Chairman's note
No compromise on objectivity

With this issue of The Independent, the weekly completes its 10th year of publication. In this decade long experience; from the time the newspaper started with a new vision at that euphoric period when multi-party democracy had just been re-ushered in the country, there have been many sweet and bitter experiences. One of the most unforgettable incidents was when His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev gave an exclusive interview to this weekly. That was a landmark in Nepalese journalism, and though there were sharp criticisms from different sectors, history has proved that His Majesty spoke in true sincerity for the wellbeing of the nation and the consolidation of multi-party democracy.

There have been many other feathers in the cap for The Independent since then. From sensational break stories to encounters with the powerful and famous, we have done it all. And I feel proud in saying we have had tremendous response from our readers, from within the borders of Nepal and abroad. With The Independent logging on to the Internet, our horizon broadened even further.

However, at the same time I feel it appropriate to inform our readers, that while their support has been great and  kept us going till now, the same can’t be said of the support for us in other ways.

The biggest disappointment came in the form of the erosion of political values amongst our leaders. I felt we had to do something on our part, when all political parties rooted unitedly for bringing development to the country. That was the single agenda of all the parties, which were banned then, and they all were confident that development would come only with democracy.

So our vision in the beginning was to really develop an “independent” media in the Nepalese journalism sector and help in our own way for the development of journalism and the nation. But sadly, after the re-ushering in of democracy, we were highly disappointed to see the decline in the values and principles of politicians, who seemed  concerned only for personal benefit. Such a degrading political scenario was more evident during the four years of coalition governments;  not an environment where independent journalism can flourish.

I know the press has its own responsibilities in informing the people and keeping the government on its toes, but others too have the responsibility of seeing that the media sector strives in a healthy climate. After this long and eventful travel down the road; we still feel that the time may still not have arrived, for real “independent” journalism to foster here in the country.

For example, a couple of years back we had said we may even opt to be a daily, but a wet blanket was thrown over this plan - because of the dismal political situation. In the present context, I don’t see any indication that the political chaos that is prevalent in the country will be straightened out in the near future. So I have no hesitation in saying that  we would rather draw up the curtains on the whole show, than to see the day when we may have to make compromises on basic moral values like our principles and journalistic integrity.

So at this momentous event when The Independent is celebrating its tenth anniversary, I would like to thank all the editorial colleagues who have helped me directly and indirectly to publish this weekly since its initial days. I will always be indebted to them for their help. I would also like to take up this opportunity to sincerely tell you all that, I still have eternal hopes within my heart to witness the day when real independent journalism will be able to flourish, and the country will witness the popular aspirations of the people being fulfilled.

Announcement of Winter session begins speculations

By A Staff Reporter

For many, the day will finally have arrived, specially those who wish to see the end of the Bhattarai government. The winter session of the parliament will commence from March 1. And according to an agreement reached between the two top leaders of the Nepali Congress, Bhattarai has agreed to step down after this session of the Parliament. According to a notice of the parliament secretariat on Monday, His Majesty the King has summoned the 17th session of the parliament on March 1. So this means maybe a month or two remains before Bhattarai bids adieu.

However Bhattarai supporters and political observers says that it will not be that easy before Koirala and his supporters see the end of PM Bhattarai. “Why should he quit before he completes his full tenure,” say his supporters. And others say, this coterie will ensure that the transfer of power according to the agreement will not be smooth. 

This tug-of-war is sure to intensify in the days to come. Though most feel it is high time the leaders of the ruling party come to an agreement regarding who should hold the reins of the government.

Ball in govt’s court after Maoist declaration

By A Staff Reporter

Even as the Maoists continued with their violent campaign to mark the fifth anniversary of their insurgency movement, the possibility of talks between the government and the Maoists never became as brighter as it is now.

Coinciding with the completion of their four years of taking to the jungles, general secretary of the Maoist Communist Party, Prachanda, gave hints that he is willing to talk to the government. Through a press statement on Sunday, he said he has no qualms about having talks with the government under a situation of ‘minimum environment’ for such a development.

Although the statement does not specify what would make the minimum talking environment, reports say it includes the disclosure and the identify and whereabouts of the people arrested by the police, the release of all those arrested on charges of being Maoists and the treating of the arrested Maoists under the  Geneva Convention.

According to a Amnesty International (AI) report, since the start of the ‘People’s War’ by the Maoists four years ago, 436 people have died from the hands of the police and 44 people arrested by them, 20 of them in 1999, have been unaccounted for.

AI has claimed that those who have been missing include 5 women, one legal professional and 6 students. The police have also arrested more than 5,000 people in the last four years, and 1560 were still in custody till November 1999.

Similarly, the Maoists have also killed 200 common people, 80 of them in the last 14 months, for being the ‘enemies of the people’. The majority of those killed by the Maoists are Nepali Congress workers. Those killed also include boys as young as 15.

But the Maoists have not said that they would stop their People’s War campaign or lay down their arms, as demanded by the Human Rights groups to start the talks. Nor have they said that they would refrain from their long-term goal of establishing a proletariat system of government.

