‘Cease-fire’ and after

By RAM SHARAN MAHAT

The most positive side of the national scenario after the so-called ceasefire between the government and the Maoists is obviously the relief from violence, notwithstanding cases of kidnapping, intimidation and extortion which still continue in parts of the country side. Even more important is the eagerness of the Maoists to join the national mainstream, which is apparent from the manner in which they are sending their emissaries to political leaders as part of the confidence building exercise.

Meanwhile, political forces - particularly the Maoists and the government - are at work to maneuver the present fluid situation in their favour. The government appears to be trying to prolong the present transition period as much as possible to prolong its own life. The Prime Minister has expressed his wish to handover the reign-of-power to the elected government as soon as possible, making it clear in no uncertain term that he does not favour another interim government. If Minister Pun is to be believed, the peace process which involves numerous steps including finalisation of the code of conduct, ‘goodwill’ talks, preparation for the round-table meeting, the round-table meeting and peace talks could take a year and more.

The Maoists have deftly manipulated the situation substantially to their advantage already. The government readily accepted their three demands even before the beginning of formal talks. By promptly announcing a fairly representative and inclusive negotiating team and starting a strong public relations exercise, they have succeeded in sending a positive message. By making the government accept their three demands even before the start of peace talks, they are coming over-ground to expand their organisation and mobilise people to their strategies objectives without any fear of arrests or any action for their past acts. Encouraged by their initial success in the bargain vis-a-vis a weak government, they have come up with more demands such as release of their comrades behind bars under various charges, repeal of the anti-subversion and terrorism act and confining the army to their barracks. It is their intention to treat the areas wherefrom the security forces withdrew presence in the wake of organised Maoists attacks in the isolated countryside as their ‘areas of influence’ and expect the government to recognise that. Obviously, they want to delimit the national character of the present government and its security forces carving out therefrom a space for themselves. It is as if the whole country is divided into two parts—one controlled by the government and the other controlled by the rebels. For them it is a negotiation between two ‘governments’ backed by military strength. This probably explains the delay in the finalisation of the code of conduct.

The problem is inherent in the specific nature of the present situation itself. The political forces and parties who are familiar with the intricacies of the power game and receive direct feedback from their grass-root workers are not directly or indirectly involved in the present process. When negotiation takes place between a weak government without popular support (and whose constitutional states itself is questionable) and a highly organised and clever entity as the Maoists, the outcome is predicable. Events subsequent to the ‘cease-fire’ have already shown that.

The most intriguing side of the present drama is the complete neglect of the interest of those who have been the principal victims of the politics of violence of the last seven years. I mean those people in the countryside who were not part of any side of the conflict -the Maoists or the security forces- but suffered the most. The widows who lost their husbands and children, and those whose fathers and sons were slaughtered in front of their eyes, people with broken legs and amputated arms— victims of the so-called Janakarbahi, people whose houses were looted and burnt and forced to leave their villages, and so on. Those who did not leave their villages were forced to pay protection money. This remains the reality even now.

The government, however, seems unconcerned about their plights. The voice of political parties has not been strong, although they themselves have been part of the victims. Even the civil society and human rights organisations have remained silent spectators. One question: Are the people now free to lead peaceful life and enjoy freedom guaranteed by law. Can the people—the social workers, teachers and local leaders who were forced to leave the country side because of their social status and leadership position—go back to their village to lead a normal life from now onward without fear for their life and property? Is the country life free from extortion and intimidation? Unfortunately, the elitist view prevailing in the country does not reflect the real situation of the rural areas where one hardly sees improvement in the situation except the absence of selected annihilation and brutal physical attacks on individuals. Is the state not responsible for guaranteeing the freedom of its citizens, at least, after the declaration of the cease-fire? Why did it not form part of the initial package when the government met the Maoists demands but did not insist on anything in return?

