#334 2 - 8 February 2007 16 pages Rs 30

Moderate madhesis are being drowned out by radicals Weekly Internet Poll # 334 Q. Should the interim constitution be revised to address madhesi and janajati grievances? Total votes: 4,565 Plain speaking Weekly Internet Poll # 335. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Did Girija Prasad Koirala go far LOUDER THAN consequences if madhesi demands enough to address madhesi grievances? WORDS: NC member are not met. Its leader Matrika Irshad Ansari gets Yadav is clearly under pressure ready to burn an from constituents to go against the effigy of Pushpa Maoist high command. Kamal Dahal at a The two ex-Maoist factions of madhesi rights rally the JTMM were the original in Rajbiraj on Sunday. radicals, but find themselves competing with the MJF, Matrika’s group, and even the NSP-A. The seven parties and the Maoists had a chance to check this radicalism before it was too late. But except for the NSP-A, they failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. No one understood that the tarai clamour is as much about identity as fair representation and justice. Out of this muddle emerged Koirala’s lame-duck speech. He announced the government was committed to federal rule based on population and geography through the constituent assembly. Electoral constituencies would be redrawn without a reduction in the number of constituencies in each district. This will presumably give the tarai a few more constituencies, but not reduce the number in the hills, taking the total number of CA members to more than 425. MIN BAJRACHARYA Moderate madhesis may still he seven-party alliance and are delaying the constituent course of the protests. It not only accept Koirala’s concessions, seeing the Maoists had a good assembly election. Let’s talk, but kept shifting the goalposts, it as an incremental step in the T chance this week to address stop the violence. making it impossible for the right direction. But they will likely the madhesi grievances fuelling Madhesis compared it to the government to meet its demands, be drowned out or cowed down by the tarai unrest. And they blew it. ‘concession’ speech given by but also attacked police posts and radicals. Gyanendra last April when he media organisations. Hours after Not one Editorial went only half-way in meeting Koirala’s speech, MJF activists madhesi Keep talking p2 EYES WIDE SHUT the demands of pro-democracy kidnapped policemen in group or State of the state Sheetal Kumar forces. The parties kept up the Biratnagar and killed one officer. individual Hour of reckoning p2 pressure until the king The NSP-A may pull out of has Report from Lahan On Wednesday, instead of capitulated. Something similar the government just to maintain welcomed Still volatile p4 acknowledging genuine grievances could happen now, and the tarai legitimacy in madhesi eyes. One the prime and saying sorry to the families of violence could intensify. of its ministers resigned this minister’s speech. those killed, and despite The Madhesi Janadhikar week, others could follow. Tarai pahadis are now feeling emotional references to his own Forum (MJF), a hitherto moderate The Maoists’ own Madhesi threatened by the gathering storm. mortality, Prime Minister Koirala pan-madhesi group, has become Rastriya Mukti Morcha has People want to get out but the delivered a lecture: your protests increasingly radical during the warned the government of nasty roads are blocked. z 2 EDITORIAL 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334

Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda Dixit Executive Editor: Anagha Neelakantan Desk Editor: Jemima Sherpa Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Rupendra Kayastha Director Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Circulation Manager: Samir Maharjan [email protected] Subscription: [email protected],5011628/29 Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur [email protected] GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu 5543333-6, Fax: 5521013 www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5547018 Bar none The Nepal Bar Association has a chance to reinvent itself KEEP TALKING he newly-elected Lawyers can play a special between the bar and the bench Everyone is talking about talking, but no one is actually talking. leadership is in place at the role in helping create a legislature must be cordial, and law Even so, that is better than saying they won’t talk. So all is not TNepal Bar Association that, by including representatives professionals duly recognised as yet lost. (NBA). These new officers have of all zones, classes, languages, officers of the court. There is still a window of opportunity to address the three main come in at a critical juncture in and gender, promotes a Other tasks the NBA will madhesi demands: a federal state, proportional representation, and the transitional period and will competitive, decentralised, and have to do justice to include re-demarcation of electoral constituencies to take into account have a major—but not always inclusive political system. protecting the professional population density in the tarai. easy—role to play in the days Despite the new political integrity of law professionals Prime Minister Koirala’s much-anticipated address to the nation environment, human rights and producing efficient on Wednesday was supposed to do the trick. But the grieving and unwell PM came across as blasé, and his omissions turned out to GUEST COLUMN remain a vulnerable issue. The manpower. The association be critical. The seven-party alliance has completely misjudged the Sabita B Baral association has to be vigilant that needs to include women, anger in the south, and even among madhesi cadre within their own Nepal follows all UN human janajatis, and new law parties. rights agreements and respects all professionals. But it is the Maoists who are most to blame for sparking off the ahead. The job ahead for the NBA the international conventions to In order to meet these various current agitation by shooting dead an activist in Lahan and then now is to create an independent which we are party. It is the and important challenges, the preventing the prime minister from going further than he finally did and efficient judiciary, provide responsibility of everyone in the association needs to evolve, just to meet madhesi demands. They are so blinded by their rage at the vital support for the constituent legal profession to remain as Nepal itself is changing and breakaway JTMM that they see the tarai fire as just an internal assembly election, and uphold unbiased, and the challenge reconstructing itself. There will party issue. And it doesn’t help that at a time like this the interim human rights. before the NBA is to ensure that be considerable negative parliament is on a 10-day recess. If it had reconvened for an no individual’s consequences if the NBA cannot emergency session to issue a multi-party declaration, the situation in the plains wouldn’t have spiralled out of control. right to freedom reinvent itself. It needs to Another casualty of the crisis is the constituent is violated or advocate the rights of madhesi, assembly election. There is no way it can now be held as encroached upon. janajati, and women lawyers. scheduled. Madhesi demands have escalated and One of the Regular trainings and seminars proportional representation may be moot as radical activists most daunting need to be offered so they can ratchet up their demand for a re-census. tasks ahead for hone their skills, the welfare There are three factors in the current tarai flareup: the association is fund needs to be augmented and political, administrative, and structural. On the political to make the made to function better, and the level, the prime minister’s promises about a federal setup, judiciary human rights and women’s delineation of constituencies on the basis of population and genuinely interest sections should be more offer of talks to all concerned needs to be interpreted in the independent efficient so there is proportional most generous way. The state doesn’t stand to lose anything by involving as many people as possible in decision-making and efficient. A representation. leading up to elections. Rather than a site of contestation, judiciary that is By producing efficient law negotiations can in fact become participatory if handled independent, professionals, the NBA can carefully. efficient, and not expand the salubrious influence Administrative steps are needed to engender trust and directed, can of the legal field. For example, prepare the ground for political negotiations. This can be protect the rights the association can play an done by probing police and Maoist lapses in Lahan and of citizens and important role in developing Nepalganj and punishing the guilty. help steer the and implementing laws relating Much more difficult are long-term structural changes. country in the to intellectual property, meeting Proportionate representation in the state structure is a time- right direction the legal challenges put forward consuming affair. Even with the best of intentions, it will be a when faced with by international conferences, and while before we begin to see an adequate number of madhesis in the army, dalits in academia, or janajatis in a political training legal manpower which administration. The wrongs of history take time to be dilemma. The can compete with international corrected. association also law professionals. Still, demonstrated political will and a transparent needs to be display of sincerity and magnanimity can take dialogue represented at the Sabita Bhandari Baral is an advocate forward. It’s time for the parties to start looking at the tarai judicial council and the new treasurer of the Nepal Bar Association. as more than just a vote bank, and to seriously begin to when judges are redress historical wrongs. nominated, as (A version of this article appeared in the relationship Himal Khabarpatrika, 30 January.) MIN BAJRACHARYA Hour of reckoning From the fallout of his ill-judged address Koirala must salvage the last chance

