Ambassador’s remarks

Nepali ambassador to India and Bhutan Bhekh Bahadur Thapa the other day said that the refugee repatriation process would begin by the end of this year. We would like to believe what he has to say about the refugee repatriation. But we know too well the Bhutanese intention and the reluctance with which it had accepted the verification process. The ambassador’s statement has come at a time when the verification process is crawling at a snail’s pace despite the agreement earlier to speed up things. Thapa’s remarks, therefore, are difficult to be accepted at face value. If the refugees return home as the ambassador wants to believe by the end of the year, it would indeed be a great achievement for this country, for Bhutan and, above all, for the refugees themselves. But there is much room for skepticism and many things still remain to be done. It may be recalled that Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, who led Nepali delegation to Thimphu in August, upon his return home, had similarly assured that the repatriation would take place in October. The Joint Verification Team (JVT) formed in April has determined less than ten thousand refugees, leave aside the categorisation of refugees. Both governments have promised much at the time of formation of JVT. But JVT has been unable to complete even one single camp in a period of eight months.

Ambassador Thapa at a talk programme assured that the Druk regime would begin taking back its people in December. The one hundred thousand refugees, languishing in several camps in Jhapa and Morang districts since 1992, will at least return to their home after a decade in exile, if only what Bhekh Bahadur Thapa said proves to be true. However, Bhutan has proposed Nepal to categorize refugees after the completion of verification, another long and time consuming process. The four-pronged categorization proposed by the Druk regime is undoubtedly defective since it will prevent genuine refugees from returning to their home. Nepal has proposed to the Druk regime to determine only the Bhutanese from the none-Bhutanese before the actual repatriation takes place. But it is likely that there will be deadlock between Nepal and Bhutan before the actual repatriation takes place. Besides, India has already refused to help in amicably resolving the refugee problem. India may never be interested in resolving the refugee problem as it has special relations with Bhutan.

How serious is Ambassador Thapa’s statement on the refugee issue remains to be seen. However, Thapa has given some hope to the refugee community that they will return to their country within a few months. What could be greater for the ears of those who spend years away from their native land than this. The refugee return would indeed be a major breakthrough because the government has been trying to repatriate refugees for over a decade. The formation of JVT took place only after the international community, particularly the European Union exerted pressure on Bhutan. It was the US which brought the Druk regime to "verification table" when Thimphu failed to recognize refugees as its own people. The European Community has helped this country to sustain the refugees ever since they fled their country as a result of political suppression. The refugees cannot but feel neglected when similar problems elsewhere merit due attention, and while the Bhutanese refugees are left to fend for themselves. We hope and pray ambassador Thapa is right when he said that refugees would begin going back home to Bhutan in December.

Kofi Annan and United Nations

By Mohan Lohani

The prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2001 has been awarded to the United Nations and its Secretary-General Kofi Annan. They will receive the prize in equal proportion and the Nobel Peace Committee in its citation has profusely praised the contribution made by the world organization and its able Secretary-General for their contribution to the maintenance of world peace and security. Kofi Annan’s role in leading the world organization and enabling it to rise to new challenges has also been commended by the Peace Prize Committee. Secretary-General Annan visibly overwhelmed with joy and a sense of pride at the coveted prize conferred on him and the organization with which he has been associated for over three decades has welcomed the prize as an opportunity as well as a challenge to discharge his onerous responsibilities with renewed vigour, dedication and firm commitment to the ideals and objectives of the United Nations.

Unlike his predecessor Boutros-Boutros Ghali, a former deputy Foreign Minister of Egypt, who was UN’s sixth Secretary General (1992-1996) but failed to continue in office for a second term because of a US veto in the Security Council, which testified to Ghali’s controversial profile as Secretary General, Kofi Annan, a life long UN employee noted for his integrity, impartiality, professional competence and a sense of moderation has been reappointed Secretary General for a second term beginning January first next year. During the first term of his office, Secretary General Annan has taken the initiative to introduce reforms in the UN, in particular to streamline the organisation’s bloated bureaucracy and curtail other unproductive expenses. How to overcome the continuing financial crisis of the UN has remained a priority concern of the Secretary General.

Last year in September on the initiative of the Secretary General the UN Millennium Summit attended by the largest ever gathering of national leaders from all over the world met in New York for three days and issued a 32-point Declaration of historic significance. The Millennium Summit was conceived and convened to chart a course for humanity in the new century. It was pointed out by most of the participating member states that Secretary General Kofi Annan had personally worked hard to ensure that the Millennium Summit would be looked at in a way different from the past and treated accordingly as a working Summit rather than a celebration marked by high sounding speeches and statements.

