whether the government, already burdened with crippling power shortages and an ongoing peace process, will address those demands, remains to be seen.
* The National
In the rocky savannahs of Nepal’s southern Terai plains, a people long-silenced by a centuries-old Hindu monarchy are beginning to make themselves heard.
Since the country’s democratic end to a decade-long civil war, Nepal’s minorities, including more than one million Muslims, are gaining a political voice for the first time in the Himalayan nation’s history.
With the constitution currently being redrafted by Nepal’s new federal republic, a swathe of minority groups, many from the poor districts in the south, are pressuring the government to include articles legitimising their own identities.
In early March, Tharus, one of the ethnic minority groups living along the 1,700km Indo-Nepal Terai border region, held a two-week strike to demand recognition. Several days later, a prominent Muslim group made the same move.
The government signed an agreement with the group a day before the strikes were scheduled to begin, promising inclusion in the new constitution.
Among their demands are a Muslim Commission with connections to the government, an autonomous Madrasa Board, a Haj Committee and greater legitimacy for Islamic law.
“This is the most opportune time Muslims have ever had for ensuring greater rights,” said Bhaskar Gautam, a political analyst specialising in the matter. “Getting their place in the constitution is very important for them, as it is for all Nepal’s minorities.”
According to a census published by the government in 2006, Muslims make up 4.2 per cent of the country’s 30 million population, and Birganj, a border town and trade link between Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar, is fast becoming the epicentre for Muslim politicisation and progress.
“In the coming days, we will start our mighty struggle,” said Mohammed Lal Babu, a Muslim activist. “Nothing comes without agitation, procession and protest. We will be taking it to the streets very soon.”
A key fighting point is identity. In early 2007, the ethnic Madhesi in Terai started their demands for recognition. While many Muslims are currently trying to separate themselves from the Madhesi’s demands, others in the community see the struggle as a united front.
Mr Babu, 41, is one such activist and a member of the Madhesi Muslim Forum. His beliefs, different from some of his peers, lie in the connections between Madhesis and Muslims.
“Madhesis are a very disenfranchised community, but Muslims are marginalised for being both Madhesi and Muslim. They are the most marginalised in all of Nepal.”
The history of Muslims in Nepal sheds light on the complexity of their current identity crisis. Academic sources claim that Islam was introduced to the Himalayan kingdom via Arab traders, who established a route into Tibet. The majority, however, are Indian Muslims, with a large portion settling there after fleeing to the foothills from the British Raj after the Sepoy rebellion of 1857.
The economic situation for a majority of the Muslim population is grim. Many working in traditional jobs such as tailoring and watch repairing are being forced out by growing industrialisation. Others farm, living hand to mouth. Bashir Harwari, 51, runs a laundry in Birganj.
“The lack of education is a big problem for us. We have been oppressed for so longer under a Hindu monarchy, and now we have very little.”
To try to better their conditions, many have moved to Middle Eastern countries in search of work.
“Some of them are doing OK, but most of them are living in the very worst of conditions,” Mr Gautam, the political analyst, said.
Another key grievance the Muslims have is the state of madrasas, which first began to spring up in Nepal after multiparty democratisation in 1990. Today, there are several thousand.
Most of the funding for madrasas comes through zakas, localised Islamic community funds. But with a lack of investment, many are unable to fulfil their duties by preparing young Muslims for higher and college education.
“Under the terms of zakas, the madrasas rely on the funding by the community,” said Mohammed Habiburrahman, the vice principal of a madrasa in Birganj.
“We are a very poor community, so how much funding do you think we can provide? We need madrasas guaranteed and constituted by the government.”
In rural areas, many still practise elements of Islamic law, however, there is no legal legitimacy for this in Nepal. The taking of multiple wives and the talaq, where a man can divorce his wife without any justification, is still considered illegal under the country’s laws; which pressure groups are now pushing to have legitimised on a localised level.
After the democracy movement of 2006 and abolition of the monarchy in 2008, Nepal officially announced its position as a secular state, ousting a Hindu monarchy that had been in place for 240 years. Since then, tension has simmered over religious issues in the small nation.
Aside from its position as unofficial headquarters for many Muslim groups, the Terai has been a flashpoint for communal attacks between Hindus and Muslims. After the announcement of secularism in 2006, Hindu nationalists rioted in Birganj, closing the city down for days. Last year, there were two separate incidents of mosques being bombed in which two people died.
“For the most part, we are in social harmony here,” said Babujan Ali, a recognisable face among Birganj’s 30,000 Muslims.
“However, nowadays there are some radical groups who want to disturb the peace. There are some Hindu fundamentalists who come [to the Terai] make trouble, then flee again back to Kathmandu.”
Mr Ali, 60, is a member of Nepal’s Haj committee. In his work with hajis, he has become a figurehead in the push for more rights for Nepal’s would-be pilgrims. Currently, the home ministry is in charge of deciding who may, or may not, make the journey. This, Mr Ali believes, is unacceptable.
“We want independence and autonomy from the government,” said Mr Ali, who recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, along with 476 other Nepalis. “While the government’s funding for my trip was adequate, there must be more for the community.”
Further clouding decision-making over such demands have been periodic reports of Islamic fundamentalist infiltration across the belt, fed primarily by the Indian media. The claims, ranging from Pakistan’s secret intelligence and al Qa’eda funding to exiled Kashmiri separatists, remain unsubstantiated.
Modern history in Nepal has shown that political grievances, such as that of the country’s Muslims, can lead to extended periods of conflict. Aggravating this further is the weak presence of representatives currently – only 17 MPs, out of a 601-seat assembly, are Muslim.
However, the current climate undeniably shows that the time has never been better for Nepal’s Muslims to fight for their rights.
Whether the government, already burdened with crippling power shortages and an ongoing peace process, will address those demands, remains to be seen.
* The National
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tibetan refugees in Nepal are scared
As China’s influence grows in Nepal, Tibetan refugees are feeling the pressure, SIOFRA O’DONOVAN reports for Irish Times from Kathmandu.
LIKE MOST other young Tibetans here, Dawa, a teacher in his 30s, does not have legal residence in Nepal. He arrived from Lhasa in 1991. While Tibetans who arrived in Nepal prior to 1989 are eligible for a refugee registration certificate (RC) allowing them to remain in the country, thousands live here illegally.
“I don’t like living here any more,” he admits. “I have to get home by 8pm, to avoid police questioning me.”
Dawa has travelled back to Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, regularly since he left, to see his parents. Eventually, he would like to return to Tibet. “I do have hope that Tibet will be free, but I’m not sure how much good demonstrations do for us, in Nepal.”
Tseten Norbu, a businessman and protest leader in Kathmandu’s Tibetan community is from Shigatse, western Tibet, and lives in exile in Nepal. He continues to organise campaigns to free his country from Chinese rule, despite the risk of arrest by Nepali authorities.
Eleven Tibetans were arrested in his neighbourhood before March 10th on charges of anti-China activities and have been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. “We don’t protest against the Chinese people, only the Chinese Communist Party which is opposed to Tibetan religion and culture.”
There is increasing despair among the community here, particularly among the most vulnerable, those without papers. The Nepali government now requires that all Tibetan shops, restaurants and businesses be officially registered. To do that, you need 50,000 Nepali rupees (€500) and proper residence status in Nepal.
“I know a woman with a clothes shop who went there with her RC card and all the money. They refused to accept her documents,” says Karma Dondrup, a refugee living in Kathmandu.
To get round the problem, often Nepali citizens register businesses in their name, to help Tibetans who cannot do so.
The Himalyan Sherpa, Tamang, Dolpo, Mustang and many other ethnically Tibetan Nepali tribes sympathise with Tibetans.
They share the same devotion to the Dalai Lama, and practice Tibetan Buddhism.
Other young Tibetans are working as political activists, independently or with NGOs. Yeshe Zangpo, from Amdo, Qinghai province, came into exile in 1994 to study Tibetan in India, crossing into Nepal over the pass at Solokumbu in the Mount Everest region. “We hid in gorges by day and travelled by night.” It took 26 days to get from Lhasa to Kathmandu.
He has been editor of a political newspaper in Kathmandu since 2008. “I spoke to my brother last week at home, and he told me to stop doing this. He said I should think of their safety.” The Chinese government punishes the relatives of those they see as separatists and members of the “Dalai Clique”. “I am always afraid in Kathmandu,” he tells me, “there are so many Chinese spies here.”
Apart from restaurant, antique and clothes businesses, teaching work and a minority who undertake the more risky work of political activism, the staple work of many Tibetans in Nepal since 1970 has been in the carpet industry as weavers and dyers.
Many of these factories have now fallen victim to the global recession and problems within the Nepal Labour Union and have closed, leaving thousands of Tibetans without work.
Some enterprising young Tibetans, Damdhul and Tenzii Wangdu, have now founded Café Dream Factory, a community project that works to redress the sense of purposelessness that is endemic among the refugee youth.
The group supports young artists and musicians and their office creates employment networks for young Tibetans . While there are some 29 monasteries in the Kathmandu district of Bouda, a Tibetan enclave, only 8 to 10 per cent of the refugees in Nepal are monks or nuns.
Many of the monasteries in the enclave are owned and largely populated by ethnically Tibetan Nepali citizens but the high lamas are usually Tibetan.
Jamyang Geshe la came into exile from Kham in 1985 to study in a monastery in southern India, as most Tibetan refugee monks do. “We could not study Buddhism properly in our monastery in Tibet, there was too much political instruction. Eventually, there will be no monks left in Tibet.” He runs a Buddhist centre in Bouda.
“If we can’t learn Tibetan, we can’t read the scriptures and our religious purpose is stunted,” says Dawa Tsering, a monk who gives regular religious and political speeches in the Kathmandu area.
Asked how he felt about living in Nepal these days, he said: “We have no refugee rights here. We can’t do anything here anymore, without being scared.”