rime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala partners was reflected in the draft of the The way the government has handled the he have a magic wand to make the problem didn’t make the address to the nation interim constitution. Instead of being a situation since strengthens the impression disappear, or does he really not have a as anticipated. He read a statement charter of consensus, the statute turned out that no matter what the system, the state of clue? We can only hope he knows Pthrust into his hands into the full glare of tv to be contentious. NC leaders are unhappy Nepal is completely insensitive to the something we don’t. cameras. Though he looked frail, his voice because leftists dominate the interim concerns of madhesis. The octogenarian prime minister is was steely and he seemed in no mood to legislature.The UML is sore it couldn’t Loss of life during any agitation under tremendous pressure from all kinds listen. The signs of Koirala’s fabled check the rise of the Maoists. Royalists are becomes the rallying cry of the masses, of interest groups. The stress of heading an inflexibility are portentous. alarmed that the king has been sidelined. and political honchos use innocent deaths embattled party, an embittered coalition, Contestations over the controversial The interim constitution isn’t even a to inflame passions. But a head of and a beleaguered government besieged by provisions of the interim constitution were compromise—it’s a deed of compulsion that government is expected to condemn fierce transitional contestations must be anticipated. In negotiations preceding the the eight-party alliance was forced to violence, offer his condolences, and overpowering. And he is grieving the loss of April Uprising, different parties had commit, in order to salvage the legitimacy promise an investigation to bring the guilty close relative and longtime party contradictory positions on the country’s of the coalition. Thus the paradox: all to book. This is what a government companion, Nona Koirala. But the task of parties in the alliance want the interim routinely does in a functioning democracy. being head of state as well as head of STATE OF THE STATE constitution but none are willing to defend it. Koirala did no such thing in his Wednesday government is not for the obstinate or the The vulnerability of the statute is what address. Maybe it was an oversight, but it feeble. C K Lal prompted the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum gave madhesis an unambiguous message Ironically, Koirala is the most popular activists to burn copies of it last month. Law that their own prime minister showed a mainstream politician in the tarai—and the post-autocracy politics. Elections to a enforcement agencies handled the exigency callous disregard for their feelings. opposite in the hills, valleys, and mountains constituent assembly became an agenda of in their usual ham-handed way, protestors Koirala has been a consummate of Nepal. At the end of his momentous compromise, but all signatories to the were booked and those in authority realised politician all his life. More than anyone else political career, he faces a moment of truth. common minimum program continue to hold too late that this would have serious in government now, he knows the The way he handles this crisis will set the a grudge against a document they signed consequences. Madhesi protestors were significance of gestures. It’s unlikely that course of the country for the years, if not under difficult circumstances. out on the streets in Siraha, the prime site he doesn’t know the consequences of his decades, to come, and make or mar his The lack of trust between coalition of vote-bank politics in the eastern tarai. rigidity on madhesi political demands. Does place in history. 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 3

LLL ETTERS

TARAI TROUBLES Responsible intellectual and professional The governing alliance in Nepal has woken up madhesis can’t shirk from their duty by keeping albeit very late (‘Shadow of a gun’, #333). We can mum and taking double advantage. While anyone cautiously welcome the parties agreeing to state with even a little sense of justice would hardly restructuring through federalism, but the issue of disagree that the madhesis have not been included proportional representation requires in-depth and in the Nepali nation state since its inception, no holistic consideration.This is because people one should forget that the Nepali people are occupy diverse topological territories vis-a-vis already fed up with violence. They’ve not only comforts and adversaries of life, in general. And been discriminated against by the state in Nepal, we have heterogenous populations in mechanism but also by ordinary hill people. A the mountains, hills, and tarai. So proportional child in Kathmandu calling out “O bhaiya, eta representation today shouldn’t land in possible aaija” to madhesi vendors is an example. The ethnic imbalance tomorrow. Let’s hope the 7+1 government has already been directed by the eight parties can douse the flames for the time being. parties and other civil bodies to implement all About charges that former royal ministers necessary measures to tackle the issues of have infiltrated the tarai agitation, the government citizenship and proportional representation. Now must provide valid evidence. But if it is just a the responsibility lies with the madhesis to stop ‘cetamol’ step to keep down the tarai fever it may letting others taking undue advantage. Those lead to another embarassing fiasco. So, why not spreading communal hatred against pahadis are act genuinely to identify covert culprits rather not the older madhesi inhabitants of the tarai but than highlighting tainted royal faces as fake “freedom fighters” who’ve infiltrated the scapegoats every time? border to take advanatage of their dual citizenship. Pradeepta Sharma, Mumbai This is going to harm Nepali madhesis much more in the long run. Instead of voicing their legitimate There is strong resentment among sections demands through legitimate means, the movement of the community that the current composition of is taking the path of violent the parliament is not communalism. Still, if the current inclusive and movement opens the eyes of the proportionate to the madheis themselves about ethnic composition of the caste, faith, and gender country. The interim discrimination within their own parliament must be community, it may be a good reconstituted by revising thing. Social equality and the representation of the justice are far more important main parties based on than artificial national unity. ethnicity. This is the time Divas Sarma, Kathmandu for party leaders to show statesmanship by making Kunda Dixit hit the nail on way for communities that the head by pointing out that are under-represented. The the Maoists can’t put the genie four main parties should in of ethnicity and communalism consultation with each other back in the bottle (‘Shadow of accommodate various a gun’, #333). The Maoist ethnicities in their quotas. influence on the seven party Meanwhile, the tarai is apparatus has now become the single biggest ablaze and our firefighters are in a trance.The obstacle to addressing the genuine demands of the leadership must act fast, not procrastinate. The Nepali madhesis who have been discriminated demands of the Madhesi community are against for so long.The Maoists calling the straightforward and legitimate. Firstly, the 20 tarai Madhesi Janadhikar Forum “criminals” and districts should be delinked from the hills for “bullies” is like the pot calling the kettle black. electoral purposes and be consolidated into these Gyan Subba, email five units, taking into consideration their areas, languages, and populations: I must say if Nepal’s rulers had been reading 1. Kanchanpur, Kailali, Bardiya, and Dang editorials in your paper and columns by CK Lal in 2. Kapilbastu, Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, and the past four years they’d have seen the tarai Chitwan crisis coming. Now it’s too late to do anything 3. Parsa, Bara Rautahat, and Sarlahi about it. May Lord Pashupatinath save us all. 4. Mahottarai, Shanudha, Siraha, and Saptari Tilak Sharma, email 5. Sunsari, Morang, and Jhapa I don’t know how you did your arithmetic in The second madhesi demand for one seat in your editorial (‘Search for common ground’, #333) parliament per 100,000 population is also about tarai groups having only 41 seats in the last reasonable and can easily be implemented. The parliament when they should ostensibly have 112. third demand of federalism coincides with what all But even if that were true, and was addressed by sections of society have been asking for. Nepal proportional representation in future it would be has to ulimtately evolve its own kind of naïve to believe that it would solve the problem. governance with significant authority to local Madhesi activism has now been hijacked by royal units. So why wait? Hindus and nothing will satisfy them. GN Rimal, email Name withheld, email 4 NATION 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 In the central and eastern tarai, rage, determination, and grief

CAP ON IDENTITY: Student leaders of the seven-party alliance and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum burn a dhaka topi in Rajbiraj on Sunday.