The UN established immediately after the end of the second world war, that is, 56 years ago has proved to be an indispensable instrument, to borrow Kofi Annan’s phrase, for tackling our shared problems. The Millennium Declaration rightly describes the world body as ‘the indispensable common house of the entire human family. ’As an inter-governmental forum designed to prevent war, to promote peace and development and to ensure freedom and justice in keeping with the noble ideals and objectives enshrined in its Charter the UN is admittedly the only representative universal body for debating and discussing wide ranging issues of global concern and finding solutions to them through consultations, conciliation and consensus. It is a pity that this ‘common house of the entire human family’ is faced in recent years with a severe financial crunch and many wonder whether the UN can effectively and efficiently conduct its peacekeeping operations without adequate resources, trained staff and above all armed forces of its own. Huge arrears owed to the UN by powerful member states remain unpaid. It was recognized at the Millennium Summit that the UN could be made more effective in maintaining peace and security only by giving it the resources and tools it needs for conflict prevention, peaceful resolution of disputes, peacekeeping, post-conflict peace building and reconstruction.

The Millennium Declaration has sought to involve the UN in almost every conceivable human activity ranging from fundamental values essential to international relations in the 21st century, peace, security and disarmament, poverty eradication, protection of the environment to promotion of human rights, democracy and good governance and strengthening the world body itself. The announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize has once again highlighted the importance of the UN as an effective instrument for pursuing all the priorities set forth in the Declaration such as the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease, the fight against injustice, violence, crime and terrorism, the fight against environmental degradation and, above all, the fight for development for all the peoples of the world.

The greatest challenge before the UN in the new century is to bridge the ever widening gap between the rich and poor countries of the world. While no country can escape from the impact of globalization, it has not minimized the disparity between the rich and the poor. Anti-globalization demonstrations that have been witnessed in some western countries in recent months amply suggest that all is not well with the policy of globalization as the poorer countries have become increasingly debt-ridden and find it difficult to compete in world markets for the export of their primary products. Such countries are bound to get further marginalised.

No less challenging to international security is the menace of terrorism. Recent terrorist attacks on the United States have brought into sharp focus the international dimension and magnitude of the problem. The fight against terrorism is indeed not the fight against any religion, civilization, ideology or community. Remarkable solidarity has been displayed by the international community against terrorism with its global network. While condemning the terrorist attacks on the US as a crime against humanity Nepal has categorically stated that the incident has created an opportunity for larger unity, understanding and cooperation among civilized societies and governments which believe in peace, freedom, human rights and democracy. In fact, a global coalition against international terrorism under the auspices of the UN is the need of the hour. In this context, on the proposed political change in Afghanistan the international community welcomes the Secretary General’s assertion that the wishes of the Afghan people must be respected in the formation of a broad-based government in that country.

Nepal ever since it joined the world organization has consistently reaffirmed its commitment to and faith in the goals and objectives, principles and purposes of the UN Charter. Nepal’s active involvement in the UN peacekeeping operations is clear evidence of this commitment. This commitment found expression in the recent directive issued by HM King Gyanendra to the Nepalese contingent going to Sierra Leone on a UN peace mission. Secretary General Annan spoke highly of Nepal’s role as a peacekeeper during his visit to this country last March. Nepal strongly believes that the UN needs to be further strengthened and made more effective to uphold peace, promote development and ensure respect for international law. The UN forum has provided this country an opportunity to champion the cause of the least developed and land locked developing countries. Late King Birendra called upon the transit countries to provide increased facilities to landlocked countries so that they could join the global economic mainstream. The first UN Conference held in Paris in September 1981 expressed its gratitude to the late king for his inspiring address on behalf of the nine LDCs in Asia and the Pacific region. The people of Nepal wish the UN and its Secretary General all success in their noble endeavours.

Gender matters

By Manoj M Rijal

What does a man think of himself when it comes to women's issues?

One of my lady friends asked me once. As gender issue has been a controversial issue for the last few years, I did not, at first, wish to hurt any woman, including her by speaking on the topic. Hence, I asked my friend to respond to the question herself.

Whatever she explained made me mull over the relationships between a man and a woman.

To be frank, we men suppose superior to women in each and every aspect of life. One of my cousins married a woman who is pretty both externally and internally. They’re happy with each other and glad at what they have.

Whenever her father or mother visits her home, the husband calls her timi - a second degree of respect in Nepali (Though in English there is only one ‘You’). But surprisingly, he comes down to taan - a third degree of respect- as soon as the guests leave the room. Whereas his wife always calls him hajur- the most upper degree of utterance.

I and my elder sister, who is now in Australia, once planned to watch a night show movie at a local theatre with some of our childhood friends. But my mother did not let her go. Instead, I was permitted. Her logic: "girls couldn’t go for night shows, cinema". But, it was not that my mom didn’t love my sister.

Such seemingly petty things, undiscovered or neglected in our daily lives indicate that our society is more or less in the whirlwind of tradition in which a woman either ends up hurting a man’s ego or dominating herself or other women. I would like to ask those women, why do they feel so proud to call their spouses even Rajah (King)? Are their husbands, indeed, kings? And the women their subjects?

We cannot generalise such things, but I think it is the most crucial time to answer the question, asked my lady friend.

Why do the mothers feel delighted at the birth of a son? But why do they feel sad when a girlchild is born? Why do the mothers send a son to an English school and a daughter to a low standard government-run school? Why do the mothers want her daughter get married against her will to pursuing higher studies?

And if the mother herself plants such discrimination in the immature mind of a son, how can it be expected that the son upon growing-up will not follow his mother’s step?