******************************************************************
Nepal's Royal Palace: Versailles in green nylon
The ancient house of Shah had dodgy ideas on soft furnishings
THE stuffed tigers have seen better days. The big dynastic portraits, of double-chinned Nepali princes and their fair-skinned consorts, are catching dust. But the Narayanhiti Palace, Kathmandu’s recently-vacated royal residence, is less remarkable for its faded splendour than for its dreadful modern design.
Completed in 1969, on the site of an older palace, it is built in concrete and marble, with acres of laminated wood panelling and hideous pink carpet. The royal bedchamber, last occupied by King Gyanendra, whose 2005 coup led to the abolition last year of his 240-year-old Shah dynasty, is rather poky. A bedside clutter of family snapshots and porcelain knick-knacks is simply poignant.
Since it was opened to the public on February 26th, by the Maoist prime minister who chased out its occupants, the palace has had over 36,000 visitors. Some are angry. The banquet-hall, with seating for 110, stirs particular rage in a country where almost half the children under the age of five are chronically malnourished. Other visitors—perhaps 15% of the total, reckons Jayaram Mahajan, a former royal retainer who now runs the palace museum—come in reverence. As they enter, these pilgrims stoop to take a blessing from the floor. But most visitors, Mr Mahajan admits, are rather underwhelmed. Even to a poor Nepali, the palace is no Versailles.
With more royal trophies to go on display—including the crown jewels and a Daimler-Benz car given to Gyanendra’s grandfather by Hitler—the museum will improve. For now, its biggest draw is a patch of levelled ground beside the main palace. It is the site of a building, demolished by Gyanendra, where in 2001 his nephew, Crown Prince Dipendra, massacred his parents, the king and queen, and eight other relations. Helpful signs shows where each royal was killed. Beside a small pond, near where Dipendra shot his mother, Queen Aiswarya, then himself, bullet-holes are still visible.
Mr Mahajan seems to find little pleasure in his new job. “I wish the royal family had not been killed, and I wish the last king had not left the palace,” he says. It seems Gyanendra was not expecting to do so. Beside the main palace is a half-built, rain-damaged annexe, which Gyanendra had ordered for a new banquet-hall, not long before his abrupt retirement and exit.
The Economist, (Mar 27-Apr 2)
Nepal: War without bloodshed
Troubles of the peace for the Maoist government
NEPAL’S Maoist prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, or “Prachanda” (fierce), recently said that running a country was harder than running a guerrilla war. He should not have been surprised. The Maoist-led coalition government was formed after the ex-guerrillas pulled off a stunning election victory last April, just two years after they tramped in from the jungle. It faced three giant tasks: to bring better government to one of South Asia’s poorest countries; to help sustain a peace process that followed a bitter, decade-long struggle; and to preside over the writing of a new constitution. Achieving all this, within the 30-month term allotted to a government, was bound to be difficult. Yet there is now a growing fear that failure—in a country that has seen civil war, a royal coup, the abolition of the monarchy, huge protests and an ethnically based rebellion in recent years—may spark a fresh crisis before long.
On its first task, the government has done passably well. With a few able ministers, it has made a better fist of administration than its shambolic predecessor, headed by the main opposition, the Nepali Congress party. The Maoist finance minister, Baburam Bhattarai, promised lots of handouts for the poor. But by making it easier for people to pay income tax, and threatening retribution to those who will not, he has also, he says, boosted the government’s revenues by 38%. If this has not endeared the Maoists to Kathmandu’s well-heeled tax-dodgers, the ex-guerrillas do not care. “Resolutely unclubable”, in the phrase of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, the Maoists rose on the back of popular resentment against Kathmandu’s grip on the nation’s power and wealth.
On the second task, encouraging peace, the news is less good. In Kathmandu on March 22nd, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, declared that without justice for the victims of Nepal’s war, in which 13,000 died, the country’s fragile peace might be doomed. There is as yet no prospect of such justice. The war’s murders and rapes were carried out by two forces that remain at loggerheads: the Maoists’ 24,000-strong People’s Liberation Army, currently corralled under UN supervision, and the national army.
Under the terms of a 2006 peace accord between the Maoists and the main political parties, the Maoist fighters were to be taken into the army, or found other jobs. The army, which backed Nepal’s deposed king, Gyanendra, in a 2005 power-grab, was also to be reformed. None of this has been done. In private, politicians and some army officers agree that a few thousand Maoist foot-soldiers will have to be recruited into the army, and some Maoist commanders given accelerated officer training. Yet the army chief, General Rookmangud Katwal, who hates Maoists, is reluctant to concur. And the Maoists seem unwilling to disband their forces.
This is unsustainable. On March 15th the Maoist defence minister refused to extend the service of eight brigadier-generals, as General Katwal had asked him to. The Maoists were retaliating against General Katwal’s earlier refusal to abandon an army recruitment drive, as the government and UN had said he should. Might the army take over? “Let’s hope that situation doesn’t arise,” says a senior officer. It may not, at least without tacit support from India, and that seems unlikely.
Alas, the Maoists’ third task, presiding over the writing of a new constitution by Nepal’s elected assembly, promises to be the most difficult. Little progress has been made, because of incompetence, political jockeying and fundamental disagreements. Most contentious is the issue of federalism. All the main parties have vowed to support a new federal Nepal, but few, if any, consider this practical or desirable. The root of the problem is, again, widespread resentment of rich Kathmandu and its pampered elite. Yet few regions outside the Kathmandu valley generate much wealth and, even if politically possible, the sort of provincial structures that many Nepalis now expect may be unaffordable.
The issue is already explosive. After a 2006 insurrection in the southern Terai region by the Madhesi ethnic group, all the main parties have pandered to regional sentiments. This has encouraged more uprisings. This month members of another ethnic group, the Tharu, in the western part of the Terai, launched a ruinous two-week blockade of roads across the country. They objected to their classification by the Maoists as Madhesi, whom the Tharu consider interlopers from India. Nepal’s troubles are far from over.
The Economist (Mar 27-Apr 2)
Nepal to focus on Indian, Chinese markets to revamp tourism
Kathmandu, March 26
''We will develop cheap packages and concentrate on the regional markets in order to attract more tourists as Nepal prepares to observe "Nepal Tourism Year 2011," Tourism Minister Yami said.
Nepal's Maoist government today announced that it will focus on regional markets including India and China to revamp its tourism industry, in order to minimise the effects of global economic crisis.
"We will now focus on tourism campaigns in Indian cities and the Chinese market," Tourism Minister Hisila Yami said announcing the new tourism policy of the Himalayan nation.
In January and February this year, Nepal had 15 to 16 per cent negative growth in the overall tourist arrival by air, which is mainly attributed to the global recession, Mumbai attack and political crisis in Thailand, according to tourism experts.
The impact of global crisis was already visible in the arrival figures in 2008, which saw just 4 per cent increase as compared to previous year. However, in 2007 the tourist arrival figure saw 35 per cent growth in normal situation, the minister said.
Nepal is being developed as active economic zone instead of seeing it as a buffer zone between India and China, Tourism Minister Yami said.
"We will develop cheap packages and concentrate on the regional markets in order to attract more tourists as Nepal prepares to observe "Nepal Tourism Year 2011" to attract one million tourists, just double of the current figure, the minister pointed out.
Highlighting the new tourism policy, Yami said, village tourism and home stay tourism will be promoted, adventure tourism will get special attention and health and education tourism will also be developed as new concepts.
"To attract more Indian tourists, pilgrimage tourism will be given special focus in the coming days."
Nepal Tourism Board has recently launched special package campaign in Delhi and North Indian cities in order to attract more Indian visitors and another campaign is scheduled to be launched in Mumbai soon after national flag carrier Nepal Airlines commences direct flights between Mumbai and Kathmandu from March-end, Tourism Secretary Ramchandra Man Singh said.
Keeping in view the convenience of the visitors, Nepal government has included passenger service charge and tourist service charge in the air-ticket itself instead of charging separate amount effective from March 1, Singh said.
"Nepal Airlines will hire a new Boeing 757 to expand its capacity in international flight and an negotiations have already started with an American company," he pointed out. Nepal has recently signed Air Service Agreements with Bahrain and Sri Lanka to expand its air services and Air Service Agreements signed with India and Qatar will be reviewed in the near future in order to increase the air seat capacity in international sector, he added.
President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Prashiddha Bahadur Pandey said that due to the impact of global recession, many hotel occupancy in January and February months witnessed a decline of 25 to 30 per cent.
The government has also announced to provide Rs 10 per litre subsidy in diesel price and waived demand surcharge in electricity bills to hotel industries same as to other industries to provide relief from the economic recession.
Source: Press Trust of India
''We will develop cheap packages and concentrate on the regional markets in order to attract more tourists as Nepal prepares to observe "Nepal Tourism Year 2011," Tourism Minister Yami said.
Nepal's Maoist government today announced that it will focus on regional markets including India and China to revamp its tourism industry, in order to minimise the effects of global economic crisis.
"We will now focus on tourism campaigns in Indian cities and the Chinese market," Tourism Minister Hisila Yami said announcing the new tourism policy of the Himalayan nation.
In January and February this year, Nepal had 15 to 16 per cent negative growth in the overall tourist arrival by air, which is mainly attributed to the global recession, Mumbai attack and political crisis in Thailand, according to tourism experts.
The impact of global crisis was already visible in the arrival figures in 2008, which saw just 4 per cent increase as compared to previous year. However, in 2007 the tourist arrival figure saw 35 per cent growth in normal situation, the minister said.
Nepal is being developed as active economic zone instead of seeing it as a buffer zone between India and China, Tourism Minister Yami said.
"We will develop cheap packages and concentrate on the regional markets in order to attract more tourists as Nepal prepares to observe "Nepal Tourism Year 2011" to attract one million tourists, just double of the current figure, the minister pointed out.
Highlighting the new tourism policy, Yami said, village tourism and home stay tourism will be promoted, adventure tourism will get special attention and health and education tourism will also be developed as new concepts.
