Unhealthy trend

It is business as usual in the Nepali Congress party whose credibility among the people has progressively gone down. First, it was party president Girija Prasad Koirala who engineered a coup to throw out Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and now he is being paid back in the same coin. Rebel NC leader Khum Bahadur Khadka, angrily dismissed from office by the prime minister on Tuesday, is apparently only the front man for the deeper malaise that bedevils the party. Dismissing the minister has hardly solved the problem. In fact, it has increased polarisation within the party. Such a polarisation would have been welcome if it had been based on ideology and principles. But it is not. It is power play pure and simple, and this is taking place within the ruling party which has a comfortable majority. That makes the rift all the more condemnable.

We had taken a firm stand against Koirala and Khum Bahadur and company when they moved to oust Bhattarai. We take the same stand today. This is an improper and unprincipled thing to do. We are less concerned about Koirala or Bhattarai than about the trend in Nepali   politics. The irony is that though the Nepali Congress

enjoys majority in parliament, its government has proved to be as unstable as the coalitions that preceded it.

The political scene in the country is hardly conducive to confidence building. No one believes the politicians or their promises any more. The Nepali Congress has no one but itself to blame for the sorry plight this country finds itself in. We had advised almost five months ago that with the fall of the Bhattarai government, it would be prudent not to induct any minister of Bhattarai's cabinet who had deserted him and joined the rival force. For if one can betray one's leader so easily, what is the guarantee that one will not do so again. While we do not wish say "we told you so", the trend that has been unleashed cannot bode well for the country's politics and even for democracy itself.

Former prime ministers Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba must now play a moderating role to ensure that the good name of the party is not tarnished. The Nepali Congress which may now enjoy majority should look to the next elections that will take place about three and half years later. If this is the trend in the party, and if it is to continue, people will give it the boot that it deserves.

What Koirala did in Delhi ?

By Madan Regmi

As anticipated, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is back home from his useless and counter-productive visit to India. He could do nothing for Nepal's interest except   raise the issues as his predecessors had done.

While we know what transpired during Koirala's India visit, one fails to comprehend why he went to Delhi merely to raise the contentious issues, that to in a submissive way. He should have remembered that these issues are being raised but only to be sidelined  by Delhi.        

The 1950 Treaty review was proposed decades before multi party system was re-introduced in 1990. The first government of after multi party democracy was restored proposed this again. One of the coalition governments had even  handed over to India the alternate draft of the 1950 Treaty. Though this draft did not solicit regulation of the open Nepal-India border, this openness of the border was imposed on Nepal by India unilaterally. On Kalapani's occupation, each and every subsequent Government established after 1990 made it a point to demand its return to Nepal. On the Mahakali DPR, the Nepalese government formed after the Mahakali accord has sought Delhi to act. So, it is difficult to know what the rationale behind Koirala's cruise to Delhi was. He may say that he has raised the issue of Laxmanpur dam, but this is a routine affair for every Nepalese Prime Minister who visits India. Every year there is some problem or the other with India and every visiting Nepalese prime minister has raised the issue treating it as though it were new.

This is no way of doing the job well. It has become necessary to let India know that things are going too far and Nepal can no longer tolerate it. Koirala came back keeping everything on hold, which, in his terms, is a time framework, which in no way will help Nepal. This has only provided India the opportunity to place the issues in the backburner. This has also encouraged India to unabatedly abuse Nepalese sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, and to add human problems and obstruct Nepalese development and finally to achieve its goal to turn the Himalaya into its security crests. This ambition was mooted by none other than the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.

Koirala may claim that he succeeded in waiving off special additional duty imposed by India on Nepalese products seeking Indian market. This is an absurd claim. The so-called preference trade regime stipulated by the trade agreement between Nepal and India was on a reciprocal basis. Nepal got it in lieu for giving up Mahakali River itself to India. Prior to it, India was enjoying one-way special tariff concession from Nepal. India's imposition of additional duty on the import from Nepal was in contravention to the trade agreement. However, instead of asking India to abide by the Treaty, Koirala gave polluting Indian automobiles additional concessions. Koirala has thus rejected the internationally acknowledged emission standard by agreeing to accept the emission standard fixed by Indian automobile companies. This commitment will brazenly discriminate other vehicle manufacturing countries if they are not allowed to fix their own emission standards. This is a glaring example of how Koirala has succumbed to Indian pressure.

