We take pride in jobs well done. JAGADAMBA PRESS #128 17 - 23 January 2003 16 pages Rs 25 [email protected] Tel: (01) 521393, 543017, 547018 Fax: (01) 536390 HEMLATA RAI, with JANAK NEPAL Manjushree in ○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ NEPALGANJ hoever killed their parents, the talks to Samrat children end up in the same place. W Sangita Yadav’s father was a farmer in Leave the kids alone Banke district. The Maoists came while he was the needs of those who are already affected.” Children recruited by eating, dragged him out of his house, beat and One of the undocumented aspects of the tortured him in front of his family, and killed Maoists to carry their conflict is the growing number of internally him. Sarala Dahal’s father was a teacher in the rucksacks rest at a tea displaced families. This has increased the same district. He was killed after surrendering house in Kalikot number of children in the district headquarters, to the security forces. district in June. townships and in Kathmandu Valley who have Sarala and Sangita are both being raised in a lost their traditional village support Novelist Manjushree Thapa, author of the child shelter which has just opened in mechanisms. School closures and threats of much-acclaimed The Tutor of History has Nepalganj by the charity group, Sahara. “We forced recruitment of one child per family by a cyber-chat with fellow-author and don’t really care who killed their parents or Maoists have added to the influx of children. A compatriot, Samrat Upadhyay who has relatives, we want to protect the future of these recent survey in the insurgency hotbed of just published his second book, The Guru children, and they all get equal care here,” says Rukum alone found that out of 1,000 people of Love in the United States. Sample of Sahara’s Balkrishna Joshi. displaced, nearly 300 were children. the exchange: With a capacity of taking care of 50 A high school headmaster from Manjushree “You seem to be a children, shelters like Sahara are just addressing Sindhupalchok who is also living in squeaky-clean Nepali boy next door, the tip of the mountain of misery affecting In a war between grown-ups, children are Kathmandu told us nearly half the students in correct me if I am wrong here. Isn’t this Nepali children. Even so, there is such either caught in the middle or forced to fight. his school had dropped out this year, most unusual for a writer?” negligible rehabilitation going on, Joshi says, have fled to Kathmandu and beyond. “Even Samrat “I’m hardly squeaky-clean, that every little effort counts. Bahadur. Besides the orphans and destitutes, Mandal, a parent and teacher who has recently those who have stayed behind have been very but yes my family and teaching are as Nine-year-old Hira Bahadur Pariyar and there has been a sudden spurt in the past moved to Kathmandu from Rautahat. “Because irregular in class,” he said. important to me as writing.” his 13-year-old brother Nar Bahadur from month in children being abducted from these are children, you are talking about the Tarak Dhital of CWIN feels children Read the full interview on page 8-9. Rolpa have become symbols of this lack of care schools across Nepal, forced to take part in nation’s future.” displaced or orphaned by the Maoists get more for the children who have been affected by the military training, attend Maoist mass meetings Moved by the enormity of the crisis facing media attention than those affected by the action Bagchal violence of the past seven years. Their father was or do portering for the rebels. Many have since Nepali children, activist groups got together of security forces. “Most of the young victims of killed by police, probably one of the first dozen been released unharmed, but the spreading this week to launch a “Children as a Zone of arbitrary action by the security forces have gone The First International Bagchal Tournament casualties after the Maoists launched their panic has made many parents send their Peace Campaign” under which they will undocumented,” Dhital says. These children concluded last week in Bern. The Bronze Tiger “peoples’ war” on 13 Feburary, 1996. Unable children to the safety of the district towns. address the specific and immediate education, are at far greater risk: they might not have access trophy went to Ruth Kaeser. Back in Nepal, to take care of the boys by herself, Hira and Nar By targetting schools across the country, health, shelter and food needs of children in to institutional assistance, and they may be too bagchal is losing its once-dominant place in the Bahadur’s mother abandoned them. Last week, the Maoists have indirectly affected the lives of 140 VDCs in 22 of the worst-hit districts. scared to seek help. entertainment scene, but you can revive this the boys walked up bravely to the district “Firstly, the children should be kept out of Since the government either cannot help, or game. To find out the