The government has been saying that any talks with the Maoists should be under the constitutional framework, and there would be no compromise on its two basic principles - multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy.

Meanwhile, the Maoists’ willingness for talks have come when both the government and the Maoists are under growing pressure to find a negotiated settlement.

While the government was being flayed for its inaction against the Maoists, Maoists have also been under increasing cricitism for carrying on with their violence.

The Maoists are now completely isolated politically, and the major political parties have even initiated an active opposition against the them.

Recently, the Nepali Congress party announced that it would launch protest programmes against the Maoists from this Democracy Day, which falls on Saturday, February 19. The CPN-UML, too, has started collecting funds for the relief of the victims of the People’s War from last Sunday..

Recently, the CPN-UML and the RPP party also agreed with the Nepali Congress to launch common programmes in providing security to the people and taking development packages to the Maoist-affected areas.

 On top of these developments, the government has also decided to provide extra funding of Rs. 1 billion to the police for more facilities to the security personnel in the Maoists-affected areas and for providing modern weapons to them. Moreover, there have also been reports of growing rift among the Maoists themselves. The Maoists were also criticised for ignoring the government’s call for talks.

With both the government and the political parties under increasing pressure, the Maoists’ willingness for talks can be taken as a bright spot to end the insurgency movement.

The Maoists’ step has been taken as a positive step by the political parties, human rights groups and others. General Secretary of the UML Madhav Nepal, in an interview to a newspaper, said that the government should utilise this opportunity.

Now, the ball is in the government’s court, and it must not let it drop on the ground. The failure on the part of the government to make an appropriate response could give a wrong signal to the Maoists as well as to the others. This may also indicate a moral victory for the Maoists.

HRC could now be a reality

By A Staff Reporter

More than two years after the enactment of the Human Rights Commission Act, the formation of the Human Rights Commission now could finally become a reality. A task force formed by the government regarding the formation of a National Human Rights Commission submitted its report to Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai yesterday (Monday), and the Prime Minister gave assurance that the report would be implemented as soon as possible.

The absence of a Human Rights Commission is being seen by rights activists as a major impediment towards the evaluation and monitoring and even implementation of the provisions of human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution in the country.

Human rights activists and even organisations like the Human Rights Watch Group and Amnesty International see the situation of human rights in the country as not good and even scary.

In its report recently, the task force has recommended an organisational structure comprising of four divisions, namely human rights protection division; fellows, evaluation and information coordination division; administration division; and human rights promotion and international relationship division.

The initial cost of the establishment of the Commission is estimated to be Rs. 16 million and a budget of Rs. 9.8 million for its operation from the second year.

Are the Bhutanese stalling again?

By A Staff Reporter

The secretary-level talks between Nepal and Bhutan started in Thimpu on Monday. Nepal is expected to press for the fixation of a date for the 9th round of the ministerial level talks between the two countries.

The invitation for the secretary-level talks was sent by the Bhutanese government the previous week, when Nepal was expecting a date for the ministerial-level talks.

The Bhutanese side making an invitation only for an official-level talks had perplexed Nepal. Nepal took several days to decide whether to participate in the meet at all.

According to Foreign Ministry sources, when Foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat was in Bhutan in November, it was agreed that the minister-level meet would immediately follow after the official-level talks.

The Nepalese side think the next ministerial-level talks should be the last one before the verification process of refugees begins.

Nepal and Bhutan had agreed during the 3rd round of minister-level talks to categorize the refugees. The basis of such categorization would be Bhutanese who were forcefully expelled from Bhutan, Bhutanese who left on their own will, Bhutanese with criminal records and non-Bhutanese. However, the Bhutanese side had backed down later. The Bhutanese government balking on the next ministerial-level talks has raised suspicion if it is again into playing games to stall the process of the repatriation of the refugees.

Strengthen the legal system

By A Staff Reporter

Look for root causes to find a solution, not to point fingers”, said Asma Jahangir, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She was in Nepal from the 5th to the 14th of February on an invitation from the government of Nepal. Her visit focussed mainly on the human rights situation relating to the right to life.

She travelled to Nepalgunj, Gorkha and held consultations in Kathmandu during her stay here. Speaking on the Maoist movement in Nepal, Asma said that the killings are condemnable, not justified in any way. “When police are not made accountable and when violence is at your doorstep, it will only increase”, added Asma.

She pointed out at the total marginalisation of certain people that led to the insurgency problem; and stressed on the importance of building an institution by the legal system that includes the judiciary, and by the press as well. “A person from a remote area should get the same justice as an influential person gets in Kathmandu. That is empowerment.”

Asma pointed out at the non-existent facilities for post-mortem in our country. She observed that post-mortem is conducted unprofessionally and there is no respect for dead human bodies here.

“Training of the police need to be more efficient. They should be able to control crime with minimum force used.” She spoke of the plight of the ordinary people caught between violence between the police and the Maoist militants; and expressed her determination to promote the rights of people in Nepal.

Military expenditure increasing in Asia

By A Staff Reporter

Asia happens to be one of the most volatile areas of the world today, said Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, minister for foreign affairs, in his key-note address to the 12th Regional Disarmament Meeting in Kathmandu on 15th February. He stressed on the importance of following the program of action proposed by 28 NAM and other nations for phased elimination of all nuclear arms to bring peace to the world which we all share.