Though the joint press statement did not spell out in clear terms that accords on Sapta Koshi high dam and Sunkosi-Kamala diversion projects have been signed, it has mentioned that both sides have agreed 'to expedite the ongoing process'. This language is very fishy. It even suggests that something very important is being concealed and Girija's version that nothing has been finalized about Sapta Koshi high dam cannot be taken for granted as he had lied to the nation previously by saying that Tanakpur Treaty as an understanding. Less than a week before his India visit, he made the Lower House of Parliament adopt the Citizenship Amendment Bill 1999 (2056 BS) in the garb of an Economic Bill. Koirala has made the position of premiership absurd and made a mockery of multi-party system and a mere means to end  Nepalese sovereignty.

An important Indian English daily in its editorial asserted that the Sapta Koshi high dam project was finalized. It further says that 'the Nepalese leader's visit had given a concrete direction to the construction by India of the Sapta Koshi high dam, a project under discussion for fifty years' (4th August 2000, The Hindustan Times).

The joint statement, while dumping almost all Nepalese problems aside in different ways gives a clear signal that in the name of curbing terrorism, Girija has cooperated with the Indian manoeuvre to bring Nepal under its security umbrella. While observing total silence about the urgency to regulate the Nepal-India open border which has been the major point of India's demographic, cultural, economic, social invasion of Nepal, the joint statement, on the contrary, advocates the continuation of the open border 'to preserve the mutually beneficial open interaction between the nationals of the two countries across the border'. The two prime ministers have agreed to "device effective modalities and measures to strengthen their existing cooperation" in pursuit of their shared objective of combating terrorism and cross-border crimes, the statement states. In another sinister section of the joint statement, both "the prime ministers agreed on the need to prevent  misuse of the open border by terrorists, criminals and other undesirable elements. They directed that cooperation in this regard be stepped up." But both Vajpayee and Koirala are unable to tell who are the criminal terrorist and the undesirable elements? So far, the Nepalese people know India is the source of all sort of bad activities. It is the Indians who are misusing the open border. Terrorists, criminals and other undesirable elements have their roots in India. Because of the realisation of this fact, the Nepalese people, including the people of Terai have been overwhelmingly demanding  immediate regulation of the open Nepal-India border and the imposition of visa system. India has inflicted unbearable suffering to Nepalese people of the border areas by even inundating their habitats.

Both Koirala and Vajpayee know well that the assassins of Father Gaffney and the Japanese monk Watanabe Nabatame in Lumbini were not Nepalese nationals. They are Indians and are now in their safe haven, India. Indian gangs murdered Mirja Dilsad Beg in the Nepalese capital. Thus, Girija did not have guts to raise this truth and tell the Indians to stop such killing and other malafide actions. The Nepal-India border must be regulated but Girija did not speak a word about it. He complied with whatsoever Vajpayee asked and came back.  

