First She Tested Positive for Covid-19. Then She Started Getting Death Threats
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 54 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 36.3 C 4.6 C Monday, April 20, 2020 | 08-01-2077 Bhairahawa Jumla First she tested positive for Covid-19. Then she started getting death threats Prasiddhi Shrestha, Nepal’s second case of coronavirus, fought hate speech and death threats after her diagnosis. ELISHA SHRESTHA, KATHMANDU, APRIL 19 When Prasiddhi Shrestha decided to return to Nepal after her college in Paris announced that it was moving classes online due to the Covid-19 out- break, she felt fine. It was the second week of March, and she had no symp- toms of the disease. She thought that her chances of contracting the corona- virus on her way home were relatively low as long as she took precautions. Throughout the trip, she said she put on masks and gloves and always had hand sanitiser on her. But even after reaching Nepal on March 12, she took no chances. She meticulously abided by self-quaran- tine measures and spent all her time behind closed doors, Shrestha told POST PHOTO: KIRAN PANDAY the Post. But when her Vietnamese Brick kiln workers headed for their homes in Sarlahi district are seen getting a lift on a truck employed by a contractor of the Kanti Highway, in its Lalitpur section. friend, with whom she had travelled PHOTO COURTESY: PRASIDDHI SHRESTHA until they separated in Doha, told her Covid-19 is not something to stigmatise and that he had tested positive for Covid- could happen to anyone, says Shrestha. 19, she decided to take a test. On March 20, Shrestha tested positive and unknowingly spreads the disease to a officially became the second Covid-19 great many people. Although doctors Oli and Dahal attempt to make amends to avoid case in Nepal. had clearly told the media that “Being the second and only active Shrestha had been responsible and case of Covid-19 in Nepal, I knew that observed self-quarantine measures, looking like each side is taking advantage of a crisis I would be facing scrutiny from the speculation was rife as to how many public and media,” said Shrestha. others Shrestha had spread the dis- But she had not anticipated the ease to. As it turned out, that number amount of vitriol that would come her was zero. None of her family or Although internal divisions remain, both factions of the ruling party seek a compromise, but not many are optimistic. way. As soon as news broke, social friends has since tested positive for media was filled with comments blam- Covid-19. TIKA R PRADHAN range of issues. ing her for bringing the disease to “Most media never bothered to KATHMANDU, APRIL 19 While Oli was fighting criticism, Nepal. There were even death threats. mention that I was responsible and Dahal was biding his time, strengthen- And although her identity hadn’t been had stayed in self-quarantine even The Covid-19 crisis could have been an ing his faction and even doing inter- made public, she said that she was before I tested positive. Instead they opportunity for the ruling Nepal views. shocked and saddened. made things up, saying I was roaming Communist Party to present a united “With the crisis deepening and the “There was plenty of spare time around without quarantining myself,” front, but the pandemic has become a government under fire, Oli seems to while I was in isolation at the hospital, said Shrestha. “I think people were catalyst instead for allegations and have realised that he cannot move so I was active on social media and I angry towards me simply because the counter-allegations between rival fac- without taking Dahal along,” said saw all the negative comments media failed to report accurately what tions. The party appears sharply Devendra Poudel, a standing commit- towards me,” she said. “I was heart- I was doing before I tested positive.” divided between the two camps led by tee member. broken to read such comments.” Shrestha’s experience, which she chairs KP Sharma Oli, who is also the According to leaders, after Oli out- Shrestha believes that a lot of the detailed in a blog post, is emblematic prime minister, and Pushpa Kamal right rejected Dahal’s proposal to hatred stemmed from the fact that of how quickly people can turn to hate Dahal. But each side is making slight form the all-party mechanism, the lat- Nepali people had been led to believe and stigma, even when it concerns a overtures in order to avoid looking POST FILE PHOTO ter was waiting for a meeting to clear that the coronavirus wasn’t a threat disease. But it also exposes the role of like it is taking advantage of a crisis. Relations between the two chairmen of the ruling communist party have often been frosty. the air. But Oli was reluctant. to them. the media in aiding and abetting this A sudden rise in the number of “Prior to my case and the Wuhan kind of behaviour. The last time the two chairs adversary scheming to unseat him. Covid-19 cases, with the tally reaching case, there weren’t any cases of Covid- “Somehow, somewhere, someone had a face-to-face interaction Dahal, who has managed to strength- 30 on Friday, meant that the Oli gov- 19, and many people were under the else had decided the narrative to my was on April 8, during a en his grip on the party over the last ernment came under more pressure. assumption that the immunity system story,” she wrote on her blog. “They Secretariat meeting. The con- few months, was in a comfortable posi- The Oli government appeared to of Nepalis is strong enough to fight had changed up my facts to fit theirs. I versation, however, was not cor- tion to attack Oli, albeit obliquely, by realise that there was no other way the virus,” said Shrestha. “After I test- became subject and subjected to the dial, said party insiders, as mis- bringing up issues related to govern- except to narrow down the differences ed positive, I think I created fear and stigmatization that surrounded coro- trust was palpable. ance. Oli was also unhappy with Dahal’s to fight growing criticism, according anger among people.” navirus in my country.” Oli, who has been under pres- recent proposal to form an all-party to a party leader. The stigma against Shrestha was While people and the media were sure following criticism over mechanism to assist the government in Factional feuds that were earlier only exacerbated by a front-page portraying discrimination and stigma his government’s poor handling the fight against the coronavirus. confined to party offices and leaders’ report in an English-language daily against her, Shrestha said that she felt of the Covid-19 pandemic and After this meeting over 10 days ago, residences slowly started to spill out newspaper that ran with a headline helpless, since she couldn’t even share alleged corruption by his minis- Dahal and Oli met on Saturday for onto social media. speculating whether she was a “super- her side of the story. ters, has long seen Dahal as an hours at Baluwatar, discussing a wide >> Continued on page 5 spreader”, as in someone who >> Continued on page 5 C M Y K MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | 02 MEDLEY Inside the Post Quote of the day Oli and Dahal attempt to make amends to avoid looking like each side National is taking advantage of a crisis, Page 1 An increase in the number of Covid-19 patients from mosques has prompted the government to start mass testing at religious sites that have dozens of people living in a single residential unit. “The leaders should make genuine efforts to consolidate the party for effective Opinion governance instead of using each other for If travel connections are well restored, Nepal is more likely to return to normal before some of the more advanced destinations. Though this advantage has a personal gains. This won’t help the party.” downside that it will be difficult to introduce new destinations within the country as people will be less interested in trying new places during uncertain times. Yubaraj Chaulagain, a central committee member of Nepal Money Communist Party, calls on the party leaders to end factional feud. Vegetables and fruits arriving at the Kalimati wholesale market are being sold to consumers without being checked for contamination with pesticide residues as the testing lab has been closed since March 24. Most read online World A laboratory in the Chinese city at ground zero of the global coronavirus out- A day after Covid-19 cases double, Health Ministry goes after break has rejected as “impossible” US theories it is the cradle of the pandemic, as President Donald Trump warned Beijing of consequences if it was “knowingly frontline doctor for critical comments responsible”. The denial came pandemic ravaged the global economy and killed With Nepal in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and 14 new cases reported on at least 157,000 people worldwide, with nearly 2.3 million confirmed infections. Friday alone, the Health Ministry has sought clarification from a doctor serving on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus allegedly over his public Culture & Arts statements and articles on the Covid-19 pandemic. We bring you five legendary Nepali songs of yesteryear, to tell you their stories and the memories of the artists involved in these songs, who never thought their Tentative discussions begin on easing the lockdown sonic art would become timeless.