Dateline Kathmandu:
NepalesePride and prestige bruised

-Ramesh Sharma

It is most unfortunate that we are entering the new millennium having been bruised by unprecedented adversity caused by the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 that flew from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu on Friday. Almost coniciding with this incident a Kathmandu-bound Twin Otter aircraft while on a scheduled flight from Simara to Kathmandu crahsed in killing all the passengers as also the crew members on board.

Particularly in the wake of the hijacking of Indian Airliner Nepal seems to have been unexpectedly exposed on the basis of its alleged security lapses at the Tribhuvan International Airport. Indian media including their television have been now portraying Nepal as a safe haven for terrorists from all quarters of the globe. They seem particularly concerned with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani version of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India.

India has since long been accusing Nepal of having, wittingly or unwittingly, provided sanctuary to the ISI agents who are bent on creating destabilisation in Indian territories. Over the last several years Pakistanis are also seen to have tried to utilise our land for creating disturbances in India - a fact evidenced by several incidents in the past. Although this being the reality, the way Indian media are hell bent on exposing our nation across the globe as a safe heaven for terrorists gives one the impression that the Indian establishment is most likely to initiate something detrimental to our sovereign independence. As if to facilitate their design the self styled pro-Indian Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has already hinted at his submissiveness by making 'premature comment and unnecessary admission of security lapses at the TIA'. Inspite of the damage control bid made by Foreign Minister Ram Sharan Mahat, albeit belatedly, political analysts see the possibility of incumbent Prime Minister emerging as Mohan Shumsher who had entered into an unequal treaty of 1950 with India only to strengthen his position amidst fatal onslaughts on all fronts in national politics.

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Following the hijacking of Indian Airliner that flew from Kathmandu, the prospect of our tourism sector seems to have been rendered bleak. Whatever be the claims and counterclaims the security situation in Kathmandu has obviously been a subject to question. Several incidents have come to the fore to vindicate the allegation that Nepal has been providing sanctuary to international terrorists.

This sort of situation is primarily attributed to massive corruption that has permeated our state machinery particularly at the highest level. The alleged security lapses at the Tribhuvan International Airport is but the manifestation of that malpractice. Indian security experts have made it public through their media that nothing is impossible at our airport provided one is prepared to resort to bribe and grafts. The way the armed terrorists became successful to enter the Indian Airliner at our airport has unfortunately served to justify their apprehensions, however, 'ill-intentioned' they might be.

Time magazine has recommended Nepal as one of the premier destinations to celebrate the new millennium. But in the mean time, in the aftermath of Indian Airliner's hijacking, tourism sector appears to have suffered a serious blow. The suspension of Indian Airlines flights has already had an immensely adverse impact on this sector with 30 percent decline in arrivals of Indian tourists. Its impact has not only been confined to Indian tourists' arrival, tourists from third countries are also reported to have cancelled their millennium packages. Since the indefinite suspension of all Indian Airlines flights to this kingdom on the basis of security lapses at Tribhuvan International Airport has served to severely damage our tourism, the government needs to take initiative  in order to relax this situation at the earliest, opine tourism experts. But  the real purpose hidden behind India's abrupt decision to suspend all Indian Airlines flights ad infinitum might not be comprehensible for our tourism pundits.

King's symbolic rejoinder

-Ramesh Sharma

Amidst the ongoing tussle between the two senior leaders of the ruling NC coupled by the opposition's onslaught on the government through the special session of the House of Representatives, His Majesty the King has expressed his mind: "The people's confidence in a democratic polity will be enhanced only if those in responsible positions carry out their responsibilities scrupulously, while ensuring that the people enjoy the provisions enshrined in the constitution without discrimination." The King's remark made during his reply speech at a diplomatic corps dinner hosted in honor of their Majesties the King and Queen by dean of the diplomatic corps KV Rajan, Indian Ambassador to Nepal, December 17, is believed to have sent some symbolic message to all concerned.

The government has failed to be responsible. Nor is it accountable to the people. Even the opposition seems to have deviated from its duty towards the people. They are all engaged in paltry power game. Both the ruling and the opposition parties have demonstrated their strong predilection for power without adhering to any principles and ideals. This has turned our democracy into a mess. In the meantime, it has resulted in the deterioration of popular confidence in present democratic order. Nobody from Prime Minister down to the district officer is discharging his duty scrupulously. Government positions are supposed to be the fiefdom of ruling party. The main opposition, which had also been in government in the past, cannot be spared from this blame, either. All the major parties are responsible for nurturing this sordid legacy. In such a situation, it is natural for the common citizens to be deprived of constitutional provisions and subjected to wanton discrimination.