"To attract more Indian tourists, pilgrimage tourism will be given special focus in the coming days."
Nepal Tourism Board has recently launched special package campaign in Delhi and North Indian cities in order to attract more Indian visitors and another campaign is scheduled to be launched in Mumbai soon after national flag carrier Nepal Airlines commences direct flights between Mumbai and Kathmandu from March-end, Tourism Secretary Ramchandra Man Singh said.
Keeping in view the convenience of the visitors, Nepal government has included passenger service charge and tourist service charge in the air-ticket itself instead of charging separate amount effective from March 1, Singh said.
"Nepal Airlines will hire a new Boeing 757 to expand its capacity in international flight and an negotiations have already started with an American company," he pointed out. Nepal has recently signed Air Service Agreements with Bahrain and Sri Lanka to expand its air services and Air Service Agreements signed with India and Qatar will be reviewed in the near future in order to increase the air seat capacity in international sector, he added.
President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Prashiddha Bahadur Pandey said that due to the impact of global recession, many hotel occupancy in January and February months witnessed a decline of 25 to 30 per cent.
The government has also announced to provide Rs 10 per litre subsidy in diesel price and waived demand surcharge in electricity bills to hotel industries same as to other industries to provide relief from the economic recession.
Source: Press Trust of India
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Top Nepal court orders senior generals reinstated
KATMANDU, Nepal: Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of eight top army generals who were removed by the country's communist ruling party, which is seeking to integrate its former rebels into the military, a court official said Wednesday.
Supreme Court official Ram Krishna Timsina said the order was issued to the government late Tuesday by Judge Kalyan Shrestha.
There was no immediate response from the government.
The court order is a blow for the coalition government led by the Maoists, former communist rebels who fought the army in a 10-year rebellion.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who leads the Maoist party, refused last week to extend the tenure of the brigadier generals, saying it was his right to make the decision. The army filed a petition against the decision to the Supreme Court.
Differences between the army and the government have deepened over the integration of thousands of former Maoist fighters into the security forces as part of a peace process that ended the conflict.
The Maoists want the ex-fighters to be integrated into the army, with their commanders given senior positions, while the army has opposed the idea.
The Maoists gave up their armed revolt in 2006 and joined a peace process. They confined their fighters in U.N.-monitored camps and locked up their weapons. They joined elections last year and emerged as Nepal's largest political party.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Supreme Court official Ram Krishna Timsina said the order was issued to the government late Tuesday by Judge Kalyan Shrestha.
There was no immediate response from the government.
The court order is a blow for the coalition government led by the Maoists, former communist rebels who fought the army in a 10-year rebellion.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who leads the Maoist party, refused last week to extend the tenure of the brigadier generals, saying it was his right to make the decision. The army filed a petition against the decision to the Supreme Court.
Differences between the army and the government have deepened over the integration of thousands of former Maoist fighters into the security forces as part of a peace process that ended the conflict.
The Maoists want the ex-fighters to be integrated into the army, with their commanders given senior positions, while the army has opposed the idea.
The Maoists gave up their armed revolt in 2006 and joined a peace process. They confined their fighters in U.N.-monitored camps and locked up their weapons. They joined elections last year and emerged as Nepal's largest political party.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
India offers supply of 500 MW power to Nepal
KATHMANDU: India has offered to supply 500 MW of hydro electricity power to Nepal to crunch its power crisis. Power Trading Corporation (PTC) Ltd has sent a letter to the Ministry of Water Resources, that it could provide 500 MW power to Nepal in 18 mont hs, according to secretary in the Ministry Mr Shanker Prasad Koirala.
The PTC has offered Rs 3 per unit of electricity to help it get rid of the current 16 hour load shedding. Nepal's power generation capacity has gone down by more than 50 percent due to the low water level in its major hydro power plants.
In a letter sent to the Nepalese Ministry of Water Resources, PTC has also mentioned that it can re-import power from Nepal if the Himalayan nation manages to generate enough power to meet its internal demand.
Prime Minister Prachanda is leaving for Norway and Denmark as part of his tour to European countries starting from March 28. During his meeting with high officials in Norway and Denmark, use of thermal plant and wind mill power will mainly figure besides other issues of bilateral cooperation, according to officials close to the Prime Minister.
However, experts suggest that importing electricity from India will be much cheaper than installing thermal plants to generate electricity in order to fulfil domestic demand for power.
Source: PTI
The PTC has offered Rs 3 per unit of electricity to help it get rid of the current 16 hour load shedding. Nepal's power generation capacity has gone down by more than 50 percent due to the low water level in its major hydro power plants.
In a letter sent to the Nepalese Ministry of Water Resources, PTC has also mentioned that it can re-import power from Nepal if the Himalayan nation manages to generate enough power to meet its internal demand.
Prime Minister Prachanda is leaving for Norway and Denmark as part of his tour to European countries starting from March 28. During his meeting with high officials in Norway and Denmark, use of thermal plant and wind mill power will mainly figure besides other issues of bilateral cooperation, according to officials close to the Prime Minister.
However, experts suggest that importing electricity from India will be much cheaper than installing thermal plants to generate electricity in order to fulfil domestic demand for power.
Source: PTI
Celebs' favorite places, from Brooklyn to Nepal
WASHINGTON (Associated Press)
A new book from National Geographic asks celebrities to name their favorite places in the world, and the answers range from Nepal to Brooklyn.
Destinations mentioned in the book, called "My Favorite Place on Earth" ($22.95), include Jerusalem, mentioned by actress Natalie Portman, who was born there; Arud, in Bali, Indonesia, named by travel guru Arthur Frommer; Kauai, Hawaii, listed by Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons"; Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles, where dogs can walk off-leashed, named by dog whisperer Cesar Millan; Trinidad, the choice of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose grandparents emigrated from the island; and Monument Valley on the border of Arizona and Utah, chosen by George Lucas, "Star Wars" creator, who spent time there as a young man making a short abstract film.
Nepal was chosen by Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler, and Brooklyn was named by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. But not the Brooklyn Bridge or Coney Island or any of the other tourist attractions in the famous New York City borough.
No, the Brooklyn mentioned by Mizrahi was a garage in the Midwood neighborhood where he staged puppet shows. Mizrahi lived in a house there as a child and created a theater using the rusted frame of a swing set. He carved his own marionettes from wood, painted them, made costumes with glitter and feathers, and even composed and tape-recorded his own music. "It was a precursor of the work I do now," he said.
The Associated Press
A new book from National Geographic asks celebrities to name their favorite places in the world, and the answers range from Nepal to Brooklyn.
Destinations mentioned in the book, called "My Favorite Place on Earth" ($22.95), include Jerusalem, mentioned by actress Natalie Portman, who was born there; Arud, in Bali, Indonesia, named by travel guru Arthur Frommer; Kauai, Hawaii, listed by Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons"; Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles, where dogs can walk off-leashed, named by dog whisperer Cesar Millan; Trinidad, the choice of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose grandparents emigrated from the island; and Monument Valley on the border of Arizona and Utah, chosen by George Lucas, "Star Wars" creator, who spent time there as a young man making a short abstract film.
Nepal was chosen by Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler, and Brooklyn was named by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. But not the Brooklyn Bridge or Coney Island or any of the other tourist attractions in the famous New York City borough.
No, the Brooklyn mentioned by Mizrahi was a garage in the Midwood neighborhood where he staged puppet shows. Mizrahi lived in a house there as a child and created a theater using the rusted frame of a swing set. He carved his own marionettes from wood, painted them, made costumes with glitter and feathers, and even composed and tape-recorded his own music. "It was a precursor of the work I do now," he said.
The Associated Press
South Asian reporters 'at severe risk'
Rising violence in South Asia is putting journalists at "severe risk", a US-based media human rights group says.
The Committee to Protect Journalists lists nations where reporters are regularly attacked or killed.
In the committee's list of 14 leading countries where the authorities had failed to solve murders of journalists, six were in South Asia.
This year has seen the high-profile murders of a Sri Lankan editor and a Nepal radio journalist.
'Eroding'
The committee's report says attacks on reporters have increased in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, while Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India also all appear on its "impunity index" of 14 countries.
Shawn Crispin, CPJ Asia programme consultant, told the Reuters news agency: "The political situation in South Asia is deteriorating."
He said some of the countries were "entering now into eras of sustained armed conflict and as soon as that happens, journalists are immediately at risk".
The committee's survey pointed to a surge of violence in Sri Lanka.
This year the editor of the Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickramatunga, was killed and in a second attack, another editor, Upali Tennakoon, was injured.
Mr Crispin also pointed to the situation in Pakistan which was "quickly eroding".
"There are more and more journalists getting caught, not necessarily in the crossfire itself, but by competing groups. They don't like the coverage of the journalist, they target the journalist," he said.
TV reporter Musa Khankhel was shot dead in Pakistan's troubled Swat district in February.
Nepal also saw a high-profile murder this year. Reporter Uma Singh was murdered in the southern city of Janakpur.
The CPJ said that India was also on the list - ranked 14th with seven cases of unsolved murders.
Iraq, Sierra Leone and Somalia top the list for the second year running.
Source: BBC
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Abuse, impunity endanger Nepal peace: UN rights chief
KATHMANDU, March 22 (Reuters)
Nepal's fledgling peace process could be derailed if the government failed to protect human rights and punish abusers, the UN's rights panel chief said on Sunday.
The Himalayan nation ended a decade-long civil war nearly three years ago - a conflict during which both army and Maoist rebels were blamed for abuses such as arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances and killings.
The rebels signed a peace deal in 2006 and won a surprise election victory last year. Their leader Prachanda is now heading a coalition government, the first after Nepal abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and became a republic.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, met the families of alleged victims of human rights violations and heard their stories.
"The families...want the truth so they can have a sense of closure; they need reparations so they can start rebuilding their lives; and, most of all, they want justice," Pillay said in a statement.