ALL PICS: MIN BAJRACHARYA

CHARLES HAVILAND in LAHAN The highways and tatty streets of the eastern and across the road, and demonstrations with burning tyres. central tarai are periodically overrun with demonstrators, Villagers show us the detours. On our way back two days ano Devi Mahato’s cries rend the air. She weeps, almost entirely men and boys. By the time of our visit last later there are considerably more barriers but fewer sobs uncontrollably, her breath faltering. She cries weekend the demonstrations in Lahan itself had become demonstrations. That, though, was before Tuesday’s flare-up R for her lost 16-year-old son whose cheery image ritualised and much of the violence had been sucked out in Biratnagar. stares out of the photo she holds. of them. There is no one single type of rally. On our first day, at She and her grey-haired husband Ravi sit in their “The pahadis say a madhesi can’t be prime minister,” Inaruwa, we are led into a village meeting by the Madhesi dusty yard in a village an hour from Lahan, their palms bellows Krishna Bahadur Yadav of the Madhesi Janadhikar Intellectuals’ Forum, whose leaders greet us courteously. clasped together humbly. Ravi is composed but seems Forum (MJF). “Well, I challenge them. They’ve run the Reassuringly, they insist the madhesi movement is not utterly beaten down by the death of their fourth child, country for 238 years. We’ll run it for 1,000 years.” ethnic but includes brahmins and dalits, speakers of Hindi, Ramesh, whose shooting in Lahan on 19 January sparked The crowd loves it. Yadav enjoys breathing the fiery Urdu, Tharu, Bhojpuri, Maithili, and more. But later that much more violence related to the madhesi cause. rhetoric, egging them on with continual swipes of his arm. day at Mirchaiya, west of Lahan, the mood is darker. “Ramesh went to Lahan to shop for me and sit his He is humorous rather than threatening, but he means it Although most are happy to see us, even in a vehicle, one exam,” weeps Rano Devi. “Then I heard someone else had when he says madhesis are treated as “stepsons” and that person smashes our back windscreen to smithereens. The been shot but Ramesh was safe. But I went to the clinic federal government is needed now. others apologise, but the mood is volatile. and saw his body. People say Maoists killed him, but how At the time of our visit, the demos could only happen There is far worse elsewhere. Madhesis, with their very would I know?” outside curfew hours. When there was no curfew, there real political grievances, have died. But people of pahadi There are the usual jumbled accounts of what was a banda—and still is. South of the central chok there origin are now fleeing their tarai homes, being threatened in happened. A man stops us near the Mahato home, saying are shards of glass scattered all around. Away to the right what seem like acts of revenge, having their doors and he witnessed a Maoist firing at Ramesh out of a bus are burnt-out hulks of perhaps a dozen buses. Nearer, on windows smashed, and journalists are having to quit their window even as a separate demonstrator tried to drag the the left, are massed armed police, ready in their riot gear workplaces after death threats. The responsible madhesi Maoist out of the vehicle. More have since died at the and looking nervous. Crows and bicycle rickshaws provide leaders clearly abhor such violence. But the madhes is hands of the police. the main sign of life in a town which is replaying its own burning, and people are scared. version of last year’s April Uprising. Perhaps the most wretched of Lahan are its marooned travellers. Hanging around the yard of Hotel Bishal, smiling amiably but sadly, is Amar Kumar Jaiswal. He has been stranded 11 days, and counting. He was simply trying to make the short journey from Birtamod to Janakpur. Government helicopters evacuated some people, he says, but only to Kathmandu. Two cousins, JD and Binod Aggrawal, heading to Biratnagar and Kathmandu respectively, have been there six days and say their only option has been getting on a cement truck which would take them a little further along the highway. They decided to stay put in Lahan, and pay tribute to the kindness of local people in feeding and sheltering them. Nothing is moving on the highway, and there are not even vehicles parked by its sides. It is the realm of ox-carts, STOP AND GO: Vehicles going from east to west Nepal, NOW YOU SEE IT: The streets of the central and eastern cycles, boys playing cricket, walkers. In our vehicle such as this one carrying human rights monitors, still tarai, such as this stretch just outside Lahan, are plastered with BBC stickers, we are an oddity. On our encounter scores of blockage, and have to be escorted to deserted—until they come alive with demonstrators. initial journey from Biratnagar there are many fallen trees the Kosi Barrage by the Armed Police Force. NATION 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 5

Chequeing in

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Under license from Nepal Rastra Thirsty for change Bank, International Money Express (IME) has started providing Why contracting out Kathmandu’s water traveller’s cheques and US dollars at its Kantipath branch. The IME has been in the foreign supply management is the only option left currency exchange business since 2000 and began remittance services in 2002. ven in the early 1980s, as schoolchildren trudging andolan-drunk rhetoric from political parties, but through through slippery lanes, my friends and I sensed the means politicians use to provide water, electricity,

Air agreements something was wrong with the Nepal Water Supply education, health care, and jobs to millions of voters. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ E Corporation (NWSC). Each monsoon, the NWSC would Take the provision of water. The state created NWSC’s Amravati Travels has signed a general inconvenience pedestrians by digging trenches on narrow predecessor as a utility, whose utility during Panchayat sales agency roads to lay down its pipes. was in pleasing its political masters. The post-1990 era agreement with Twenty-five years later, the corporation is still doing turned it into an employment agency for MPs, desperate to Cathay Pacific the same. Kathmandu’s residents, more in number today, dole out jobs to loyalists. As overheads ballooned, the Airways and Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (Dragonair). Amravati Travels has been Cathay's general sales actually pay the NWSC’s quality of service fell further. corporation for the Meantime, rising urban populations coupled with low agent in Nepal since 1978, and was also a passenger STRICTLY BUSINESS water it pretends to infrastructure-related investments to maintain the pipes to sales agent for Dragonair. Following the integration of Ashutosh Tiwari Dragonair into Cathay Pacific in September 2006, supply. stop leakage meant that the number of tap connections Amravati now represents both airlines in their first But there is a grew little. As of 2003, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and combined office in the Indian subcontinent. glimmer of hope. After 49 years of the same thing, the Bhakpatur had a total of about 180,000 connections; while Kathmandu segment of the corporation might be run 27 other locations, mostly the tarai towns, have about

Face of the month differently. If, that is, a six-year performance-based 84,000. What’s the point of taking Mahendra Mala-imbued ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

○○○○○ management contract goes to a private party with pride in our vast water resources if we can never harness Fem Bleach India’s new Fem Face of the Month international experience. them for accessible and affordable benefits for all Nepalis? competition gives contestants a chance to win lifesize Predictably, the five politically-affiliated NWSC As a landlocked country blessed with glacier-fed rivers, photo prints from Digi Plus workers’ unions, with a total membership base of about Nepal doesn’t lack sources of liquid assets. What it lacks and a Haier washing 2,000, are unhappy. Fearing that they will lose both jobs are ways of accessing bodies of water, laying down the machine. Entrants must place and influence, they are staging protest rallies, and calling pipes for transport, filtering, storing, and distributing a photograph with their name, address, and phone number for support. In doing so, they present an opportunity to potable water, and enforcing a system for charging users for in one of the various drop boxes around the Valley. think about broad and specific economic issues. what they consume, while not neglecting the poor who The broad issue is this. At a time when Maoists’ stance can’t pay the full price of water. Doing all these requires a NEW PRODUCTS against private property reigns unchallenged, what nature sound management of money, technology, and expert of policies should Nepal adopt, for everything from personnel, none of which the NWSC is known for. HIGH CALIBRE: Anurag delivering essential public services to enabling To meet Kathmandu’s daily demand of about International’s latest offerings, entrepreneurs to turn ideas into profits? Should the 220 million litres, it’s critical to connect the Valley to new Calibre whiskey and gin, are mix government keep the NWSC afloat with soft loans worth sources of water. But before doing that, it’s urgent to high quality Extra Neutral Alcohol Rs 130 million a year even when the corporation appears to restructure the NWSC management. If the NWSC hasn’t (ENA) with imported malt spirits. The be literally throwing the money down the drain? Isn’t the changed for the better in the last 50 years, it’s time we Calibre line is available in full, half, government better off outsourcing to a private party the stopped wishing it would, and handed a management and quarter pack sizes, for Rs 246, Rs 124, and Rs 63.75 respectively. core task of collecting, distributing, and billing for water? contract to a private party answerable to customers and The answers are not clear-cut. But what is increasingly investors. At the least, the streets won’t look like canals so is that the new Nepal will emerge not through tiresome when next monsoon’s rains come pelting down. z 6 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334