The fundamental reality is there will be no peace atmosphere as long as the Maoists continue to hold arms, which remain the source of terror and intimation. It is for this reason, the displaced group of political workers, social activists, teachers and other local leaders have not returned homes, despite the declaration of the cease-fire. Activities of political parties have not extended beyond the district headquarters. A fair and healthy political competition between armed and unnamed groups is impossible anytime, anywhere. After the cease-fire, the Maoists have been free to build their organisation openly and mobilise people without giving up arms. This remains the irony of the whole situation. The proposed code of conduct may not allow the rebels to show arms in public places, but maintaining and enforcing the same is impossible given Nepal’s geographical condition, and highly dispersed settlements.

Another interesting casualty of the present political development has been the neglect of the Constitution which remains the fundamental law of the land even at present. As the constitutional status of the present government itself is questionable, few people would except it to be serious about constitutional provisions. As for the Maoists, the whole purpose of their movement is to destroy the present Constitution. For them, the legitimacy of their violent methods will be established only after the formal demise of the present Constitution. It is for this reason that they are insisting on a constituent assembly to formulate a new constitution, although the end product could be created even with suitable amendments to the present constitution. The formal abrogation of the Constitution will formalise their victory and legitimacy of the method used which eventually will reinforce their case to lead an interim government which goes naturally to the victorious party. They have also no use for the restoration of the House of Representatives demanded by Nepali Congress and some other parties, as the proposed round-table conference will work as the future legislative body. Under such circumstances., the political parties who have faith in the present Constitution should have been committed to making it work through scrupulous implementation of its fundamental provisions for which the existence of the House of Representatives is a pre-requisite. Any deviation from this will only open the door for further breaches which ultimately will render the Constitution irrelevant.

(The author is former Finance Minister)

All in a wallet !

By SARITA BAHETY

When I was a kid I used to carry a few notes of two and five in my pocket for buying chocolates, biscuits, chips and other such routine tit bits. Keeping even the smallest denomination of cash in the school bag was not considered safe. Myself not being so careful to take the remaining notes out before dumping them for cleaning, it was not unusual for mummy to find a soiled note or two from the pockets of school uniform during the washing session at the week ends. It irritated her a lot. And one find day, she presented me with a cute wallet. Then I began tucking in my pocket money in it and that remained my faithful companion for my entire schooling life.

Unlike me, the size of the wallet remained constant, but expectedly the expenses spiraled up. And so when I entered the college I really found it difficult to accommodate my so-called pocket money in it. "Hmm so time to get a new one!" After looking for the stuff at nearly half a dozen shops, I finally settled for one- a bigger variety. Till this life seemed fine. Now I was proudly using my moneybag that I termed as a very sensible and practical choice as against the trendy small and sleek types.

As I advanced through the state of college, the contents to be squeezed in the case doubled up. Like now I needed to secure my college ID, library card and even the bus pass in it. The driving license had to be invariably put in there lest the cops of the valley might catch you.

When you go for shopping, at the end of purchase you insist the shopkeeper to give you the bill, which otherwise s/he will conveniently forget to hand over after promptly stashing the cash in the drawer. So where do you keep invoice which you got after much insistence? And being a die-hard shopper (which I shamelessly admit!), my wallet’s state used to become really pathetic with all kind of colored bills flying out of it at the end of every shopping spree.

It seemed that the contents of the money pouch were to increase beyond any control. For now, whether I go to a dental clinic or an eye hospital, everywhere they have started the system of issuing plastic protected pocket sized cards with your details on it. And for every visit you are required to show them at the counter so that they could take out the right file of yours. Then where should you keep them, obviously in the wallet so that it’s really handy because you never know when you may be required to use it.

The list doesn’t stop here. Whenever I happen to meet new people, after preliminary exchange of pleasantries, quite often they hand over their visiting cards. After seriously studying it, again there would be problem of housing it! At that moment the most convenient place to tuck it would be—no prizes for guessing this—the wallet of course!

At this stage when I am out of college and have got a job, the most lucrative piece under my possession would be an ATM card so that I can draw my money any time. Don’t ask me where it finds its room—in the wallet, where else!