  Prime Minister G P Koirala, like his two brothers the then Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala and B P Koirala, appears very prostrating to Delhi, which even in the 21st century  continues its 1950 Nepal policy. In furthering Nehru's forward policy in Nepal, the BJP government is resorting to the Shikimization process. India is using fake maps to achieve this. Tanakpur and Mahakali Treaty is worst than the Koshi and Gandaki River Treaty signed by M P Koirala and B P Koirala respectively. Girija Prasad Koirala seems to be not at all worried about India's design. From BP Koirala's policy of pursuing equal friendship, he has moved on to something else called 'strategic partnership'. He has tried to change the very edifice of the relationship between Nepal and its neighbours. Vajpayee and Koirala have, in the joint press statement , speak of political system as the basis of closeness between the two neighbours, which in their words 'has given the bilateral relations a new dynamism'. This avowal is an overt attempt by India to forge an Indian bloc in South Asia in the guise of a political system which will look eye to eye at other neighbours and even umbrage them. Thus India, by referring to  ideology is only making a fool of the so-called democrats of Nepal. It is also trying to whitewash its immediate past of very-very special relationship with the Communist Soviet Union. If the Indians were so devoted to multi party norms why is it that for over forty years they were happy with the status of Soviet satellite? This relationship, however, is subdued by India's preparation to shift allegiance to America . India's bid to become world military power even today depends more on Russian technology then on the West. Vajpayee and Koirala both know this very well. So their attempts to make fools of the Nepalese through rhetoric based on  ideology may not work.

Sacred waters

By Himanshu Jaiswal

In Hindu mythology, water has great significance not only because it's the most essential drink but also because of its religious importance. In the olden days, devotees went to the riverside to wash and bathe and offer to Lord Surya a bowl of water. Especially Brahmans, to whom society has given the responsibility of religious deeds, have to purify themselves every day bathing in the river and offering prayers and offerings on behalf of all other communities.

In Hindu myth, there is the following incident. When the world was gong through drought and the residents of this world were dying due to lack of water, Bhagirath, the great devotee of Lord  Shiva, pleased him and the  mother Goddess Ganga brought relief to earth. " This was a great task. People worship the river till now as their mother and Lord Shiva as their protector and well wisher. Hindus worldwide are very religious minded.

  But in modern society, if you study religious affairs deeply, you will find that what our ancestor did in the past is being copied blindly today. Nobody bothers to see its effects. The so called river flowing behind the religious temple Pashupatinath has lost its purity and has turned into a drain. All the waste of the city and particles left after the funeral are thrown into the river. Imagine the Lord who once brought relief to humankind, residing near that stinking, dirty and polluted river. I feel sorry for the Lord.  But the blind devotees bathe in the river and offer the same dirty   filthy water to lord Shiva. May some great saint bring relief to Pashupatinath temple. Nearly all rivers in the country are facing this problem. Save water to save life. A good saying but what's the point when the country's source of water has been polluted by its citizens. All the citizens are responsible for this pollution but most are our great leaders who give long speeches but do little. Actually they have found a substitute for it.

  Today, throughout the country, you will find water being sold. Aqua Mineral Bisleri, Yes etc, water is being imported for the rich but what about the poor. For them there is no choice.

I do not see how serious our great leaders are about pollution. We citizens too should be alert against this monster. If not, then our young generation will not get a healthy atmosphere and they will blame us for not being fair to their life. I request the citizens and our leaders to get into action and prevent this beautiful country from being converted into a filthy place. Every citizen in it should try to keep the river and atmosphere clean.

Why citizenship bill must be opposed

By Ramesh Nath Pandey

For the first time in Nepal's parliamentary history, the two houses of parliament disagreed with one another over the citizenship Bill tabled by the Koirala government for consideration as a "Finance  Bill". To begin with, let me elaborate on the faulty and highly defective procedure being pursued by successive governments that have come to power in the last 10 years which resulted not only in eroding the credibility of the country's parliamentary system but also weakening the chances of healthy, transparent and natural growth of democracy in Nepal. In fact, we may be the only country on earth where the executive presents bills relating to the postal service, the army, the healthy service etc, all in the name of a "Finance Bill". Therefore, the budget is presented in the House as a Finance  Bill and so is the Bill regarding Nepal Scouts, although they may have nothing in common except that the government desires to hurriedly and quietly pass them through without analyzing its effect on democracy and the fate of the Nepalese people at large. The reason behind this obstinacy of the government is that the Upper House in that case will be unable to amend the bill and can only provide suggestions within 15 days, and failure to do so automatically forwards the Bill to the Lower House.