No USAID Gyanendra’s takeover. Aid ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ suspension will also affect the Restive MJF Upendra Yadav Abhiyan, 29 January National Democratic Institute which had been helping the Himal Khabarpatrika, 30 January Sanghu, 29 January The United States suspended all political parties and the aid programs in Nepal after the parliament secretariat. “Nepal can be a Hindu state only if we are The Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) led by its Maoists entered the interim committed to Hindutva.” Those were the words showcase chairman, Upendra Yadav, is currently parliament. The Maoists are still spoken from the podium of a RSS Hindu extremist engaged in violent unrest in the tarai. Who is this Dark deeds on the Americans’ terrorist list. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ conference in Gorakhpur on 19 December by none man forcing the country to backtrack on the gains On 18 January, four days after the Bikash Thapa in Kantipur, other than Upendra Yadav of the Madhesi of People Power 2006? Sanghu has learnt that he 30 January Janadhikar Forum (MJF). In November 2006, Yadav is a flipflopper who has never stayed with any one interim parliament was convened, took part in a meeting in Raxaul of the BJP’s cause and is probably a front for someone else. USAID wrote to the government fraternal organisation, Sima He was involved in politics since and NGOs informing them of the By next year we will live in Jagaran Manch. The MJF was his student days in Sunsari, but suspension. US officials told darkness for 12 hours a day. set up soon after the Gorakhpur showed instability and Abhiyan that when the Maoists Loadshedding will certainly have meeting and included such opportunistic traits. enter the government, additional a negative effect on Nepal’s personalities as Laxmanlal He joined the Maoists and was curbs would be announced. The economy and our lifestyle. But Karna of the royalist NSP as in its district leadership. His letter says: “Since the Maoists are things have not come to this pass well as republican activists. erstwhile Maoist colleagues recall now in parliament, you may not because of some natural calamity. There is now uneasiness about that he used to say madhesis provide services or assistance to This is a situation of our own Yadav within the MJF. “We shouldn’t sacrifice their lives for any ministry, agency, making, and the king’s direct rule, can’t deny that our Forum is the ‘People’s War’, but should inconsistent government policies, slipping into regression,” says sacrifice pahadi lives. The Maoist commission, department, court, and bad financial decisions have ex-general secretary and headquarters now suspect that local government, or other current member of MJF, Jaya Yadav provided the information to institution of the government of only pushed us further into Prakash Gupta. Royalists have Indian police which lead to the Nepal.” The letter says it is darkness. In addition, the lately become prominent in the arrests of Matrika Yadav and expecting further clarification unwillingness of the Nepal MJF and are given to spouting Suresh Ale Magar in 2004. Yadav from the US government about Electricity Authority (NEA) to radical rhetoric. Sources say was also arrested but mysteriously the definition of ‘services and purchase power from the private the Indian Embassy is worried freed. He didn’t survive for long in assistance’. The agency has sector is one of the main reasons about India being dragged into the Maoist movement. verbally warned its partners that for loadshedding. The NEA is the controversy, and diplomats In December 2006, he attended if they have any dealings with the ready to buy electricity at a higher admit privately that the BJP a conference of Indian Hindu Maoists, future aid could be commercial rate, but doesn’t trust could be involved. The JTMM’s extremists in Gorakhpur during the private sector enough to buy it Goit faction is said to be which he publicly spoke about suspended. The $5.6 million ARD KIRAN PANDAY from them. It seems pretty clear supported by BJP’s Raj turning Nepal back into a Hindu Rule of Law Project is now in Kishore Singh, while Jwala Singh is being egged nation. But barely a month later, he is now leading limbo, as are support for that the authority is not on by Pappu Yadav. The fact that Upendra Yadav’s a movement for a secular, federal republic. Along Transparency International, the interested in Power Purchase appeal not to use violence is not being heeded with Yadav, the Forum consists of discredited Law Society, Sawtee, and Rimek. Agreements (PPA). seems to show the MJF is now out of the control of individuals like Sitananda Rai, who was expelled “We never imagined that Nepal’s annual demand for the leadership. Says madhesi activist Vijay Kanta from the UML, corrupt NC leader Jaya Prakash activities would be terminated electricity is 60MW [sic]. If the Karma: “If the parties and civil society don’t take Gupta, royalist Ramchandra Rai, nominated even before they are completed,” private sector can produce half, or leadership, this movement will be hijacked by member of the interim parliament Amaresh Kumar said a CIAA official. US assistance even a quarter of this, the NEA reactionaries and could disrupt communal Singh, and Manoj Singh, the son of pro-Indian had not been suspended even will not have to make large harmony.” leader Ramraja Prasad Singh. when other European donors investments. But instead of stopped aid to protest King creating a situation where the FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 7 Commission regularly meet in Kathmandu and have been planning their moves for a long time. They began by implementing them in Nepalganj and have since successfully and systematically moved in to other regions in the tarai.

Money talks ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Dristi, 30 January KIRAN PANDAY The king surprised the nation by private sector and the NEA could financial institutions. The NEA showing up to Basanta Panchami share the burden, the authority, has to join hands with private celebrations with a moustache. which itself cannot invest institutions to address power The Finance Ministry and because of its outstanding debts, scarcity. National Treasury are also firmly kept the private sector out surprised, wondering why the of the game too. The result is the Graft and riots palace is not interested in mess we have now. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ collecting the royal allowance. The NEA’s official reason for Deshantar, 28 January The government has allocated not singing PPAs is the absence of Rs 32.7 million in allowances to transmission lines. However, the The government has not yet taken the royal family, and another laws state that the NEA is action against the people Rs 200 million has been allocated responsible for laying identified by the Rayamajhi for their ‘general expenditure’. transmission lines. Commission as having been Officers at the National Treasury Many people within the involved in suppressing Jana have sent numerous messages to authority are always looking to Andolan II. In the meantime, the palace, asking them to collect bilateral and multilateral agencies those accused by the Commission their allowance, but no one has and companies for investments. have been been found to be showed up so far. Our source at The NEA needs to change the involved in communal, ethnic, the Finance Ministry tells us that perception that it is not and religious violence. While the treasury is perturbed by the interested in rupee investment, Kamal Thapa has been arrested for almost six-month delay—until and can do so by issuing a inciting violence in the tarai, we now, the palace has been in the whitepaper explaining the understood that royalist Badri habit of collecting its allowance methods, models, and Prasad Mandal, royal chief in mid-July. transmission corridors through secretary Lokman Singh Karki, and Some speculate that this is which the electricity generated by advisor to the king Satchit because the king is dissatisfied the private sector could be Shamshere Rana were also actively with the interim constitution. purchased. involved in stirring the violence Initially, the palace said it would There is talk of setting up a in the tarai. collect the money after the diesel plant. If that PPA is Karki is said to have used his promulgation of the interim approved, electricity could sources at the Finance Ministry to constitution. It’s been two weeks become as expensive as Rs 31 per raise the money needed to organise since the interim parliament was unit. The NEA is especially the riots. Karki apparently receives put in place, but the money is interested in this plant because commissions on evaded custom’s still uncollected. here it can, with local agents, duties for successful smuggling Others say that the king told procure a hefty commission. deals. He also gathers funds using the prime minister that since he The NEA must change its the Ministry of Physical Planning is going to only be a ceremonial traditional, narrow attitude and Works (via commission on king anyway, the money should towards private investment. For contracts) and the Supreme Court be distributed to victims of the any project, capital is the most (via revenue-related cases). Maoists. However, the prime important issue, and it can be Our source tells us that those minister did not agree, and the obtained from Nepali banks and accused by the Rayamajhi money remains unclaimed.

Smoke: Madhesi dissatisfaction Gagro: Pahadi nationalism

Robin Sayami in Himal Khabarpatrika, 30 January - 12 February

QUOTE OF THE WEEK We are still climbing Mt Everest, it’s just that we“ are taking a slightly roundabout “ way by going into the interim parliament.

- Baburam Bhattarai at the Maoist National Training Camp in Chitwan on 20 January

SELECTED MATERIAL TRANSLATED EVERY WEEK FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 8 PHOTOGRAPHY

Visions and

Clockwise from top left: Parvati, age six, always has a refreshing perspective. She often takes pictures of tourists and has a striking and amusing series of futures this woman in her glittery kurta and shiny handbag. With the white World Peace Pagoda and blue sky in stark contrast behind her (and Parvati right at her feet) this is a great contemporary image.

Belmaya was thinking of home, she says, when Kamala snapped this candid picture of her lost in thought.

With her quiet, unassuming nature, Sunita N, 14, captures candid shots when the subject is unaware of the camera, such as this one of Belmaya.

Anju’s shot of Sunita G is captivating. The colour of her kurtha and the earth-red background, along with Sunita’s gaze out of the frame, make this a picture you can keep turning to. Anju is slightly physically disabled and her early shots were of heads and ceilings, so her achievement is all the greater.

Young Parvati again and again gets in close to the action and comes up with an original, winning shot. Because she is so small, people often overlook her, which adds to her ability to take natural, candid shots of people like this one of Sue with Belmaya, left, and Sunita N, right.

Laxmi, 12, was part of the group that went on assignment to Pokhara’s Bindyabasini temple during Dasain sacrifices and came back with great reportage, having shot the temple-goers, incense sticks, idols, and offerings.

The girls love doing close-ups—of existing photos, posters, flowers, food, as well as still lifes like this one by Parvati of the personal items of a fellow SOS Bahini girl and her mother.