Now its time I sit for a spring-cleaning of the already overloaded leather case— so that I can welcome a new entrant- the Credit card!

NAM : A dismal balance sheet

By M R JOSSE

As expected, the 13th summit of the non-aligned movement (NAM) has underscored, once again, that despite all the brave talk of ‘revitalising’ the movement it is still long on rhetoric but awfully short on action vis-a-vis key global problems.

For example, one has only to recall that while for years Palestine has figured in the NAM agenda that has not to date translated into material support for the Palestinian cause. They have, in fact, depended more on the European Union than the oil-rich Arab nations to sustain the Palestinian Authority.

KUALA LUMPUR

In any case, the balance sheet of the Kuala Lumpur summit, timed with an imminent war over Iraq is a dismal one. That should be abundantly clear from NAM’s stance on three cardinal issues – Iraq, terrorism and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons – on its agenda.

While the summit of 116 developing nations predictably issued a call to give Iraq more time to disarm, after the Iraqi vice-president vowed cooperation with UN inspectors, it has been unable to translate that appeal into any meaningful or concrete form.

Thus, as Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ruefully observed, the NAM consensus on Iraq has not helped in changing the US resolve by even an iota in that regard. Similarly, Vajpayee’s rhetorical questions – Why is it so many nations have gathered here? Is it to feel safe in a crowd – are also revealing.

They strongly hint that NAM has, post-Cold War, degenerated into a club of nations, or a high visibility but cantankerous debating society, providing members no more than a sense of safety through numbers.

One might also take cognizance that despite the NAM stance on Iraq, many NAM members have already extended active support for the impending US-led military campaign against Iraq, a founding member of the movement!

NAM’s shortcomings in today’s unipolar world are manifest equally on the burning or topical global challenge of containing the scourge of terrorism. Indeed, seething animosities between member states were manifest early on over differences between a freedom fighter and a terrorist.

Thus, the NAM statement on terrorism, largely authored by India, was stalled on the eve of the summit. India had proposed a phrase referring to the rejection of "state sponsored terrorism" an apparent reference to its charge that Islamabad supports Kashmir separatists. Pakistan, joined Ecuador, Egypt and Jordan in rejecting "recent attempts to equate freedom movements for the right of self-determination" with terrorism.

No wonder that, at the end, in the NAM declaration leaders blandly agreed that "the most recent terrorist attacks confirm that international cooperation against terrorism will remain a long-term effort and required a sustained universal commitment In that context, they condemned and discouraged any tendency to target specific religions, cultures and nations."

On another plane, it may be recalled that NAM has been unable to contribute to a resolution of the Kashmir question that has been dividing the two member states for longer than NAM’s entire history. At Kuala Lumpur, it thus stood impotent as Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and Vajpayee engaged in an embarrassing and embittered verbal duel over an issue inextricably linked to differing versions on the definition of terrorism.

SLAP ON FACE

Early on, as AFP reported, it was evident that an attempt by Pyongyang to blame the crises over its nuclear weapons programme on the United States met stiff resistance with several members urging North Korea to instead reverse its decision to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

NAM, instead, received a resounding slap on its face when its attempt to send a strong message of peace and disarmament by pulling North Korea back from its nuclear standoff with the United States was undermined when Pyongyang provocatively test-fired a missile into the Sea of Japan. NAM has been totally unable to do a thing about it.

That, of course, serves as a brilliant illustration that NAM today continues to be largely irrelevant, even as the big boys – or should it be the bully boys? – of the movement continue to lecture upon the virtues of restraint and peace but do not always practice what they preach. Is it necessary to provide any examples?

Admittedly, a nasty standoff between North Korea and South Korea or even Japan – a la India and Pakistan – did not take ensue in the Malaysian capital. That, however, was for the simple reason that South Korea and Japan are not members of NAM, a movement that, despite its lack of a relevant overarching doctrine in the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world today continues to attract new members merely because, like the Everest, it is there!