The limitation is that the mother alone can’t be blamed for the entire problem. There is also a major duty to be played by the father. He has the duty to widen the mentality of his family, relatives and build confidence amongst the children, whether sons or daughters, so that that they are able enough to overcome any unfair treatment, if made, on behalf of sex.

The Princess sleeps

We all grew up hearing fairy tales from our grandmothers or listening to lullabies from our mothers about Princesses- once upon a time in far away land. We marvelled at their beauty, we valourised their courage, we lauded their loyalty, their love stories enthralled us and, above all, every girl has fantasised herself as a Princess, and silently awaited a Prince as an adolescent - just like the Princesses did in our grandmother’s stories or our mother’s lullabies. We also have our tale, of our own fairy, who in a very short time, touched our hearts, made us experience something precious, which we will cherish forever as we proceed towards singing to our daughters and narrating to our granddaughters about our Princess. Nevertheless, our tales will not emanate from a storybook but rather from our own experience and our own life.

We still recall the day when eagerness and anxiousness overwhelmed us as we heard that Princess Sruti would be enrolling in our class and more so, when the Principal followed by a chubby, fair-skinned, curly haired and somewhat timid girl, entered our classroom. Most of us rushed back home to announce to our family members that the Princess had joined our class. Some of us were terrified to talk to her, some of us were overjoyed when she uttered a few words to us or even looked at us, and some of us took extra caution to pursue her so as to be recognized as her friend because after all she was the Princess - the King’s daughter. However, that was when we were at the second grade. The process of growing up with her, to our surprise, only meant uncovering how much she aspired to be a commoner just like us.

Though born with a silver spoon in her mouth, from the settings of the classrooms to the dinning table in the hostel, she received prerogatives that were no different from ours. She munched on the stale chappatis just like we did, she drank the watery daal with similar enthusiasm, and rejoiced the Christmas puddings with equal delight. Childhood days become all the more memorable just by recalling how much she partook on all the mischief. Whether it meant giving names to teachers, eating in classrooms, bothering the nuns, reciting ghost stories late at night, bunking classes, jogging around the dormitory after the lights were turned off, or tormenting teachers by dropping fake scorpions on their backs, she was a proportional conspirator, and never a hesitant one.

Once, a few of us had decided to sneak out from the classroom but to our misfortune, we were caught. While Sruti was able to avoid punishment by claiming that she had games practice, the others were not so astute and were penalized as a result. However, instead of flaunting about her "intelligence" to come up with a good excuse because those days, an ascertained parameter for appraising intelligence was one’s acumen to avoid punishment, she was apologetic that while being an equal partner on the whole prank, she was able to easily get away with it while the rest suffered.

But despite the impishness, she astounded everyone with her agility in art, her vigour in athletics, and her ardour in poetry. She was good at charcoal drawings, and through her art evinced a notable fascination for animals, in particular horses, perhaps this is because her favourite pastime was horse-riding. She was equally enticed by martial arts and was a black belt holder in Judo. And since childhood, she had maintained her own poetry notebook - perhaps a hereditary talent that she had acquired from her mother, Queen Aishwarya and her grandfather, King Mahendra.

Because of the political uprisings of 1990, Sruti left St Mary’s, went on to take private lessons, and later joined Mayo Girl’s School. But albeit the distance and time, she continued to make contact with her old friends and, as a result, our friendship prevailed even after she got married. She used to invite us frequently to her place and often visited our homes as well. She was a hospitable host. Instead of ordering attendants to bring food for us, she used to take extra care to serve us and would herself go to the kitchen to ensure that everything was set right for us.

Considering that during the school days she was an avid perpetrator of pranks and mischief, it was equally gratifying and immensely inspiring to see Sruti transform herself into a good wife and a good mother. She always made sure that she was home by the time her husband got back from the office. Instead of complying with the royal norm of leaving children under the supervision of the nannies, she used to keep her daughter with herself without any chaperons accompanying her. It was only obvious that she valued all her relationships and perhaps it is this virtue of taking immense care of those relationships, that she had intricately woven, which made her so special.

She was often criticized for her lack of royal etiquette. Everybody born into a royal family, is coached about social graces and decorum, and practising those standards could not have been any arduous. Instead, very strikingly, Sruti shouldered upon herself the courage to be a commoner and was always disheartened when she was regarded otherwise. Once during a public inauguration
of Sur Sudha CD, some of her friends bowed down to her just like the others had done, and she was very quick to refute our gestures.

October 16 was her Birthday, which we had been celebrating together for years. However, today she is not amongst us - fate snatched away our dear friend, a merry and charming person, a good listener and a good advisor. Instead of being thrilled about rejoicing the occasion, today we are lamenting over her loss. Still, each one of us can hear the jingles of her giggles, the resonance of her voice, and the warmth of her heart. Not letting these echoes of her laughter and the tingle of her touch fade away from within us is perhaps one way we can pay tribute to her. We will continue to sing her saga to our children and will recite the tale of her life to our grandchildren. As we all know, princesses don’t die, they continue to live in their stories, passed on to several generations. She is still alive in our hearts and memories.

By Bandita Sijapati, Madhuri Thapa and Prashansa Mudvari