rules, see page 15. millions of Nepali children. “They are the administrator in Libang and demanded that the unseen victims, they are de-sensitised by this conflict,” says Gauri Pradhan of Child isn’t doing much, activists say, it is now up to state raise them. reports of violence, they are psychologically Workers in Nepal (CWIN), which is part of neutral relief groups to protect Nepali children No one is even keeping count of thousands affected by the forced closure of schools, and the group implementing the children peace from further harm. Weekly Internet Poll # 68 of children like Sangita, Sarala, Hira and Nar they are haunted by uncertainty,” says Surendra campaign, “Secondly, we must start addressing See also p4-5 Q. Is the rule requiring helmets for pillion riders a good idea? “Recovery hinges on peace” he Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is one of thinks the key is to restore peace. “If it is possible to resolve the Nepal’s largest development partners with around $2 billion conflict in the near future…there is a meaningful and effective invested since its assistance to Nepal began in 1969. Country program of rehabilitation, and development that really Total votes: 1,226 T Director for Nepal, Richard Vokes spoke to Nepali Times about addresses the underlying causes of the conflict, then the Weekly Internet Poll # 69. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Has the government done enough to rehabilitate ongoing assistance to Nepal, including prospects for economic recovery and addressing Nepal’s district headquarters destroyed by Maoists? delays in the Melamchi scheme, the persistent poverty are good, “ he says. development of hydropower The fiscal crisis is more serious, infrastructure and the controversy Vokes adds, and says the donor over the lifting of subsidies for community is willing to help address it. MIN BAJRACHARYA shallow tubewells. But what donors also want to see is an Vokes admits that Nepal is improved effectiveness of public going through a critical period, and expenditure. Full interview p7 2 EDITORIAL 17 - 23 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #128 NATION 17 - 23 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #128 3 Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL Design: Kiran Maharjan [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Advertising: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Subscription: Anil Karki [email protected] Sales: Sudan Bista [email protected] Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 01-543333-7, Fax: 01-521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hattiban: 01-547018/17 Have a party Seven years, 7,000 dead and counting In half-made societies, the elite periodically yearns for a knight in shining armour. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ DAYS ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Sudip Pathak, President, Appeal to the parties in conflict: Our appeal to both the 100 Human Rights Organisation of The Maoist insurgency parties in conflict is: Don’t lose patience and try to find a ooner or later, when this conflict burns itself out as one day it must, he deep-seated animosity between placed multiparty democracy in its preamble, vibrant political parties leads to democratic Nepal, and Convenor of the peaceful solution to the problem. We urge you to stand in Nepali politicians and Kathmandu’s and beyond the purview of any amendment. decay and even the collapse of fragile states. we must be ready with a state apparatus that has learnt lessons and Committee for Facilitation of enters its eighth year next favour of humanity and abandon this spiral of violence and S is ready to rebuild. We can’t go back to 1990 and try to re-invent the T social elite is rooted in history. Ever The upper crust was finally forced to accept For Marxist thinker Antonia Gramsci, wheel, wasting another 12 years waiting for the leaders of political parties since the Rana days, politics has always been that the political parties existed. But even Machiavelli’s prince in the contemporary Peace Dialogue. hatred. to get their acts together and figure out what it is they got elected for. synonymous with court conspiracies, and the then, there hasn’t been much love lost world is a political party with all its strength month. We asked three We can’t afford another lost decade of governance paralysis. No more well-off have considered it beneath their between them. and vulnerabilities. On the impact of the On broader democratic agenda: People’s fundamental scandals that are named after foreign companies and have become dignity. Post 10-04, these old animosities have Why, then, does the Nepali elite still loath conflict: An increasing human rights activists about human rights can’t be protected in the absence of household words synonymous with the stench of corruption: Dhamija, King Mahendra found politicians not to resurfaced.