Moving on to another area of stock-taking, it is educative to note that NAM routinely repeats an appeal for the rich nations to write off debts of least developing nations and to enhance ODA contributions to a United Nations target of 0.7 percent of gross national product annually, without any matching gestures from the well-heeled among NAM’s membership.

Indeed, the reality of international life is such that the poorer nations within the NAM fold, including Nepal, get far more assistance from the non non-aligned nations of the world than from their NAM colleagues. In fact, whatever aid does come from one NAM to another NAM member comes on a bilateral basis and is not NAM-related.

NEPAL AT NAM

In Kuala Lumpur Nepal played a low-key role eminently suitable for the persona of Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand who heads a caretaker, not an elected, government. Such a posture is understandable given also Nepal’s abject and continuing dependence on the goodwill of the international donor community not merely for financial or technical largess but, to cite one example, for alleviating the plight of the Bhutanese refugee population in the country.

Another example could be in the rehabilitation of those victimised or uprooted during the past seven years of the "Jana Yuddha" in endeavour in which NAM, of course, would simply not figure. In any case, while enthusing about the revitalisation of NAM it will be salutary to remind ourselves that NAM did fiddlesticks when Nepal was subjected to an Indian economic blockade a little more than a decade ago.

Naturally, obligatory noises such as "NAM can still play an important role in promoting the interest of the developing countries" were made. (As if the same cannot be pursued though the Group of 77 that also includes a bunch of developing countries that are not NAM members, including such crucially important states as China!)

Naturally, too, Nepal’s voice on Iraq was appropriately muted to "we cannot justify the use of force until there is a way out for a peaceful solution" underlining that in today’s unipolar world it is no longer possible to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds.

As far as I can see, for Nepal, Kuala Lumpur enabled the prime minister to make useful contacts with a number of world leaders, besides facilitating the setting up of an embassy there, now considered essential given that some 100,000 Nepalese make a living in Malaysia. Incidentally, it was followed by RNAC flights to Kuala Lumpur from March 1.

All in all, NAM’s future, or vitality, is far from scintillating.

Talent identification
A tall order

SUMAN MALLA

Talent... it’s a word we here so often in sport. Whether it be parents, coaches, other athletes or whoever, someone is always telling other that he or she is talented or has heaps of natural ability.

However, within the word underlies an involving question to coaches and sporting organisation: how to identify the talented athletes most likely to succeed in their sport?

History suggests, a few Eastern European countries tried to find the answer through Talent Identification (TID) as early as the late 1960s to draw an edge amid growing competition and an overall improvement in quality of performance in sporting events.

Although the method is far from perfect, it does offer athletes, coaches and sporting organisations an opportunity to identify talent and direct it towards the sport, which he or she is most suited. And soon, many countries followed suit in a bid to excel in high-level international competitions.

The Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) attempted to have a similar system in place to search for sporting talent in country’s young people. The talent identification programme, launched last September in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Sports and National Sports Council (NSC), has the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Designed in the lines of sport regimes practiced in former East Germany, the programme has linked talent identification to the schooling system with an objective to prepare talented young athletes of under-14 for participation in domestic, national and eventually international competition.

While involvement of schools in the programme may look impressive, it is doubtful if it would bring about desired results. It was all that simple to launch the project, thanks to IOC funds. However, considering the staggering nature of the programme, it is debatable if country like Nepal could get on with it.

The confusing state of "Special Sports Training Project" portrays one fine example of going about an ambitious programme without any specific strategy. There has hardly been any news on the state of the project since it was launched by NSC four years ago at Little Angels’ School. As NSC has launched an inquiry on the project, it should consider the future of those young people before reaching any decision.

It would require a concerted effort of the Ministry for Education and Sports, NOC and NSC for the successful running of the talent identification and development of its networks. While any assistance from organisations abroad will be crucial, what the ministry could do is to enforce compulsory physical education in schools that would simplify the jobs of NOC and NSC in early identification of sports talent. Above everything else, it would alleviate some of the cost involved in the project.

