Businessman kidnapped, killed for ransom

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BIRGUNJ, Dec 30 - An owner of gold shop, Santosh Swornakar, has been killed by the kidnappers after their demand for ransom was not fulfilled. The wife and five children of Santosh have been helpless after his murder in India.

Santosh Swornakar, 30, who has a shop at Birgunj- 8, was kidnapped about 15 days ago by some unidentfied people in India. They had demanded a ransom of three million rupees to release him.

His father, Gopal Swornakar, had immediately reported the matter to the police and requested them orally for his rescue. Since police did not take notice of the oral complaint, he eventually filed his complaint in writing only 4 days ago.

He had hoped that his son would be rescued after the report was registered with the police, but nothing happened until he and his family received the sad news of the urder of his son on Friday, he said.

"I could not meet the demand of the criminals. Hence they killed my son," Gopal Swornakar told The Kathmandu Post crying. "They had murdered my son and threw his body at a place where jackals were roaming. All this has happened due to the weakness of the police. It is due to weakness of police that they are kidnapping someone almost every week in Birgunj," he added.

According to Gopal Swornakar, two people from India came to his son Santosh 15 days ago and told him that they would make available cotton at a cheap rate. Since Santosh also owned a cotton industry he went to Betiya in India along with them. He did not inform his family members about his return. Suddenly, the family members received a threatening call from the kidnappers after four days that they had kidnapped Santosh and that they should come to them with a ransom of three million rupees for his release or else they would kill him.

Father of the victim, Gopal Swornakar, said he told them by telephone that his economic condition was not good and he would not be able to pay such a huge amount of money. He had told them that he was ready to pay if they fixed the ransom amount after investigating about his financial position but they did not ring after that.

Then Gopal himself went to Betiya and met lawyers who specialised in crime. Before he return home he came to know about the sad news. His legal advisor Bijay Upadhyaya has said police in Betiya have confirmed the murder of Santosh Swornakar.

After the kidnapping of Santosh, a 20-year-old grand-son of Kisan Kadmiya of Adarshanagar has also been kidnapped.

With the help of some local people, Indian criminals have turned kidnapping into their profession. They have hired one person in every ward to learn the financial status and other information about the local people and receive information before kidnapping them.

SAARC Diploma engineers meet begins

KATHMANDU, Dec 30 (RSS)- The Second Convention of SAARC Diploma Engineers’ Forum (SDEF) commenced here today.

Altogether 300 Diploma engineers from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh are taking part in the two-day convention organised with the objective of promoting brotherhood in the SAARC region and exchanging knowledge on the emerging engineering technologies for the progress of the region.

Inaugurating the convention organised by the Diploma Engineers’ Association, Nepal (DEAN), Minister for Health Dr Ram Baran Yadav dwelt on the obstacles caused in the development due to the lack of skilled technical manpower in a developing country like Nepal and pointed out the need to move ahead in a planned way for the development and enhancement of professional capabilities of such technical manpower.

‘The age-old contacts between the nation states of the SAARC nurtured by shared culture, history and geography is the basis for the traditional relationship existing between our countries’, Dr. Yadav said, adding that poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and unbridled population growth were the main obstacles for the development of the region.

"All our efforts should be focused to face such challenges and to resolve common problems", he stressed.

Deputy Speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav said human values and conscience have a pivotal role to play in the development of the SAARC region and since the Diploma engineers were the back bone of national development, everybody should think seriously for their professional development.

"Statistics, information, knowledge and freedom are the essential ingredients for the development of a country", Deputy Speaker Yadav said and expressed the belief that the constructive suggestions and the conclusions drawn from the seminar would help the government in formulating appropriate policies in this regard.

From the chair, president of SAARC Diploma Engineers’ Forum Akhlaq Ahmed said that the Diploma Engineers have an important role to play in the economic, industrial and technological advancement of the country and requested His Majesty’s Government to transform the post of overseer into junior engineer in Nepal too.

On the occasion, secretary-general of the SAARC Diploma Engineers’ Forum (SDEF), A.K.M.A. Hamid disclosed that there are 1.2 million Diploma engineers working in the SAARC region and said that the country should give priority to the development and progress of the technical manpower working in the country if it is to give a concrete shape to its concept of development.

