TADA For Peace

WHEN the Terrorist and Disruptive Act (TADA) (Control and Punishment) bill was passed by the State Affairs Committee of the parliament on Wednesday after an extensive three-day debate, it was a foregone conclusion that the bill would turn into an Act Thursday. That happened when the House of Representatives, with a majority of votes, endorsed the bill that replaces the ordinance issued in November. The now-passed bill is an improved version on the original proposal, and now includes legitimate concerns of members of parliament from across the political lines. Several important changes were incorporated on advice from many members of parliament before it was put to the table for vote. With the TADA now in place, it is the duty of all the political parties to allow the government to implement the Act in letter and spirit. Not only that, the political parties have to rally around the government to make sure that TADA is implemented well with the singular objective of restoring law and order in the country which has seen destructive and murderous activities of the Maoists continuing with no let-up.

The fact that TADA has a life-span of only two years is a reflection of the attitude of the government that it does not favour keeping in place a tool for fighting terrorism for a longer time than is necessary. Similarly, many provisions of TADA ensure that it is basically targeted only at terrorists and not to anyone else. As Minister for Physical Planning, Construction and Works Chiranjibi Wagle said before the vote, the bill would cause no harm whatsoever to the people’s representatives, political parties and people respecting the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal. The Act was necessary to, as he put it, tame the Maoists and to save the lives and property of the people. The Act also allows compensation for victims of either security forces or Maoists. The fact that the Act provides for the formation of a committee headed by a former justice of the Supreme Court to hear the grievances of the victims signals the government’s desire to ensure that human rights of the common people do not come under the crossfire of the battle against terrorism. As to the debate on whether it was necessary or not, what all Nepalese should understand is that TADA is born of the circumstances we are all living in now. For the government, which is pressing into service a huge amount of manpower and other resources to fight the terror, TADA gives it a tool to conduct the task more effectively and restore law and order. In other words, TADA is weapon for peace.

Back On Mission

NEPAL has eight of the world’s top ten mountains, including Mt. Everest – the highest peak. These mountains and hundreds of others that spread across the Kingdom’s northern parts have proven themselves as a viable source to earn foreign currency. The mountains are Nepal’s pride in that they sustain Nepal’s tourism industry, which takes a significant share from mountaineering. Since Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Mt Everest in early 1950s, Nepal’s challenging mountains have lured thousands of expeditionists from around the globe. Each feat achieved by a fellow human being inspires the other, which in turn continues to encourage one after another. Nepal opened her mountains for trekking and trekkers and adventure seekers from all five coninents began to throng the mountains in large numbers. The encouraging flow of expeditionists fetched foreign currencies that Nepal needed most, but the euphoria soon began to evaporate as heaps of garbage lay strewn from trails to the tops. These very empty tin cans and other used gadgets that the trekkers left behind while descending began to turn others away and create pressure/misbalance on the mountain ecology. Garbage-on-the-mountains drew attention of the global community and Nepal, which began to collaborate and expedite clean-up campaigns.

In the past the government has made it mandatory that the trekkers bring back their gadgets. This has definitely reduced the level of pollution in the mountains, but there is an urgent need for massive campaigns to clean the garbage that remained accumulated for over decades. Mountain lovers from around the globe have been extending their cooperation to clean different mountains in the recent years. One such attempt is being made by a group of mountaineers led by a young Japanese, who earlier led a cleaning campaign to the world’s tallest peak. The Noguchi team is back on its mission again with South Korean and Georgian mountaineers – this time to clean Mt. Lhotse, a task that he thought he would accomplish. The lovers of our mountains should be thanked sincerely for sharing our work, particularly for resolving to take the garbage to their countries. This definitely will create awareness at the international level about the alarming rate of pollution in mountains, and hopefully, draw global attention to do something to keep Nepal’s young mountains from garbage. All Nepalese should thank Noguchi and his team mates and the support team that consists of world renowned Nepalese Shrepas.