#63 5 - 11 October 2001 20 pages Rs 20 KKKAAATHMANDU HIGHHIGHHIGH 191919 TTTREKKINGREKKINGREKKING INININ MMMUSTUSTUSTANGANGANG 9-10-119-10-119-10-11 middlemen, and are trying to get in by applying for political asylum. In the process, Nepalis who are genuinely fleeing persecution either from the Maoists or police do not get a chance. Their applications are almost always rejected, but most “disappear” before that happens. “The story is a near-perfect ASYLUM cut-and-paste job which Hundreds of Nepalis are seeking political asylum virtually every Nepali asylum in Europe or Australia. Nearly all are rejected, but seeker repeats with a change here or there,” says an many “disappear” to stay on as illegals. official involved in the ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ asylum application screening Review Tribunal (MRT), and officials say European countries is growing so fast that process here. no Nepali application has been accepted it is difficult to keep track. The preferred Most of the stories are although some are still being processed by country changes depending on prevalent the same: “I face prosecu- an appeals committee. laws, but at present Britain is the tion, even death. I escaped Nepali sources in Sydney say the rejects favourite for Nepalis, along with the after friends and relatives arranged tickets usually “disappear” by the time the committee Netherlands, Germany and Norway. In and a passport for me. I don’t remember the decides. What is attractive to most asylum- the United States, most people don’t flight number or airline.” seekers is that they get allowances, in some bother to seek asylum and just stay on as IN LONDON JITENDRA○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ RAUT British Embassy officials in Kathmandu countries under certain conditions they are illegal immigrants. am Bahadur Karki spent two years in told us there has been a sudden rise in the allowed to go out of the holding centres and In Europe, many arrive on legal student the jungles of northern Gorkha number of Nepalis seeking asylum in Britain can even work and earn money. visas but a small percentage travel with R district as a Maoist guerrilla. He in the past few years when there have been One Nepali in Australia told us: “If fake passports and visas, which are either Weekly Internet Poll #3 Q: Should the Royal Nepal Army be mobilised more fully donated all his property to the party (he has 30-35 applications a month in Britain nothing else the lengthy review and appeal destroyed upon arrival or recycled by to counter the Maoist insurgency if the talks fail? receipts) and would have still been fighting alone. Diplomats from other countries told process allows them to continue staying middlemen. Some Nepalis have now had there not been a warrant for his arrest, us they are seeing more Nepalis claiming to there for at least a year, enough time for started reaching Britain overland from charging him with murdering civilians. be fleeing prosecution and arriving in anyone to disappear.” other European countries with Indians, Friends and relatives arranged his flight from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and British Embassy officials in Kathmandu Afghans and Iraqis. Nepal, and he fled because he would Australia. While two years ago many say they are monitoring the traffic closely, Alternatively, those with immigration in otherwise have been killed in a fake Nepalis pretended to be Bhutanese fleeing and have been trying to plug the loopholes. mind destroy their passports and claim encounter with the police. persecution, now they mostly say they are For instance, a Nepali with a multiple entry political asylum at the immigration counters— That is Karki’s story. The only thing targeted by Maoists or police. visa would mail his passport home after in just the amount of English needed to wrong is that none of it is true. The 28- The number of Nepalis seeking political getting to Britain, enabling a friend or communicate their intent. Others hang out at year-old is actually from east Nepal, he asylum in Australia last year was 95, and the relative to come in on the same passport, the airport lounge waiting to be discovered by faked his residence in the insurgency- number this year is down a bit. Many say sometimes by changing the photograph. officials and taken to immigration. Agents affected Gorkha district to buttress his they are Bhutanese, and most apply for Now, British visas have photo identity helping these people get there have instructed appeal for political asylum in Britain. Karki political asylum after their student visas run pasted on the visas with superglue. them to say nothing but: “No passport, no Selected responses on p. 8 Total votes: 2308 (not his real name) is among hundreds of out. This year there have been 11 instances Embassy officials say they are