Three people severely beaten up by Maoists

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NUWAKOT, April 4 - Workers of the underground CPN (Maoist) assaulted three people including the chairman of Haldekalika VDC and wounded them on Tuesday night as part of their campaign against ‘corrupt’ people.

About 10 to 12 Maoist insurgents came to the house of VDC Chairman Hamsa Raj Giri at about 10 p.m. and asked him to open the door. When he opened the door, he was blindfolded along with his nephew Yuva Raj Giri and his son Dipendra Giri and all three were taken to a nearby forest where they were beaten by the Maoist workers.

The Maoist workers broke the left knee of Chairman Giri with a hammer while Yuva Raj Giri and Dipendra Giri have sustained minor injuries. The VDC chairman has been taken to the capital for treatment on Wednesday.

The Maoist workers had beaten the VDC chairman alleging that he had committed financial irregularities in the VDC office.

Around 50 hectares of forest land gutted

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NUWAKOT, April 4 - About 50 hectares of forest was destroyed in Nuwakot district near the district headquarters on Tuesday night.

The fire gutted the forest of Mandredhunga Pakho in Charghare VDC-2, adjacent to Bidur. The fire started on Tuesday evening and continued throughout the night.

Although the forest was being used by the local residents of ward Nos. 2, 3 and 9 of the same VDC, it was not registered as community forest because of the controversy raised by the people of Bholatar, Munthala and Mandredhunga, according to District Forest Office.

Local people complain that the forest office, army personnel and other agencies did not make any effort to extinguish the fire. They say that many people were seen walking everywhere in the forest holding light in their hands at night and that it was not clear whether they were trying to put out or start the fire.

There was controversy among people of three VDCs and consequently it was not possible to register it as community forest in the District Forest Office. Employees of the forest office suspect that the incident of fire could therefore be the result of this misunderstanding among the people of different VDCs. There was a terrible fire in the same forest even last year.

Although no exact amount of loss has been assessed yet, a local resident Padam Rai told The Kathmandu Post that the fire has damaged forest products worth hundreds of millions of rupees.

Nepal-Greece ties highlighted

KATHMANDU, April 4 (PR)- The Nepal- Greece Friendship and Cultural Association held an executive workshop amidst a function on Tuesday.This was stated in the Association’s press release issued here today.

Speaking at the workshop, Minister for Population and Environment Siddha Raj Ojha, who was also the chief guest said,"The friendship between the two countries will help to promote the educational, economic and cultural ties of the two nations."

On the same occasion, vice chairman of the Association shed light on the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Dr Tika Pokhrel, member secretary of the Social Welfare Council said,"These kinds of executive seminars help to upgrade the bilateral relationships between the two countries," the release states.

Rana Tharus slam historians

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DHANGADI, April 4- The Rana Tharu community has accused historians and writers of distorting their history and said that research works must be carried out on scripts and the facts of the community for authenticity.

This came to light at the First Regional Meeting organised by the Nepal Maharana Tharu Development Council. The participants were dominantly from the Kailali and Kanchanpur districts.

The participants of the conference refused to accept the fact forwarded by the historians which says that Rana women entered Nepal from India after being chased by the Mughal emperor Allah-Udin Khilji.

They claim that the women then killed themselves for their dignity rather than being raped.

However, historians assert that Rana queens entered into Nepal along with the helpers after being chased by the Moghul emperor. This was followed by the marriage between the Rana queens and the helpers.

One of the speakers present at the meet, Sarala Rana slammed the historians for saying that their wives insult Rana men. "This statement is absolutely false. The truth is that Rana women respect their husbands," said Rana.

The meet has stressed the need of better education to the Tharu community. Even though the Tharu community is economically prosperous, the community has very low literacy rate. The participants demanded better education to the community.

Parents anxiously await return of abducted sons

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CHAUTARA, April 4 - Narayan Bharati, 60, from Kunchowk Village Development Committee is anxious to obtain information about his son’s whereabout. He is knocking the doors of local administration and police with a bleak hope of his son’s safety.

Narayan’s son Tika Bharati was one of the 23 policemen abducted by Maoist rebels from Rukumkot police striking force post on Sunday night when the insurgents waged a bloodiest battle in six years old insurgency.

