Protect heritage sites

The alarming negligence of world heritage sites resulting from gross mismanagement and lack of effective measures to protect them have really endangered these sites in Kathmandu Valley. It is therefore not at all surprising that these sites run the risk of being delisted from the World Heritage sites list. Neither the government nor local people living in the vicinity of these sites seem to be aware of the fact that UNESCO is very serious about preserving these heritage sites with the same high standard of management as elsewhere in the world. The media has time and again emphasized the need to preserve these sites by drawing the government’s attention towards the undesirable mushrooming concrete structures that have not only swamped these sites but also destroyed their beauty. Unfortunately, despite all efforts to goad the government to do something about the situation, UNESCO still has to be convinced about the government’s seriousness of purpose. It is the truth that nothing has really been done to save these sites. If this uncaring attitude is to continue, the day when these sites will get delisted will not be far off.

Last year, UNESCO threatened to delist seven sites in Nepal from the world heritage list since they were badly mismanaged. Things certainly would not have deteriorated to this extent had the government maintained a proper standard of management. It appears that the government is not really concerned about UNESCO’s threat. If it was, why should it not even object to the construction of high-rise buildings in and around the valley’s monumental zone, particularly in the vicinities of Pashupatinath temple and Boudhanath stupa. What is so sad in this regard is that the government has failed to even classify these sites of historical and cultural significance. Instead, it has allowed the distortion of heritage sites by indiscriminately allowing illegal construction.

Although world heritage sites do not directly yield money, they are no doubt attractions for tourists and more, they are a testimony of our glorious past and culture. It will therefore be unpardonable if the government does not introduce effective measures to protect them from ruin. Now, more than ever, do we feel the need to uphold our identity and strengthen these monuments which has been there for centuries. In fact, they are our pride and reflect a rich tradition of fine arts and diverse cultures. Hence, even a slight distortion of the pavement can affect the heritage site. But what we have here is unrestricted encroachment that must be stopped at all costs.

The government, therefore, cannot allow buildings to come up in these areas. In this backdrop, the statement of the minister of Sports and Culture that the guidelines for protection of heritage sites will be reviewed sounds absurd, especially since the government has hardly done anything to manage these sites properly. What is called for are stringent measures that must be implemented effectively. The idea of reviewing the guidelines not only shows disregard for our heritage sites but also gives a very negative impression about how much we care for our culture.

Pigmy moralists cannot tame monsters

By Madhab P Khanal

After having been relentlessly barraged with accusations of corruption and inefficiency, the Nepali Congress government under enfeebled Bhattarai has ventured to demonstrate a few political stunts to prove that it is committed to providing a good governance with a clean administration. In fact, nobody has any doubt about the personal integrity and dedication of Prime Minister Bhattarai. But due to his heavy dependence on a bunch of disingenuous henchmen his efforts to project himself as a successful statesman of the country appears quite belated. Formation of an anti-graft committee some time back may be taken as one such crafty move.

Formation of a committee to suggest measures to prevent the outrageously growing corruption among ministers, bureaucrats, police and army officials, and people belonging to other sectors whose mention is still considered a taboo, is, undoubtedly, a welcome move. But the past records of such committees and commissions and their emasculate recommendations do not prognosticate that the said committee will contribute anything remarkable to its credit.

To what extent the committee has been empowered to delve into the atrocities of the monsters of corruption ranging from administrative vampires to political desperados is yet to trickle down to the public notice. Can the committee make a study of the unaccounted wealth amassed by politicians, civil servants, judges, generals and police officials? Does the committee have any authority to suggest amendments in existing laws and regulations so as to take stern actions against the defaulters? If the committee displays its honesty in suggesting stringent actions against all those involved in malpractice, has the government garnered enough courage and support to implement them with all its sincerity?

Given the lustreless performance of the government during the last nine months and the glaring contradictions between its promises and practice, possibilities of having a corruption free governance remain as distant as ever. Enjoying power without responsibility and hoarding wealth without accountability has been the detestable habit of our national leaders. When important public figures are implicated in scandals it is arrogantly connived at. But when the issue of eradicating corruption comes up bureaucracy becomes the target of attack by all politicians as if they were the only messengers of integrity.

In less than 100 days of its so called ‘honey moon’ period the Bhattarai government began coming under strictures from its own party bosses for its failure to generate public confidence in the majority government in the Nepali Congress. Things would not have been better even if the government was led by Mr Koirala or Mr Deuba for they too have had their despicable performance during their innings as chief executive of the country. It is quite intriguing to note that our national leaders have never mulled over causes of the total collapse of political integrity among politicians precipitating thereby the current mockery of democratic governance.

Instead of providing a minimum respite to the people as promised in their laboriously wrought manifesto, the NC government betrayed the people by raising the tariffs of basic utilities and services resulting in similar hikes in the prices of other essential commodities crossing the affordable limits of the people living under the poverty line. Under these straightened circumstances the lowly paid members of various services have no other choice than to resort to immoral practices to sustain their livelihood. Furthermore, demonstration effects of the enormous corruption on the part of senior members of bureaucracy as well as ministers have added further fuel to the fire.

