COMMENT

Wake up call

It was high time a person like Minister Mahesh Acharya gave a jolt to the present Nepali Congress government. Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and some of his key ministers as well as aides, didn’t seem to be at all perturbed even when incidents most serious in nature were taking place in the country. Meanwhile nothing was happening for the welfare of the people as well, but the government seemed contented just to go along. For example, the already over-burdened people were supposed to take the steep price hike in essential goods in their stride. Then, from a minister breaking into the house of a married woman, to dozens of policemen getting killed by Maoist terrorist and even a hijack, all such events were being treated as normal. After the hijack, the country’s image in the international arena was being torn to pieces, but our Prime Minister and the Home and now former Communication Minister, were smug and silent. If they did speak, willingly to the foreign media and unwillingly to the local journalists, then also they mostly said the wrong things. For example after such a huge hue and cry was made when Minister Bal Bahadur KC forced himself into the house of a woman and even manhandled her, Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai tongue-in-cheek said there was not enough evidence to sack him. Then the Home Minister remains mum and says the law and order situation is fine in the country when a senior policeman has been kidnapped and dozens of policemen and civilians are being killed by Maoist insurgents. When is there an emergency for such leaders? Only when they are about to lose their posts? Is self protection their only interest? Don’t they feel any moral responsibility for any of the embarrassing and tragic incidents that have taken place in the country? Prime Minister Bhattarai made another faux pa when he spoke to the local correspondent of ZEE News, the very cable network which had spread so many lies about Nepal. And as shown on that network, Bhattarai spoke very casually about the hijack incident in which one man lost his life and so much negative publicity of Nepal was made. Then as far as the government’s performance was concerned, it seemed preoccupied only with the ongoing differences with the party. Therefore the drastic step taken by Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya was the proper way to wake up this lethargic looking government, when it was not able to even name a new governor of the Nepal Rastriya Bank, the Central Bank of the country. Now because of its own inefficiency, it looks like there is a serious political crisis for the government and another period of turbulence for the nation. If this is the way Prime Minister Bhattarai prefers to lead the nation, then he doesn’t deserve to stay on at the helm of state affairs anymore.

Pay real tribute to the martyrs

The Martyrs’ week concluded with much fanfare around the country. Eulogies were offered to the martyrs who laid down their lives for their country.   Speeches after speeches were liberally sprinkled with praises for the deceased. Emotions flew forth freely. Floral wreaths and garlands hung heavy on their photographs. It was all in good spirit in memory of those who died for a cause. Without their sacrifice, this country would not have seen the dawn of democracy. 

Amidst all celebrations, we forgot to look after the living realities of today- the families of the martyrs.  Many children were left orphans in the wake of the martyrdom. They were the real sufferers- the women and the children. What have they got from the country in return for the lives of their fathers, brothers and sons?

A certain sum is set aside for the dependents but is that enough to sustain them? And the fact remains that there still remain many martyrs whose names do not even figure on the list.

It befalls on the government as well as the private sectors to extend a helping hand towards the victims of the struggle. Not donations but opportunities that will sustain them and their families. We owe at least that much to those who gave up their lives so we could speak out our minds. It is easy to praise those who have passed away. If we really care about their sacrifice, we should look into the problems faced by, what would have been their second priority after their country- their families. By easing their problems, we could perhaps ease a burden from the spirit of those deceased. A sincere effort at alleviating their families’ day to day problems would far outweigh any number of programmes, speeches and other celebrations.

US ‘nails’ Pak role in Kandahar hijack

By Chidanand Rajghatta

In a devastating blow to Pakistan’s denial of its involvement in the hijacking and a clear vindication of New Delhi’s charges, the Clinton administration has said the terrorist group Harkat ul-Mujahedeen, which seized the aircraft, has links with Gen Musharraf’s military and intelligence services.

The damning indictment was conveyed to the Pakistani military dictator himself last week by US officials who called on him, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. “The general was told that the United States believed that Harkat ul-Mujahedeen was responsible for the hijacking and that United States believed the group operated openly and clandestinely with the support of the military and intelligence services in Pakistan,” the paper quoted an unnamed senior US official.

Harkat-ul Ansar, as the outfit was known before, is also responsible for the abduction of six western hostages, on of whom was beheaded. One escaped, the other four are still missing, and there seems little chance that they are still alive. The State Department has since designated Harkat a terrorist group.

Karl Inderfurth, the assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, who was one of the three officials who met with General Musharraf, told the general that the United States was concerned about the links between Harkat ul-Mujahedeen and his military and intelligence services, officials said. Inderfurth was accompanied by Michael Sheehan, the US head of counter terrorism. Indian officials acknowledge that ever since Sheehan came into the picture, the administration has been more focused on terrorism and has listened to New Delhi’s woes with far more attention than before.

Sheehan participated in the tenth round of Indo-US talks that took place in London last week during which India presented credible evidence of Pakistani involvement in the hijacking. He and Inderfurth went to Islamabad from there.

Further, the revelations, made by the administration itself, would build up pressure on Washington to name Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism. The stunning conclusions and its disclosure also effectively shuts the door on Pakistan during a Clinton visit to the region in March which is to be announced this week. Unless there is a dramatic change in posture and Islamabad rescinds its support to terrorist groups and turns its back on the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, it now seems certain that the President will travel only to India and Bangladesh.