"And until these demands for justice are fulfilled and accountability for past, and in particular ongoing, violations is ensured...the peace process could be jeopardised."
More than 13,000 people were killed and tens of thousands injured and displaced during the rebellion.Pillay met Prachanda, who promised to end impunity and discrimination, and ensure respect for human rights.
"I told him that the Human Rights Council in Geneva is also following closely the progress his government is making to fulfil that commitment," Pillay told reporters before leaving for a visit to India.
"Nepal has the real possibility to grasp the historic opportunity to prove itself as a leader in implementing its human rights commitments," she said
Nepal's fledgling peace process could be derailed if the government failed to protect human rights and punish abusers, the UN's rights panel chief said on Sunday.
The Himalayan nation ended a decade-long civil war nearly three years ago - a conflict during which both army and Maoist rebels were blamed for abuses such as arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances and killings.
The rebels signed a peace deal in 2006 and won a surprise election victory last year. Their leader Prachanda is now heading a coalition government, the first after Nepal abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and became a republic.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, met the families of alleged victims of human rights violations and heard their stories.
"The families...want the truth so they can have a sense of closure; they need reparations so they can start rebuilding their lives; and, most of all, they want justice," Pillay said in a statement.
"And until these demands for justice are fulfilled and accountability for past, and in particular ongoing, violations is ensured...the peace process could be jeopardised."
More than 13,000 people were killed and tens of thousands injured and displaced during the rebellion.Pillay met Prachanda, who promised to end impunity and discrimination, and ensure respect for human rights.
"I told him that the Human Rights Council in Geneva is also following closely the progress his government is making to fulfil that commitment," Pillay told reporters before leaving for a visit to India.
"Nepal has the real possibility to grasp the historic opportunity to prove itself as a leader in implementing its human rights commitments," she said
Indian infringement over Nepal border area
Ishaal Zehra
The history of demarcation of India-Nepal border began on March 4, 1816, after the signing of the "Sugauli Treaty" between the then British India and the state of Nepal, which declares River Mahakali, of Nepal, as the border-line between both the countries. The Treaty was expected to resolve the border issues, but it did not. Even after such a long time, the dispute regarding the border and the no-man's land area is being ensued now and then in different areas of Nepali border.
The reason for the continuation of such dispute is that the rivers, counted on as border, diverged from their courses several times in the past. Interestingly, 595 Km of the border is defined by rivers. Mechi in the East, Mahakali in the West and Naryani in the Susta area, and the unavailability of old maps and documents to revise demarcations has made the situation more significant. The Central government of India deputed its para-military security guards of special services bureau (Shastra Seema Bal) along the border where as to counter guard the Nepali side of border-line, presence of Nepali security is almost nill.
Taking advantage of the ignorant attitude of Nepalese towards border guard, India started encroachment of the border land. She has said to have encroached over 60,000 hectares in 21 of the bordering districts, by now. There has been a lot of hue and cry over the encroachment by Nepali people which unfortunately never fell on the deaf ears of the giant called India.
India surrounds Nepal from the East, West and South. There is a 1,808 km long border between Nepal and India, where 26 districts of Nepal adjoin Indian territory, marking 54 areas of disputes altogether where the main ones include Kalapani- Limpiyahura, Susta, Mechi and Tanakpur. There is often found an opportunistic overtone in both countries regarding the ownership of such disputed border points. Hence, to resolve the issue, an India-Nepal Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee has been set up in motion which is still to find a reasonable solution for this false encroachment issue. The encroachment by India started right after the Indo-Sino border war of November 1962.
After facing defeat the Indian army set-up a camp inside Nepal's territory at Kalapani to monitor the Chinese activities. But now they claim that the area belongs to them. However, reports prepared by Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, former director general of the Department of Survey Nepal, corroborates that the maps of 1850 and 1856 prepared by the Survey of India with the participation of Nepalese authority clearly states that the river originates from Limpiyadhura, 16 km North-West of Kalapani, which proves that Kalapani belongs to Nepal. But India refuses to accept those maps as proof.
They say that the map prepared by them in 1875 should be considered as proof which shows river Mahakali origin is beyond Kalapani. Interestingly, the said map does not have Nepal's certification. The other disputed area situated in the East of Naryani River, is the Susta area, which is the tensest area owing to encroachment. Some time ago, over 1,000 Indian villagers backed by Indian border police force (SSB) had forcibly entered the Nepali territory in Susta. They completely destroyed sugarcane in about 10 hectares of land and also manhandled men and women. Where the locals of Susta complain such incidents are rampant in the area.
The main reason behind the dispute is the changing course of Naryani River, over the past decades. The river has said to change its course towards the Nepalese side in the West. India has encroached about 14,000 hectares of the reclaimed land because of this. The intrusion happened in stages over a period of 73 years. Considering the situation, the people of Nepal had launched a "save Susta campaign".
The organisers requested students of Nepal to join them and launch a valley wide campaign from Nepal's capital Kathmandu. The purpose of the campaign was to inform the world about the wicked plans of her "polite" neighbour India. Actually the reason to start off the border dispute at Susta side is that Susta is surrounded by Indian territory on three sides -the North, South and East, and on the West it is the Naryani River. Hence, cutting off Susta from its motherland becomes much easier for India to occupy it which will pave her closer to the "Greater India" dream of Hindus. The other most talked about point of dispute is Mechi. India's disapproval of "Junge pillars" as the main boundary pillars has sparked the Mechi border dispute.
The map published by the British India right after the Sauguli Treaty clearly indicates those pillars to be the main boundary pillars. Even history is evident that British had erected those pillars as monuments of Nepal-India border. But the credit goes to the Indian desire of getting control over weak and tiny neighbours which made her to incite the dispute by denying the original Sauguli Treaty signed by the British and the Nepal Kingdom. According to the official records, Nepal covers a total area of 147,181 Sq Km. But in reality, the territory of Nepal is gradually shrinking because of the increasing encroachment by India.
The Maoists Young Communist League (YCL) once submitted a memorandum to the Indian embassy Kathmandu, demanding immediate return of the encroached land by the Indians in Susta area but later the political havoc in Nepal made everything go vanish for some time. They demanded that scientific demarcation of the borderland must be done as per historical maps, the encroached territories should be given back to Nepal and the bilateral bordering area regulated.
The district level of Nepal and India earlier agreed not to allow the use of encroached land for any purpose and put the issue at the central level for the resolution of the problem. But despite the agreement Indian farmers have been cultivating in the disputed area. More than 125 Bighas of Nepali land has been encroached by Indian farmers in 2007 alone. The Nepal-India joint Technical level Boundary Committee was supposed to have completed 98% of the task of strip-mapping the border, as per 1874 Persian map adopted by the committee.
According to them all the disputes, except Susta and Kalapani, have been resolved. But when the border is traced in the field, many instances of encroachment are found. The unwisely decision of Nepalese side of accepting the Persian map as the basis of demarcation has deprived them of 1630 hectares of their own land, which now lies in Indian territory. The border committee somehow, could not act the way it ought to.
It failed to take firm decisions regarding border disputes at several places, such as the presence of Indian Paramilitary force in Kalapani since 1962. The amusing part is that India ignoring all her regional disputes is always eager to malign Pakistan by making her a part of every Indian dispute (with whomsoever it may be). And her practice is same even in this land dispute problem. Propaganda against Pakistan is the main instrument of Indian Intelligence agencies. Exposing Indian hegemonic designs, Nepali media says that although India grumbles a lot of the India-Nepal open border being misused by the ISI, it is actually India's own intelligence agency which is blatantly exploiting the open border.
Today every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that the Terai agitation was actually fueled by India. Earlier when Nepal was a kingdom, India used to supply arms and ammunition to the warring factions of the Terai and gave safe sanctuary to its leaders, as exposed by a visiting team of United Nation Mission in Nepal (UNMN).
The Research and Analysis Wing of Indian Intelligence (RAW) is active in Nepal for the last 40 years, earlier it was only the Intelligence Bureau (IB), operating from there. Experts say that due to open border and special relations with India and Indian association in political changes in 1950, 1990 and 2006, it has become easy for RAW to perform disguised role in Nepal. RAW is not only involved in creating instability and disturbing peace in the Asian region but its name is also associated with terrorism.
India has many interests in Nepal to fulfill which it has gradually made her strong political, diplomatic, economical and cultural influence there, all due to RAW's efforts. Her main strategy is to keep Nepal instable and always dependent towards India. In this regard, she has supported arms to the establishment as well as anti-establishment groups in Nepal, according to the former Prime Minister BP Koirala's biography.
The untrustworthy nature of India is evident from the past. She has a history for formulating efforts on multiple fronts to weaken the already fragile country to facilitate its swallowing.
It is high time that all the Nepalese, currently divided among various political affiliations, should come together against the onslaught, instigated by India, in Nepalese territory and understand the game-plan of their so-called considerate neighbours. And India also should realise that the flame she has ignited in Nepal can very well extend to its own northern flank and the unstable southern part as well.
Source: The Frontier Post (March 22, 2009)
The history of demarcation of India-Nepal border began on March 4, 1816, after the signing of the "Sugauli Treaty" between the then British India and the state of Nepal, which declares River Mahakali, of Nepal, as the border-line between both the countries. The Treaty was expected to resolve the border issues, but it did not. Even after such a long time, the dispute regarding the border and the no-man's land area is being ensued now and then in different areas of Nepali border.
The reason for the continuation of such dispute is that the rivers, counted on as border, diverged from their courses several times in the past. Interestingly, 595 Km of the border is defined by rivers. Mechi in the East, Mahakali in the West and Naryani in the Susta area, and the unavailability of old maps and documents to revise demarcations has made the situation more significant. The Central government of India deputed its para-military security guards of special services bureau (Shastra Seema Bal) along the border where as to counter guard the Nepali side of border-line, presence of Nepali security is almost nill.