Dr. Mahat said Nepal is in favour of promoting tangible efforts to scale down and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons by the nuclear weapons states.

In his opening address, Jayantha Dhanapala, Under Secretary General for disarmament affairs, UN, said “the leaders of the states that possess nuclear weapons talk about ultimate disarmament goals but balk at negotiating concrete measures to achieve such goals”.

 Dhanapala recalled the emphasis laid on the vital role of civil society by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan - in ensuring public accountability, promoting good governance, and building support for global norms. “Global nuclear disarmament is surely one of those issues that will require strong public support both within countries and among them”. He highlighted the crucial role that Asia must and can play in building support for the global norm of nuclear disarmament - “If the world expects to fulfill the long-sought dream of eliminating all nuclear weapons, it  will not happen without Asia”.

One day to show love

By A Staff Reporter

Valentine’s day is catching up like fire in  Kathmandu too. Youngsters and the older alike indulge in exchanging cards, flowers and other gifts with whom they share romantic notions. Though many say, it is a day to express your love and friendship, be it your sweetheart, wife, friend or a colleague; for most it remains a day for the one on whom your cupid’s arrow has struck.

Though the youngsters celebrate it with all their frenzy, others wonder about the increasing invasion of the western culture. Increasingly, our youth are choosing to celebrate the western ways over their own culture. Their increasing preference to ape the west is a matter of rising concern for those who want to preserve their indigenous culture.

Parents also worry about the costly ways in which their children celebrate events like these, mostly to impress their peers or to keep up their image among their friends.

 Nothing wrong with having harmless fun or observing imported culture but we need a balancing act here. The youths need to be educated on the value of our own culture in a language they understand. We need to adapt our way of celebrating to the changing times and preferences. It is no use not being able explain why we do things in a certain way or to tell them, “this is the way our ancestors have been doing it, that’s why” and expect the increasingly exposed young minds to accept and adapt to it. This calls for better understanding of our culture, analyse it and use it to our benefit; not to alienate our youths.

10+2 exams could be postponed

By A Staff Reporter

At a time, when institutions like schools and colleges are becoming more commercial, their respective monitoring bodies also seem to be unable to control them. On many occasions, the situation becomes more worse when these government authorities are unable even to fulfill the basic objectives of their establishment.

The Higher Secondary Education Council is no exception to this situation. At least, that’s what a series of scenes that are taking place at the Council in the past weeks suggested. For the last one month this government body has not been able to take a single step ahead due to the “internal problems” that started here with the appointment of Koshal Raj Regmi as its vice-president more than a month back.

Only within two weeks after his appointment as vice-president, Regmi was criticised for calling on police authorities to handle the tension at the Council as a result of the transfer of some of its staff by the vice-president. Moreover, a faction within the Council even say that the transfer of staff by the vice-president himself was an illegal move. Such activities should be handled by the member-secretary, they claim.

“Vice-president Regmi had taken a wrong step regarding the transfer of staff,” said member-secretary Sriram Lamichhane and added,”now he is trying to run away from taking the decision at the policy-level.” 

With the internal rifts taking deep root, the Council was even unable to conduct a teachers training programme which was shceduled to start from Monday (14 February, 2000). “This is a small example of how the Council is becoming inactive these days,” says one of the Council’s staff resquesting annonimity.

More serious than that is the yearly exams. As the time for the yearly exams is nearing, many of the staff working here are becoming concerned on how the Council is going to conduct those exams. “There are indications that the Council may not be able to conduct the exams in time,” the member-secretary said.

Presently, there are more than 62,000 students studying at almost 502 schools under the Higher Secondary Education Council. The Council was established in 2049/50 with the objective of provideing better education by replacing the prevailing Proficiency Certificate Level by more practical ’10+2 Level’.

“The situation here is getting worse as the days pass on. If the same situation continues, we see a dark future for the Higher Education Council and the students associated with it” they said.

“This is more of a personality clash at the top rung of the Council rather than political rift. We don’t know how it all started but its becoming a serious problem,” said Charachar Adhikary, member of Higher Secondary Education Board Employee’s Association. “Its time for the authorities to take a quick decision to solve this problem at once.”

In the name of Maoists

By A Staff Reporter

What would one do when the police swoop down on one’s house and make indiscriminate arrests accusing some of being Maoist? That is what happened to two brothers, Bisworam Subedi and Shivaram Subedi, of Indrayani village near Sankhu last Sunday.

That day, when the Maoists were celebrating the fifth anniversary of their People’s War, police suddenly came to these two youngsters’ house and took them away after someone called the police and falsely accused them of being Maoists.                

The police made a search of the house and even emptied a silo of rice looking for anything suspicious. Not finding anything incriminating they were released the next day. They suspect someone in the same village wanted to take revenge on them for personal animosity. Incidently, one of the Subedis recently applied for the post of Assistant Sub-Inspector in police. May be the revengeful neighbour did not want him to become a policeman, and may have thought the best way to prevent him was by accusing him of being a Maoist.