Again, it could be argued that competition itself might very well be the best form of talent identification, with competition seeing the best or most talented athletes rise to the top in their chosen sport.

In years gone by, and still in western countries, an individuals participation in a particular sport might well be determined by such factors as "tradition, ideals, desire to take part in a sport according to its popularity, parental pressure, the proximity of sport facilities, etc."

This system can lead to the more popular sports in a particular country having a plentiful supply of athletes, like football, cricket in the context of Nepal, while the lower profile sports struggle for participants. But as many experts would point out, hoping that individuals have chosen the sport that they are best suited to, and waiting for talented individuals to identify themselves through competition, is not good enough for modern sport.

Instead, with the aid of sport scientists, many countries and individual sports within countries have developed specific methods to identify talented individuals, and help those individuals choose the sport that is best suited to their abilities. That would be advantageous to coaches helping them focusing on athletes with higher levels of talent and abilities for their particular sport. Talent identification also allows countries to get the best from its limited sporting resources.

Another factor limiting talent identification is the fact that it is extremely difficult to reliably predict future development of an athlete when identification is carried out at a young age.

Before implementing talent identification programs, countries and individual sport associations need to undertake thorough examinations of the specific factors such as physiology, psychology, heredity and sociological that influence performance in a particular sport.

Talent identification in this phase needs to be very sport specific and painstaking. With particular attention paid to the athletes’ health, physiological adaptation to training and their potential for further improvement.

It is clear that talent identification is a diverse subject that is not easily summed up.

At the same time talent identification programs need to be scientifically based and assessment should be continuous rather than being done only once. It is not just a matter of discovering new talent but redirecting that talent into other sports where it is better placed for success.

If we could get a system in place that shares talent between sports, that really would do a world of good.

Prevent ploy that favours few

BEENA KHAREL

Once again, plans are reportedly afoot to make some changes in the Civil Service Act (2049). The cabinet has reportedly referred the amendment draft to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for further scrutiny and possible "refinement." In what appears to be a counter-move, Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala is believed to have taken a tough stance on the issue, ostensibly with a view to rule out "discretionary power" that can sack civil servants at the stroke of a pen.

Undoubtedly, the later development in both quarters—the one headed by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand and the other by Koirala— has brought to the fore all that is rotten in the bureaucratic circle.

Less noise and more constructive debate—stretching from streamlining the recruitment procedures to efficiency enhancement— should have been the major concern.

The issue that Koirala is supposed to have raised sounds logical. Whether he or/and others in bureaucracy were not beneficiaries of political patronage for advancing their career is another matter. There are other more pertinent points at this moment. Once again, there’s a bid to revise retirement age and promotion criteria and to extend the tenure of secretaries.

The 1992 Nepali Congress (NC) government headed by Girija Prasad Koirala sowed the seeds of blatant politicisation of bureaucracy and public corporations. Provisions were made for more than one enforced exit points for civil servants. The retirement age of 60 years was reduced to 58; 30-year was set for automatic retirement and a "discretionary method" was applied in dismissing those completing 20 years of service. Such spurious provisions mechanised the gross misuse of power.

Many bureaucrats who sought and proceeded political patronage benefited immediately. Quick promotions followed. Bureaucrats hobnobbed for political patronage. Previously, such quick promotions were rare. And in the future, too, such occurrences are likely to remain rare because quick promotion means quick retirement of the "young and dynamic", elevated to the post of secretary.

Some of the dismissed bureaucrats (the victims of "discretionary method") did not sit idle. They moved the Supreme Court, and were subsequently reinstated. As the court took sometime to give its decision, some of the petitioners had already passed the age of 58 or completed 30 years in service by the time the verdict came out. Those who had not, returned to the posts with new-found confidence in themselves.