Taking advantage of the ignorant attitude of Nepalese towards border guard, India started encroachment of the border land. She has said to have encroached over 60,000 hectares in 21 of the bordering districts, by now. There has been a lot of hue and cry over the encroachment by Nepali people which unfortunately never fell on the deaf ears of the giant called India.
India surrounds Nepal from the East, West and South. There is a 1,808 km long border between Nepal and India, where 26 districts of Nepal adjoin Indian territory, marking 54 areas of disputes altogether where the main ones include Kalapani- Limpiyahura, Susta, Mechi and Tanakpur. There is often found an opportunistic overtone in both countries regarding the ownership of such disputed border points. Hence, to resolve the issue, an India-Nepal Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee has been set up in motion which is still to find a reasonable solution for this false encroachment issue. The encroachment by India started right after the Indo-Sino border war of November 1962.
After facing defeat the Indian army set-up a camp inside Nepal's territory at Kalapani to monitor the Chinese activities. But now they claim that the area belongs to them. However, reports prepared by Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, former director general of the Department of Survey Nepal, corroborates that the maps of 1850 and 1856 prepared by the Survey of India with the participation of Nepalese authority clearly states that the river originates from Limpiyadhura, 16 km North-West of Kalapani, which proves that Kalapani belongs to Nepal. But India refuses to accept those maps as proof.
They say that the map prepared by them in 1875 should be considered as proof which shows river Mahakali origin is beyond Kalapani. Interestingly, the said map does not have Nepal's certification. The other disputed area situated in the East of Naryani River, is the Susta area, which is the tensest area owing to encroachment. Some time ago, over 1,000 Indian villagers backed by Indian border police force (SSB) had forcibly entered the Nepali territory in Susta. They completely destroyed sugarcane in about 10 hectares of land and also manhandled men and women. Where the locals of Susta complain such incidents are rampant in the area.
The main reason behind the dispute is the changing course of Naryani River, over the past decades. The river has said to change its course towards the Nepalese side in the West. India has encroached about 14,000 hectares of the reclaimed land because of this. The intrusion happened in stages over a period of 73 years. Considering the situation, the people of Nepal had launched a "save Susta campaign".
The organisers requested students of Nepal to join them and launch a valley wide campaign from Nepal's capital Kathmandu. The purpose of the campaign was to inform the world about the wicked plans of her "polite" neighbour India. Actually the reason to start off the border dispute at Susta side is that Susta is surrounded by Indian territory on three sides -the North, South and East, and on the West it is the Naryani River. Hence, cutting off Susta from its motherland becomes much easier for India to occupy it which will pave her closer to the "Greater India" dream of Hindus. The other most talked about point of dispute is Mechi. India's disapproval of "Junge pillars" as the main boundary pillars has sparked the Mechi border dispute.
The map published by the British India right after the Sauguli Treaty clearly indicates those pillars to be the main boundary pillars. Even history is evident that British had erected those pillars as monuments of Nepal-India border. But the credit goes to the Indian desire of getting control over weak and tiny neighbours which made her to incite the dispute by denying the original Sauguli Treaty signed by the British and the Nepal Kingdom. According to the official records, Nepal covers a total area of 147,181 Sq Km. But in reality, the territory of Nepal is gradually shrinking because of the increasing encroachment by India.
The Maoists Young Communist League (YCL) once submitted a memorandum to the Indian embassy Kathmandu, demanding immediate return of the encroached land by the Indians in Susta area but later the political havoc in Nepal made everything go vanish for some time. They demanded that scientific demarcation of the borderland must be done as per historical maps, the encroached territories should be given back to Nepal and the bilateral bordering area regulated.
The district level of Nepal and India earlier agreed not to allow the use of encroached land for any purpose and put the issue at the central level for the resolution of the problem. But despite the agreement Indian farmers have been cultivating in the disputed area. More than 125 Bighas of Nepali land has been encroached by Indian farmers in 2007 alone. The Nepal-India joint Technical level Boundary Committee was supposed to have completed 98% of the task of strip-mapping the border, as per 1874 Persian map adopted by the committee.
According to them all the disputes, except Susta and Kalapani, have been resolved. But when the border is traced in the field, many instances of encroachment are found. The unwisely decision of Nepalese side of accepting the Persian map as the basis of demarcation has deprived them of 1630 hectares of their own land, which now lies in Indian territory. The border committee somehow, could not act the way it ought to.
It failed to take firm decisions regarding border disputes at several places, such as the presence of Indian Paramilitary force in Kalapani since 1962. The amusing part is that India ignoring all her regional disputes is always eager to malign Pakistan by making her a part of every Indian dispute (with whomsoever it may be). And her practice is same even in this land dispute problem. Propaganda against Pakistan is the main instrument of Indian Intelligence agencies. Exposing Indian hegemonic designs, Nepali media says that although India grumbles a lot of the India-Nepal open border being misused by the ISI, it is actually India's own intelligence agency which is blatantly exploiting the open border.
Today every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that the Terai agitation was actually fueled by India. Earlier when Nepal was a kingdom, India used to supply arms and ammunition to the warring factions of the Terai and gave safe sanctuary to its leaders, as exposed by a visiting team of United Nation Mission in Nepal (UNMN).
The Research and Analysis Wing of Indian Intelligence (RAW) is active in Nepal for the last 40 years, earlier it was only the Intelligence Bureau (IB), operating from there. Experts say that due to open border and special relations with India and Indian association in political changes in 1950, 1990 and 2006, it has become easy for RAW to perform disguised role in Nepal. RAW is not only involved in creating instability and disturbing peace in the Asian region but its name is also associated with terrorism.
India has many interests in Nepal to fulfill which it has gradually made her strong political, diplomatic, economical and cultural influence there, all due to RAW's efforts. Her main strategy is to keep Nepal instable and always dependent towards India. In this regard, she has supported arms to the establishment as well as anti-establishment groups in Nepal, according to the former Prime Minister BP Koirala's biography.
The untrustworthy nature of India is evident from the past. She has a history for formulating efforts on multiple fronts to weaken the already fragile country to facilitate its swallowing.
It is high time that all the Nepalese, currently divided among various political affiliations, should come together against the onslaught, instigated by India, in Nepalese territory and understand the game-plan of their so-called considerate neighbours. And India also should realise that the flame she has ignited in Nepal can very well extend to its own northern flank and the unstable southern part as well.
Source: The Frontier Post (March 22, 2009)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Justice urged for Nepal's abused
By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Kathmandu
The United Nations human rights chief has told the people of Nepal that without justice, peace is impossible.
Navanethem Pillay was speaking during her first official visit to Nepal.
The country was the scene of widespread human rights violations during the 10-year conflict between the government and Maoist rebels which ended in 2006.
Political disappearances, killings and torture were all common during the war, with perpetrators on both the state and rebel sides.
Many victims were civilians with nothing to do with the conflict.
Deluged
Ms Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reminded civil society delegates that not a single person had yet been prosecuted for such violations - and that abuses had continued even since the conflict formally ended, naming two recent examples.
"Until someone is held accountable for past violations, serious crimes like the killing of journalist Uma Singh and businessman Ram Hari Shrestha will continue and the peace process will be at threat," she said.
There was a deluge of petitions and questions to her.
A man in a wheelchair said disabled people were ignored in Nepal.
Several Dalits, formerly known as "untouchables", lamented that there was no law protecting their rights.
Others argued for the cause of Muslim women, Tibetan or Bhutanese refugees and the indigenous groups who make up more than one-third of Nepal's population.
As Nepal, now led by the Maoists, draws up a new constitution, a whole gamut of groups are clamouring for their rights.
Ms Pillay said she was struck by their "passion" and would take a raft of social and political rights concerns to the highest world bodies. Human rights, she said, must be fundamental to Nepal's peace process.
BBC News, Kathmandu
The United Nations human rights chief has told the people of Nepal that without justice, peace is impossible.
Navanethem Pillay was speaking during her first official visit to Nepal.
The country was the scene of widespread human rights violations during the 10-year conflict between the government and Maoist rebels which ended in 2006.
Political disappearances, killings and torture were all common during the war, with perpetrators on both the state and rebel sides.
Many victims were civilians with nothing to do with the conflict.
Deluged
Ms Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reminded civil society delegates that not a single person had yet been prosecuted for such violations - and that abuses had continued even since the conflict formally ended, naming two recent examples.
"Until someone is held accountable for past violations, serious crimes like the killing of journalist Uma Singh and businessman Ram Hari Shrestha will continue and the peace process will be at threat," she said.
There was a deluge of petitions and questions to her.
A man in a wheelchair said disabled people were ignored in Nepal.
Several Dalits, formerly known as "untouchables", lamented that there was no law protecting their rights.
Others argued for the cause of Muslim women, Tibetan or Bhutanese refugees and the indigenous groups who make up more than one-third of Nepal's population.
As Nepal, now led by the Maoists, draws up a new constitution, a whole gamut of groups are clamouring for their rights.
Ms Pillay said she was struck by their "passion" and would take a raft of social and political rights concerns to the highest world bodies. Human rights, she said, must be fundamental to Nepal's peace process.
NEPAL: Ethnic identity crisis gathers momentum
KATHMANDU, 20 March 2009
At least two major ethnic groups in the southeastern Terai region bordering India have joined strikes and protests in recent weeks against their classification in the new draft constitution as Madhesi, Nepal's dominant ethnic group.
Tharu make up 6.75 percent of Nepal's 28 million inhabitants, according to the government's Central Bureau of Statistics, and have been galvanised by the Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee.
"I'm a Tharu. That's my true identity. I'm not a Madhesi," Geeta Chaudhary, a student, told IRIN in Kathmandu.
This is a common sentiment among Tharus, the original inhabitants of the Terai. Despite their numbers, they are one of the most neglected, exploited and impoverished ethnic groups in Nepal.
Most were slaves for high caste landlords under the bonded labour system known as 'kamaiya', which was abolished in 2006. Even today, however, thousands of extremely poor and illiterate Tharu girls work as indentured servants.