A total of 30 police personnel were massacred and a similar number of others were severely injured in the Maoist barbaric attack at the post on mid-night of April 1.

"Had I got enough property at my disposal, I would not have encouraged my son to join the police force," Narayan laments the aftermath of the Rukumkot incident.

His son was sent again to Rukum, one of the Maoist hot bed districts, even though he had earlier served another insurgency-hit district in Rolpa for 10 months during his three years tenure in the force.

He had received a letter from his son about two weeks ago.

In his letter, Tika had assured his parents and wife not to worry about his safety as he had already been transferred to Maoist-free district Rasuwa district and had mentioned that he would be back home for some days.

"His mother and wife have stopped taking the meal and have been weeping shortly after receiving information about his abduction," said aged Bharati.

Bharati, however, is hopeful of the rebels that they would not kill his son and others once they capture them as hostages.

Like his son, Kul Bahadur Khatri from Pipaldanda and Raj Kumar Thapa from Kunchowk were also hijacked by the insurgents during that horrifying night. All three had joined the Nepal Police as constables three years ago on the same day.

Constable Thapa’s father Keshav Bahadur also arrived here to know about the real position of his abducted son but to no avail.

"I am depending on the radio but it gives me no good news about my son," said disappointed father, "How can I console my daughter-in-law? She is sobbing all the time with her one-and- a-half-year-old daughter on her arms for the last three days."

Kul Bahadur is also desperately looking for his son’s whereabout. He said he came to know about his son’s abduction only after a policeman from the district headquarters informed him about the incident over the telephone.

Meanwhile, the body of constable Purna Bahadur Tamang, who was initially suspected to have been abducted by the rebels, has been brought to his home village in Melamchi for the last rites. His body was recovered next day a little away from the clash site.

Maoists loot arms from police

SINDHULIMADI, April 4 (PR)- The Maoist insurgents who looted a police post at Paurahi VDC-3 in Rautahat last Friday have joined Maoist groups in Sindhuli district, a Maoist source here said.

The insurgents had looted two 303 rifles and 100 rounds of cartridges by killing a policeman at the post located nearby the busy East-West Highway in broad daylight. The rebels shot dead constable Brij Raj Yadav while seizing the arms and ammunition.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post on Monday in a Maoist held mass gathering at Kapilakot VDC-3, Janak who was involved in the raid said that their team did not have any intention to kill the sentry. "But he died an untimely death," he said.

He said that the rebels told the policemen to give up but constable Yadav aimed at them. "We had to open fire on him for self-defence," another Maoist cadre added.

The rebels claimed that they had to take action against the policemen because the police would extort regularly from the people who came to sell their goods on weekly markets.

Maoist cadre Janak said there were 14 rebels while raiding the post and they had been watching their movement carefully for a couple of days.

Talk programme on police training

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KATHMANDU, April 4 - Strong disciplinary procedures and legislation should be included to detect the non-compliance of international humanitarian laws by police officials while countering insurgents, said a high ranking British police official involved in training policemen in developing countries.

Speaking at a talk programme on "Training the Police in Developing Countries" held today. Stephen Crossley, also said that the same procedures should be included in case of addressing women’s issues. "It took us 15 years to truly address women’s issues in Britain...Training will not help much on such things (non-compliance of human rights and gender issues)...even very very well trained police officers are corrupt," he said.

"Human rights violations are made up of various activities...We need to look at such main activities and then put in place procedural rules and legislative," Crossley, who has trained policemen in various developing countries including Nigeria and Afghanistan, added.

Crossley also stressed that the police should be more focussed on "responsibility and accountability" in a democratic practice. He also urged public consultations.

"My view is for donors to continue to work with the police...But one should think small and for long term," he said. He further said that there was a lot to learn for countries like Nepal from Pakistan "how not to do things."

Boy escapes from Maoists

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JAJARKOT, April 4 - One of the two teenagers who were working as Maoist workers and had surrendered before the police about a month ago has escaped from the district headquarters.

Two 14-year-old boys, Bal Bahadur Pariyar and Lal Bahadur Thapa, who were studying in a class of Nirmal Jyoti primary school in Dadagaon VDC-4 had surrendered before the police.

