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VOL. 27, NO. 6, September 21, 2007 (Ashwin 04 2064 B.S.)
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ILLEGAL PASHUPATI ROAD
Threat to Ancient Monument
The decision of Maoist minister to open four lane road at Pashupati Monument site sparks new controversy
By A CORRESPONDENT
Not only for the world's billion Hindus and Buddhists but for archeologists of the world, Pashupati Area, which is declared as a World Heritage Site by the World Heritage Center of United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the news of building of road across the site has come as a shocker. The site is under threat of existence following a decision of a Maoist minister to construct the four lane road.
Although the World Heritage Center wrote to the Permanent Mission of Nepal for
UNESCO in Paris seeking the status of a road being constructed in the middle of the sacred Shleshmantaka Jungle near the Pashupati Temple, the Maoist-led Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning opened the track with one kilometer wide long and 20 meter wide road.
As a country which ratified the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1978, Nepal is obliged to consider the international guidelines for conservation of the monuments recognized as World-Class monuments.
Despite denouncement from the local community, and Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Maoists turned deaf ear. Regarded as one of the world's renowned heritage sites of Kathmandu Valley, Pashupati Area covers a big area including the forest.
"This is a attack against the faith of Hindus and Buddhists all over the world by Maoists. It is an unfortunate incident. The time has come for all the people to come out to protect sacred Hindu religious place of the world," said Rabindra Nath Sharma, president of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal. "The Maoists exposed their true faces by attacking sentiments of more than a billion Hindus."
Some other activists also condemned the construction of the road. "It is against Bagmati civilization of the valley. The construction must stop and the government must protect the sacred Shleshmantaka Jungle which is the water shed of two small streams of Bagmati," said Hutaram Vaidya, a senior and respected activist of Save Bagmati Campaign.
The WHC reportedly has asked the status of the road and its impact on the recently rescued image of the World Heritage Sites which was recognized as a monument in danger three years ago.
The construction will again put the entire Kathmandu valley in danger. Should the WHC find that the Government of Nepal has not upheld its commitment of preserving the outstanding universal value of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site, the site will be placed back on the list of World Heritage in Danger. It may even remove the site entirely from the list, writes The Himalayan Sites citing the sources in UNESCO office in Kathmandu.
Seven Monument zones define Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site collectively viz: Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square and Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Boudha, Swayambhu, Changu Narayan and Pashupati Area.
Pashupati area covers Mrigashthali hill in the east and in the west lies ancient settlement of Deopatan. To the east is the forested hill of Mrigasthali and to the north is the Kailash Plateau, which might have been the site of the Lichhavi Capital, Managriha.
"The act taken by Maoist-backed ministry to construct the road at World Heritage Site has hurt the sentiment of billions plus Hindus of the world. This also hurts the centuries long religious harmony existing between various religious groups in Nepal," said Sharma whose RPP-Nepal is embracing the slogans for constitutional monarchy and Hindu Kingdom. "This is malicious work done under the cover of some alien religious groups against Hindu."
According to historical record, Pashupti has been the deity of almost all the rulers of Kathmandu Valley since as early as the 7th century AD. For the Hindus, the construction of road is threat to their faith.
Whatever motives behind the road, it ultimately ruins world's oldest monumental sites. As prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala is bent on compromising everything with Maoists, this Maoist action could also go ahead unchecked.
RCF RENEWS CALL FOR CONSERVATION
The 4th Asia Regional Conservation Forum (RCF), arguably the region's biggest and most important conservation event, came to a hugely successful close, on Thursday (September 13), with renewed energy and commitment to integrate conservation imperatives to the heart of decision making.
Delivering his concluding remarks, Tirtha Raj Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, put biodiversity conservation into the larger context of the development agenda and noted the importance of events such as the RCF in promoting and contributing to sustainable livelihoods. The secretary noted that he looked forward to the RCF results being integrated into mainstream conservation programs across the region and added that the issues discussed at the forum will be taken to the World Conservation Congress scheduled to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in October 2008.
Julia Marton-Lèfevre, Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) thanked all the institutions and individuals who contributed to the success of the RCF and said that the forum has demonstrated an unprecedented level of private sector participation. "We should now move towards collaboration with entrepreneurs and business: this shows that biodiversity and sustainability is as important to business as it is to us."
The Director General expressed the hope that the outcomes of the RCF will contribute to addressing issues of conservation in peace building, poverty eradication, food and water security, tourism and economic development. "The issues presented during the three days' deliberations represent a road map this is the first step on a very long road," she observed, urging IUCN, members and partners to be more engaged in building synergies that support sustainable development in Asia.
On the occasion, IUCN Director General and the secretary jointly presented awards and appreciation letters to distinguished individuals who have contributed to the success of the forum. This premier conservation event attracted more than 400 IUCN members, experts, and representatives from IUCN's membership, commissions, secretariat and council in Asia from as many as 32 Asian countries.
The main agenda of the forum was to generate meaningful dialogue on critical conservation and development issues in the region as well as their possible solutions. Special emphasis was also placed on the impact of emerging socio-economic trends in the region during the 21st century.
EC'S GENEROUS SUPPORT FOR FLOOD-VICTIMS
The United Nations World Food Program AHS welcomed a €500,000 donation from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) to its emergency operations to feed flood-affected people in Nepal.
"ECHO has been one of the largest donors to WFP's emergency operations in Nepal, giving €3 million over the last two years. By supporting WFP's emergency operations, ECHO has provided aid to more than 150,000 people struggling to secure enough food after being hit by natural disasters in Nepal," said Richard Ragan, WFP Country Director in Nepal.