"In many ways, we have been the worst victims of poverty and political neglect," said Chaudhary.
"It [the classification move] was a direct attack on our ethnic identity and an insult to the entire Tharu community," said Raj Kumar Lekhi, general secretary of Tharu Kalyankari Sabha, a prominent Tharu campaigning group.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the recent strikes had a serious impact in terms of blocking supplies of food and petrol in hill areas, causing shortages and price hikes. Protestors also blocked the movement of humanitarian service vehicles and ambulances.
Muslims
Terai Muslims - some 4.3 percent of Nepal's population - are equally incensed, and joined the protests against their categorisation by the government as Madhesis purely because they live in the Terai.
Like the Tharu, Muslims have been on the margins of development and mainstream politics.
"We expected that our 'New Nepal' would not discriminate against us but we are still being treated as refugees," said Muslim journalist Rahamatulla Miya.
The "New Nepal" concept has been popular since the end of the decade-long armed conflict (1996-2006) which ended with the abolition of the 300-year-old monarchy, but for minority ethnic groups, the situation has barely changed.
"The Muslims want recognition of their identity and proper representation in the constitution and not to be categorised as Madhesi or any other community," said Attahar Hussain, president of Muslim Mukti Morcha, which rallies Nepalese Muslims.
Some Muslim activists told IRIN it was difficult to raise issues of discrimination and injustice without being accused of fuelling religious fundamentalism.
Still time
Tharu leader Lekhi explained that there was still time to get the draft constitution amended: "Our identity movement has been successful so far and there are signs that the government will agree to our demand."
An indication of the importance of the issue in Nepal is evident from interventions by Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal, who has been in talks with leaders of the protests. Parliament is to hold a session on 29 March to address the demands of the various ethnic groups.
Source: IRIN
At least two major ethnic groups in the southeastern Terai region bordering India have joined strikes and protests in recent weeks against their classification in the new draft constitution as Madhesi, Nepal's dominant ethnic group.
Tharu make up 6.75 percent of Nepal's 28 million inhabitants, according to the government's Central Bureau of Statistics, and have been galvanised by the Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee.
"I'm a Tharu. That's my true identity. I'm not a Madhesi," Geeta Chaudhary, a student, told IRIN in Kathmandu.
This is a common sentiment among Tharus, the original inhabitants of the Terai. Despite their numbers, they are one of the most neglected, exploited and impoverished ethnic groups in Nepal.
Most were slaves for high caste landlords under the bonded labour system known as 'kamaiya', which was abolished in 2006. Even today, however, thousands of extremely poor and illiterate Tharu girls work as indentured servants.
"In many ways, we have been the worst victims of poverty and political neglect," said Chaudhary.
"It [the classification move] was a direct attack on our ethnic identity and an insult to the entire Tharu community," said Raj Kumar Lekhi, general secretary of Tharu Kalyankari Sabha, a prominent Tharu campaigning group.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the recent strikes had a serious impact in terms of blocking supplies of food and petrol in hill areas, causing shortages and price hikes. Protestors also blocked the movement of humanitarian service vehicles and ambulances.
Muslims
Terai Muslims - some 4.3 percent of Nepal's population - are equally incensed, and joined the protests against their categorisation by the government as Madhesis purely because they live in the Terai.
Like the Tharu, Muslims have been on the margins of development and mainstream politics.
"We expected that our 'New Nepal' would not discriminate against us but we are still being treated as refugees," said Muslim journalist Rahamatulla Miya.
The "New Nepal" concept has been popular since the end of the decade-long armed conflict (1996-2006) which ended with the abolition of the 300-year-old monarchy, but for minority ethnic groups, the situation has barely changed.
"The Muslims want recognition of their identity and proper representation in the constitution and not to be categorised as Madhesi or any other community," said Attahar Hussain, president of Muslim Mukti Morcha, which rallies Nepalese Muslims.
Some Muslim activists told IRIN it was difficult to raise issues of discrimination and injustice without being accused of fuelling religious fundamentalism.
Still time
Tharu leader Lekhi explained that there was still time to get the draft constitution amended: "Our identity movement has been successful so far and there are signs that the government will agree to our demand."
An indication of the importance of the issue in Nepal is evident from interventions by Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal, who has been in talks with leaders of the protests. Parliament is to hold a session on 29 March to address the demands of the various ethnic groups.
Source: IRIN
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Singapore appoints envoy to Nepal
Singapore, March 19
The Singapore Government has appointed Mr Calvin Eu Mun Hoo, 54, as Singapore's Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, resident in New Delhi.
Mr Eu is currently Singapore's High Commissioner to India, with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bhutan. He will present his credentials to the President of Nepal Ram Baran Yadav on 20 March 2009.
Mr Eu obtained his Bachelor of Arts (1978) and Bachelor of Social Science (Honours Class II Upper) Degree in Political Science (1979) from the University of Singapore. In 1986, he obtained the Master of International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, USA under the Fulbright scholarship.
Mr Eu joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 1979. He was First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta (1981 to 1985), First Secretary and later Counsellor in the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok (1989 to 1992) and Charge d'Affaires in the Singapore Embassy in Yangon in 1994. At the Ministry HQ, he served as Director of Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate I (South East Asia and ASEAN political matters) from 1993 to 1994, Director of Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate III (East Asia and the Pacific) from 1996 to 1997 and Director of Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate I (South East Asia and Regional Policy) from 1997 to 1999. Mr Eu was subsequently appointed the first resident Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the Union of Myanmar from June 1994 to September 1996. He was Singapore's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand from January 1999 to December 2001. Prior to Mr Eu's appointment to the Republic of India, he was Singapore's Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from February 2002 to September 2006, with concurrent accreditation as Singapore's Ambassador to Mongolia.
Mr Eu is a senior officer in the Administrative Service. He has attended numerous international, regional and ASEAN conferences and meetings. He has also served as a member of the board of various Singapore statutory boards and agencies which included East Asian Institute Management Board, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Policy Committee, and Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Executive Committee.
Mr Eu is married to Madam Linda Choo and they have three sons.
The Singapore Government has appointed Mr Calvin Eu Mun Hoo, 54, as Singapore's Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, resident in New Delhi.
Mr Eu is currently Singapore's High Commissioner to India, with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bhutan. He will present his credentials to the President of Nepal Ram Baran Yadav on 20 March 2009.
Mr Eu obtained his Bachelor of Arts (1978) and Bachelor of Social Science (Honours Class II Upper) Degree in Political Science (1979) from the University of Singapore. In 1986, he obtained the Master of International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, USA under the Fulbright scholarship.
Mr Eu joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 1979. He was First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta (1981 to 1985), First Secretary and later Counsellor in the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok (1989 to 1992) and Charge d'Affaires in the Singapore Embassy in Yangon in 1994. At the Ministry HQ, he served as Director of Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate I (South East Asia and ASEAN political matters) from 1993 to 1994, Director of Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate III (East Asia and the Pacific) from 1996 to 1997 and Director of Policy, Planning and Analysis Directorate I (South East Asia and Regional Policy) from 1997 to 1999. Mr Eu was subsequently appointed the first resident Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the Union of Myanmar from June 1994 to September 1996. He was Singapore's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand from January 1999 to December 2001. Prior to Mr Eu's appointment to the Republic of India, he was Singapore's Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from February 2002 to September 2006, with concurrent accreditation as Singapore's Ambassador to Mongolia.
Mr Eu is a senior officer in the Administrative Service. He has attended numerous international, regional and ASEAN conferences and meetings. He has also served as a member of the board of various Singapore statutory boards and agencies which included East Asian Institute Management Board, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Policy Committee, and Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Executive Committee.
Mr Eu is married to Madam Linda Choo and they have three sons.
'Frog marriage' to please rain god in Nepal
Kathmandu, (PTI)
Some Nepalese farmers have found a novel way to please rain god who has been shying for long by arranging 'frog marriage' to seek their blessings, as the 'croak' of the amphibians mark the arrival of the monsoon.
Suffering from lack of rain for more than eight months farmers of central Nepal have arranged frogs' marriage.
The residents of Gairi village in Dolakha district, 150 km east of Kathmandu, conducted marriage ceremony of frogs as per Hindu rituals amidst hundreds of onlookers.
The locals brought a groom frog from Siple stream while the bride was brought to the ceremony from Chukepani stream.
The two amphibians couple were later married in the ceremony held on a plate at local Nageshwori Kalikasthan temple as prayers shouted to congratulate them.
To perform the wedding rituals, the locals had invited seven priests on the occasion. Each family of the village contributed Rs 20 in order to organise the wedding feast.
One of the locals recalled that they witnessed rainfall after performing similar rituals five years back. After the hours of ceremony the newly wed couple were let go in a nearby stream, with the hope that they might communicate to the rain god about the locals' plight due to the drought.
Shortly after the rituals ended there was a strong gale followed by a brief drizzle, according to a local woman. However, there was not sufficient rain so that the worry of the local farmers is overcome.
Some Nepalese farmers have found a novel way to please rain god who has been shying for long by arranging 'frog marriage' to seek their blessings, as the 'croak' of the amphibians mark the arrival of the monsoon.
Suffering from lack of rain for more than eight months farmers of central Nepal have arranged frogs' marriage.
The residents of Gairi village in Dolakha district, 150 km east of Kathmandu, conducted marriage ceremony of frogs as per Hindu rituals amidst hundreds of onlookers.
The locals brought a groom frog from Siple stream while the bride was brought to the ceremony from Chukepani stream.
The two amphibians couple were later married in the ceremony held on a plate at local Nageshwori Kalikasthan temple as prayers shouted to congratulate them.
To perform the wedding rituals, the locals had invited seven priests on the occasion. Each family of the village contributed Rs 20 in order to organise the wedding feast.
One of the locals recalled that they witnessed rainfall after performing similar rituals five years back. After the hours of ceremony the newly wed couple were let go in a nearby stream, with the hope that they might communicate to the rain god about the locals' plight due to the drought.