Furthermore, there is absolutely no tradition of taking parliamentarians into confidence while say a bill is being drafted. Ego rules our parliamentary system and not pragmatism, intelligibility and magnanimity. Most of the bills that have been presented exhibit dearth of vision and  lack of know-how of the particular subject, which eventually results in frequent and repeated amendments and revisions. Likewise, quite a number of bills have been designed so as to serve the petty interests of certain NGOs and private organizations, which, of course is not what the nation envisaged from its legislature that is supposed to represent the feelings and aspirations of the people of the country in totality. The reason why the citizenship Bill was vehemently opposed in the Upper House was basically because of two chief reasons. The National Census is being conducted next year after three years of which, we will be holding the general elections for parliament. There is a Constitutional provision of district representation to the House of Representatives being adjusted in consistence with the population of the particular district(s). Hence, more the population of a district, the more the seats of  that district in parliament. Therefore, the parliamentary structure is in danger of being entirely  lopsided and asymmetrical in the coming years for the reason that the Terai population is constantly on the rise.

Secondly, the Bill allows anybody, to apply for citizenship of Nepal even if his/her father is not a Nepali citizen clearing the way for the unemployed and poverty stricken populace to enter Nepal, obtain  citizenship certificate and acquire a job. Or, if he/she is fairly well off with bank accounts, immovable property like house and land can easily be purchased in Nepal with the help of the citizenship paper,. Here, it should be seriously considered that we are a nation that does not even till today possess an effectual birth recording system and are still not aware of the exact number of incoming and the outgoing population. Astonishingly, no other government in the last 30 years deemed it necessary to amend our citizenship Law. But just before the national census and barely a few days prior to the visit of the prime minister to India, the Bill was  hastily voted for. Of course every political party other than the NC opposed the Bill.

But isn't it a paradox that regardless of the intelligentsia and development partners   openly declaring their utmost denunciation of our deliberate failure to curb corruption in the last decade and despite the Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission's request for tough directives to back its efforts in order to curb corruption, the government has never been in a hurry to amend the existing Law. Dozens of other important bills focusing on other outstanding issues too have  piled up from a long time. Instead, the government's endeavour has been to go ahead with a bill having direct repercussions on our future generations in a hurry without properly enlightening the people of the  rationale behind it.

Why was the ruling NC party in a rush to ratify this Bill? The question remains unanswered but the Nepalese, as a consequence of this provision , are not only faced with a threat of falling into minority populace in their own rightful land but additionally, India and China too will have to seriously contemplate their already heightened security related sensitivities from Nepalese territory as an outcome of this misadventure. Kashmiri militants, Afghan mercenaries, ULFA and Tamil separatists and activists of the Free Tibet Movement can now get hold of Nepalese citizenship and Nepal's passport without much difficulty. Bhutanese and Tibetan refugees can also apply and acquire Nepal's citizenship. What's more? The petitioner can even file a lawsuit against the CDO if denied citizenship paving the way for unrestricted  inflow of outsiders to Nepal.

After the Upper House rejected the Bill, instead for engaging in a rethinking exercise, the ruling party issued a whip to all its Lower House lawmakers to vote in favour of the bill. The NC took it as a prestige issue.  Some ruling party MPS themselves told me informally that they too did not figure out the raison d'etre of the Bill.

After the Bill got through the House, a number of constitutional experts have stated that some of the features of the new Bill are unconstitutional after all. One is tempted to argue that if the government of the country itself stoops down to unconstitutional measures to secure its unexplained intentions why then are we blaming the Maoists for going against the Constitution? Interestingly, a senior minister of the Koirala cabinet says that the real purpose to bring this bill was to make the citizenship paper available to nearly 4 million bona fide Nepalese.  After 5 years from now however, there is a real danger of more than 40 million acquiring the citizenship.

According to the Kanitpur Mercantile weekly poll more than 72 percent of the people regard this Bill as "Not good for the country". Obviously the whole country has to rise against the ill provisions of the Citizenship Bill that was passed with the bullying and   stubbornness of one political party.