The discretionary method was judged unfair. And NC had to pay a high price for using the discretionary power too generously. The 1994 general elections showed it all. The party that had "successfully" led the democratic movement was shunted out of power, having lost a majority in parliament. Whereas it had to satisfy itself as the second largest parliamentary party, the CPN-UML increased its parliamentary strength by 30 per cent, thus becoming the single largest party.

Again, some bureaucrats want to benefit by raising the retirement age to 60, just as they had benefited by multiple exit procedures. The Chief Secretary’s tenure is expected to be extended to four years and that of secretaries to seven years. The nearer they come to the retirement age or end of the tenure, bureaucrats in top notches get edgy and concentrate their energy on changing the provisions.

Rules should not be rewritten simply to suit the personal interest of a few so that the "stamp system" is retained and strengthened. Whenever a proposal for making amendments to the Act is put forward, people become sceptical. The whole exercise is interpreted as a ploy to serve the top few of the bureaucracy whose sole motive is to extend the duration of their stay in office.

Promotional procedures are also subject to frequent twisting and turning along the lines drawn by the government. The politicisation of the corporate sector is even worse. Lower echelons are in a mess, but they get hardly any attention. Such practices have encouraged corruption.

The notion of clean and efficient administration has been confined to the pages of the Act alone. Some of the civil servants never honoured the norms and values while discharging their responsibility.

Instead of climbing the ladder of bureaucracy on the strength of merit, civil servants went amok, knocking the doors of the big and mighty. Some climbed the ladder all too quick and still craved for the top. Some failed to receive "blessings" and stayed on one plank forever. Those tasting quick success were intoxicated, whereas the frustrated lot poured their frustration on day-to-day civil services. Either way, the loser is the country’s public administration system that is bogged down in such a complicated bungling that only a massive overhaul and cleansing can straighten things.

Civil servants’ unions add to the mess. There are more than two civil servants’ "organisation" and "association." Since politicisation is a reality in their functioning, there is no room for law taking its own course. The proposed draft also focuses on banning the civil servants’ unions.

Public Service Commission

Women’s presence and participation in civil services is visibly thin. For decades, their presence has been seen as a mere token. This holds true in secretary, graduate and non-graduate levels.

After hearing the media spell out the names of women who have made their mark in academic institutions, no one would dare say that there is a dearth of women with impressive academic credentials. One simply wonders where SLC and campus toppers, and First Division holders in various streams disappear. Not that all are expected to make it to public services, but number-wise women are still under-represented.

In the course of identifying the wrongs that have led to the under-representation of women, the Public Service Commission should start with the mechanism set up for conducting Public Service exams. A new and imaginative method of holding and evaluating exams needs to be charted so that the maximum number of women candidates will get an opportunity to sit for the exam and perform well on their "own."

Tens of thousands of graduates and post-graduates are spread across the country, not just in the Kathmandu Valley. Special academic forces are to be deployed in different parts of the country to train and encourage women’s participation in public administration. This will help in making it more representative than what it is today.

Heart to heart

Manish Gautam

For the last ten years he has been frequenting Nepal. Every time he comes here, he seizes the opportunity to provide free medical services to people. And it doesn’t matter whether it is a hospital room or his hotel room. He has arrived yet again, last week, and more than a hundred patients benefited from his services, all ordinary people.

Dr M C Manchanda is deeply in love with this mountainous country. He is well versed in the health situation of Nepal. The doctor is the Indian government’s advisor to the Bir Hospital expansion project, Nepal’s oldest hospital and B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. When asked to pick a name of someone who raised a significant voice for improving the country’s health sector, he immediately remembers P L Singh. "I met him while I was treating the late Ganesh Man Singh for health problems," reminisces Manchanda.

The doctor has made significant contributions in Nepal’s first government hospital for cardiac illnesses, Shahid Ganga Lal Hospital. The hospital has facilities to treat all kinds of heart illnesses. In the first three years of operations, 308 open and 80 close heart surgeries were conducted in the hospital.