Shortly after the rituals ended there was a strong gale followed by a brief drizzle, according to a local woman. However, there was not sufficient rain so that the worry of the local farmers is overcome.
Gurkhas demand Britain stop foot-dragging over rights
LONDON (AFP)
British actress Joanna Lumley led a protest by Gurkhas outside London’s High Court Tuesday as they demanded the government stop dragging its feet over a court ruling allowing them to settle here.
Holding placards outside the court, they asked judges for an injunction forcing ministers to carry out a decision in September that approved extending the right to stay permanently in Britain to all Gurkha veterans.
At the moment, only Gurkha soldiers who retired after 1997 – when their base was moved from Hong Kong to Britain – have the automatic right to stay permanently.
All other foreign soldiers in the British army can settle in Britain after four years’ service. “We want the High Court to say that the new policy must be applied forthwith, immediately,” Lumley, whose father fought alongside the Gurkhas in World War II, said.
Describing the delay in implementing the court ruling as “disgraceful,” Lumley said that more than 1,300 Gurkhas wanted the right to settle in Britain, but the government had not reviewed any of their cases.
A spokesman for Britain’s interior ministry said revised guidance on the issue was “currently under consideration and will be issued as soon as possible. Once we have published the guidance, all cases will be reviewed.
“We are determined to get the guidance right to ensure that it is fair to all Gurkhas. This has involved consultation across government.”
Almost 250,000 people signed a petition, handed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Downing Street office in November, saying all Gurkha veterans should be allowed to settle in Britain. Around 3,500 Gurkhas currently serve in the British Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, where two of the Nepalese soldiers have died this month. More than 45,000 in total have died serving Britain.
British actress Joanna Lumley led a protest by Gurkhas outside London’s High Court Tuesday as they demanded the government stop dragging its feet over a court ruling allowing them to settle here.
Holding placards outside the court, they asked judges for an injunction forcing ministers to carry out a decision in September that approved extending the right to stay permanently in Britain to all Gurkha veterans.
At the moment, only Gurkha soldiers who retired after 1997 – when their base was moved from Hong Kong to Britain – have the automatic right to stay permanently.
All other foreign soldiers in the British army can settle in Britain after four years’ service. “We want the High Court to say that the new policy must be applied forthwith, immediately,” Lumley, whose father fought alongside the Gurkhas in World War II, said.
Describing the delay in implementing the court ruling as “disgraceful,” Lumley said that more than 1,300 Gurkhas wanted the right to settle in Britain, but the government had not reviewed any of their cases.
A spokesman for Britain’s interior ministry said revised guidance on the issue was “currently under consideration and will be issued as soon as possible. Once we have published the guidance, all cases will be reviewed.
“We are determined to get the guidance right to ensure that it is fair to all Gurkhas. This has involved consultation across government.”
Almost 250,000 people signed a petition, handed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Downing Street office in November, saying all Gurkha veterans should be allowed to settle in Britain. Around 3,500 Gurkhas currently serve in the British Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, where two of the Nepalese soldiers have died this month. More than 45,000 in total have died serving Britain.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Carnegie of Nepal
By Andrea Doyle
John Wood needed a break from his constant, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, business-warrior lifestyle. Nepal seemed like the perfect escape. He trekked for 18 days through areas with no paved roads, no cars, no telephones. Just the getaway he had yearned for.
What he didn't anticipate was that an invitation from a local educator to visit a school would change him forever.
More than 450 students were crammed into eight small classrooms, their floors— packed earth. No desks. No chairs. No shelves. It wasn't the obvious poverty that overwhelmed Wood. It was the poverty of opportunity.
"Their library consisted of only 20 books that were backpacker castoffs, completely inappropriate for children. I wondered, 'How can you ever break the cycle of poverty if kids don't get educated?"
Wood promised to return to the school within a year with enough books to create a decent library.
Using the power of connectivity, he e-mailed everyone he knew asking for book donations. Within a month, there were 3,000 books in his parents' Colorado garage.
Wood and his father returned to Nepal, and on the backs of six rented donkeys, delivered the books they had collected. "The students just mobbed us. They couldn't wait to get their hands on these books. They had never seen such brightly colored children's books before. As I peered at their faces as they excitedly read these books, I thought, 'Game over. I can go back to my desk at Microsoft and make rich people richer or devote my life to these kids who have so little but who are so anxious and so eager to learn."
A sense of responsibility to Microsoft prevented him from quitting immediately, but he was a changed man. Although he continued as Microsoft's director of business development for the Greater China region, he juggled these responsibilities as he continued collecting books. He even cashed out $15,000 of his Microsoft stock to build his first school in Nepal, dedicating it to his parents in appreciation for his own education."
I realized that relatively small amount of money was helping hundreds of kids. I imagined what I could accomplish if I devoted myself to fundraising full-time," he says. And that's exactly what he did two months later."
It was a scary decision. I was 35 years old, and my entire identity was caught up in this idea of being a well-paid Microsoft executive. A lot of people told me I was crazy; that I was throwing my career away, that I was having a midlife crisis," he says.
From Corporate Executive to Unemployment
The original name for his brainchild, Books for Nepal, was not encompassing enough for what he desired to achieve. A dinner party, a few bottles of wine, and a few close friends from Google, Microsoft, and Netscape led to a brainstorming session, and the name Room to Read was born.
Eight years later, Wood has created a flourishing nonprofit organization that has established more than 7,000 bilingual libraries, donated and published five million books, built 730 schools, and funded more than 7,000 long-term scholarships for girls. Room to Read has impacted the lives of upwards of two million students in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, South Africa, and Zambia.
He is determined to break the cycle of poverty for as many children as he can. "Education is a hand up, not a hand out. It is the best long-term proven ticket out of poverty. Dropping off bags of rice doesn't do it, educating kids does."
With more than 250 million children not enrolled in school and more than 774 million adults who cannot read or write, Wood is only getting started.
"I think these statistics are a moral failure of our universe. Every day we lose is a day we don't get back. We need to give every kid in the world a chance to get educated. There are tens of millions of kids out there who don't have a school, a book, not even a damn pencil," he says angrily. "Look at the despair, the ruthlessness, the terrorism, the subjugation of women in the world. A lot of it comes down to a lack of education. There are over 500 million women who are illiterate. If each one has four children, you have 2 billion children growing up with an illiterate mother. That is not going to affect just that community; it is going to affect the whole world. This is not just some niche issue, it affects the future of all of humankind."
His goal? By 2010, to have built 10,000 libraries and more than 1,000 schools and to have bestowed long-term scholarships on 15,000 girls.
Globetrotter
His travel schedule is grueling. With 250 full-time Room to Read employees worldwide and more than 2,000 volunteers in 37 cities who have raised $20 million, Wood is on the road 80 percent of the time. "I feel as if I live in seat 14A," he says with a laugh. "There is no substitution for getting out there and seeing people. I travel a minimum of 250,000 miles a year, typically circling the Earth once every six to eight weeks.
"Popular on the speaking circuit, he focuses his talks on the power of rolling up your sleeves to "GSD" ("Get Sh*t Done"). Action is what the world needs right now, he says. His speeches focus on corporate social responsibility and encouraging sales teams to "get out of their comfort zone, as you never know what might happen when you dare to take a different approach."
Not surprisingly, Wood cites Andrew Carnegie for having the greatest influence on his life. "With one decision, Carnegie gave millions of people in America access to books with no barriers," he explains. "You can travel days throughout sub-Saharan Africa and not see a single library. My question to the world is, if we view Carnegie's decision as one of the greatest philanthropic decisions of all time, then why haven't we done this for the poorest parts of the world? Why haven't we given them the same opportunity to read? Somebody must become the Carnegie of sub-Saharan Africa, of India, of Cambodia." That somebody has a name. It is John Wood.
Source: succesfulmtgs.com
John Wood needed a break from his constant, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, business-warrior lifestyle. Nepal seemed like the perfect escape. He trekked for 18 days through areas with no paved roads, no cars, no telephones. Just the getaway he had yearned for.
What he didn't anticipate was that an invitation from a local educator to visit a school would change him forever.
More than 450 students were crammed into eight small classrooms, their floors— packed earth. No desks. No chairs. No shelves. It wasn't the obvious poverty that overwhelmed Wood. It was the poverty of opportunity.
"Their library consisted of only 20 books that were backpacker castoffs, completely inappropriate for children. I wondered, 'How can you ever break the cycle of poverty if kids don't get educated?"
Wood promised to return to the school within a year with enough books to create a decent library.
Using the power of connectivity, he e-mailed everyone he knew asking for book donations. Within a month, there were 3,000 books in his parents' Colorado garage.
Wood and his father returned to Nepal, and on the backs of six rented donkeys, delivered the books they had collected. "The students just mobbed us. They couldn't wait to get their hands on these books. They had never seen such brightly colored children's books before. As I peered at their faces as they excitedly read these books, I thought, 'Game over. I can go back to my desk at Microsoft and make rich people richer or devote my life to these kids who have so little but who are so anxious and so eager to learn."
A sense of responsibility to Microsoft prevented him from quitting immediately, but he was a changed man. Although he continued as Microsoft's director of business development for the Greater China region, he juggled these responsibilities as he continued collecting books. He even cashed out $15,000 of his Microsoft stock to build his first school in Nepal, dedicating it to his parents in appreciation for his own education."
I realized that relatively small amount of money was helping hundreds of kids. I imagined what I could accomplish if I devoted myself to fundraising full-time," he says. And that's exactly what he did two months later."
It was a scary decision. I was 35 years old, and my entire identity was caught up in this idea of being a well-paid Microsoft executive. A lot of people told me I was crazy; that I was throwing my career away, that I was having a midlife crisis," he says.
From Corporate Executive to Unemployment
The original name for his brainchild, Books for Nepal, was not encompassing enough for what he desired to achieve. A dinner party, a few bottles of wine, and a few close friends from Google, Microsoft, and Netscape led to a brainstorming session, and the name Room to Read was born.