SUE CARPENTER putting them through local But My World, My View aims to schools. All are from poor encourage children to explore and nspired by the documentary backgrounds; most have lost one capture their world in all its Born into Brothels, which or both parents; one was found in reality, good and bad. The girls Iexplores how the lives of rags, barely able to walk or talk. soon began to photograph their children from Calcutta’s red light At SOS Bahini they have daily lives, with ‘najik’ and district were transformed through blossomed, but, unlike girls ‘natural’ as their watchwords. learning photography, with the brought up in more equal We initially used conventional help of Asha-Nepal, a UK charity societies, they find it difficult to cameras, but 36 frames and a fixed working for women’s and form or verbalise opinions. wide-angle lens were too limiting. children’s rights in Nepal, I Photography encourages creativity Once we moved onto digital decided to run a similar project and self-expression largely cameras with zoom lenses, there here. because it is so simple and so was no stopping them. Parvati, We started in September last immediate. As soon as they got who is just six, would return from year in Pokhara. My first students the cameras, the girls snapped assignments with 300 shots. She were 22 girls, aged six to 16, from away excitedly. and some of her friends will be SOS Bahini, which looks after One type of shot prevailed at here next week to see their girls from desperate situations, the beginning: a full-length photo remarkable work on show at the housing them with families and of friends standing to attention. British Council. The exhibition is 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 9

one of the important outcomes of the project, to validate the students’ talents and worth. I hope they won’t stop here. As Belmaya, 14, says: “Boys say, this is a girl, she can’t do anything. But I want to lead my life independently and show them I can do something. I’d like to photograph women to show the injustices against them— bringing wood from the forests More information on and images and carrying heavy loads, while from the project are at www.asha- men sit and give orders.” These nepal.org. girls are set to be the next generation of photojournalists. z My World, My View 1 runs from 6- 13 February at the British Council, Sue Carpenter is a journalist and Lainchaur. Prints are on sale at photographer. the exhibition. 10 NATION 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 But can Thailand avoid echoing Nepal’s current mess? Past, present similar

epal shares much with Thailand. sources to blame. Neither was colonised by European Remember how Gyanendra’s Npowers. In both places, unique governments went after the press and courtly rituals and religious practices have human rights groups? So too Thailand’s thrived. Thai Buddhism is an effortless coup leaders. They’re reportedly looking at synthesis of aspects of Hinduism, a mirror how to extend lese majeste to cover image to faith in Nepal. And then there’s criticism of the authorities in general, not royalty: once both countries had well- just the royals. And they’ve found a foreign regarded constitutional monarchies. Now— hand as well. It’s… wait for it… Singapore! with even Nepali banknotes ready to see the That’s right. A tiny city-state of 4.5 million last of Gyanendra Shah—only the Thai royal people threatens a regional power with dynasty has the respect of most citizens. 15 times the population and a far bigger military. What’s also becoming increasingly HERE AND THERE obvious in Thailand is that the rural and Daniel Lak urban poor are at odds with a traditional elite and new business classes in the That situation may be changing rapidly. capital. Corrupt and capricious as he was, King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a popular, even the ousted prime minister was a raging beloved, head of state. But the military coup populist who retains the support of the in Thailand last year that dislodged Prime MIN BAJRACHARYA countryside. In city salons and counting Minister Thaksin Shinawatara has so far opposing camps of putative dictators. Like themselves as strict lese majeste laws rooms, they sing the praises of monarchy been a political, public relations, and Tribhuban in Nepal, King Bhumibol is also punish perceived insults to the Crown and military takeover. There’s growing economic disaster. Thais know King credited with helping establish the with heavy fines and jail terms. Here’s one inequality and frustration. Bhumibol gave the takeover his tacit democratic system that has since been area where Nepal never got so absurd over It all sounds depressingly familiar to support. Some even say his court wiped out in Thailand. monarchy. anyone who’s lived through the agonies of encouraged the generals to step in to what Other eerie parallels abound. The So what about this new government in recent history here. None of this suggests was admittedly a messy, corrupt, and Crown Prince of Thailand, Maha Bangkok? Has it managed to make the trains that the Thais will go through the same increasingly unstable situation. Vajiralongkorn, has long been seen as a run on time? Fascism is supposed to be travails as Nepal. But their country faces an In the past, the Thai king had been wayward, thuggish womaniser, although good at such things. Alas, it seems that the uncertain future where the sureties of renowned for staving off military takeovers, he’s apparently burnishing his image as his corrupt and crazy democrats actually ran monarchy and centuries of tradition may no or condemning army brutality against father grows frailer. The same Thai public the country more adroitly than the generals longer be enough to keep fear and despair protestors. Back in the days when only that loves Bhumibol is troubled by the and palace placemen currently in cabinet. at bay. military strongmen could run Thailand, the prospect of his son ascending the throne. Thailand is a mess and all the new Nepal knows that feeling only too king occasionally mediated between Of course, Thais have to keep these fears to ministers can do is look for external well. z NATION 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 11

Stand by for the Great National GNU Unravelling Young fighters ven professional pessimists never expected such a meltdown. NEW YORK — The Maoists should immediately Lulled by the peace deal and fairytale of Maoist incorporation begin releasing the thousands of child soldiers in Einto what passes for civilised politics around here, we were their ranks and cease recruiting more children, says happily distracted from the next series of disasters just waiting to a new Human Rights Watch report. The 72-page happen. Looming catastrophes are always slightly better than erupting report, Children in the Ranks: The Maoists’ Use of ones, and the Hand was grateful for a break between crises, no matter Child Soldiers in Nepal documents the failure of how brief or illusory. the Nepali government to attend to the needs of But there was no time for gratitude when riots engulfed the tarai— child soldiers, and describes how the Maoists have madhesis threatening to cleanse the lowlands of outsiders, declare continued using child soldiers, and recruited more independence, and form yet another impoverished, landlocked, children recently, despite signing the resource-free country. The Great National Unraveling (GNU) is Comprehensive Peace Agreement in November last apparently underway. year. The acronym is curiously appropriate. The gnu is an awkward The report is based on interviews with former beast of the African savannah, a composite of horse, buffalo, and Maoist child soldiers and Nepali and international antelope randomly joined in bits, not unlike the dubious nation state monitors, and documents how children as young as patched together by the Shah dynasty. The many hill principalities 14 served on the frontlines, received weapons dotting the Himalayas grew less training, and carried out crucial military and MOVING TARGET viable as the Mughals conquered logistical support duties. Observers believe that up Foreign Hand North India, giving Prithbi to 4,500 Maoist soldiers were under 18 when they Narayan Shah an opportunity to were recruited to fight in the ‘People’s War.’ unite them into something Meanwhile, the Maoists have consistently JB PUN resembling a country. Later, as the British usurped the place of the maintained that they have not recruited or used adults suspected of having Maoist ties, says the Mughals, their obsessive need for clearly defined borders led to child soldiers. “Only when the Maoists, from the report. “Release from the Maoists’ ranks is only the further consolidation of national boundaries, with little consideration top leadership down to cadres on the ground, admit as to who ended up where. The threat of invasion helped the ruling first step for thousands of children who have how many children are in their ranks and begin missed out on their education or learning how to class establish legitimacy and create a desperately needed national releasing them, can Nepalis be confident that their mythology centred on the royal family and largely defined by what earn a living,” writes Jo Becker, child rights advocate Nepal is not (ie India). Marginalised janajatis were given subservient children will no longer be recruited for combat,” at Human Rights Watch. roles by the high caste producers of this national creation story and says Sam Zarifi, Asia research director at Human Since 2002, the Maoists have been named in expected to grin and bear it. Rights Watch. The report says the Maoists have three consecutive reports by the UN secretary-general Prithbi’s famous description of his country as a bountiful garden used a variety of techniques for recruiting to the Security Council for violating international of various castes and languages fits perfectly into the myth he did so children—kidnapping individuals, abducting large standards prohibiting the use and recruitment of much to create. Being Foreign, the Hand has no sentimental groups from schools, and mounting propaganda child soldiers. On 9 February, a UN Security Council attachment to such poetic images, and suggests the gnu as a more campaigns to attract children as ‘volunteers.’ In working group on children and armed conflict, is appropriate analogy. What tribe forms which part of the beast is for areas of the country under their firm control, the scheduled to consider reported violations against readers to decide, according to their own ingrained clan prejudices. Maoists instituted a ‘one family, one child’ policy National myths are weak, especially when based on spurious children by all parties to Nepal’s conflict. The that forced at least one child from each family to working group will make recommendations for claims of god-given caste-based superiority. Lowlanders had no place join the Maoists. in the exclusive Bahun-Chhetri-centric Nepali identity and were Security Council action. z lumped in with Indians for convenience. The use of the term Until the ceasefire, security forces treated ‘madhesi’, though linguistically neutral, often has pejorative overtones children accused of cooperating with the Maoists Children in the Ranks: The Maoists’ Use of Child Soldiers in implying the suspect ‘other’ on the fringes of the nation. with the same brutality that they used against Nepal, is available at: http://hrw.org/reports/2007/nepal0207/ The outbreak of violence in the lowlands sparked a rare show of unity between the seven-party alliance and the Maoists, who all feigned similar levels of righteous indignation. The government’s stunned and delayed reaction suggests the demands are considered illegitimate. The tired accusations of Palace Intrigue showed that Primate business scapegoating is one of the few constants in Nepali politics. Foreign Hand came a close second to royalty, flayed, with ire fit for a king, he battle between animal rights from the pulpits of Singha Darbar for his alleged meddling. T groups and organisations trying Having stirred the proverbial nest of vipers with their ethnic-based to export monkeys to the US for war and violent politics, the Maoists are shocked that others dare biomedical research is set to heat up adopt their tactics. The madhesi agitators, whose leaders are all ex- again. The Nepal Biomedical Centre is trying to obtain permission to Maoist spin-offs anyway, have learnt their lessons from the Maoists’ export a sampling of Nepali road to power. We can expect others to follow suit as the threat of monkeys, both bred in captivity and GNU gives leverage to any group with a grudge. This spells trouble. from the wild. The modern state of Nepal is a marriage of convenience between There’s strong opposition— different ethnic entities and should be recognised as such. Thrown almost 1,200 people from 21 together by geographical and historical fluke there is no escaping MIN BAJRACHARYA countries signed a petition against each other, which makes co-operation and mutual respect the only the plans last year. The International option, if only to avoid the dire consequences of collapse. Primate Protection League, Animal Nepal, PETA, and Wildlife Watch Group (WWG) are all lobbying hard Fostering that respect is a mandate our politicians, given their to reverse the Nepal government’s 2004 wildlife farming policy. The policy allows the Washington abominable record, are unlikely to pull off. Blaming the Palace is the National Primate Centre and Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research and their Nepali partners best they can manage so far, which begs the question: who will be left Nepal Biomedical Centre to catch, breed, and export Nepali monkeys to Washington and Texas. to blame for their mistakes in the republic to come. (Answer: Foreign WWG and other groups say they will use community pressure and legal action to counter the policy, Hand) which WWG Chairman Mangal Man Shakya says, “contradicts the 1973 National Parks and Wildlife That this conflagration took everyone by surprise is especially Conservation Act, and was announced without any consultation with local communities or troubling, since it suggests that the terrible demons of racial hatred conservationists, or even within the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.” are poorly understood by the ruling class. If the Great National Nepal is one of the few countries in the world that still allows the use of great apes for biomedical Unravelling isn’t arrested soon, through genuine inclusion of research. Next door, India banned primate exports in 1977 when the state realised its monkeys were being minorities into the national polity, choosing which meddler to blame used in gruesome radiation experiments. z for the ensuing chaos will be the least of our dilemmas. Jai Nepal. z Jemima Sherpa 12 INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 Ban Ki-moon’s position allows him to push for changed attitudes among member states