The disclosures appear to stem from the Clinton administration’s disappointment over the Pakistani military regime rebuffing them on both the Harkat and Osama bin-Laden issues. The Times said US officials asked Gen Musharraf to ban Harkat-ul Mujaheddin- a State Department-designated terrorist group-but the request was rejected. The team also made no progress on their request to Musharraf to put pressure on the Taliban government to expel Osama bin Laden.

Administration officials declined to give NYT details of precisely what they knew about Harkat’s role in the hijacking, but they said that they received information that Harkat ul-Mujahedeen was responsible for the episode “after it became clearer who made arrangements for the escape of the hijackers.”

“Indications came through intelligence channels, and I don’t know anybody around here, including the skeptics, who don’t find that credible,” the paper quoted an official as saying of Harkat ul-Mujahedeen’s involvement in the hijacking.

Even as the disclosure nails Pakistan, the first congressional pressure to designate it a terrorist state erupted from lawmaker Frank Pallone, a vocal and enthusiastic votary of closer Indo-US ties. In a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Pallone said the “pattern (of terrorism) has reached a point of seriousness where I believe that the United States must now take the step of designating Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism.” He said that he would be introducing a resolution in Congress to that effect.

But that is still some distance away although there is bound to be moves and countermoves in that direction in the Congress session that has just begun. The Times itself amplified the dynamics that govern Washington’s view of South Asia, a background that has been frequently reported in the Indian media. The paper quoted officials as saying “even though Pakistan is believed by the Clinton administration to be harboring and supporting terrorist groups, there was substantial resistance from the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency to putting Pakistan on the list, in part because of past help that Pakistan gave the United States during the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan.”

However, US officials for the first time elaborated on the nexus between the terrorists and the military in Pakistan, with a version that contradicted Islamabad’s claim that its support was restricted to moral and diplomatic spheres. The infiltration method described by US officials also squared up to what India has been saying for years.

The officials said that Harkat ul-Mujahedeen and another group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, were used by the Pakistani military during conflicts at the Line of Control in Kashmir. Members of the groups would cross over the line, while the Pakistani army would create a disturbance at another point along the line, officials said, thus diverting the attention of the Indian army from the infiltrators.

Good assessment of political situation

This is with reference to the Janaury 26 issue of your esteemed weekly. I really appreciated reading Durga Pokhrel’s interview. I liked her assessment of the political situation now prevailing over the country and the  optimistic assertion that, despite our leaders, we have not yet reached the point of no return and that redemption, provided we work hard with compassion and awareness, is possible. Our firmament is so beset with dark, murky clouds of corruption, dishonesty and fraud at all levels that it strains one eyes to discern the silver linings. We are, therefore, thankful to anyone who points out that they exist.. The silver linings are there, as she says, even though democracy is not really the true name of the game we are playing. But the multi-party system has brought about freedom of expression and association. Having had the privilege to know Durga Pokhrel from her student’s days, I wish and pray for resounding success in her coming political endeavour to bring about a way of life synthesised from the best of the West and the East, to make the twain meet in the Nepal of the future.

However, Sanjaya Thapa’s letter, entitled, Ignorant anti-force, rather appalled me by its overwhelming jingoist undercurrent. For one thing, even though I never had the privilege of meeting C.K. Lal personally,  he is not somebody who can be lightly brushed aside as a certain C.K.Lal. I regard him as one of the finest minds we have amongst us who, through printed and spoken words, is doing his best to defend true national interests.   For another, no instituiton in the country is a holy cow beyond public gaze or scrutiny. Any Nepali can question the relevance or otherwise of any institution within the country without her/his credentials as a Nepali being questioned. The arastriya tatwo (anti-national element) jargon revives painful memories of a horror forgotten. I’ve unfortunately missed reading Forces, the article Sanjaya Thapa was referring to but, certainly, the errors or misconception, if any, could have been pointed out without attributing any ulterior motive to what, at the very worst, could have been ignorance of present reality about the nature, composition and function of the army.

Surendra Singh K.C.
Via Internet

Worshipping icons

 enjoyed the comments made by CK Lal on Mr. Gautam’s appointment at the second highest position in UN and the reaction of the Nepalese press. I  totally agree with CK Lal. I would also like to add that the culture of praising  what one achieves personally rather than  his/her contribution to society at large is very much  a  part of Nepali culture which has not been affected by the so called - modernisation. What   Late  Lekhnath Poudyal wrote in “Tarun Tapaswi” is still true today: (A small plant struggles to survive amidst all odds, but when the plant starts bearing fruits, it suddenly finds so many friends and good-wishers, all busy making claims and counter claims  how much they loved and cared the plant when it was small).

I am sure there are many Nepalese living and working in Nepal who have helped many fellow Nepalese in their struggle for survival. Even the contribution made  by an ordinary mountain farmer in sustaining the fragile landscape  and  in making a living out of the little resources  is far more than the contribution made by “bikase bureaucrats” like Mr. Gautam. But alas these “true contributors”   never get any attention in the media.

Mr. Lal’s comment at least suggests that the new culture of “questioning the status-quo” has already started. What  we need to promote is a culture of recognising, nurturing and encouraging the talents, rather than  worshipping the icons.

Mahesh Pant
University Of Sussex, UK.