At the programme, co-chairman of SDEF and chairman of All India Federation of Diploma Engineers Ram Niranjan Singh, co-chairman of SDEF and president of Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, co-chairman of SDEF and president of Diploma Engineers’ Association, Nepal Khadga KC, co-chairman of SDEF and president of the Institute of Incorporated Engineers, Sri Lanka D.S. Senarath, Sayeed Mallik of the Pakistan Diploma Engineers’ Federation, general secretary of the Diploma Engineers’ Association, Nepal (Dean) Laxman Rayamajhi and Min Prasad Bhandari shed light on various aspects of Diploma engineering.

Kids remember Guernica in 2000

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU - Before the new year of the new millennium ends, thousands of innocent children from different countries come up with the universal message of peace to the people of the global community in the 21st century. Their message was inspired by the world famous war painting of Guernica by Pablo Picasso. Thus the present exhibition was named Kid’s Gurenica - 2000.

The little hands of the children may not be as expressive as that of world famous painter Pablo Picasso, but, their expression in the 53 huge paintings were not less significant, so far as the message is concerned.

Little artists from 19 countries have done their best to convey the message of peace from their own points of view. While transmitting the idea into canvases, the children were very much influenced by the culture, tradition, myths as well as the contemporary art trends of their individual countries. The children consciously or unconsciously have left some characteristics of their national identity in their works. For a Korean artist, for example, what else could be more symbolic to represent peace than their flag, which symbolises earth, water, sky and air?

Similarly, the whole mass of 53 huge paintings representing various parts of the world that covered the large space of Tundikhel, can be broadly categorised in several groups. The paintings from North America, Latin Ameirca, Africa, Europe and Aisa bear some fundamental differences. Though most of them have some imprints of myths and local folklore, Asian paintings are more traditional - thematically as well as technically. In this connection, Indian, Taiwanese, Cambodian, Korean and Japanese paintings yield a sort of commonality which might be the result of cultural semblance. And among them, Nepali paintings also stand not very far away.

Among all, one painting named 10,000 Series was the focus of the whole exhibition. It was a masterpiece done by 10,000 children around the world. This painting bears the tiny fingerprints of those children who, in symbolic way, have shown their commitment to fight for world peace in the years to come.

No matter what the techniques and styles the artists have used, the message is one — World Peace and only World Peace. This is the string which ties all the five continents into one and a harmonious collection is thus produced. This is the message of Guernica too.

Without being as ghastly as Picasso’s original, the children have put all they know about war and tragedy which often follows after it. The children’s Guernicas are, nevertheless, more colourful, lively and picturesque. Perhaps, that is because the young artists have not yet experienced something like the horrible bombarding in Guernica in 1937.

Kid’s Guernica, as a worldwide programme, was initiated by a group of Japanese, associated with Art Japan Network in 1995 through Internet. The network first invited children of every country to express their message of peace on huge canvases, 3.5 m to 7.8 m, as big the original Guernica. In the past five years’ period, this campaign has resulted in 53 such paintings from 19 countries by December 2000. The exhibition that took place in Tundikhel of Kathmandu was the grand finale of this five year-long project.

The Kid’s Guernica workshops have been carried out in many countries before finally coming to this Himalayan Kingdom. Japan, USA, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, France, Kuwait, Nepal, India, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Italy, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Chile and Germany were the countries where it took place.

In Nepal, in the months of November and December, seven paintings were made, each was done by 625 children. Out of them, three were painted during art workshops in different schools in the Kathmandu Valley. And other three were made in open workshops held in the historic Darwar Squares of Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu on 21, 22 and 23 December respectively.

To make this grand international ceremony a success, a huge national organising committee was formed with over 250 members.

Before leaving Kathmandu, Yasuda Tadashi, the representative from Art Japan Network said, "I’m much more than happy to have it organised in Nepal. First, Their Majesties’ presence and secondly the mass of children artists’ participation made my dream come true."

Public navigation starts in Narayani

By Krishna Bhandari

CHITWAN, Dec 30 - Public navigation service has started for the first time in Nepal along the stretches of the country’s second-largest snow-fed Narayani river, beginning Tuesday, according to Nepal River Transport (NRT), a private rafting company.

