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#421 17 - 23 October 2008 16 pages Rs 30 Weekly Internet Poll # 421 Q. Do you expect next year’s Dasain- Tihar to be better than this year’s? Total votes: 5,319 Weekly Internet Poll # 422. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Do you think it is a good idea for the NC to join the Maoist-led coalition? EDWIN KOO RIVER TO DESERT: Just 1.5 km upstream from the Kosi Barrage in Saptari, a bull wades through stagnant water. This is where the Kosi used to flow before it suddenly breached its embankment and changed course. See also: ‘Water world’, p 8-9. combatants. But the real unknown is whether Dahal can sell that plan to his guerrilla commanders in UN-supervised cantonments. Back to work Meanwhile, there are indications of further mellowing The government has a lot of catching up to do of the Maoist line. Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai, he friendly mood of the Although sharp differences a consensus government. attending the World Bank/IMF festive season seems to have remain, both within parties in the “We need everyone on board annual meeting in Washington Taffected the top leaders of coalition and among each other, to fulfill our immediate goals of this week, surprised people there the NC and the Maoists, who have there seems to be a realisation that keeping the peace process on and in Nepal by saying his party been using tea party diplomacy progress on governance and track, to draft a new constitution was discussing dropping ‘Maoist’ this week to patch up differences. constitution-building can’t and to spur rapid economic from its name. Even the body language of the happen in an atmosphere of growth,” Dahal told reporters on Bhattarai needed to make a troika (UML’s Jhalnath Khanal, acrimony and politics-as-usual. Wednesday. He added that the good impression among members the NC’s Girija Koirala and Maoist NC leaders have said they have constitution-drafting process of the Washington Consensus Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal no intention of bringing down the would start “before Tihar”. because his budget has doubled Dahal) at the UML tea party on government “for the next six The more immediate hurdle the foreign aid component to Wednesday was of bonhomie and months” but Koirala rejected could be the integration of the nearly $950 million. However, camaraderie. overtures from the Maoists to join Maoist PLA into the national Nepal’s main donors say they are army. The main political players still skeptical about absorptive and the army brass seem to have capacity, populist cash handouts agreed secretly on a very limited to VDCs and cooperatives as well induction with a rehabilitation as unmonitored disbursement for package for the rest of the Maoist cadres. 2 EDITORIAL 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda Dixit CEO: Ashutosh Tiwari Design: Kiran Maharjan Director Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Marketing Manager: Sambhu Guragain Asst Managers: Subhash Kumar Subscriptions: 5542535/5542525 Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur [email protected] GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu 5250333/845, Fax: 5251013 www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5250017-19 Talk the talk The government and Madhesi militants are TERRAIN WARNING talking not because they want a solution, but Nepal is one of those places in the world where a traditionally to be seen as striving for one fatalistic society that hasn’t had time to adjust to the outside world collides head-on with modern technology, often with irst the good news: the they represent. is on the margins now. Goit may disastrous results. government and the armed There has been a degree of be an ideologue but he has been The rate of road accidents in Nepal has soared in recent years. F groups in Tarai are reaching introspection among the more thrown out of his own outfit and Fatalities calculated on the basis of passenger miles is now one of out to each other and may talk. serious militants. They held a is relatively isolated. Ranbir the highest in the world. Building codes, contingency planning or The problem: it is unlikely they meeting in Jayanagar a month ago. Singh’s JTMM and Manager’s evacuation drills are nearly non-existent in the capital’s new high- will either reach an agreement, The process of unification of Madhes Tarai Mukti Morcha may rise buildings. There is almost no state-level preparedness for or that the lawlessness in the some of them has picked pace. merge soon. All this can alter if earthquakes and their aftermath. Tarai will come to an end They are politically vulnerable, three top leaders of a group or 30 Our rash attitude towards pesticides, food additives, traffic rules, fuel adulteration, household electrical appliances, anytime soon. and this is forcing them to engage district activists shift loyalties. pharmaceuticals or even activities that directly affect our health with the state. Even if all the key groups But talk privately to come to the table, what do you do (like tyre burning) show that we either don’t care or don’t know PLAIN SPEAKING about the consequences of flouting norms that guide technology. government leaders or Madhesi with a Tarai Army that blasted Nepal’s civil aviation sector has been flying on a wing and a Prashant Jha militants and one comes away Chandranighapur this week prayer. Inadequate training and equipment and a combination of with the sense of an elaborate killing innocents? Can this carelessness and recklessness have made Nepal notorious for Circumstances have forced charade. Even if formal talks government, full of internal plane crashes. both sides to veer towards talks. happen, it would be best not to contradictions, politically sell Since 1990 there have been 18 fatal airliner accidents in which The government wants to be seen expect too much. Both sides are and administratively implement over 400 people have been killed. Analysing accident data shows as effective in restoring order and talking not because they want a a strategy of talking to some that most of the crashes were caused by airworthy aircraft flown by sincere in tackling political solution, but they want to be groups and cracking down on disoriented or careless crew into mountains covered by clouds, called Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) in technical jargon. grievances. seen as striving for one. The others simultaneously? Will this Last week’s crash of a Twin Otter in Lukla with the loss of 18 Both the Maoists and MJF government wants to be seen as only give a pretext to the groups lives was just the latest in a long list of CFIT events that have have been associated with the sensitive, the armed groups want which are in dialogue to walk occurred with tragic regularity in Nepal. In November 2006, a armed activists in the past. This to be seen as political groups. out? And can there be peace in helicopter flew into a mountain in eastern Nepal killing 25 people, makes it easier to communicate. The government wants to Madhes when all the larger issues including most of Some are quibbling make sure that when it unleashes (representation, dignity, Nepal’s senior about the composition the security apparatus, it is not employment, economic conservation experts. of the negotiation blamed for not trying to find a stagnation) still remain? The Canadian-built team, but that does not negotiated settlement. The armed The timing is not yet ripe for Twin Otter is a sturdy take away from the fact groups want to ensure that they a way out. The incentives of workhorse, but pilots that the government get a breather which can be used major actors lie in promoting need to be extra alert when flying to remote has pushed this to expand their network and instability. The young militants STOL airfields, process forward. build a political platform. have found a quick and easy way especially during the The armed groups The government is in no to earn, and the district monsoon. Ten Twin know they are position to agree to a single administrators are happy with Otters have crashed discredited. The splits autonomous Madhes, and the their share of the loot while since 1990, seven of in their ranks, armed groups can’t be seen journalists and NGOs act as them were CFIT—this is criminal activities, backing away from this demand middlemen. Sections of the an unacceptably high absence of political just yet. At most, the government Indian state and domestic anti- attrition rate by any SURAJ KUNWAR work and public may release some arrested cadre Maoist forces want the armed standard. support, and the ability of the and some militants will halt groups to be around to counter New cockpit avionics that give pilots a 3-D map of the terrain Nepali state to gradually co-opt killings for a bit. Temporary the left. Madhesi leaders are keen ahead of them are now available, but they are expensive. Ultimately, failsafe navigation aids are of no help if pilots ignore them. Nothing key community representatives respite is the best case scenario. to use them during the next can replace rigorous crew training and strict guidelines on flying in have put the militants on the What adds to the complexity round of agitation. poor visibility in the mountains. defensive. They still need to be is that the armed groups are not Till the federal debate plays We are culturally prone to leaving too much to chance. Modern taken seriously, though, not only homogeneous and their internal out and CA deliberations end, the technology doesn’t forgive mistakes, and we tend to make too many.