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| Kathmandu, Sunday February 16, 2003 Falgun 04, 2059. |
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Cease extortion please !
< By Kapil Tamot
<
The news of the
cease-fire that most of the Kathmanduites came to know on a rainy Wednesday morning was
welcomed by the most Nepalese living here in the UK. A good reason to call families back
home in Nepal or to one’s Nepali friends here itself. Needless to say, the British
Telecom, the mobile phone operators and the various private telecom companies definitely
enjoyed some benefits of the cease-fire in Nepal that day. Forget the snowy blizzard that
was making headlines, every Nepali here was more concerned asking one another, ‘Did
you hear the news?’
All had either read the
news on the net or had got to hear of it from families and friends, and almost everyone I
know reacted in the same way. ‘Phew... at last! ’. After a series of bad and sad
news for almost two years, it was no doubt a pleasant bit of news for the Nepalese living
abroad, a welcome development indeed! But, at the same time, it raised another anxious
question, ‘will this good news lead to better news?’ Is there some hope that
this cease-fire will eventually cease other evils? Extortion, for example? Extortion that
has now extended to the tourism industry, the backbone of Nepalese economy, and is only
squeezing it dry? Nil Gurung is one among several who doesn’t veil his scepticism.
A Londoner, Nil had
been frequently travelling to Nepal. His fond memories of his childhood spent in the
mountains, the taste of daal bhat and the simplicity of the Nepali people were few of the
reasons he gathered as excuses to keep going back. While at it, clever Nil used to combine
to his pleasure a way to also earn some money by coordinating tourist groups from Europe
to travel to the Himalayas several times a year. Unfortunately, his experience on his last
visit forced him to change his views.
The last group he led
in October 2002 encountered a bitter experience. One evening on the trail, a group of 35
armed and a few unarmed Maoists demanded for the guide to give them all the money he had.
(Some Maoists, those that had previously worked in trekking groups knew that a guide,
leading a group of 25 tourists, would have a minimum of 100,000 rupees with him). When the
guide refused to give in to their demands, he was assaulted. To avoid further trouble, Nil
tried his hand at negotiating. The Maoists then asked for 75,000, then 50,000 and after a
fierce bargain, they finally settled for 1,000 per head making it 25,000 in total.
The entire episode
happened in front of the group. "In the beginning, the tourists were scared but when
they saw us negotiating they were less afraid. They agreed to pay 1,000 rupees each, as it
was just 10 pounds for them. Once the deal was settled, some of them even asked the
Maoists if they could pose for a picture to be taken with them", Nil remembers.
Probably, the best souvenir of their visit to the once famed Shangri-la. A picture with a
bunch of young armed camouflaged Maoists, at a time when Maoism has long ceased to exist,
even in China!
Once back in London,
Nil cancelled all his groups to Nepal. The sad thing is, the extortion didn’t end in
the path of the Himalayas as the Maoists even confronted him in his Kathmandu residence
for forced donations. Totally disillusioned, he was even planning to sell his property in
Kathmandu and invest that money in some business in London.
Today, the declaration
of the cease-fire has brought back some hope into his life. "If they can put an end
to extortion, I want to open a proper trekking agency in London and start taking groups
again to Nepal. There is so much demand here for Nepalese foothills," admits Nil,
shaking his head from side to side.
Nil is only one among
many in such a situation. Most of the retired Gurkhas living in the UK, work as security
guards. Whenever these lahures go back to their villages, the Maoists come knocking on
their doors asking for contributions. Jagat Bahadur Pun is in the same case.
He used to go to Nepal
for Dashain holidays every year. Dashain 2001 was probably his last visit to Nepal. He
almost got killed when he refused to pay the huge amount that the freedom fighters were
asking. He had to flee his village immediately. When the Maoists found him gone, his old
father and other members of his family were beaten. The former war veteran, who fought the
Malaya war and survived for 3 weeks without food or water in the jungles of Indonesia, was
living every day in fear for the lives of his family members. Recently having sold his
house in Kathmandu, he has brought all his family to settle in Europe for good.
When I asked whether he
would go back if the situation improved, he says, "My wife doesn’t really like
it here. The cold weather is not good for her health and she wants to remain surrounded by
her siblings as before. If the Maoists do stop their extorting, I will certainly think
about buying a house in Kathmandu again". However, he pessimistically adds, "but
will it really?"
Several others have
followed Jagat’s footsteps. It is useless saying here what role remittance is playing
in the Nepalese economy. Looking towards our economy, if there is an economy, Industries
are now near negligible, the carpet industry has received a severe blow, pashmina has
failed, garment factories are closing down and tourism in on the brink of collapse.
Dependence of national budget on foreign aid is increasing and has now reached 65 percent.
For how long? Can we afford to let this ‘remittance and other forms of economy’
supported by the Nepalese living abroad die?
Will this cease-fire
also help in solving the economic problems of the country? I can already guess the answer
from the authority. During war, economy is always bad. Yes, I agree but I also saw that
Sri Lanka, just to remind ourselves, a SAARC country, during its 20 years of civil war,
managed to improve its tourism and make its economy only better. Is there any lesson to
learn here? A little effort is needed. Look at the NEPSE, it recorded an upsurge of more
than 3 percent for two consecutive weeks just because of the peace declaration.
If anyone involved in
the peace process is listening, he or she must realise that as the economy goes bad, the
problems only get worse. Today, people in villages have learnt how powerful a gun can be
and they are very happy to have it handy.
Along with the
political, military and human rights aspects, the economic arena must also be prioritised
and some much-needed attention must be paid to the sick tourism industry to nurse it back
to health. Minister Pun, former assistant Minister of Tourism, and Dr. Bhattarai, the much
respected freedom fighter, both coordinators of the government and the Maoists dialogue
committee know this very well.
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