Daihatsu Sirion
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#297 12 - 18 May 2006 20 pages Rs 30 Coming home A hint of peace is all it took for thousands of Nepalis to return western Nepal, there is an market is open till ten and there inescapable feeling of relief is a lot of traffic on the road. among farmers, traders and For many in the city, it is ordinary people. Mostly, they are hard to imagine that unarmed relieved there are no bombs going Maoists are now walking openly off, and they don’t have to be in streets where there used to be worried about being caught in the firefights till a month ago. For a crossfire. The Maoists have also region that was most affected by suddenly vanished from the the conflict, people are returning villages, and locals think they to their normal lives as if making have gone to the towns. up for lost time. “They used to come all the The most vivid sign of normal time, ask for food, shelter for the times is the resumption of night night and threaten us if we bus service from here to different didn’t give it,” says Bhagbati parts of the kingdom. Kohalpur Chaudhari of Saurahawa in junction is bustling all night as Bardiya, “now they’re gone and buses come and go along the RAMESWOR BOHARA it’s a big relief.” Mahendra Highway, the 24-hour RAMESWOR BOHARA In another village, the people restaurants in BARDIA gathered in the village square are are doing Editorial p2 Weekly Internet Poll # 297 chatting and smiling. There is no brisk Guns and slogans Q... Do you approve of the choice by the SPA of Girija Prasad Koirala as hey come in groups of tension in the air when a stranger business. At the crossroads prime minister? 20-30 carrying heavy bags, approaches, as there used to be. For in Nawalparasi p14 Total votes:11,962 T villagers from the hills of School that had been closed by three years central Nepal, walking across the the Maoists are open again, and VDC chairmen from Banke used to border from India to Nepal. in the morning the roads are live in Nepalganj, they have now (see pic.) packed with children walking, started to return to their villages. Till a month ago, they were bicycling or taking rickshaws to “I’m going back,” says Indra going in the opposite school. Bahadur Shrestha, secretary of Weekly Internet Poll # 298. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com direction—fleeing the conflict “The Maoists used to be all Sitapur VDC, “we had to leave Q... Do you agree with the recall of and violence, seeking work in over here, they had made our because of the situation, but ambassadors by the SPA? India. There is no immigration village their base,” says Bhuban things are now back to normal.” office at the border in Nepalganj, Chaudhari, “and the soldiers LDO Krishna Chandra Ghimire is so there are no statistics but on would come looking for them surprised how quickly things are just one day last week 1,500 and we’d be caught in the returning to normal. Nepalis had come home. middle.” A policeman guarding a The first person they meet in In Nepalganj itself, the sound government office in Kohalpur Nepal is a reporter, they are of bombs going off had become says he’s never felt as safe in the emotional and all eager to talk. such a regular feature of life that past ten years: “We have to protect SUBSCRIBERS “We only left because of the if people heard an explosion this peace, and I’m willing to get Did your paper arrive on time this violence,” they say in unison, they’d ignore it. Shops would out of my uniform and morning? If not, call our “we’d rather till our own fields down their shutters by five in demonstrate outside the palace in Complaints Hotline 9851054729 than work for others.” the evening, most nights there Kathmandu if that is what it and talk to Santosh Aryal. Across Banke and Bardia in would be curfews. Today, the takes.” z 2 EDITORIAL 12 - 18 MAY 2006 #297 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Desk Editor: Marty Logan Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Bhushan Shilpakar Vicepresident Corporate Affairs: Sneh Sayami Advertising: Sambhu Guragain [email protected] Subscription: [email protected] Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur [email protected], GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu Tel: 5543333-6, Fax: 5521013 www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5547018 MythsThe real struggle and comes when martyrs a movement ersonally, Isucceeds blame Gandhi. Thus we see the new war, another takeover. Perhaps GUNS AND SLOGANS He’s the one who started government in Kathmandu there could be UN war crimes It’s natural for people who have achieved a breath-taking overthrow P the South Asian cult of the embarking on mythmaking proceedings against those who of dictatorship to be on the guard against sellout. freedom struggle, the hartal, the exercises, establishing more planned the outrage at Doramba And that is even more understandable in this country where last banda, the andolan, the righteous martyrs, nominating more in 2003 when the army killed 19 time the euphoria of freedom didn’t take long to evaporate. When use of the street. After all, it was villains to the pantheon of blame people as the government and expectations are so high, people get impatient. And it doesn’t help the Mahatma’s vision of for past failures. In the 1950s, it rebels were meeting for peace when we see the same old faces up to the same old tricks. nonviolent civil disobedience was the Ranas. For awhile in the talks. The Maoists too might just But before we get too cynical, we have to only remind ourselves of the alternatives: Maoist totalitarianism or absolute monarchism. that drove the British out of 1990s, it was the Mandales. Now have stern justice to face. The seven party alliance may be slow, but they are the least of the India–with a little help from the it’s the Chhetris, various people But frankly, in the end, the evils. Also, if we recognise the magnitude of what the people have Second World War and the way it named Thapa and the Shahs, blame game is for losers. Nepal’s achieved this time compared to 1990, perhaps it will help us be a ravaged the Imperial bank including that villain sent interim government should be little more patient. account. straight from central casting, proceeding with energy and After all, we are now digging down to the core issues that 16 Crown Prince Paras. dispatch towards setting up the years ago were so sensitive even the framers of the constitution left HERE AND THERE We have a ‘high-level probe institutions that will move the it deliberately ambiguous. The moral high ground that People Power II gives parliament allows it to be the supreme body to undertake Daniel Lak commission’ to find out who country on. That means a any changes that the people’s representatives deem necessary. told what cop to fire what bullet Constituent Assembly, a body of Which also gives the legislators and the seven party executives at which particular transitional law that fixes the responsibility to get it right. Let’s not push them into doing things India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and demonstration at a certain time sovereignty with parliament, the in half measure, or to take needlessly harsh decisions in the heat of even Nepal got their freedom and so on. It’s all just part of the people, the courts, and not with the moment that they may regret later. Rational decisions can’t be from Gandhi’s glorious revelation permanent andolan mindset that some uniformed autocrat of royal made in a charged atmosphere when parliament is forced to that the people could triumph grips most members of the descent, that means making the appease rebels with guns while it tries to tame a royal army it defanged. You can’t expect MPs to think straight when they have without weapons against the restored parliament. In fact, army obey civilian orders and their heads bashed in at the house gate. You can’t change things military might of a state. Might Prime Minister Koirala, once getting the Maoists to live up to with a witch-hunt. Decision taken so far smack of a government wasn’t right. But what remains of admitted to me in our first promises made last year to stuck in vendetta-mode. It should be spending more time in building Gandhi’s noble vision in today’s interview for the BBC in 1998, submit to international scrutiny rather than carrying out an inquisition. Nepal? A culture where struggle that he and his ilk were better at and decommissioning of As things cool down, policy-making will gradually move from the is venerated more than outcome. freedom fighting than nation weapons. That means rescuing street to parliament. But the government can’t waitto act like a Where the noble means of building. the ravaged economy with fast government. How about urgently filling the vacuum at the grassroots by setting up village committees made up of ex-VDC members, Gandhi can be used time and At the time, political track development spending and party representatives and even Maoists. This would immediately again to achieve democracy and, instability and the Maoist emergency loans to pay for it all. improve service delivery and bring us back on track to meet MDG yes, freedom, but where few seem uprising seemed real challenges It means governing, taking targets in health and education.