(but not physical control of) enriched uranium and plutonium for the generation of electrical power. This would help stem the spread of nuclear materials and weapons, and encourage a shift away from the use of oil and gas, thus reducing global warming. The other area is peacekeeping. Establishing a large, standing international force under the UN’s control is not feasible and may not be optimal. But providing incentives for governments to maintain such forces at a high Not-so-united nations level of alert, and setting standards for equipment, training, an Ki-moon has become demanding. US, China, Russia, France, the sovereignty is inadequate. and professionalism is something Secretary-General of the Ban needs to begin with a UK, the five permanent, veto- Negotiating in New York will the UN can and should do. BUN at a time when the cold, hard assessment of his new wielding members of the Security not change this. Ban needs to Any secretary-general’s most prospects for conflict between or position. He is more secretary Council) to agree and back up spend time in Beijing, making the important asset is his voice. What among the world’s great powers— than general. He cannot their agreements with resources. If case for the notion that Ban chooses to say, how and the United States, China, Japan, command. He possesses more they won’t, the UN can act in the governments have a where he says it, can enhance his influence than power. most limited way, if at all. responsibility to protect their influence which will enable him COMMENT Power at the UN is not only That the world has largely citizens, and that when they fail to get more things done. All this will be especially Richard N Haass divided between the Security stood by in the face of genocide in to do so (as Sudan’s government Council and the General Darfur reflects the reality that the has ), they forfeit some important now given the status of Assembly, but between the 192 major powers are divided. China advantages normally associated the US, which has an often uneasy Russia, Europe, India—are members and the UN itself. The clings to a notion of sovereignty with sovereignty. relationship with the UN. Ban remote. But the prospects for just UN comprises sovereign states, that allows governments freedom Ban cannot reform the would do well to spend more about every other sort of conflict but cannot act as if it were of action within their borders, Security Council to reflect better time in Washington and around are high and the international sovereign itself. It reflects the though today such an the realities of this era. But he the country. The US needs agenda is crowded and ability of the major powers (the unconditional definition of argues that countries such as effective multilateralism in a Japan, India, Germany, and others global world in which challenges deserve an enhanced position in cannot be met by a country acting it, one more commensurate with alone. It needs effective their power and status. international cooperation now, He can also loudly and when it is stretched militarily, repeatedly make the point that economically, and politically there is no justification in today’s owing to its policies toward Iraq world for terror, defined as the and Afghanistan. Ban’s intentional harming of civilians accomplishment could be helping for political purposes. create a more productive Governments and religious, and relationship between the world’s other leaders must be persuaded most important international to denounce terror, and de- organisation and its most HSA legitimise those who carry it out. powerful member. Practical changes are (Project Syndicate) achievable and desirable in two other areas: the creation of an Richard N Haass is author of The international facility that Opportunity: Americaís Moment to Alter provides governments access to Historyís Course. NATION 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 13 Cyber-tarai Bloggers offer solutions to the madhes crisis