Dr Manchanda is considered to be one of the best cardiac specialists in South Asia. Many cardiac specialists in Nepal, some of the earlier generation and many of the new generation are his students. While he was in the cardiology department of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, he disseminated his valuable knowledge and expertise to many Nepali doctors.

In the four decades of experience in cardiac care, he has minutely studied the nooks and crannies of Nepali hearts, though they were dicky. Among them, many were ordinary folks who were from poor economic backgrounds. According to him, developing countries, especially South Asia, is in acute danger of being plagued with cardiac problems. The rural people and those living a life of deprivation are more vulnerable, he says.

While cardiac complications are on the rise and the treatment is becoming more and more unaffordable, the doctor has been able to establish a quite unique belief. He has tied up cardiac health with spiritual health. He has scientifically proven that spiritual endeavors, yoga and balanced life are contributive to cardiac health. For the last ten years, AIIMS has been using yoga to treat cardiac patients.

The doctor maintains that it is possible to make treatment of cardiac diseases more affordable. "Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice. This concept should be promoted in Nepal as well for reducing heart diseases," he says. The doctor holds the radical changes in lifestyle as responsible for the rise in cardiac problems.

"To prevent heart complications, it is essential to control negative thoughts," he says. More than 20,000 heart patients have been cured of the illnesses after doing spiritual meditation and yoga, he claims. "This is the best way to guard from lifestyle diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, brain hemorrhage, and cancer."

South Asia has been hit hard by cardiac health problems owing to drastic changes in lifestyle—use of nicotine, lack of physical exercise and high stress levels. Nepal is no exception. The heart problems were earlier witnessed among the upper and middle class in Nepal. However, it is now rampant among the poor and has been identified as one of the major causes of premature death and disability.

The entry and expansion of the private sector will not benefit the poor, reasons Dr Manchanda. "The government sector should be expanded more," he says. He is the person to have advised to form an ‘emergency health service’ in the Bir Hospital expansion project. "This hospital is the lifeline for the poor in Nepal. It is sad that the project has not made any headway despite the commitment from the government," he adds.

If the nation could provide quality cardiac health services in the nation, Nepali citizens would not go abroad for treatment. Rather, foreign patients would come to Nepal for treatment. Around 75 per cent heart patients from Nepal go to India and other countries for treatment. On average, a patient ends up paying about two hundred thousand rupees for getting cardiac treatment in India, exclusive of accommodation, food and transportation expenses.

Dr Manchanda, who is the former head of department of cardiology, AIIMS, is currently the president of Metro Heart Institute. Apart from being a personal doctor of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, he boasts of a horde of illustrious clients, including many famous politicians of Nepal.

Though he is close to influential politicians of both India and Nepal, he declines to comment on the political relationship of the two nations. "Politics cannot bar science and technology. My main base is human sensitivities. No one can shake it," stresses the doctor.

Footprints of terror

AJAI SAHNI

On March 1, 2003, Khalid Sheikh   Mohammad, one of the primeplanners of the 9/11 attacks on the US, was arrested in Rawalpindi. The US authorities had been pursuing him at least since his 1995 involvement in the abortive ‘Operation Bojinka’ conspiracy to simultaneously blow up 12 American civilian airliners over the Pacific, in which he collaborated with his relative, Ramzi Yousef, who is currently serving a life sentence in America for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre. With a US $ 25 million reward on his head, this self proclaimed ‘head of Al Qaeda’s Military Committee’ and close associate of Osama bin Laden is certainly a major catch for the Americans. Within the context of the global war against terror, however, this is just another very small step forward.

To understand why, it is useful to look at some other incidents over the past weeks in Pakistan. On February 28, in the latest in a long series of sectarian killings, three persons from the minority Shia community were killed by unidentified attackers in Karachi. On the same day, two policemen guarding the American Consulate in Karachi were killed, when an unidentified gunman opened fire on the police picket near the consulate building. Five other police personnel and a civilian passer-by were also injured in this incident. On February 22, nine persons from the minority Shia community, including a seven year old boy, were killed, and seven others wounded by three motorcycle borne gunmen outside an Imambargah (mosque) in Karachi. On February 16, former legislator and Muttahida Quomi Mahaz - Altaf Hussain (MQM-A) central leader Khalid bin Waleed was shot dead and his associate and official gunman injured, again in Karachi.