Bal Bahadur Pariyar who had expressed his desire to go to India along with his parents fearing that they would be harassed by the Maoist workers if they stayed in their village had escaped from a hotel of his relative near the police office where he was employed after his surrender.

Maoists injure NC activist

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SYANGJA, April 4 - Suspected underground Maoists broke on Tuesday night both the hands and limbs of a Nepali Congress worker near his home at Chinnebas village, located about 30 km south of the district headquarters, Syangja, police here said.

A group of suspected Maoists bludgeoned Dewan Singh Rana and broke his hands and limbs under their political vendetta.

Police Inspector at Waling area police post, Shankar KC, said a helicopter was demanded to rescue the victim for his treatment in Kathmandu. Locals said that the rebels must have taken this sort of action as a part of their campaign of eradicating their "class enemy."

‘Bio-energy helps to alleviate poverty’

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KATHMANDU, April 4 - A four-day training programme on Wood Energy is being conducted at the Institute of Engineering (IOE), Pulchowk, states a press release, issued here today.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prof. Jagan Nath Shrestra, Director of Centre for Energy Studies (CES) welcomed and urged the participants to acquire knowledge in conducting bio-energy courses in Renewable Energy Engineering.

He also mentioned that almost 90 percent of our energy is based in bio-mass and almost 90 percent of the energy produced in Nepal is consumed in the domestic sector.

Special guest W.Rudder, FAO representative in Nepal emphasised that the proper utilization of bio-mass/wood energy can play a significant role for poverty alleviation.

Secretary of MOPE, Dr Govind Raj Bhatt remarked that due to rapid deforestation the land covered by forests have been reduced by about 40 percent within 50 years period.

Further he conceded that alternative energy sources could contribute to save huge amount of firewood which in turn prevents the rapid rate of deforestation and thus reduce the problems of global warming. The training course was jointly organised by CES and IOE and was sponsored by Regional Wood Energy Development Programme (RWEDP/FAO).

Vandalism in court premises condemned

CHITWAN, April 4 (PR)- The Human Rights and Peace Nepal, Chitwan has, in a press statement, condemned yesterday’s vandalism at the premises of the Chitwan District Court by some unruly people.

The press statement stated that every citizen had a right to appeal to higher court if one was not satisfied with the verdict given by the lower court.

"As far as the justice to the woman victim is concerned, it is important to resolve any problem through mutual dialogue," the press statement issued today said.

It further said that even if the state itself is in controversy, judiciary has carried out its performance independently.

An angry crowd on Tuesday entered the court’s premises and resorted to vandalism and manhandled District Chairman of Bar Association, Ram Krishna Ghimire, over the court’s decision on a woman-trafficking case.

'We' and 'they': A dangerous identification

Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU – More often than not, many scholars and thinkers have been tempted to write about the "end of history." Hegel did it after Napoleon’s victory in Jena in 1806 and Francis Fukuyma, professor at George Masion University in Washington did it again after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Hegel thought that there would be no war after Napoleon’s victory in Jena. To his dismay, Napoleon was defeated in Waterloo and history was rewritten. While Fukuyama’s optimism is mainly based on the expansion of free market capitalism and democracy. His basic presumption is that with free market economy and liberal democracy, the countries will be left with no competing ideology or economic interest to fight with. With fewer wars in the post 1990s, Fukuyama may have been proved right but his assumptions are not a good guide for the developing countries experimenting with democracy. At least not applicable within developing society.

The period of transition into democracy is as messy as with any rouge nation. The competing forces often miss the rule of discipline and quickly jump into conflicts.

If Nepali society is a case in study, then the Fukuyama test fails. Fukuyama’s another assumption of peaceful society is also vanquished in Nepal. He assumes that with more and more women taking to politics, the processes will fuse genetically softer blood into it, eventually reducing the chances of wars. What a wishful thinking!

Has Fukuyama ever noticed that the women have a very strong participation in the ongoing Maoist insurgency in Nepal? Where does the element of genetically softer blood stand then?

He probably failed to make a distinction between the American/European women enjoying all the benefit of competing capitalism and the Nepali women who are an oppressed and a neglected lot. It is perhaps true that the American/ European women, with good education and growing sense of gender equality, do not want to shun their air-conditioned office to find out what it would be like to stumble across a field with a gun while other people shoot at her.