After several years of feasibility studies along the river, NRT officially launched the navigation service for public from Kurintar in Dhadhing to the Nepal-India border town of Tribeni on the down stream.

Experienced over 25 years in river rafting, NRT will begin its public navigation service along the 90-km of the river with two US-manufactured Jet Boats.

The Jet Boats were initially brought in Nepal by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1987 with a view to conducting feasibility studies of river navigation in the Nepalese rivers.

The Ministry of Works and Transport handed over the 15-year old Jet Boats to the Bharatpur Municipality as per the cabinet decision on June 27 as requested by the municipality. The boats are being repaired by US Boatman Charles Gardner who sailed the boats on the river for trail about 15 years ago.

Shaym Piya, NRT’s Director, said that the municipality leased the boats to his company for Rs 5.8 million as a revenue for the coming 25 years.

Targeted basically for the Indian tourists, locals from Nawalparasi, Chitwan, Tanahu and Gorakha districts will also benefit from the navigation, says Piya.

Mayor of the municipality said that NRT had been given a navigation licence even to the Narayani tributaries.

Piya says, "My dream of river navigation on the Nepalese rivers has become a reality after I visited the USA about 25 years ago".

Likewise, boatman Gardner has no bound of happiness to restart the same Jet Boats which he had to leave for the USA without accomplishing the glorious mission of river navigation.

Piya said that over 10,000 people surfed on the boats along the six-km stretch of the river from Narayani bridge to religious site of Devghat, beginning Tuesday to Friday.

"We are now trying to win the public confidence that river navigation can be an alternative means of transport," Director Piya said. He also claimed that the Jet Boat had a rare chance of accident and added that, in case of any accident, passengers would not drown into water as each of the passengers would be provided with a life-jacket.

Asked about the possible negative impact on the aquatic life of the river, especially along the Chitwan Park area, Piya claimed that the company was cautious and honest about the protection of aquatic life. The specially designed boats stores diesel emission on their separate chamber and water would not get polluted due to their operation.

Deputy-Mayor of the municipality and member of the Chitwan Tourism Board, Devi Prasad Gyawali, hoped that the river navigation would add a new dimension in tourism sector of the district.

Up to 40 people can travel by a Jet Boat at a time with an optimum speed of 90-km per hour.

Indian tourists cancel new year festivities in Nepal

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BIRGUNJ, Dec 30 - A resident of Raxaul in India, Arjun Bharati, who had been celebrating his New Year in Nepal continuously for the last five years, has decided to celebrate the coming new year in a city in India.

There are thousands of other people like him who used to visit Nepal on this occasion, but are staying away from Nepal this year as a result of Hrithik case.

"Wherever we would visit in Nepal, we would be fully satisfied.I used to take pride in being able to celebrate the New Year festivities in Nepal which is rich in natural beauty. However, I could not get this opportunity this year for security reasons," Bharati told The Kathmandu Post.

"The Hrithik case proved to be a great misfortune for us. Whoever has spread this rumour should be dealt with seriously and the friendly relations between Nepal and India should be restored," he added.

Thousands of Indian nationals used to visit Nepal via Birgunj every year on the occasion of the New Year to enjoy the beautiful landscape as well as to observe the New Year. Half of them used to visit Nepal in their own vehicles. Some others would travel by local buses while others would hire local cars and jeeps to go to different places like Sauraha in Chitwan, Pokhara, Kathmandu and Daman in Hetauda.

A large number of Indian tourists would visit the kingdom on this occasion, especially from Bihar, where the terrain is flat on all sides. Travelling about 100 to 200 kilometres, they could easily visit scenic places in Nepal and enjoy their holiday in the midst of green mountains, clean watersheds, boating in Fewa Lake, and Safari amidst wildlife in Chitwan, Mohan Pradhan, member of Regional Hotel Association said.

As thousands of Indian visitors have cancelled their booking due to Hrithik case it has caused irreparable loss to the tourism sector in Nepal, Pradhan added.

The decline in the number of Indian tourists can be easily assessed from the fact that only three Indian cars and jeeps entered Nepal from early morning to noon on Saturday, according to traffic police at Pathlaiya.