That the King chose to make such a symbolic remark before the diplomatic corps is in itself significant and deserves to be pondered over. As is well known that the developed countries and the donor agencies of the West are completely dissatisfied with the style of governance in our country. The utter sense of irresponsibility and unaccountability demonstrated by political parties and their leaderships over the last ten years seems to have irritated them. Their grievance is justified in that the largesse provided by them for development purposes has failed trickle down to the poverty-stricken masses. Instead, it has served to enrich political leaders and their kith and kins with ultra-modern mansions and hefty bank balance.

Against such perspective, King's remark naturally deserves to be welcomed. However, it doesn't imply that it should be taken as a pretext as to undermine the present parliamentary democratic order like in the past. In retrospect, late King Mahendra had also reportedly expressed the same kind of feelings in front of the diplomatic corps prior to the dismantling of multi-party system in 1960.

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Shailaja Acharya, the whimsical leader of the ruling party has publicly requested the Prime Minister to seek a 'graceful exit' amidst the obtaining situation. Shailaja's disenchantment with the Bhattarai government coupled with the signature campaign on the part of premier's detractors has created enormous pressure to bear upon the powers that be. Their moves against the present government is in consistence with the line of thinking of party president Girija Koirala who has already bluntly asked his long-time colleague to step down. But Bhattarai has proved too strong a nut to be cracked easily. He is reported to have retorted that instead of resigning from his post he is prepared to face the parliamentary party and parliament. Besides, he has urged the rebelling parliamentarians of his party 'to have patience'.

Bhattarai's reluctance to yield easily has pushed Koirala in a somewhat awkward position. Even some Congressites have begun to accuse Koirala of having tried to dislodge Bhattarai out of sheer power mongering. Koirala's fervent penchant for confining the NC leadership to the Koirala family seems to have served to strengthen, to some extent, the position of his bete noir Bhattarai. Over the last several years, particularly after the overt rebellion of Congress supremo Ganesh Man Singh, majority of the party rank and file is seen to have developed strong repugnance towards Koirala's family-centric political outlook. One of the Congress leaders' comment in this regard was really acerbic: "Under the Koirala dispensation even the dogs and cats of their family are entitled to ministerial posts."

There is not any dearth of some observers who see a fierce competition between the West and India behind the ongoing Koirala-Bhattarai tussle. According to them, those extra-territorial forces are locked is such an exercise with a view to establishing their say in the exploitation of Nepal's vast natural resources by propping up respective camps within the ruling party. They are trying to justify their suspicion by citing the internationalisation of the Bhutanese refugee issue on the part of Bhattarai during his recent participation in the UN General Assembly meeting, supposedly much to the disappointment of neighboring India. This incident, according to them, has strategically alienated Bhattarai from the Indian camp thus allowing Koirala to fill in the so-called vacuum. However, it sounds strange in view of Bhattarai's oft-repeated confession that 'he is pro-Indian'.

The tension between the two senior NC stalwarts has ironically got a bright side too, particularly for the Congressites: 'The ostentatious drama spawned by the main opposition apparently with a view to embarrassing the government by raising the controversial issue of price hike at the special session of parliament, seems to have been completely obscured.'

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On the eve of presidential elections Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga luckily survived a suicide bomb attack December 18, with just a minor injury. The attack is believed to have been made by the Tamil separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have been waging a violent rebellion with a view to carving out a separate state, Eelam, exclusively for the Tamils.

LTTE believes that the Tamils, who represent a Hindu minority in the Sri Lankan population, have since long been subjected to ruthless discrimination. They have always been treated as second-class citizens. They are deprived of their fundamental rights. They are never given equal opportunities in government agencies as the Sinhalese, the majority Buddhists.

According to an interesting write-up 'Paradise Lost' published in Time (February 9, 1998), "in 1955, Kumaratunga's father, the Oxford-educated S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, proclaimed that if his Sri Lanka Freedom Party won the following year's general elections, he would make Sinhala the official language. (The point was to exclude Tamils from coveted government jobs, for which the British had favoured them.)"

Although Bandaranaike won by a landslide he was shot dead in 1959 by a Buddhist monk, partly over a business deal, but 'his political legacy lived on'. The write-up has further added: 'Over the next three decades, politicians indulged in an orgy of Sinhalese chauvinism at the expense of Tamils.' Against such backdrops, the LTTE-sponsored secessionist movement that started in 1983, has been still continuing with unprecedented tolls over the last 17 years of violence and terror. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has been the latest victim of their brute onslaught.

Thanks to her cool composure, she has warned against any reprisals on the country's minority Tamil community. Perhaps for Kumaratunga 'the moment of truth has come' because the LTTE-sponsored violence could have served further to alienate the Sri-Lankan masses from the secessionists' way of carving out a new state.

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