Sheikh Mohammad’s arrest has integral links with these acts of terror, and the organisations that executed them. One of the primary organisations responsible for the targeted killings of minority groups and their leaders in Karachi is the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and it was after two members of this group were arrested and interrogated on information provided by some Shias from Gilgit in the Northern Areas that another LeJ terrorist was traced out in Quetta. It was this third LeJ operative who eventually disclosed that Sheikh Mohammad had been hiding out with him, but had escaped just before the raid. It was on his information that the residence of Ahmed Abdul Qadoos was raided in Rawalpindi, and Sheikh Mohammad was arrested. Sheikh Mohammad has had an extended association with the LeJ.

Sheikh Mohammad’s arrest, the succession of sectarian killings in Karachi, and the attacks on the US consulate are renewed evidence that terrorism is alive and well in Pakistan. These events need to be placed in the context of President Musharraf’s rather strident denials of Al Qaeda presence in the country, and claims that terrorists were not being allowed to operate from Pakistani soil. Sheikh Mohammad’s arrest, indeed, validates assertions that the Al Qaeda has substantially regrouped and relocated in Pakistan, and has been facilitated in this by a number of political and militant actors closely linked to state agencies. The arrest of Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, who is the son of a local Jamaat-e-Islami leader, and his quick defence by the Jamaat, bears this pattern out. The Jamaat is a major political force in the present establishment, and has long been an inspiration for a number of extremist militant affiliates.

President Musharraf’s showcase arrests of the leaders of banned terrorist groups, their subsequent release, and the continued operation of these groups under new names needs to be immediately revaluated, and pressure must be brought to bear on Pakistan to place effective curbs on the operation of these groups and connected individuals. It should be noted here that virtually all the groups supposedly ‘banned’ by Pakistan as terrorist organisations are now allowed to function with impunity under new names. Thus, for example, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) now operates as the ‘Pasban-e-Ahle-Hadith’; the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is ‘Al Furqan’; the Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irsahd is ‘Jamaat-ad-Dawa’; the Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan (TJP) is the ‘Tehrik-e-Islami’. Within the current circumstances in Pakistan, consequently, where the state actively tolerates, or even encourages and supports, certain patterns of terrorism, it is not possible to effectively control others. There is an ethos of terrorism, and this has enormously facilitated the relocation of the Al Qaeda in this country.

It is useful to notice, also, that the footprints of virtually every major act of international terrorism in the world in recent years pass inevitably through this country, and it is precisely this ‘ethos of terrorism’ that makes it the crucial link in the inexorable growth of global terror.

There are many who believe that Sheikh Mohammad’s arrest constitutes a ‘major blow’ to bin Laden and the Al Qaeda. At one level, this is certainly the case: the loss of a top operative inevitably inflicts some damage on the operational capabilities of an organisation. But such losses are far from crippling - as the death of Mohammad Atef and the arrests of Abu Zubaidah and Ramzi Binalshibh have already demonstrated.

Indeed, with the tens of thousands who have been trained by the Taliban - Al Qaeda - Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) combine in camps along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border for over a decade, the ‘sacrifice’ of a few operatives is not only easily absorbed, it is a necessary input in the development of the organisation.

The fact is, the Al Qaeda and the Islamist terrorist Internationale has immensely evolved since 9/11. A continuing succession of terrorist strikes, including a string of incidents in Pakistan, the attacks in Bali and Mombasa, as well as continuous pre-emptive arrests across Europe and America are testimony to the crystallisation of a truly decentralised, hydra-headed operation which will continue to flourish as long as it retains its seeding grounds and safe havens in nation states where the culture of violence and the ideologies of terror are supported by the state structure and a powerful social and political establishment.

(South Asia Intelligence Review)