For a traditionally low-caste women in the remote hills of Nepal, with no education and no social value but oppression for being women and for being a member of the low-caste family – both of which are not her faults - war might well seem an adventure. War might be a responsibility to shoulder, to fight the society that is socially so much distorted and so much against them.

Careful analysis rather shows that Nepali society is moving closer towards American historian Samuel Hungtington’s analysis of 21st century societies (or civilizations). Hungtington basically disagrees with the proposition that sees allies and enemies between two countries or within societies purely in terms of how they organize politics and economics. In his opinion, politics and economics are country’s superstructure, but underneath them the building has many other storeys, right down to the pungent murk of cellars.

He says, People are moved to action in the world by connections of blood and faith and instincts just as much they are by reasonable calculations.

The brewing ethnic unrest in the country testifies Hungtigton’s claim that cultural kinship and instincts matter more than the reason, which in itself is often vague and fluid. The danger with such cultural kinship is that it often separates people into "we" and "they." And the Nepali society is already marching into this dangerous road.

The road ahead seems bumpy not because the minority is raising its legitimate concerns but because we may not be discover the necessary zeal and ways to address these challenges. That could bring a permanent end to the already volatile and evaporating peace. And a historian will have a chance to write "the end of peace" in Nepal without a risk of being proven wrong in the future.

Health workers on agitation

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BIRGUNJ, April 4 – Eight doctors and 124 other employees of Narayani Sub-regional Hospital shouted slogans for two hours in the hospital premises, demanding the resignation of hospital Superintendent, Dr B K Prasad today.

The agitators shouted slogans like "Inefficient Superintendent, resign", "We want increased pay" and "Fulfil our demands". Two vans of policemen reached the hospital to bring the tension-filled atmosphere under control. The doctors and employees were demanding an end to the "irregularities" and the raised pay since mid-July last year.

The protestors gave a memorandum of their demands on March 15 this year with a seven-day ultimatum. After the lapse of their ultimatum period, the agitating staff put on black arm bands and finally decided to stage a sit-in when they did not get any response from the Superintendent.

However, Dr Prasad was not present on the occasion as he was on leave. According to one Dr Manoj Gupta, Dr Prasad has not yet appointed anyone as officiating Superintendent.

There are two categories of employees in the Narayani hospital. While 20 doctors and 150 employees are from the government, the agitating eight doctors and 124 employees are from hospital development committee. The government appointees have been getting raised salary since July last but those from the committee have not received the same.

Doctor’s error leaves woman unconscious for months

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BIRTAMOD, April 4- A 24-year-old woman was now battling with death at the last stage of her life, due to the negligence and incompetence of the doctors at AMDA Hospital in Damak.

Meera Chouhan from Arjundhara-6 was rushed to the hospital for a delivery case three months ago, but due to a wrong diagnosis and subsequent mistakes by Dr Rajendra Niroula at AMDA, the woman was in an unconscious state , and was then now advised by the doctors to be beyond chances of recovery.

Dr Niroula tried to perform an operation upon the woman when she was taken there at 11 in the night, but admitted his inability to do so three hours later, says Meera’s husband, Raj Kumar. At the doctor’s advice, she was then rushed to the BP Koirala Health Science Institute at Dharan, where the doctors operated upon her. She gave birth to a live baby, though Dr Niroula had confirmed that she was bearing a dead one.

According to medical experts, the diagnosis by Dr Niroula and the subsequent application proved fatal to the lady, who is unconscious since then and is now in her death bed.

The people’s representatives and the local people at Arjundhara have pressurised upon the AMDA Hospital to bear the hundreds of thousands of rupees that have been spent for the lady so far, if not compensate for the heavy losses the family has undergone due to the negligence of its doctors.

Manisha releases book

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KATHMANDU, April 4 – Renowned Bollywood Nepali actress Manisha Koirala released poet Lava Gaunle’s latest publication Anuhar Ta Baru Kagaj Kai Bhaye Hune, a collection of songs, ghazals and poems recently.

