The much discussed Trade Treaty between Nepal and India was finally renewed a few days back. As expected it was quite regressive compared to its predecessor signed more than five years ago in 1996. Even though it should have been renewed automatically after its expiry in 2001, India’s objections that the  surge in Nepal’s exports to India had started not only hurting India’s economy but also threatening similar Indian industries necessitated re-formulation of the treaty. Despite the ludicrousness of the Indian objections, at the moment, it cannot be totally denied that their misgivings have no basis at all. The main five items of exports that raised all this hullabaloo that ultimately contributed to subjecting Nepal to give in to Indian pressures could be said to have benefited a few businessmen and industrialists rather than the nation. Since all those industries needed imported raw materials, their promotion was a clever ploy of the unscrupulous politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen whose loyalty to the nation is suspect, to get rich quick. For the country to reap real advantage, we need agrobased industries or industries that can be fed by indigenous raw materials. Consequently the Indian stand cannot be dismissed outright as unreasonable. It is only regrettable that we have not been able to learn even after so many bitter experiences in the last five decades. Moreover, in the last twelve years all the governments that have come to power have only exacerbated the problems due to their antinational and weak-kneed behavior. As such, what the country needs most imperatively, at the moment, are politicians that can enunciate policies that will contribute towards the betterment of the poor people and implement them honestly. Politicians who succumb to all imaginable abominations have become the curse. They have only led the country to the disastrous path. They naturally cannot negotiate with a neighbor who is a ruthless exploiter. States are not run on other's charity or somebody’s magnanimity. They need honest, efficient and patriotic men. If we want Nepal to prosper and prosper quick, we must find honest politicians, develop a strong and efficient bureaucracy and build up a business community that will not fail to safeguard the nation’s interest while catering to its own. Our sorry experiences of the last fifty years also impel us to find alternate markets and the opening up of new markets in the north could prove to be a boon.

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The recent communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in the western state of Gujarat in India has demonstrated that they have still not been able to get over their traumatic experiences of the partition in 1947. The bitter hatred both the communities harbor against each other bursts out occasionally to expose the fragility of their relationships. Since Nepal, because of its geography, is directly affected by the events in India, the tragic happenings in Gujarat could affect Nepal adversely. The hundreds of Kashmiri muslims who have been living in Nepal clearly tell the tale. Similarly, this scribe ran into a muslim refugee from Gujarat. His harrowing experiences did generate grim prognostications. Even though a small minority of Indian Muslims who are in the limelight could feel secure, the overwhelming majority of the one hundred fifty million muslims seem to be living in a constant fear. This refugee said that, it was not only the extremists who butchered them. At times, even the security forces became disinterested passers by. He further stressed that, to hide their own prejudices, they are sure to blame the I.S.I. for what happened in Gujarat. The Indian statesmen, it seems, have stupendous job in their hands — to keep the huge minority safe and contented. With their internal politics in continuous turmoil and their external relations with their neighbors far from satisfactory, India must refrain from needling smaller friendly neighbors like Nepal. We can only hope Indian statesmen realize the utter necessity of bringing a big change in their colonial mindset and stop domineering their smaller neighbors.

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That former Prime minister and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala has blamed the Royal Nepal Army for the imposition of emergency in the country has not surprised anybody. As the Nepalese people are fully aware of his personal and public moral standards, they do not give a damn to what he says. And now even the international community has minced no words in criticizing such Nepalese politicians. Since we have very plainly exposed him as one of the two evils in the Nepali Congress, we do not feel the necessity of even commenting on his rantings. And we also advise the Royal Nepal Army not to pay any attention to such unbalanced statements.