RNAC air routes

The other day officials of the national flag carrier — Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) — vehemently resisted the government’s move to open regional air routes to Nepal’s private airlines. RNAC management does not seem to want these routes to slip out of its hands. But the state-run corporation has been on the brink of collapse as a result of political interference and corruption. Previously, RNAC had half a dozen jet aircraft working on its regional and international routes. However, successive governments have reduced these many aircraft to just two only. As a result of this and the fact that it did not have wide bodied jets, it has been unable to continue its services to Europe. Certainly, RNAC will not be able to resume its European operations so long as it remains a state-run corporation that cannot make key decisions on its own and that successive administrations milk like a cash cow. We have had more than an inkling of how such milking works after the Lauda and China South West scandals broke. Until RNAC sees better days and spread its wings westward again, it will remain desperately dependent on the regional routes that the government is now contemplating throwing open to private competition. That it has chosen to challenge the government’s decision on a technicality (it was not consulted on time as per the RNAC Act) is a measure of its desperation.

Against this backdrop, it may be useful to weigh the government’s move on its merits. The government has short-listed three private sector airlines for taking up the regional routes that RNAC now has a monopoly over. RNAC management seems to fear that private competition may push the ailing state airline from bad to worse. RNAC has been providing a poor service all along. Scheduled flights are plagued by delays and cancellations. Passengers have often expressed their frustrations through local newspapers. And tourists who visit this country have refused to use shoddy RNAC service. Poor management at RNAC is too obvious to be ignored. The government began opening up the market to the private sector after the restoration of democracy. There have been a dozen domestic airlines operating in the private sector since then. Half of them have acquired licenses for regional routes. Though not free from snags and glitches, the private sector civil aviation in Nepal has on the whole been a success story, in stark contrast to the national flag carrier. RNAC has just not been able to grow up with the times. Given this bad record and the political meddling there is no option but to open regional routes to the private sector if the exigencies of the tourism industry are to be met. That industry has hit an all time low and the government has to try and revive it. To do this, it must join hands with private airlines which have to be more commercially than politically responsive and provide a competent service just to remain in business.

Refugee problem and instability

By Dr S Chandrasekharan

The presence of ULFA and Bodo militants in Bhutan and the festering problem of over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal will be the two major destabilizing forces in the Kingdom of Bhutan unless it overcomes its mindset to resolve these problems soon. While militancy in Bhutan has direct bearing on the security of India, the refugee problem is also India’s concern although the Royal Government and HMG Nepal are dealing with it bilaterally. The emergence of the Maoist problem in Nepal, and the spread of the Nepali population in the eastern Himalayas are facts; these can add a third dimension to the problem of the feudalistic monarchy in Bhutan.

Demonstrate sincerity: In his inaugural speech, Khandu Wangchuk, as new chairman of the Lhengye Zhuntsho, said on August 8th "it was important for Bhutan to have a strong and stable government to fulfil the aspirations of the people. The Bhutanese system must continue to evolve to meet new needs and new challenges". The political reforms, which empowered the people, he added "had been initiated to meet such challenges". To say that the reforms so far made have permitted active participation of the people and improving the well being of the entire population is untrue unless he meant the northern and eastern Bhutanese were the "entire people". Bhutan has two distinct populations: Drukpas and Lhotsampas. If one traces the history of the Lhotsampa-led movement, it could be said that initially the King’s fears and panic reaction were based on the movement taking political contours threatening the well being of the government. He succeeded temporarily, diverting attention to a human rights and human problem by evicting innocent villagers who had nothing to do with politics and who did not know any other country beside Bhutan. The longer the solution takes, the greater is the possibility that the movement will take a political turn that should cause concern not only to Bhutan but also to India and Nepal. The king himself is the centre of power in Bhutan; unless he takes initiative to solve the problem of thousands of Nepali Bhutanese refugees now languishing in Nepal, he would never achieve a strong or stable Bhutan.