Young critic Krishna Pradhan threw light on various aspects of poet Gaunle’s creative activities. Actress Manisha Koirala, Jasmine Maskey (Gaunle’s daughter) and poet Gaunle expressed their views on poetry on the occasion. Also present on the occasion were Crispin Conroy, Australian ambassador to Nepal and Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Prakash Koirala.

Gaunle, who is section officer in the Cabinet Secretariat, has received many awards for his literary creations.

The programme was organised by International Nepali Literary Society, Nepal. Dubasu Chhetri, vice president of the Society, chaired the occasion.

Hen to launch campaign

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KATHMANDU, April4 - Health and Education for Nepal (HEN), a US based nonprofit organization, will run a fund-raising campaign to construct a health post at a rural Nepali village, says a HEN press release issued here today.

According to the release, the health post will be constructed at Debhumi Baluwa village in the Kavrepalanchok district, located east of the capital along the Arniko highway.

"Lack of medical facilities in the region has culminated to a life expectancy of only 57.3 years and an infant mortality rate of 65 babies per 1,000," the release quotes HEN President Steve McGrane as saying. "However, in the poorest villages medical facilities is not possible without outside assistance."

"Our goal is to raise 8,000 dollars to cover half of the cost of the project...The local people in Nepal will contribute the other half," McGrane further says. The release adds that anyone desiring to contribute to the health post can send donations.

Dolpa hit hard by salt crisis

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DOLPA, April 4- The residents of Dolpa are facing a tough time as the scarcity of salt steps up every new day, with no sign of improvements in the near future.The contractor entitled by Salt Trading Corporation to supply salt including essential commodity has failed to fulfill his commitment.

The Corporation has fixed the rate of iodised salt at Rs 5 per kg but it is not available at its local depot. The poor Dolpalis are being charged as much as Rs 50 to Rs 60 at the market.

The Corporation has subsidised 672 quintals of salt for the district of Dolpa this year, but only 80 quintals have so far been transported by the contractor, Nimkar Chhiring Sherpa, who lives hundreds of miles away in Kathmandu, has nothing to do than requesting the contractor to carry out his obligations in time.

Dolpa needs at least 4 thousand quintals of salt per year, with 3600 quintals for the 30,000 locals themselves. In such a context, the quota of subsidised salt that ranges generally between 5 to 6 hundred quintals per year is nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

The Dolpalis make up for the deficit by walking to Salyan and then carrying the loads of salt bags on their backs or by recourse to the traditional system of exchanging their wares to the uniodised Tibetan salt.

Meanwhile, according to a report received from Darchula, a similar delay in the delivery of subsidised salt there is creating great hardships for the local people.

Nimesh Bhatta, a consumer, informed The Kathmandu Post that the government-subsidised salt is being sold illegally at a higher price at the local market.

Tourists declining at Rara lake

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JUMLA, April 4 - The number of tourists visiting Rara Lake has been declining every year due to lack of transportation and geographical difficulties, Conservation Officer in Rara National Park, Surya Bahadur Pandey, told The Kathmandu Post.

Rara is the country’s biggest lake which is located in Rara VDC in the periphery of Mugu and Jumla districts in Karnali zone. The lake is 167 metres deep, 5.2 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide, according to Rara National Park.

People living in and around Pina, Shreenagar, Karkiwada and Rara VDCs have been facing tremendous difficulties in terms of obtaining grazing meadows, fodder, leaves of the trees, firewood and timber after the area was declared Rara National Parks in 2032 BS.

Candidates contesting in every general election have been assuring people that Rara National Park area would be declared a tourist zone,but none of them has been able to fulfil his promise.That is the reason why residents of Mugu are worried.

The park area which is home to a variety of exotic wildlife such as musk deer,boar, barking deer, partridge, wild dog, flying squirrel etc and the number of tourists who visited to see them three years ago was 209 and the number has dwindled to merely 75 over the past 11 months in 2057 BS.

Construction of Talchi airport has been going on over the last 24 years,but it is yet to be completed. According to Mugu DDC President Mohan Baniya, the delay in construction work is the result of insufficient budget allocation for the project every year.

Former Minister of State for Education Hast Bahadur Malla expressed his anxiety at the airport construction at snail’s pace.He told The Kathmandu Post that the government was transporting foodgrain by helicopter at high cost in the absence of airport.