Absurd Idea

It has been reported that Maoists are systematically destroying the development infrastructure of the country saying that there has to be destruction first, then only creation ("Turning The Clock Back" SPOTLIGHT, April 19). One wonders what that means. Never in the history of civilization, man-kind had resorted to first returning to stone-age and then proceeding with their progress. It is simply absurd and holds no water. The destruction of development infrastructures can never be justified. In their desperation to vent their growing anger against the establishment, Maoists are ruining such infrastructures. But they have forgotten how their ill-conceived strategy is hurting the nation. At the end of the day, we are all Nepalese and we all love our country. What good does it do to our nation by resorting to such mindless violence?

What Is The Big Idea?

One is at loss to find the rationale of current spate of violence perpetrated by the Maoists ("Turning The Clock Back" SPOTLIGHT, April 19). It is clear that Maoists have chosen to raise arms against the establishment claiming they would introduce real democracy and development. But their action is totally in the contrary to their promises. They cannot continue making Nepalese fool any more. Even the poorest of Nepalese understands that destroying small hydro power or rural water supply is not in their interest.

Comrades On The Taliban Path

The strategy adopted by Maoists is gaining eerie resemblance to that opted by now-defunct Taliban of Afghanistan ("Turning The Clock Back" SPOTLIGHT, April 19). In their use of extreme terror and targeting of even girls and elders, Maoists have shown how far they can go. The news reports of their chopping the heads of their fallen comrades sends a chill down the spine of any conscientious person. It is difficult to presume that the same articulate and suave Baburam Bhattarai could be leading this terror brigade. However, if the Maoists do not control their terror tactics soon, the whole world will come down upon them heavily. After the September 11 incident, the world opinion is totally against any kind of terror and Maoists could not survive much in such environment.

Misplaced Analysis

The story on Mr. Koirala ("Central Character", SPOTLIGHT April 12, 2002) proves him as  the champion of politics but a total failure on the road afterwards. A mere acceptance of one's failure after leading the whole country towards a disaster won't mend the rupture in his political life. Your attempt to shift the incapability of Mr. Koirala upon his subordinates may not be entirely justified following a series of failure. Living with shared rooms alone can not justify his honesty. You seem to have forgotten that it was (then) premier Koirala's residence where Mr. Chataut appeared after making everybody fool in Lauda case. Your analysis on him being clean may be correct only in the light of Theory of Relativity.

The battle among private airlines and civil aviation authority has thrown open one question ("Fighting To Fly" SPOTLIGHT April 12). Is it proper to let private airlines fix their own fare? The moment they were allowed to do so, the airlines hiked up the air fare dramatically and they are once again bent upon doing so despite warnings from the civil aviation authority. The loser in all this episode is the poor passenger. Even as the road transport is gaining less attraction following the imposition of emergency, the airlines are exploiting the passengers' plight by trying to make more money. The concerned authorities need to be aware about this growing tradition of exploiting passengers.

Beautiful Observation

The interview of Father Ludwig Stiller (SPOTLIGHT, April 12) was remarkable. It is good to see that your magazine searched such a towering personality and published his well-deserved interview. Historian Father Stiller's views on the development process and his focus of the real-term decentralization is clearly the need of the hour. Maybe, had the country succeeded to implement decentralization properly, many of the ills currently haunting the nation could have been averted.