At the cost of nearly €3.3 million, WFP aims to provide food aid to over 266,000 people who have been impacted by floods in Nepal. As a part of this effort, the donation from ECHO will provide food aid to 40,000 people.
"The European Commission has been monitoring this year's floods closely in Nepal and also in the rest of South Asia. We are happy to contribute to this project which will, along with three others, alleviate the suffering of thousands and provide for much needed food, shelter, and adequate water and sanitation, said Dominique Feron, Head of the EC's Humanitarian Aid office in Kathmandu. "ECHO is also supporting flood related humanitarian projects in India and Bangladesh for a total allocation of € 9.5 million." he added.
Monsoon floods have destroyed or damaged over 70,000 households and have affected 50 out of 75 districts in Nepal. Continued rains over the last month have challenged relief efforts, in some cases reflooding areas already damaged from the earlier onslaught of rains.
WFP launched its emergency food aid operations in response to a request from the Government of Nepal to feed 60,000 people displaced by flooding. WFP expanded its operations to include 266,000 people after subsequent assessments placed the number of flood-affected people to more than 470,000.
"The response from the international community to WFP flood-relief efforts was swift and generous. However, many of the communities impacted by floods were already facing significant challenges in meeting their basic food needs. Without increased donor support for reconstruction and rehabilitation activities, these communities could find themselves in a desperate situation as they struggle through the upcoming lean season in Nepal," Ragan said.
US EMBASSY COMPLETES REVIEW OF 2007 DV
The US Embassy in Nepal has announced that it recently completed a thorough review of the 2007 Diversity Visa (DV) program.
"More than 1100 Nepalese citizens received immigrant visas to the United States through the 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery Program. Over 85% of the Lottery winners met minimum program and legal requirements to qualify and earned the opportunity to start a new life in the United States of America," the press release by the Embassy states.
"The review has affirmed that the Embassy's adjudications in DV cases were in full compliance with United States law, and confirmed that the small number of DV applicants who were refused visas did not qualify under US law, meaning that fewer than 13 percent of the total DV-2007 applicants failed to meet the minimum education or work requirements clearly stated in the application instructions. Another two percent of the DV applicants misrepresented themselves by presenting false documents."
The review was conducted after a number of Nepali nationals staged protests after their DV applications were rejected. They even held hunger strikes.
The Diversity Visa program has been designed to bring greater racial and ethnic diversity to the United States. The DV program offers permanent residency visas to citizens of countries that have a traditionally low rate of immigration to the United States.
"More than 7,800 Nepalese have immigrated through the Diversity Visa program since 2001. To qualify for the Diversity Visa, an applicant must meet simple, but strict requirements, which are clearly spelled out in the application. The US Embassy has sought to make the DV program as transparent as possible, and to ensure that the Nepalese public is well informed when deciding whether or not to apply for a diversity visa."
The season for interviews of 2008 Diversity Visa lottery winners begins on October 1, 2007, and the application period for the 2009 DV program begins on October 3, 2007.
Briefs
THE TWO-DAY POWER SUMMIT concluded on Tuesday (September 18) with financers and developers from Nepal and India showing keen interest in Nepal 's hydropower development. "Even the government and the political parties are now showing a renewed interest in developing hydropower," said Radhesh Pant, President of Nepal Bankers' Association, during the closing session of the Summit (The Himalayan Times, September 19). He, however, added that the projects have to move in a transparent manner and the private-public partnership has to be strengthened. Dr Sandip Shah, President of IPPAN, was of the view that there is tremendous investment opportunity in Nepal and the Summit would contribute towards generating more interest of the international companies here. "This is totally an apolitical event," he said, adding: "We must now initiate efforts at business to business level rather than only relying on the governments to do the job." The speakers from the private sector emphasized that the government should focus on creating 'enabling environment' here. The main issues that came up were regarding development mechanism, financial aspect of the projects, development models, looking at India as a natural partner for hydropower, among others. In this connection, TN Thakur of CMD PTC India Ltd, a power trading company, said that Nepal should at least have 10,000 MW by 2020 to firstly meet its domestic demand and then to export. He suggested that the Government of Nepal evolved a national transmission development plan and set-up a National Transmission Authority here as in India to "look into mobility of power and transmission links within the country." The Summit concluded on the note that given the 'political will' and the 'increasing interest of the private sector,' significant strides in the hydropower sector are expected in the near future.
ON THE DAY THE ELECTION COMMISSION (EC) announced enforcement of its election code of ethics, GEOC (General Election Observation Committee), an alliance of civil society organizations, has announced the start of its election observation campaign. In a press statement, GEOC has said that it will deploy observers in 35 districts. It will deploy 35 national observers, 35 district-level observers, 70 constituency-level observers, 40 municipality-level observers and 700 VDC-level observers. In total, it will deploy 880 observers in 3500 polling booths. The GEOC is chaired by Himalaya SJB Rana and its working committee includes Kusum Shrestha of Nepal Law Society (NLS), Udaya Nepali Shrestha of ICJ-Nepal, Ram Binod Bhattarai of Ex-Employees Council, Gokul Pokharel of Nepal Press Institute, Tirtha Narayan Subedi of Nepal Citizens' Forum, and Sunita Regmi of Rural Development Foundation. Krishna Man Pradhan of the Foundation is its member-secretary. The GEOC has stated that its objective is to observe and monitor all the election-related activities by all stakeholders to find out if there is any violation of election code of ethics.
