Unity A Must

TERRORIST activities are affecting all walks of life. With the current spate of attacks against development infrastructures by Maoist terrorists, the whole nation is being pushed further backwards. The tourism industry, considered the backbone of the national economy has suffered tremendously, social life has been affected, the people are being terrorised and pillars of development like telephone towers, bridges and power houses are being destroyed. There is no doubt, the country is going through a harrowing time. However, credit must go to the government for making all out efforts to curb the destructive activities of the terrorists and provide security to the people. Special mention must go to the brave soldiers of the Royal Nepalese Army and the Police Force, who are fighting a tough battle in some of the most difficult terrain in remote and even urban areas of the country. But even in this difficult situation, it is flabbergasting to hear talk of efforts to destabilise the government. At a time when all political forces, leave alone the members of the ruling party, should be united in fighting terrorism, any plans to change the government would be a huge setback for the entire nation.

Like mentioned by Home Minister Khum bahadur Khadka at an interaction programme in Kathmandu the other day, there is no "rationale" now in trying to change the Sher bahadur Deuba led government.

What is needed at the moment, is the cooperation of all the political forces that believe in democracy and also the active participation of the civic society in foiling the destructive activities of the terrorist groups. The general people are tired of the antics of the terrorists, however, fear from terrorist threats, paralyse them. Therefore the political parties and leaders of the civic society must lead from the front to mobilise the people against the terrorists. It is encouraging that the security personnel are gaining each day in their fight against the terrorists forces and this can be seen in the desperate steps the terrorists are taking these days. But for the security forces to be totally successful, the people must come on their side. It can be hoped in the coming days, all the nepalese people will stand together and completely isolate and then eliminate any trace of terrorism and terrorist activities in the country.

Intra-regional Tourism

MINISTER for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur K.C. while referring to Nepal as a living cultural museum of more than 40 ethnic tribes with over 70 languages spoken by the nation’s friendly and very hospitable people, further said that it is through tourism that many countries, including Nepal, have been able to generate employment and earn foreign currency highly needed to fuel their overall development endeavours. Minister K.C. made this observation while addressing the World Tourism Organisation-Satte seminar organised on marketing and promotion of intra-regional tourism in Asia and held in New Delhi, India, the other day. That tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and holds enormous potentials for the future can be gleaned from the very fact that it is now a multi-billion dollar global enterprise and providing bread and butter to the teeming millions engaged in tourism. More importantly, tourism is now one of the biggest spinners of foreign currency for many developing countries, including Nepal, and which are most essential for them to drive their development efforts. It is for this very reason that many developing nations, including Nepal, are leaving no stones unturned to allure more tourists to visit their respective tourist destinations. Towards this end, countries with natural, cultural, historical and even religious endowments are not only pouring in sizable amount of their resources to develop the much-needed infrastructure but also leaving no opportunity untapped to open up potential tourist destination sites. In addition to all this, they are also spending considerable amount of money to launch campaigns through the mass media abroad to entice more tourists to visit their tourist-oriented sites. Needless to say, while all this has given potential tourists, especially from the developed nations, more choices, it has also given rise to intense competition among nations heavily dependent on tourism to sustain their development efforts. Though competition, per se, is not bad in itself, what also goes without saying is that tourism, like many other industries in this changed global economic scenario, is not an island unto itself. Rather, it is susceptible to market forces and adverse situations in the tourist arrival countries or in their immediate surroundings. Since tourism for such countries has now become the proverbial goose that is laying golden eggs, it looks to reason for them to come up with schemes complement each other’s tourism activities and potentials by fostering intra-regional tourism.