One day the SPAM government says there is Sah, a contributor on this forum says solving the the hand of the royalists behind the tarai tarai turmoil is easy. He says the madhes needs turmoil, and the very next day they form a employment opportunities, agriculture committee to find the cause of the chaos in infrastructure, and administrative power, but most tarai. importantly what madhesis need is acceptance and -Anonymous on Nepali Perspectives confidence in them as people of Nepal. He says by http://nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com calling them ‘madhesi’ the rest of Nepal is alienating them. Step 1: Street action to amend the interim constitution, get electoral constituencies What were the mistakes committed by the based on population. madhesis? Why are their own countrymen Step 2: Win the election. against them? Sometimes I consider the Step 3: First president of Nepal, a Madhesi. foreigners who come to Nepal luckier than -Democracy for Nepal (DFN) us because they are here for work and they http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com do not regard this country as theirs. But what about us? Have we ever said Nepal is The SPA delayed the peace process in the not our country? Have we never fought for name of ‘arms management’ and is now Nepal? paying for it through the conflict in the -Nitesh Thakur on Madhesi-United We Stand tarai. http://madhesi.wordpress.com -Rocky on Mero Sansar http://www.mysansar.com Maila Baje is not surprised that although it has been a week since the prime minister invited What is the model for political effectiveness madhesi leaders for talks on regional grievances in Nepal today? Well, since we have no fuelling the unrest, dialogue remains as elusive as representation, and no elections, street ever. He says that the seven-party alliance’s violence and Maoism seem to tell citizens doggedness in dismissing the violence in the tarai as Running rings that the only way to get things done is to a plot hatched by reactionary royalists to subvert the take to the streets. Witness the madhesi constituent assembly elections is disgraceful. But Saturn’s dark gleam returns, movement in the tarai. Where is there voice bloggers like AP_blazeofglory on Nepalnews do in government? Where is there faith in believe that India and the royalists are fuelling the as does flighty little Mercury government that was supposed to be turmoil. established through elections? he monthís headliner is Saturn, the second largest planet in -Blogdai on http://nepalnow.blogspot.com This is racism and the factors that are the solar system. For several months, there were no bright planets well placed in the evening sky. The ringed planet is causing this violence are—India and BJP, T returning to easy visibility in February when it reaches ëoppositioní Some are calling the tarai turmoil a “holocaust Hindu extremists like the Shiv Sena, and the on 10 Februaryóthat is, when it is located opposite the sun in the in the making”, others are calling it “ethnic royalists. This war will prove more sky. When the sun sets in the west, Saturn will rise in the east. A cleansing” and still others have compared what dangerous than the ‘People’s War’. planet is closest to the earth when in opposition, and so makes for happened in Lahan to Tiananmen Square. This -AP_blazeofglory on Nepalnews good viewing. week’s op-ed in News Blaze (http:// http://www.nepalnews.com Saturn is near the Sickle of Leo, which imparts an exotic aspect www.newsblaze.com) comparing the violence in to this well-known asterism. Unlike dazzling Venus and Jupiter, tarai with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda might be At Blogdai’s forum an anonymous poster is Saturn is faint enough to be precipitately judgmental, but raises valid points. It calling the Maoists a modern reincarnation of mistaken for a normal staró says Nepali politicians are inflaming the tarai colonialists who believe in “divide and conquer”. STAR GAZING though it outshines nearby violence by pointing fingers at ‘royalists’ and This post says the Maoists are responsible for Kedar S Badu Regulus, Leoís brightest, by a factor of three or four. ‘regressive forces’ instead of trying to understand inciting hatred between madhesis and pahadis as a The ringed world rises at what they did wrong. way to keep themselves in power. The post also says sunset and is out all night, shining at a bright, though not dazzling, Madhesi-United We Stand has video of the that the new interim parliament protects Pushpa magnitude zero. Small telescopes work well to see the rings, which Nepalganj incident, recent news of what is Kamal Dahal, and his friends and that they will are more edgewise now than they have been in several years, a happening in the tarai, a discussion forum, and a never have to answer for the decade long violence and circumstance that makes Saturn appear only half as brilliant as in hard-to-miss sign flashing on one side that reads, “I killing because the onus has been put on the people recent oppositions. When Saturn rises on the evening of 2 February, am Madhesi, save me from bullets.” Ram Manohar to forgive and forget the actions of their leaders. the full moon will appear close above it, and the two objects will stay close together through the night. NASAís Cassini spacecraft is sending back some incredible pictures of swirling clouds and thunderstorms from its current trip around the Saturnian system. Also early in February, donít miss the solar systemís two inner planets at once: the elusive Mercury will be to the lower right of Venus in the twilight. As darkness falls, though, Mercury will set, so make sure you catch it early. The central landmark of the winter evening sky is the bright constellation Orion, which is currently high in the southeast to south. In its middle is the eye-catching diagonal, three-star row forming Orionís Belt. The lower left of the Belt towards the brilliant Sirius, or Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky and, at a distance of 8.6 light-years or 50 trillion miles, the closest star. Other February highlights: The Sun is in the constellation of Capricornus at the start of February and moves into Aquarius on the 16 February. Mercury reaches its greatest elongation east of the Sun on 7 February, so there is a chance to see this elusive little planet in the early-evening sky. After this, Mercury disappears into the glare of the Sun again, at inferior conjunction (in front of the Sun) on 23 February. Venus is now a brilliant Evening Star, and will put on a spectacular show every evening from now right through to summer. On the evening of 19 February, the young crescent Moon will appear close above Venus. Mars rises in the south-east just as the sky brightens towards dawn, which will make it difficult to see until much later in the year. Jupiter is coming up in the south-east much earlier than Mars. At the start of February it rises at about 4.30 AM, and will be an hour- and-a-half earlier by the end of the month. By dawn, Jupiter is well up in the south-eastern sky. Meteors: There are no significant meteor showers in February, and it is a quiet time for sporadic meteors too. z 14 CITY 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334

ABOUT TOWN YAK YETI YAK by MIKU

EXHIBITIONS ™ My World, My View 1 exhibition of photos by underprivileged children, 6-13 February at the British Council. 4410798 ™ Mixed media art by Manish Lal Shrestha, until 7 February, 10-6PM at the Newa Chhen Gallery ™ Homage to My Country Exhibition of digital prints by Impress Singh at Siddhartha Art Gallery, until 7 February, from 11-6PM. 4218048 ™ Portfolio presentations by various photographers, at the Sundhara Bakery Café, 10AM on 3 February

EVENTS ™ Youth Initiative discussion on ‘Madhes – the burning issue’, 2 February, 3-5PM at Martin Chautari. 4107599 ™ Australian Big Day Out experience Australian cuisine at Nepal Academy Hall, Kamaladi, 3 February at 11-6PM Salaam-e-Ishq is a film about six couples from † ™ Vipassana meditation for today, talk different parts of the world and different walks program, 3 February at 1PM at the Mind Body of life, unaware of each other’s existence but Library, Tripureswor. 4279712 bound together by fate and love. Whether it's ™ Krishnamurti dialogue session on love, the glamorous love story of Kkamini (Priyanka 3 February at 2.30 PM at the Mind Body Chopra) and Rahul (Salman Khan) or the Library, Tripureswor. 4279712 intercultural chemistry between Raju Taxiwala ™ Aaitabare Discussion Series on Sukaratka Pailaharu, a novel by Govinda Raj Bhattarai on 4 February at (Govinda) and his blonde dream girl, love is in

3PM, Martin Chautari. 4238050 Entertainment the air. ™ Mangalbare Discussion Series on the representation of women in the interim parliament, 6 February at 5PM, Martin Chautari. 4238050 Call 4442220 for show timings at Jai Nepal ™ Eco Walk to Changu Narayan, fund-raiser for Antardristi Nepal on www.jainepal.com 10 February, 10-4PM, Rs 700 for admissions, including lunch and Quest transport. 4424017 ™ Aarohan Natak Mahotsav 2063 seven plays for three days each until 12 February at 4.30 PM at the Gurukul theatre. 4466956 ™ Learn German by playing games with native speakers, every Wednesday, 3PM at the German Info and Culture Centre, Thamel. 9841241290 ™ Salsa workshop with Binayek and Katia. Weekday and weekend classes available for Rs 1,000 per person or Rs 1,800 per couple at Salsa Dance Academy, Bhatbhateni. 4422019 ™ Hata yoga classes, 7.30-8.30 AM and 5-6PM, Sunday to Friday, 40 percent discount at The Self Awakening Centre, Baber Mahal Revisited. 4256618

MUSIC ™ Open Mic Night at ViaVia Café, Thamel every Friday, 8PM ™ Classical fusion music at Jatra, every Saturday, 7PM onwards ™ Gaine (Gandarbhas) perform at every lunch and dinner, Club Himalaya Nagarkot. 6680080 ™ Fusion and classical Nepali music by Rudra live at the Courtyard, WANTED Le Meridien, Gokarna every Friday, 7PM onwards, Rs 800.