The prevalent range of corruption in Nepal is multidimensional. It is not limited to the practice of accepting bribes at the lower administrative level ie customs offices, police check points, land management offices or the kickbacks that go to the decision makers. Highly sophisticated forms of corruption have emerged in the last ten years or so. Even donor agencies have been dragged into controversies for the survival of a few political worthies. It is an example of corruption crossing beyond the national frontiers.

Several high ranking officials as well as public figures holding sensitive responsibilities have been clandestinely associated with various NGOs for covert income. Most of these organisations are operating in the garb of social, cultural or humanitarian institutions having foreign donor agencies as their financial conduits. Legally it may not be a crime to be associated with such institutions. But morally speaking it surely falls under administrative corruption because extensive data, government’s priority programmes, and even classified information are made accessible to such organisations. Besides, the sumptuous income from these underhand activities are unaccounted for because these organisations are normally registered in the name of spouses, sons, or other relatives of these bigwigs.

Similarly, owing to blatant politicization of administration many industrial and business enterprises operating with HMG’s heavy franchise have been incurring tremendous losses. Mismanagement is their hallmark. Mediocre executives hand-picked by the concerned ministers have been performing bizarre administrative acrobatics. In sectors like industry, hydro power, banking, agriculture, etc people worked under an atmosphere of uncertainty. Instead of promoting working zeal, managements in these institutions are generating inertia among their staff members. The administrative vandalism carried out by the NEA’s management recently by retrenching about a dozen highly skilled hydro power technicians is one such glaring example of administrative corruption. If the loss of efficiency is calculated in monetary terms it may go to an outrageous scale. Who is to be held responsible for such an action primarily motivated by personal idiosyncrasy-- the minister or the management?

Exploitation of national resources for political as well as individual purposes is another corruption which the ministers of successive governments have been indulging in for several years. Dozens of medical research centres with high-tech gadgets and well trained practitioners are scattered all over the capital. But our politicians and high placed officials have no confidence in them. By making dent in the state coffer they rush to foreign countries for medical check up. Whereas people in several districts of the country die prematurely for the lack of a few inexpensive tablets. When people express their displeasure at such discriminations they are dubbed by various political epithets.

The ineptitude and helplessness displayed by the CIAA on various issues involving public figures have forced people to ponder whether the high sounding constitutional body is relevant at all. Without being supplemented by statutory power to enforce its findings, the constitutional status of CIAA becomes redundant no matter whether it is going to be headed by an army general, police official or a ‘clean’ administrator. It simply becomes a handy slot to dump a political worthy in.

Therefore, the common platitude of ‘corruption’ needs to be redefined so as to encompass all such activities that negatively affect the healthy growth of a ‘democratic society’, in the true sense of the term. Any anti-corruption body, if it is not properly empowered even to withdraw immunity of all public figures and its jurisdiction extended to all sectors of national life, prevention of corruption remains a day dream. No committee or commission can prescribe any panacea for corruption as long as the nation’s politics is tampered by intellectual prostitutes.

Our endangered identity

By Sameer Khatiwada

Everyone of us possesses conscience, but it is not necessary we always keep it. Malefactors obviously do not possess it at all. But we all know, sometimes, unknowingly we do wrong things and later our conscience starts troubling us. Above all, conscience is what human minds are made up of. Things we do, words we say, feelings we express, gestures we exhibit -- all of these and much more are guided by our conscience. We cannot do wrong things because our conscience stops us. We can differentiate right from wrong because of conscience. We are ‘human’ beings only because we can think properly.

Sometimes, I feel that we Nepalese do not possess conscience at all, because how can this huge mass connive at the decay of democracy. We all are not speechless but quiet, because we are the same ones who brought democracy a decade ago. We have ceased to protest and learned to succumb. We have become deaf, our eyes can see wrong things but our minds cannot think because we have left our ideals long ago.

I know I am a Nepali, but I doubt I am living in Nepal. I no longer see those dauntless and courageous Nepalese. Instead, I am living in the world of cowards who fear to protest against a bunch of people. A group of so called ‘lawmakers’ are ruining our country’s pristine image but people around me are apathetic. I guess, they used to be Nepalese, but no longer now. I see only statues around me, statues that can walk, see and talk but cannot feel, think and decide. I am lost in a crowd, where to protest is an anti-social activity. I am forced to take it, as it is because I cannot pluck up courage to speak. We are living in that part of the world where people do not posses conscience, instead they possess a mind which takes things as they come, and, never utter a word of protest and dissatisfaction.

In our childhood we learn discipline and moral values. Do good, think good, see good, talk good, our parents and grandparents recite these phrases time and again. These phrases might sound like cliches, but these are the words which turn a human being to a person. The way we behave and act are the results of the social values we learn in our early days. At present it seems that these social values are lost in oblivion. It is obvious, bigwigs and politicians of our country do not possess conscience and morality, but why are we, the innocent citizens, being tight-lipped? We must not pretend to be indifferent because the day is not far off when the land beneath us will belong to an outsider.

Our identity is up for auction and our nationality endangered. Let us protest and save our beloved mother nation.