Speed up verification: The 11th round of bilateral talks, which took place in Thimphu from August 20-23, reported that the two governments had agreed to "accelerate the verification process" by "bifurcation of the JVT to conduct separate activities simultaneously". As if to justify the slow pace of verification, Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Jigme Y. Thinley said "Since the mechanism is very elaborate, spelling out every detailed aspect of the verification process, there has been no conflict, no differences, between the two teams so far and as long as we adhere to these mechanism there should be no problem". There could of course be no problem so long as the Nepalese members of the verification teams sit as mere "observers", not participating in the interactions during the verification of documents or in cross-questionings. As on September 4th, 5,989 individuals or 955 families have been verified. With the proposed bifurcation the speed has increased to 16 to 18 families each day, not adequate to complete the verification of about 16000 families in a reasonable timeframe.

Why harmonization? To us, there could be only two categories: Bhutanese and Non Bhutanese. In recent history except in the cold war days when people in the communist countries fled voluntarily to escape oppression and for a better life, there could be no instance where people would in peaceful conditions voluntarily give up their prosperous life and go as refugees to a place unknown to them. It is time for Nepal to firm up its position and let the world pass judgement whether or not there should be a precedent to disown citizens under the pretext of so called voluntary migration form having been signed. The other side of the coin is that some of the refugees who are educated and who were holdings positions in the Bhutan government feel that the government may make false charges against them of "forcible" repatriation. This is where the two governments have a grey area for disagreement, and where the UNHCR could be instrumental in finding a mutually acceptable solution.

Involve UNHCR: With India continuing to be indifferent and Nepal having its own problems with the Maoist insurgency, the refugees have nowhere else to go except to seek help from the international community. It is therefore necessary to involve the UNHCR in the repatriation process. Since the UNHCR has been maintaining the refugee camps and has worked hard for their welfare, it is necessary that it is present and available to oversee the rehabilitation of the refugees, and serve as the focal monitoring agency on the effectiveness of the reintegration programs.

Stop resettlement: It looks like the refugee problem has become a blessing in disguise for Bhutan. While the joint verification is taking place at snail’s pace, the Royal Government is working overtime to settle the northern and eastern population in South Bhutan from where the Lhotsampas were forcibly evicted. The settlements programs are being carried out so as to eliminate traces of the earlier villages, demolishing houses and removing foundations to make the places unidentifiable for the returnees. It will be near impossible for those refugees if and when they return to settle in their old areas and most likely they will be given land in inhospitable terrain spread in pockets in all the 20 districts to make the Lhotsampa population politically impotent. Earlier, the Lhotsampas (Nepali Bhutanese) had two royal advisory councillors and one cabinet rank minister. This time they have none.

Prioritise solution: The Royal Government let the ULFA and Bodo militants occupy the vacant lots left behind by the refugees in South Bhutan in the early 1990s. Some senior officials of the Royal Government established a nexus with the militants with the sole purpose of using them later against the refugees in the event they attempted an organized come back to fight the regime. For a number of years Bhutan had been under intense pressure from Indian authorities to agree to joint operations to eliminate the presence of militants from Bhutan and some battalions were trained for counter insurgency warfare. In the experts’ opinion, joint operations would be unwise given the nature of the terrain, lack of properly trained personnel and equipment and above all a not so friendly population in southern Bhutan from where thousands have been evicted. Therefore, it is all the more important to solve the problem of refugees first, and it should be the priority of all concerned, including India’s.

Like beheading a hydra

By Pradeep Bhandari

The world watched with horror and disbelief when the US was hit right at the heart of its pride by a series of terrorist attacks recently. Nobody would have ever imagined that the most powerful nation in the world would ever be seen so bewildered and nervous as it happened last week. More than the loss of lives and buildings, the blow has come as a big challenge to the United States. The tragedy has brought together the most powerful nations in the world in the form of a coalition in their fight against terrorism. But, as the president of the US has himself put it, the enemy this time has no face!

