Humans on the list of endangered species!

By: Niraj Aryal

It might not look absurd when one concludes that there is a great threat to the humans of being completely eliminated. Can we further stretch the above statement and say, " Plants and animals may be joined by humans on the list of endangered species"?

Now, let us dwell on some of the facts.

"We are living at a time when human population is growing at a rate of around 300,000 per day, 12,000 per hour, 200 per minute, 4 per second". This fact contradicts with the above conclusion. Then, what about the next statement?

"In the whole world percentage of civilians killed during wars in the 90’s were more than 90 percent. Those killed included 2 million children, who died from wounds and other war related causes".

It has become a proven fact that when guns are raised, those who suffer have supposedly nothing to do with the war.

Following the worldwide trend, back home innocent killings commenced in the mid-90’s. Both the rebels and security forces started targeting the civilians, be it mistakenly. This meant success for them.

Those killed by the Maoists are labeled as enemies of the people, which include politicians, teachers, civil servants etc. Civilians are again at times killed in the name of supporting the Maoists by the security forces.

Thus civilians become both way target. Easy prey!

Number of causalities in the last 8 years of conflict is estimated around 10,000 although to find the exact number is almost impossible. Record shows since 2000, around 7,600 people have been killed on an average of 5 persons per day. But even at this rate, risk of getting coming closer to extinction is very remote. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Going back to Dorambha, a remote village east of Kathmandu where Security forces killed almost 20 persons attending a wedding ceremony when peace talks with the rebels was in progress. This thus became the reason for the failure of the peace process. The security forces later accepted their fault. The damage was already done. Innocent killing is unjustifiable.  Recently a similar kind of incident took place in Iraq when the US army mistakenly killed civilians attending a marriage ceremony. Making mistake is also unpardonable, when human casualties are involved.

Whether it is Dorambha or Iraq, whenever there is success for a party (holding guns) implies more civilian casualties.

Unfortunately different agencies working for the observation of Human Rights violation in the country have different interpretations to the civilian killings. Thanks to their partisan interests. Most of the time civilian killings are transformed into a political issue. This is very cleverly done by some corrupt political activists who also call exist in the guise of HR champions.

It is always mysterious, whenever the Maoists are involved in the HR abuses, many a HR agencies prefer to hush-hush the matter. Likewise, when the security forces are involved in some brutal killings a similar section of the civil society prefers not to blow the matter. This is indeed a bizarre kind of situation on both the instances.

Still people read newspaper, listen to radio, and watch television. There is still a glimmer of hope not to be listed as an endangered species.

There is still a chance that every individual here in Nepal can make an effort to preserve his or her own identity? Identity of being a human and behaving like human. Yes, we can make a difference. We cannot all become a King or a prime minister, but we can take action, we can become selfish in preserving our self from complete obliteration.

If we are students we can fight, if we are journalists we can write, if we are bureaucrats we can protest to bring peace back to the nation.

Nepal in the past few years has amply shown how much a leadership, i.e. bad leadership, affects each and every individual of the country. Bad leadership is in the air we breathe and the water we drink.

This bad leadership has forced us to abandon our homes, lose our friends, lose our children, and lose our parents. This is time; we the people of this country take some actions against those inhumane beings that are on the road to list humans in the list of endangered species.

The author can be reached at niraj_aryal@hotmail.com

Headline | Opinion | National |  5 Question  | Editorial | Letter | 2nd Impression | Views | International | Past