The ministers, the bureaucrats, and the prime minister have already marred the respect of people towards democracy. It is obvious, these people do not know what conscience is and what morality refers to. One had never imagined that a man could fall to such an extent where he could become a misanthrope. But, we must not endure, the indifference of these ne’er-do-well ‘lawbreakers’, instead, we must unmask them and show the entire nation who are our biggest enemies.

Our species (Nepalese) is in serious trouble, let us try to wipe out the stigma from around us. We have remained dumb for a whole decade but let us not remain so any more. It is time to go for a drastic change. Hey! Nepalese brothers and sisters, let us rescue our beloved nation. We must speak against the things that are going around us, or, later, our own children might become ‘foreigners’ in their own country.

Musharraf’s hostility to India

By Kuldip Nayar

General Pervez Musharraf, the Chief Executive of Pakistan, has made it amply clear that he is not interested in relations with India for the sake of relations. He wants the Kashmir problem to be settled first. Only then will he ‘see’ any improvement in the climate. He does not stop at that. His statements are threatening in tone. In any case, they do not make happy reading. If at all they convey any message, it is that of opposition and confrontation.

This brings to an end even the isolated examples of trade between the two countries. New Delhi imported sugar from Pakistan recently and, earlier, Islamabad imported cement from India. Both gained. With Musharraf at the helm of affairs, there is not even a remote possibility of any other deal. There will be no sale of 35,000 KW of power by Pakistan to India. Former Prime Minister Inder Gujral and the deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had initiated the proposal.

It does not, however, mean that the unofficial trade between the two countries, estimated to be worth $ 5 billion, will come to a stop. If anything, it will increase. Pakistan’s economic condition is so bad that it cannot afford to import goods from hard currency countries. India comes in handy because transactions are in rupees. The armed junta at Islamabad is bound to turn a blind eye to such trade. It has no alternative. The enmity will not be carried to a point where Pakistan is hurt.

There is already a regular open exchange of currency. For reasons best known to the government of India, it allows places in big cities to exchange the Indian currency into the Pakistani currency and vice versa. Some shops are right in Connaught Circus, New Delhi, with regular signboards. No questions are asked here. Nor are the passports demanded. However heavy the sheaf of currency notes, they are exchanged in the Indian or the Pakistani currency on demand. These outlets are other than the ones which operate in Dubai, Singapore, Nepal and other nearby countries.

It is a pity that the two countries never had any meaningful trade after partition. Both would have benefitted from it. Were it to happen by a miracle, the trade, according to one estimate, would generate at least Rs 8,000 crore a year. The common market would open up still more possibilities. But Islamabad is against it.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto told me once, "We will have to see whether we can mutually benefit but in principle I think as far as a common market is concerned, we are not ready for such an arrangement. Europe also was not ready for it. It took time for Europe as a whole to get the advantage of a common market. Today, we are basically producers of primary commodities and your industrial progress has been better than ours. We have also had some industrial progress but we have not reached that standard of industrial development where there can be a grand collaboration in industry because these things are very difficult to arrange and even Europe is finding it difficult regarding agricultural commodities."

The point to ponder over at present is not so much trade or the common market as Musharraf’s hostility to India. He will be more and more intractable as days go by. His policy seems to externalise the problems which bedevil him internally. He has not done anything tangible after the take-over. How many times can he denounce Sharif or expose his ‘corruption’? Musharraf has to perform. Some disillusionment is already visible among the people. This cannot be countered with the use of only harsh words against India.

He may go beyond words and indulge in some limited adventures. After all, he was the architect of the intrusion in Kargil. He is the one who has tried to cover up the army’s failure and channelised the Pakistanis’ anger towards Sharif on the plea that the army was ordered to withdraw. People in Pakistan do not know the truth. They still believe that the Pakistan army was winning till Sharif listened to American advice and ordered its withdrawal. The Pakistanis simply do not think that the Indian troops had started pushing back the invaders after overcoming the initial surprise attack.

Musharraf has denounced the Lahore Declaration because it was the extension of the Shimla agreement, which said that all disputes, including Kashmir, would be sorted out bilaterally and peacefully. He may be tempted to take such steps as will focus attention on Kashmir once again. But it is essentially the anti-India feeling which he will stoke. This may also help him stall inter state feuds within Pakistan.

For example, Punjab in Pakistan is determined to have the Kalabag dam built because the state, dependent on agriculture, is short of irrigation water. Both Sind and the North West Frontier Province are against the dam on the ground that their lands will be submerged. Baluchistan is fighting for more rights for the state. The MQM, a body of the mujahideen, the migrants from India, is wanting recognition for a separate identity. There is a pause in the movements following the military coup, but only a pause. This may not last long. Hence the anti-India tirade.

Musharraf knows from the experience of past regimes that the various elements in Pakistan get united only on anti-India rhetoric. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once said that Kashmir was a symptom, not a disease; the disease was Pakistan’s anti-India policy. Even if Kashmir was presented to Pakistan on a platter, it would think of some other issues to keep its hatred alive. For that is its ethos.