The story behind the recent tragedy is similar to that of the horrors of Frankestein's. While it is a natural human reaction to feel sad and sorrowful against all sorts of atrocities towards fellow mankind, one must also not forget that the possible forces behind the recent mishaps were harboured and encouraged in the past by the super power itself. To try to control the situation through force now, after it has probably taken the form of a religious hatred towards the western world, especially the US, would be like trying to behead a hydra- you chop off one head, and two more grows back instantly!

Although our problem may seem disproportionately small to that of the current US crisis, Nepalis have a great lesson to learn from the tragedy. We may not want to discuss the possibility of any support and encouragement in the past to the Maoist Movement in Nepal by the country’s administration and other lobbies within and outside the country, but we surely cannot deny that the Movement has grown out of proportion during the last few years. Like in the US, the seeds of the problem of the flourishing Maoist Movement in Nepal might have been swon somewhere else.

A disorganized country with rampant corruption, lack of any law and order, and a system that is exploited by the resourceful ones, may be all that has led to the birth Maoist Movement and the perpetual instability in the country. It is high time we Nepalese learnt from all these lessons at home and abroad, and to come up with genuine and realistic solutions to our problems, before they take a horrendous shape as in the other war-torn nations.

Attack on US and its impact on Nepal

By Samba Dev Pant

To save the image of superpower, the US has been compelled to retaliate against fundamentalist Muslims either by attacking Afghanistan or any other target. It seems, another war is round the corner.

One weekly has written: "To what extent the war will find its place in the politics of Nepal is hard to calculate, however, what could be best predicted at this preliminary stage is that the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba will henceforth deal with the Maoist insurgency in a firm manner.

Indications to this effect have already become visible from the security arrangements and the needed management made by PM Sher Bahadur Deuba to face any eventuality arising out of possible conflicts with the insurgents in the future. The sudden spurt seen in the tightening up of the security system practically at all places, more so in the capital, gives an indication that the Deuba government will go to any extent in maintaining law and order system in the country.

The government could launch war against the insurgents, but it will have to declare the insurgents as terrorists. Considering the world mood today, the Maoists would do well in reading the writings on the wall and renounce violence by joining the national mainstream. For they can do a lot for their cause by being in parliament for which they must win
the hearts of the people first. Will they do so?

South Asia is probably the only region in this century where almost all the heavy amount of economic transactions take place. Half of the population of this region are still living below the poverty line. Nepal has tremendous potentialities and opportunities for the promotion and attracting the Foreign Direct Investment, taking India as the major market.

The recent attacks on the US and the repercussions thereafter state that there could be some negative impact on Nepal. Nepal has the potential to become the financial offshore centre in this region. The more the economic and political situation becomes fluid in South and West Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, the more the adverse effect on Nepal.

Due to its small size, the impact on Nepal will be less compared to that of India. Since Nepal is not directly in the position of nuclear weapons, not attached with any country of the world and it need not be so anxious.

Some opine that although the spill over of the possible war in the region is a matter of grave concern. Nepal need not worry about the fallout, militarily. There is also apprehension that oil prices may shoot up. The most immediate impact will be on the economy, especially tourism. Some even warned that the conflict would be a prolonged one and so will be the effects. The natural fallout is that US presence in the region will be much stronger. But what will be the impact on the Maoist insurgency remains to be seen.

The business community of Nepal are of the view that Nepal is already witnessing cancellation of hotel bookings and the garment orders to the US, the Nepali exports to the Europe also face a bleak prospects. Nepal has agreed to give the air space for the US if needed. This gesture shows Nepal’s commitment towards the eradication of terrorism.

A US diplomat has urged Nepal to help in the investigation of terrorist attacks on his country last week. Addressing a press meet here recently, Charge d’Affairs at the US Embassy in Kathmandu, Larry M Dinger, said he has received assurances from the Nepalese government of all possible support in this regard. Dinger emphasized that the US government would spare no efforts in eliminating terrorist activities from the world. He also thanked the people and government of Nepal for their emotional support. Chief of the United States Information Agency in Kathmandu Robert Kerr said a concerted effort was necessary to wipe out terrorism from the world.