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| Kathmandu, Saturday March 01, 2003 Falgun 17, 2059. |
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Shameful
The report that five persons of the same family were beaten
up on allegations of witchcraft is a shameful act that needs to be condemned by all,
especially by those who constantly interact with the people. That such an event occurred
in the 21st century is an indication of how incompetent we are to deal with the challenges
of modernity and how inadequate we are in providing even semblance of education to our
rural folks. But most of all, this is a failure of the political parties which go on
raising hue and cry over the smallest of incidents that they see it as political and
forget that they too have social responsibilities. Political parties especially those that
are committed to democracy would do well to fight superstition and also to undertake
campaigns aimed at wiping out superstitions from rural Nepal. For, democracy cannot
function properly in an environment of superstitious beliefs and practices. Obviously,
political parties, including the Maoists which have been undertaking campaigns to bring
the people to their way of thinking, should also ensure that they aim their campaigns
against such outdated beliefs. The same goes for the numerous non-governmental
organisations working in the country, especially those related to social services. Too
often their activities have been limited to urban areas where their services are less
needed than in rural areas where they can easily contribute more. But the government and
its machinery are seen to be failing in their responsibilities in this direction. This is
not the first time that such innocent people have been subjected to humiliation and untold
mental and physical torture due to such concocted allegations. The government, this one
and all previous ones, failed to take immediate and deterring action against those
responsible for committing.
The manner in which some people are beaten up, tortured and
humiliated on charges of witchcraft reminds one of the medieval times in Europe when
alleged witches were burnt. Europe would not have been able to record the kind of
developments, both physical and more importantly human, if such superstitious beliefs had
prevailed. The one factor responsible for driving away such superstitious beliefs is
education. The government has not been spending enough on this sector to attract good and
competent teachers and also to attract the people of all ages to this area. While it would
be wrong to say that nothing at all has been done to spread education in the country, it
must be admitted that the government could have much more. Health and education are two
sectors that can revolutionise society, and the government would do well to realise that
money spent on these areas are the best investment that the country can make. While
deterring punishment for those responsible for beating and torturing people on charges of
witchcraft is no doubt needed, the fact is that there is a need to bring about attitudinal
changes among the people. The government, social service organisations as well as
political parties would do well to contribute what they can to bring about this change in
the mind set of the people. This is a big and challenging task but one that must be
undertaken if we are not to suffer the shame and humiliation that was heaved on us by the
so-called witchcraft incident. |