unaware money, I Maoist from Nepal, face big Nepali economic migrants in various of “unauthorised entry” of Nepalis in if any of the recent applicants have actually problem, I’m free now.” European countries and Australia who have Australia, all by air. The applications are been granted asylum. The numbers from sold most of their possessions to pay processed by the independent Migration the Middle East and various eastern See p. 6 Jumbo cabinet BINOD○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ BHATTARAI Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has made up his mind: he is going to expand his cabinet. The only question is when.Going by the time he took to announce his govern- ment in July, Deuba may need some more time so his patronage is distributed evenly among supporters. “You are looking at next week, or even after Dasain,” one senior minister told us. “He does not decide fast.” But why now? The main catalyst is the move by Deuba’s arch rival within his party, Girija Prasad Koirala, to fill key positions in the Nepali Congress Central Committee with cronies and loyalists. There is no love lost between the two, and Deuba must have seen this as a personal challenge. Koirala himself needn’t have done it so blatantly. Koirala says he has given Deuba a free hand with ministerial appointments. “I don’t What it shows is that Congress factions are still at each other’s throats, which was care about what others say of my nominees in the central committee,” he told report- the reason that despite being a majority party in parliament it has not been able to ers in Biratnagar on Tuesday. “And I won’t comment on his pick of ministers in the govern properly. cabinet. It’s his prerogative as prime minister.” What most indepen- A close Deuba aide said a decision on cabinet expansion was imminent, and there dent political analysts hope is that the Congress infighting over Editorial p. 2 could be as many as 39 ministers. Deuba has a reputation for jumbo cabinets— portfolios and power will not erupt at a time when negotiations Zero hour during his last tenure 1995-97 he had a record 48 ministers. To accommodate with Maoists have entered a crucial stage. supporters, Deuba is even said to be thinking of unbundling larger ministries like But there is also a more practical reason Deuba needs to expand his cabinet. Industry, Commerce and Supplies into smaller units. There are a lot of impatient Besides being prime minister, he manages nine ministries. Deuba may as well Congressites Deuba needs to reward for helping him oust Koirala. offload some key portfolios like Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Industry. 222 EDITORIAL 5 - 11 OCTOBER 2001 NEPALI TIMES NATION 5 - 11 OCTOBER 2001 NEPALI TIMES 333 Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Editor: Anagha Neelakantan OPINION by JOHN PAUL LEDERACH Design: Swosti Rajbhandari, Kiran Maharjan [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Advertising: Sunaina Shah, Anup Adhikary [email protected] Subscription: Anil Karki [email protected] Sales: Sudan Bista [email protected] Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Let’s do the unexpected Tel: 01-543333-7, Fax: 01-521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press: 01-521393 So hope for a great sea-change Both an army preparing to fight an insurgency or the Americans reality we face: Recruitment happens on a On the far side of revenge. sustained basis. It will not stop with the Believe that a farther shore tackling terrorists need to understand the nature of the enemy. use of military force, in fact, open warfare ZERO HOUR Is reachable from here. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ will create the soils in which it is fed and Believe in miracles grows. Military action to destroy terror, Even Sher Bahadur Deuba’s fiercest critics have been forced to accept that And cures and healing wells. if located can be destroyed. Quite we lose the critical capacity to under- significant impact that we could make on particularly as it affects significant and he has been surprisingly wily during his second term. When he became frankly our biggest and most visible stand that from within the ways they their ability to sustain their view of us as already vulnerable civilian populations will be prime minister on 24 July, Deuba gave himself one goal and one goal only: The Cure of Troy by Seamus Heaney weapon systems are mostly useless. construct their views, it is not mad evil is to change their perception of who like hitting a fully mature dandelion with a find a negotiated solution to the Maoist insurgency. He has tried to keep his The genius of people like Osama bin lunacy or fanaticism. All things fall we are by choosing to strategically golf club. We will participate in making sure word, moving single-mindedly in pursuit of this objective.