Eight years later, Wood has created a flourishing nonprofit organization that has established more than 7,000 bilingual libraries, donated and published five million books, built 730 schools, and funded more than 7,000 long-term scholarships for girls. Room to Read has impacted the lives of upwards of two million students in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, South Africa, and Zambia.
He is determined to break the cycle of poverty for as many children as he can. "Education is a hand up, not a hand out. It is the best long-term proven ticket out of poverty. Dropping off bags of rice doesn't do it, educating kids does."
With more than 250 million children not enrolled in school and more than 774 million adults who cannot read or write, Wood is only getting started.
"I think these statistics are a moral failure of our universe. Every day we lose is a day we don't get back. We need to give every kid in the world a chance to get educated. There are tens of millions of kids out there who don't have a school, a book, not even a damn pencil," he says angrily. "Look at the despair, the ruthlessness, the terrorism, the subjugation of women in the world. A lot of it comes down to a lack of education. There are over 500 million women who are illiterate. If each one has four children, you have 2 billion children growing up with an illiterate mother. That is not going to affect just that community; it is going to affect the whole world. This is not just some niche issue, it affects the future of all of humankind."
His goal? By 2010, to have built 10,000 libraries and more than 1,000 schools and to have bestowed long-term scholarships on 15,000 girls.
Globetrotter
His travel schedule is grueling. With 250 full-time Room to Read employees worldwide and more than 2,000 volunteers in 37 cities who have raised $20 million, Wood is on the road 80 percent of the time. "I feel as if I live in seat 14A," he says with a laugh. "There is no substitution for getting out there and seeing people. I travel a minimum of 250,000 miles a year, typically circling the Earth once every six to eight weeks.
"Popular on the speaking circuit, he focuses his talks on the power of rolling up your sleeves to "GSD" ("Get Sh*t Done"). Action is what the world needs right now, he says. His speeches focus on corporate social responsibility and encouraging sales teams to "get out of their comfort zone, as you never know what might happen when you dare to take a different approach."
Not surprisingly, Wood cites Andrew Carnegie for having the greatest influence on his life. "With one decision, Carnegie gave millions of people in America access to books with no barriers," he explains. "You can travel days throughout sub-Saharan Africa and not see a single library. My question to the world is, if we view Carnegie's decision as one of the greatest philanthropic decisions of all time, then why haven't we done this for the poorest parts of the world? Why haven't we given them the same opportunity to read? Somebody must become the Carnegie of sub-Saharan Africa, of India, of Cambodia." That somebody has a name. It is John Wood.
Source: succesfulmtgs.com
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Nepal police detain 2 foreign pro-Tibet protesters
KATMANDU, Nepal: Nepalese police detained a Norwegian man and a British woman protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet outside Beijing's embassy visa office in Katmandu on Saturday.
The two protesters had just begun to chant "Free Tibet" when they were grabbed by police, dragged a few feet (meters), loaded in a truck and driven away to a police station.
Hundreds of policemen surrounded the embassy and visa office, which are in two different locations in Katmandu, to enforce a ban on protests outside the buildings.
Nepal has ramped up security to deter demonstrations during two sensitive anniversaries. Saturday marks one year since protests against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa turned violent. This week also saw the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
It was not clear how long the two detained would be held in custody. The district administration office, which usually decide these matters, was closed for the weekend.
Police only gave the protesters' nationalities but would not release any other details about their identities.
Nepal's government has increased police presence, imposed restrictions and issued strict warnings this year at Beijing's request.
Thousands of Tibetan refugees live in Nepal and thousands more are allowed to pass through on their way to Dharmasala, India, where their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile.
Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before Chinese communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.
The Associated Press: March 14, 2009
The two protesters had just begun to chant "Free Tibet" when they were grabbed by police, dragged a few feet (meters), loaded in a truck and driven away to a police station.
Hundreds of policemen surrounded the embassy and visa office, which are in two different locations in Katmandu, to enforce a ban on protests outside the buildings.
Nepal has ramped up security to deter demonstrations during two sensitive anniversaries. Saturday marks one year since protests against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa turned violent. This week also saw the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
It was not clear how long the two detained would be held in custody. The district administration office, which usually decide these matters, was closed for the weekend.
Police only gave the protesters' nationalities but would not release any other details about their identities.
Nepal's government has increased police presence, imposed restrictions and issued strict warnings this year at Beijing's request.
Thousands of Tibetan refugees live in Nepal and thousands more are allowed to pass through on their way to Dharmasala, India, where their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile.
Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before Chinese communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.
The Associated Press: March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Nepal’s Muslims to rally for official recognition
By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
Associated Press
.....................................
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) – Nepal’s minority Muslims threatened Fridayto shut down the capital with protests and a general strike todemand official recognition as an ethnic group separate from theirneighbors in the southern Madesh region.
The United Muslim National Struggle Committee said they want thegovernment to officially recognize Muslims as an ethnic group in thenew constitution, which is being drafted for completion by May 2010.
If Muslims are recognized, they will have better representationin parliament and could benefit from government-approved job quotasin the civil service, police force and military, committeecoordinator Tej Mohammed Miya said.
The government must also organize a census to better determinethe number of Muslims in Nepal, Miya said, adding they make up about10 percent of the population. Official data indicates only 4.3percent of the country’s 27 million people are Muslim.
Miya said the committee would stage rallies on Friday and wouldshut down Katmandu next week.
The government recently categorized Nepal’s Muslims as a part ofthe Madeshi ethnic group, because they largely live in the southernMadesh region that borders India.
The government did not immediately comment, but it has formed acommittee under the Peace Ministry to negotiate with all the ethnicgroups with demands.
Radio tagging to track Nepal's endangered gharials
..............................
One of the world's largest crocodilian species is also its rarest. With just a few hundred individuals left, the critically endangered gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) faces an uncertain future in its remaining river habitats in India and Nepal.
Once common, gharials were hunted into near extinction for their skins in the early 20th century. Since then, captive-bred gharials have been released into rivers by the hundreds, but survival rates have been low, probably because so little was known about the species.
Last year, more than 100 gharials mysteriously died in India. While the cause of death has never been conclusively proven, scientists at the time hypothesized that they died of gout (a buildup of uric acid, a waste product), brought on by kidney failure, which itself was brought on by exposure to toxic chemicals in India's polluted rivers.
Now, scientists in Nepal are trying to find out as much information as possible about their country's gharials so they can devise a plan to keep this increasingly rare species from disappearing forever.
The project started a few weeks ago, when Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, in collaboration with WWF Nepal, attached RFID tags to 14 gharials and re-released them in the Rapti River. The project, set to run through December, will gather information about gharial habitats and behavior, says Rinjan Shrestha, a WWF Nepal conservation biologist.
Shrestha says that "habitat degradation, overfishing and water pollution" are the main reasons for gharial decline in Nepal.
"The radio tags are used to locate the position of the released gharials," says Shrestha.
Once located, the monitoring crew will record the gharials' GPS positions. "We have to localize every tag manually, with a directional antenna," says Antoine Cadi, a project manager at Awely, an environmental NGO in France, who is providing technical assistance for the program. "This method is less expensive than satellite tracking and gives us the opportunity to follow the behavior of the crocs.
"The team will try to locate the gharials daily until July, when monsoon season begins, "then do our best during the raining period," Cadi says, noting that researchers will step up efforts again in September to gauge the impact of monsoon flooding on the shrinking population.
Cadi believes that monsoon season may drive gharials from Nepal's cleaner rivers into India, where they could face greater threats.
"Every day they are pushed down the river... and, after some months, they can not avoid crossing the dam," he says, "and finally arriving in India, where all the threats known in Nepal are more important and strong."
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Surgeons' mercy mission to Nepal
THREE Stoke-on-Trent surgeons will be operating on broken bones and worn-out joints as usual next month – but they will belong to patients living 4,500 miles away.
The doctors are preparing for a three-week mission to Nepal where they will swap the University Hospital of North Staffordshire for operating theatres in Kathmandu.
Their colleagues at the Hartshill complex will divide up the work they leave behind as the trio of orthopaedic surgeons – Professor Peter Thomas, David Griffiths and Kevin Smith – bring people on the other side of the world their only hope of an end to their agony.
The consultants aim to operate on around 40 patients during their stay in one of the world's poorest countries – as well as teaching their advanced techniques to some of its 450 surgeons.
And besides the normal fare of injuries caused by falls and road crashes, they expect to see some unusual cases too.
Mr Griffiths, who is on his fourth mission in 13 years to Nepal, said: "We have treated people who have fallen out of trees, suffered gunshot wounds – and even had one lady whose knee was injured by a bite from a bear."
Ahead of their arrival on April 28, the specialists have been emailed X-rays of the cases which have already been selected for operations by medics at the Government-run hospital in Kathmandu. Richer people needing joint replacements in Nepal pay to travel to India for the work so those due to be helped by the Potteries team would otherwise have had to live with their painful conditions.
Even the lucky ones face a bigger risk than patients in Britain of their operation wound becoming infected.
Professor Thomas, who is going to Nepal for the second time, said: "It's a real culture shock when you see the conditions in hospitals over there compared with here.
"They are dirty and inefficient and prone to infection.
"And because there is so little follow-up care, people just have to face the risk of complications developing unchecked.
"But morally we have to do what we can."
Besides the more traditional operations, the specialists will be carrying out the first elbow replacement surgery to be attempted in Nepal.
Charities which funded previous trips are no longer involved so the doctors will be taking some instruments from their own hospital and manufacturers have donated joints and paid their air fares.
Mr Griffiths added: "The University Hospital has supported us all the way and both present and previous medical directors have allowed us to go in our work time instead of taking our holidays. Neither will they have to bring in locums to cover for us as our colleagues have agreed to share out our work.
"This is all a good example of a well-off nation helping a poor one out."
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