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In this file photo, women shout slogans during an International Women’s Day rally in Kathmandu. The rape and murder of a teenager provoked unprecedented protests in conservative Nepal, but activists say a #MeToo reckoning like that unfolding in neighboring India remains a distant prospect. —AFP Long road ahead for #MeToo in Nepal Rape, murder of teenager provoke unprecedented protests

KATHMANDU: The rape and murder of a teenager pro- Akbar, resigned this month after at least 20 women accused servative rural communities, speaking out is not an option, aimed at toppling Nepal’s communist-led government. voked unprecedented protests in conservative Nepal, but him of sexual harassment. A prominent Bollywood director says Mohna Ansari of the National Human Rights There have been small signs of progress: official figures activists say a #MeToo reckoning like that unfolding in was also sacked over similar allegations. The shockwaves Commission. She is supporting two rape victims who show 479 complaints of rape and attempted rape were neighboring India remains a distant prospect. Thousands have not gone unnoticed in Nepal, which shares strong cul- brought their cases to court - a rare achievement in itself. made from July to September this year - more than the total poured onto the streets after 13-year-old Nirmala Pant’s tural and religious ties with its influential neighbor, as well as But the women have been driven from their communities by number of cases filed between 2008 and 2009 - suggesting body was discovered in July angered by allegations the a 1,850-kilometre open border. “You see a slight breeze gossip, a byproduct of speaking out about sexual violence. the protests have encouraged some to speak up. In 2016 to police were protecting the perpetrators. come through,” Bista said of the ripple effect from India. “They are now both hiding in a shelter. 2017, 1,131 rapes were reported to the police, but only a tiny Two hashtags - #RageAgainstRape and The stigma and victim blaming is still too strong in our fraction ended up in court. #JusticeForNirmala - have become the rallying cries for ‘Fight for justice’ society,” said Ansari. Bista is concerned that Nepal may not Sexual violence is making news too. An acid attack on protesters fed up with Nepal’s woeful record of prosecuting In the last two weeks, a handful of women have gone be ready for #MeToo, pointing out that so far only profes- two sisters by a jilted suitor in late September, and the gang cases of violence against women. But #MeToo has been public with #MeToo stories in Nepal, including two accus- sional women in Kathmandu have felt able to speak out. rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl, dominated headlines largely absent from the ongoing debate. Those fighting for ing the former mayor of Kathmandu, Keshav Sthapit, of “And the reaction has been very divided for and against for days. But activists say the sensationalist coverage and change say women still struggle to speak out against their abusing his power. “Nepal also has serial predators who (them),” she added. A change needs to come from the top, gratuitous detail paints women as weak victims with no abusers in Nepal. “I would love a society where you can say have been misusing their powers and positions,” wrote but the government’s response to Pant’s killing, the botched agency — undermining their ability to call out their abusers. #MeToo,” said women’s rights activist Hima Bista. In recent Rashmila Prajapati, who says she lost her job in Sthapit’s investigation and the ensuing protests has invoked outrage “Once we address the culture, then you have space for weeks the #MeToo movement in neighboring India has office 15 years ago after she rejected his sexual advances. and derision. #MeToo,” said Bista. Pant’s killers meanwhile remain at gathered pace, a year after the hashtag first went viral. “(It) is high time to reveal them.” Sthapit has denied the alle- Parliament passed a ban on pornography saying it would large. “I don’t have any hope of justice, because the investi- The public allegations by Bollywood star Tanushree gations, describing them as “a rape of men’s rights” in an curb violence against women, while the home minister gations have come up with nothing despite public pres- Dutta against a fellow actor emboldened a wave of women recent interview with the Kathmandu Post newspaper. blamed rape on capitalism. He also described the sure,” her father, Yagya Raj Pant, told AFP by phone. “But in India to tell their own stories. A government minister, MJ But for most women in Nepal, particularly those in con- #RageAgainstRape protest movement as a conspiracy we still continue our fight for justice.” —AFP Hurricane Willa slams ’s Knock, knock with Pacific coast an app: The US ESCUINAPA: Hurricane Willa crashed ashore in west- ern Mexico Tuesday, lashing the Pacific coast with pow- erful winds and heavy rain before weakening to a tropi- door-to-door cal storm as it moved inland. The powerful storm, which was a maximum Category 5 hurricane on Monday, had weakened to Category 3 as it