Terrorism In The US
Deplorable From All Sides

By Gandhi Raj Kafle

PLANE hijackings, bomb attacks, assassination of leaders and killings of innocent people are all heinous crimes of terrorism. These evil acts are not expected to be done by rational men as they have always loved peace development and prosperity. Yet, it’s sad to note that some people are found to be engaged in the deadly crimes knowingly or unknowingly and their number seems to be increasing. This is apparently a matter of concern for the whole world.

As the terrorism is a common problem, the world needs to unite for fighting it. However, to reduce or eliminate terrorism meaningfully can be expected when terrorists themselves convert their heart to do good works for the society. But, is it possible? Will they be good enough to forget all the evil thoughts and deeds, which they have been committing to fulfill their sadistic dreams by terrorising innocent people and society? Certainly, the process may be slow and long, but it’s not all impossible. Good people should make efforts continuously to bring evil men to the right track.

Today the scourge of terrorism is hitting hard. For example, one can see what happened in the United States of America, the only super power of the world. The hijackers’ suicide plane attacks and the immediate devastation of the twin skyscrappers of the World Trade Centre in New York are unimaginable crimes of massive scale to have stunned the whole world in recent times.

What terrorists gained from it? The preliminary statistics coming from America show that over 6800 innocent people are feared dead, the two 110-storey buildings widely acclaimed as the wonder of all wonders are devastated, the people terrorised and the world shocked. Is this terrorists’ gain? No, not at all. Everybody is losing peace, which in true sense is a loss of success of all the successes.

Terrorism from humanitarian point of view is highly condemnable. The loss and tragedy are not limited. The damage and devastation to national and international economy too are equally severe, irrepearable and worthlessly burdensome. How much cost does the US need to reconstrct similar twin tower for the office of the World Trade Centre? The World’s trade heart received a serious wound from terrorists’ shocking attacks. The transactions, the liabilities, the record, the customers’ faith, the trade development strategy, enterprising people’s commercial vision and the world famous companies’ long term business interest came into chaos with devastation of the World Trade Centre in the US. As such, it’s shocking economically too.

In fact, terrorism leaves economy in double trouble. First, it devastates the very foundation of smoothly running economic structure by damaging the investment. Secondly, the world faces Herculian task of reconstruction which requires unimaginable amount of money to manage the damage impact. Furthermore, it may invite series of economic upheavels, which can cause a livelihood crisis for people in low income group. In essence, to reconstruct a devastated economy is very difficult. The world has already experienced worst case of such trouble in the first and second World Wars.

In fact, no one benefits from terrorism. In reality , it boomrangs on terrorists too because they complicate problems following a wrong path to find solution. History in itself is a proof, they have not succeeded in the past too and the trouble is that they seem to be reluctant to learn a lesson from it. That’s why terrorism is rising and the world is in tension. And, the most difficult part of the problem in it is that the terrorism never shows its ugly face openly. It could be known only when it occurs. But the problem is the battle against terrorism, which generally gets launched by governments, have to be fought openly As a result the terrorists have gained from it.

While the world is aggrieved for the loss of lives and property in the US, Nepal, a peace loving country in the South Asia, too is expressing its deepest sense of condolences for it. In fact, Nepal, be it at the United Nations’ forums or regional conferences, be it at bilateral talks or national conferences, has been always standing firm against terrorism. The country’s stand against terrorism has also been acclaimed time and again by the world community.

Nepal’s concern for peace is for creating development friendly atmosphere. Which will help to achieve multi-dimensional progress of society. Whatever we gained from decades of struggle for socio-economic development, we can lose it all if society is disturbed in the absence of peace. Factories may face closure, industries may stop production, commercial activities may come to halt reflecting the symtoms of economic stagnation.

Therefore, the government of Nepal in an immediate reaction to stunning attacks in the US, has expressed its unflinching support in fight against terrorism. Not only the government, almost all the political parties, Human Rights organisations, academic institutions and the people too have expressed similar concern. This is spontaneous moral support seen in Nepal against terrorism, the world’s one of the strong enemies to development.

But, the enemy once recognised should not be freed. And, perhaps the world will not do it because it is uniting to fight against terrorism. However, one concern about it is that an extra care and precaution have to be adopted while launching action because enemies are hidden and nature of terrorist actions are secret. Innocent people have to be saved and fight against terrorism has to be emboldened. This is the goodwill of the people of the 21st century in which Nepal too wants to reflect its full support for saving the national economy from hazards of terrorism.

Let’s Celebrate Dashain Outside Kathmandu

By Shirish B. Pradhan

MANY of Kathman-duites might have grown older without crossing Thankot, the major road-links between the capital city and other parts of the country. They do hardly venture to go for a short trek or rafting or for a jungle walk. Some people might have got fear of flying, others might suffer from high altitude sickness, while still others might have got home-sickness, which prevent them from going outside the metropolitan city.

If you ask the city dwellers what they would prefer to do during the Dashain holiday, they would rather choose to play cards, fly kites or watch movies than visit places outside Kathmandu like Jomsom, Antudanda or Lo-manthang. If we conduct a survey on how many Nepalese people have seen wildlife other than in the zoo or touched snow, the result would be amazing. Most of the Nepalese people have possibly not experienced these things. Some people might have seen snow at Phulchowki or Shivapuri around Kathmandu during the winter season. But the average Nepalese people have never gone even to the Everest or the Annapurna Base Camp.

Now-a-days those visiting Royal Chitawan National Park are growing in number, thanks to the Visit Nepal Year 1998, which helped, to some extent, to create awareness about Nepal’s natural heritage among its own people. But Places like Bardia, Shuklaphanta or Manaslu region have hardly attracted any indigenous visitor. While encountering any foreign visitor we are ashamed to tell them that we have never touched snow, encountered any wild animal, gone for trekking or enjoyed white water rafting.

Visitors from Europe and come all the way to our Himalayan Kingdom crossing oceans, deserts and mountains to see and feel the lofty mountains, rare wildlife species and scenic beauty. But we are neglecting these natural treasures, which our country has in abundance.

We do have long holidays during Dashain and Tihar, which can be utilised by organizing small treks, one or two night outings in places like Dhulikel, Panauti, Manakamana or Namo-buddha. Students have at least two weeks holidays during Dashain and the government offices are closed for one week. So we have sufficient time to enjoy the scenic beauty of our country. Instead of going to discotheque or nightclub or visiting dance restaurants, the youths of Kathmandu would have lots of fun if they chose to visit places outside Kathmandu to celebrate their Dashain.

During Dashain we usually end up playing cards at home, visiting a few temples, eating and drinking to celebrate the occasion in a regular manner. Let’s have some change this time and celebrate Dashain outside Kathmandu, which you will never forget all your life. This way we can also promote domestic tourism, the concept we have not been much acquainted with.

In fact, promoting domestic tourism may to some extent help our tourism industry recover from its present chaotic condition. Our tourism industry is entirely dependent on foreign visitors, but now it is a high time to make it less dependent on foreign visitors. Although we cannot promote our tourism without having foreign visitors in country, we can at least lessen our suffering if we can introduce attractive domestic packages to our own nationals. Special room prices, discounts on food and beverage, discounts on air tickets can be worked out during off-seasons to lure domestic visitors.

Now there is a growing number of domestic airlines coming into operation in the country. Why don’t we take the benefit of the domestic air services to develop attractive packages and encourage Nepalese people to experience the beauty of their own country and to have a glimpse of their own culture and tradition.