DINING ™ Light nouvelle snacks and elaborate cordon bleu meals at La’Soon, Pulchowk, behind the Egyptian embassy. 5537166 ™ Continental cuisine and wine by the fire place at Kilroy’s, Thamel. 4250440. ™ Shop Talk Drink and dine at the Olive Bar and Bistro, Radisson Hotel. ™ Café Bahal at Kathmandu Guest House. 4700632. ™ Smorgasbord lunch at Park Village Resort, every Saturday. 4375280 ™ Gyakok lunch and dinner at the Shambala Garden Café, Hotel Shangri- This camera belonging to a La, minimum of four guests at Rs 450 per person, two hours order in Nepali Times contributor was advance. stolen in a restaurant in Thamel last week. The photographer is ™ Retro brunch barbecue with the Crossfire Band at The Poolside, Le offering compensation in return Meridien, Gokarna from 12 noon-4PM, Rs 1,000 inclusive of swimming for his property. If you have and complimentary drink. bought a similar camera in the ™ International Brunch weekends 11AM-3PM for Rs 499 per person last week please contact (Rs 299 for children) at Hotel Himalaya. 5523900 [email protected]. ™ Te Tibetan delicacies at Nepal’s first noodle bar, Bluebird Mall Food Court. ™ Calcutta’s rolls, biryani, kebabs Indian cuisine at Bawarchi, Bluebird Mall Food Court. 9741000735 ™ Japanese Food at the Coffee Shop at Hotel Shangri-la, 12 noon-3PM, Rs 499 per person. 4412999 ™ Pizza from the woodfired oven at Java, Thamel. 4422519 ™ Some Like It Hot live music from Side B every Friday at Fusion–the bar at Dwarika’s. Rs 799 includes BBQ dinner. 4479488 ™ Soul Warmers Inner Groove live at Fusion—the bar at Dwarika’s, Rs 599 includes a Fusion platter and cocktail. 4479488 ™ Woodfired Pizzas at Roadhouse Cafe, Thamel, 4262768, Bhatbhateni 4426587and Pulchok. 5521755 ™ AKA Pizza at Moksh, delivery available. 5526212 ™ Momo and Sekuwa Revolution Saturdays at the Tea House Inn, Nagarkot. 6680048 ™ Happy Hour Lost Horizon Bar, Hotel Shangri-la, from 5-7PM. 4412999 NEPALI WEATHER ™ Cocktails and Mocktails daily happy hour, 4-7PM at Kathmandu by NGAMINDRA DAHAL Revolving Restaurant, Ratna Plaza, New Road The long winter drought could end in time for Shivaratri mid-month, bringing GETAWAYS Valley farmers some much-needed ™ Weekend package at Le Meridien Kathmandu Gokarna Forest Golf rain. The westerlies responsible for the Resort and Spa, two nights three days at Rs 8,888 and one night two dry January were weak and for the days at Rs 4,444. 4451212 KATHMANDU most part didn’t reach us. The ™ Winter retreat three days and two nights at Shangri-La Village Resort, northwesterly that is visible in Pokhara, Rs 7,499. 4412999 Thursday afternoon’s satellite picture is coming at us fairly strongly, drawn Harmony of the mind, body, and soul at Club Oasis, Hyatt Regency ™ in by a plummeting pressure bar in the g]kfnL Kathmandu. 4491234 western Himalaya. This will also mean ™ Aesthetic living with nature at Park Village. 4375279 a drop in temperatures, though. The ™ Pure relaxation at Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge. 4361500 low pressure that had built up over Daily Nepal late last week pulled in warm air 20.45-21.15 on 102.4 For inclusion in the listing send information to [email protected] from the south, raising temperatures by as much as five degrees. It’s back to business this week—cold winter nights, though the days remain on the cgzf;g' / gltstfljxLg} JolQm / ;dfh cGttfuTjf] ktg eP/ warm side. hfG5g \ . To;}n] /fli6o« hLjgsf x/s] cfofdx¿df pbfx/0fLo KATHMANDU VALLEY cgzf;g' / gltstf} sfod ugk5'{ { . Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Radio Sagarmatha / To;sf ] ;?cft' cfkmaf6}+ u/f }+ . P.O. Box 6958, Bakhundole, Lalitpur, Nepal g]kfn ;/sf/ Tel: ++977-1-545680, 545681, ;"rgf tyf ;~rf/ dGqfno Fax: ++ 977-1- 530227 18-4 18-3 18-3 18-3 19-2 [email protected], ;"rgf ljefu www.radiosagarmatha.org HAPPENINGS 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 15 Nothing too knotty

crochet,” Shrestha says. In the early eighties, the handicraft business barely existed in Kathmandu. Shrestha taught herself and, in 1984, started Nepal Knotcraft Centre with two young women she had trained. “When I started the showroom, my intention was to teach, encourage, and give KIRAN PANDAY employment to women. I wanted CUT DOWN: A woman chops up a tree stump for firewood on the them to learn skills they could use sidewalk near Sahid Gate on Martyr's Day last Tuesday. to support themselves,” Shrestha explains. Eighty-four people, for the most part women, are employed at Nepal Knotcraft Centre’s factory in Patan Industrial Estate. The business has never been static, evolving as Shrestha learnt more. She used to import raw materials from India. Faced with the trade embargo in 1989, Shrestha travelled extensively around Nepal and realised the enormous potential various local materials have. “I found that there are 42 varieties of local plant materials that we can use!” she KIRAN PANDAY says gleefully. EXHAUSTING: A sea of bike riders are stuck at the Thapathali bridge Nepal Knotcraft has produced on Friday as traffic ground to a halt because of a Rastriya Janamukti everything from cornhusk dolls to Party rally from Jawalakhel to Ratna Park on Friday. elegant, minimalist steel and paper lamps. Shrestha’s designs and finished products draw on local traditions, but debunk the unfortunately often true image that products of well-intentioned skill development projects have sloppy workmanship and unattractive patterns.

KIRAN PANDAY In 2003, Shrestha started the Nepal Resource Development hyam Badan Shrestha is not work till two in the morning," Centre to study natural resources, afraid of working hard or of Shrestha remembers. “I had no work with experts to develop S taking chances. She’s been books, no time to do my technology to turn wastage into doing both since she was a child. homework, I don’t know how I commercially viable materials, After Shrestha lost her father managed to do okay in school.” train women in rural Nepal, and and most male relatives, she and Shrestha breezed through find new markets. If you walk into her mother made the decision, school and college and in 1972, Knotcraft’s showroom on unconventional 50 years ago, to won a scholarship to study in the Kopundole these days, you’re live by themselves in Patan. UK. She returned a year later to unlikely to see Shrestha. This HEARTWARMING: Ang Bahadur Lama of Humla receiving the first lot Shrestha would spend the day at teach at a Kathmandu school. On energetic, positive woman is at of 90 packets of clothing for children from schools and families in school and, because she was good the side, she devoured the craft work, behind the scenes, studying Kathmandu under the Nyanopan initiative (‘I’m a Nepali first’, #328). with her hands and money was books at her school library. “I new fibres, designs, colours, and Nepal Airlines captain Vijay Lama is seen handing over the tight, sew clothes for the read everything I could find on patterns. z consignment at Simkot airport. neighbours at night. “Sometimes I’d handicraft, knot work, macramé, Mallika Aryal 16 BACKSIDE 2 - 8 FEBRUARY 2007 #334 Tantrik vs Loktantrik

rofound apologies for having cast unhygienic secretaries who attend cabinet meetings have also all house in Balaju, but olive green. We don’t know who www.nepalitimes.com aspersions (Backside, # 332) on Nepal’s stellar turned yellow lends credence to this hypothesis. The advised Brother Number One on the choice of colour, P five-star establishments and implicating them firm that has the catering contract for Baluwatar is but the camouflage does seem to prove that the in the epidemic of jaundice among our movers and obviously trying to save money washing the salad in the military wing of the party is still calling the shots. shakers. waters of the Tukucha that flows past the prime These are the same comrades who bamboozled the A quick round of the wards of Teaching Hospital minister’s official residence. seven parties into allowing them to keep 180 of their this week revealed Foreign Minister KP Oli in Room If he was conspiracy-minded, the Ass would say this choice weapons for the “personal security” of senior 601 with a bad case of hepatitis. Down the hall was is all part of a deliberate attempt by reactionaries to leaders. That is why only 300 guns made it into the Education Minister Mangal Siddhi Manandhar with poison the entire eight-party government. Faecal container in Shaktikhor, and they’re mostly muskets typhoid and who knows what. Recuperating at home contamination could be almost as effective as radioactive and .303s. The Fierce One’s personal bodyguard is his are Labour Minister Ramesh Lekhak (he barely made it Polonium 210. own son Comrade Prakash who carries the guerrillas’ to the meeting with the visiting Korean Labour FG only snub-nosed Colt Commando M-16, which they Minister on Sunday) and Tourism Minister Pradeep captured from the Rangers two years ago. Gyawali. All were suffering from the Yellow Peril, as King Gyanendra re-painted his palace pink and shaved was Supplies Minister Hridayesh Tripathi, who seems his beard on advice from tantriks and is given to FG to have been miraculously cured after resigning from inspecting the palace’s peacocks clad in kurta pajamas. Maoist members of the interim parliament are now his post on Sunday. (As Supplies Minister, he is The 7+1 parties are removing his head from bank notes seen at embassy gatherings and they are always resigning just as his government is about to be anyway, but that’s probably not why he has been meeting followed by swarthy looking chaps with bulging hip dismantled anyway and before he gets all the blame for bankers lately. After last week’s scare on the Ring Road pockets. Marshals at Singha Darbar know the grey suits failing to ensure oil supply, electricity supply, and when tyre-burning followed Prince Hridayendra’s are carrying pistols inside parliament but look the water supply. You have to hand it to the guy for his motorcade’s non-fatal collision with a motorcyclist, other way. great sense of timing.) Crown Prince Paras has moved lock stock and barrel to Half the Maoists who went in to be FG Gokarna. The royals are taking it easy as their fundo registered at the Chitwan cantonment turned hangers-on use the restive tarai as a weapon to get back at out to be under 15 and were rejected. But Since some Maoist stalwarts in the negotiating team the loktantriks. about 30 percent of them, many girls, were also afflicted with jaundice, the Ass put two and FG managed to sneak in saying they were 18. two together and concluded that they were infected at And on that happy note, hee-haw till next the venue of the peace talks between the seven parties Taking his cue from the paintjob on Narayanhiti, Pushpa week. and the Maoists. The fact that most senior government Kamal Dahal has also painted his three-storey rented [email protected] ISSN 1814-2613