moved toward land. campaign ritual Forecasters warned that the storm still had the potential WILKES BARRE: Republican volunteer John Lombardo to unleash deadly flooding and landslides. However, sets himself an ambitious target when going door-to-door levels will subside over the course of on the campaign trail in battleground state Pennsylvania: a Wednesday and Willa is expected to dissipate by the hundred door knocks every two hours. In the age of the afternoon, the US National Hurricane Center said. smart phone and algorithms, door knocking has only As of 0600 GMT, the storm’s maximum sustained cemented itself as a vital way to mobilize US voters, espe- winds had decreased to 45 mph (75 kph). Willa first cially those traditionally apathetic when it comes to swept over the Marias islands, where Mexico has a fed- midterm elections. Lombardo, 25-year-old fire fighter and eral prison. The interior ministry did not respond to medic who volunteers for the Republican Party when not questions on whether it had evacuated the 1,000 working three jobs, walks briskly from house to house in a inmates housed there or what other emergency meas- middle-class suburb on the edges of Wilkes-Barre. ures were in place for the penal colony. “We do not Yet even on a sunny day, visiting neat and tidy homes have any reports of damages there so far,” the head of spruced up for Halloween with pumpkins and witches, is a Mexico’s emergency services, Luis Felipe Puente, told a thankless task. Only one in 10 actually answer the door. press conference. More than 4,250 people were evacu- “It’s not something as a volunteer to be discouraged by,” ated from high-risk areas, including tourists who were ESCUINAPA: Aerial view of a collapsed church, after the passage of Hurricane Willa in Escuinapa, state, Mexico Lombardo shrugs. “That word of mouth, that voter might on vacation at the beach, he said. They are being yesterday. —AFP tell his wife or five of their friends, it spreads like wildfire at housed in 58 temporary shelters. some point.” Wilkes-Barre sits in former coal-mining quil resort town with turquoise waters, the hotels that Governor Aristoteles Sandoval on Monday country. Largely white, heavily Catholic and traditionally ‘Up against nature’ line the coast were largely empty as workers nailed ply- ordered the evacuation of hotels and coastal areas, Democratic, it bucked tradition and voted 58 percent for At a shelter in Escuinapa, a town of 30,000 people wood over the windows and built sandbag barriers to warning the storm could have “very destructive conse- Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. that sits in the middle of the storm’s likely path, resi- keep out the flood waters earlier in the day. As the quences.” The goal in the November 6 midterms is to make sure dents fretted over their houses as they waited out the storm moved over the town, drenching it in a light but In Michoacan state, also on the Pacific coast, heavy those Trump supporters show the president some more storm. “Let’s just hope this is over soon so we can go steady rain, some hardy residents even went for walks rain caused a freight train to derail Monday in the town love and return to the ballot box in an election likely to home,” said Epigmenio Cardenas, 44, a farmer who was or bike rides on the oceanfront avenue, the Malecon. of La Goleta, injuring at least two workers for the have an outsize influence on the rest of his term. All 435 among the 2,500 people huddled there. “You feel bad Kansas City Southern rail line, authorities said. Adding seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs along leaving everything behind, but what can you do? We’re State of alert to the weather chaos, the remnants of Tropical Storm with a third of the Senate, threatening to eat away if not up against nature,” he told AFP. Many residents had At its peak, Willa packed maximum sustained winds Vicente were moving over Michoacan on Tuesday, capsize the Republican billionaire’s slender working boarded up their windows with plywood. “They told us of 195 kilometers (120 miles) per hour, the NHC said. It bringing more heavy rainfall. Mexico’s Pacific coast has majority in both houses. Lombardo goes about his work, it was going to hit hard, and that we had to come here” is expected to dump 15 to 30 centimeters (six to 12 already been hit by deadly storms and rains this hurri- armed with his smart phone and the Geoconnect Pro to the shelter, said Maria Virginia Cardenas, 59, a cook. inches) of rain on parts of Sinaloa, and Jalisco cane season. In September, at least 15 people were app, which classifies homes’ occupants as “hard” or “God, please just let us go back home unharmed.” states, with some areas getting up to 45 centimeters. killed when flash floods hit the states of Sinaloa and “weak” Republicans and Democrats, based on a nation- The deployed troops to roll out a disas- The three states had already declared an alert and can- Michoacan. Last week, 11 more people died in Oaxaca, wide algorithm. —AFP ter response operation in the area. In Mazatlan, a tran- celled school. In the resort town of , including seven children. —AFP