#391 14 - 20 March 2008 16 pages Rs 30

Weekly Internet Poll # 392. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.comQ. How would you grade the ElectionCommission’s performance so far?

Weekly Internet Poll # 391

Q. In my opinion the 10 April electionswill be:

Total votes: 4,884

fter stopping expeditions climbing Chomolungma from thenorth side between 1-10 May, the Chinese government ispressing Kathmandu to also ban expeditions from the Nepal side

of the world’s highest mountain.Chinese officials reportedly met representatives of the Home,

Defence and Tourism Ministries in Kathmandu on Monday to ask forthe halt. Till press time Thursday Nepal’s trekking and mountaineeringcompanies were trying to negotiate a compromise that would allowexpeditions to go up to Camp 3 till 10 May.

“We are hoping for a last-minute compromise at a higher politicallevel,” a participant of the meeting at the Tourism Ministry told NepaliTimes.

Last week, the China Tibet Mountaineering Association sent a letterto expeditions from the north asking them to “postpone” climbingbecause of “crowded climbing routes and increased environmentalpressures”.

But the real reason seems to be worries that protesters may try todisrupt a high-profile climb in early May which will take the Olympictorch to the summit of Chomolungma. Tibetan activists want to use theAugust Olympics in Beijing to highlight their campaign for a free Tibet,and have stepped up protests worldwide this week.

There were even protests inside Tibet on Tuesday with monks takingout rallies at Ganden and Sera monasteries outside Lhasa. Last year,American activists who unfurled a banner at base camp on the Chineseside that read: ‘One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008’ were deported.

The Chinese have been sensitive to the presence of Tibetan activistsin Nepal, and have got Kathmandu to crackdown on functions to markthe Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrations. Last week, Nepal deported aTibetan refugee and police baton-charged a pro-Tibetan protest inBaudha on Tuesday.

The Nepal government stands to lose at least 1.2 million dollars inroyalties alone if expeditions from the Nepal side are cancelled, andmany high-altitude guides will lose their jobs on both sides of themountain. Last year there were a record 48 expeditions from north andsouth.

Early May is the peak climbing period on Chomolungma whenexpeditions establish camps, fix ropes and acclimatise for the finalsummit push towards the third week of May. Nepali mountaineeringfirms are trying to get the Chinese to agree to allow expedition to get upto the Western Cwm and make summit pushes only after 10 May.

The question is what will happen if the summit torch is delayedbecause of bad weather. Reported by Dewan Rai

MountOlympusChomolungma falls victimto Olympic politics

A

KOICHIRO OHMORI

2 14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391EDITORIAL

Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda DixitDesign: Kiran MaharjanDirector Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah marketing@himalmedia.com

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LLLLL E T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R S

RED ON THE INSIDEAmong the things that we can be justifiably proud of is Nepal’s trackrecord in nature conservation.

Whether it was during a dictatorial monarchy or a messydemocracy, in times of peace or war, our national parks and naturereserves became international show cases. The success story ofChitwan’s people-park initiative, the eco-tourism model to fundgrassroots development in the Annapurnas and the success inmelding trekking with environmental protection in SagarmathaNational Park are now recognised by experts the world over.

Nepal suffered a national tragedy when we lost most of our topenvironmentalists in a helicopter crash in September 2006 atGhunsa in the Kangchenjunga area. Among them was Tirtha ManMaskey, the architect of Chitwan’s people-park concept, MingmaNorbu, who made the Sagarmatha eco-tourism model work. ChandraGurung, the man behind the Annapurna tourism-for-developmentproject.

The country will take a long time to recover from thatmomentous loss. But it is a tribute to the people who mastermindedthem that the projects worked so well for so long.

Another reason our national parks still have tigers has been theinvolvement of the army to guard them. The Maoist conflict led to theredeployment of army units from national parks, and resulted in adramatic increase in poaching and encroachment in the tarai parks.

Since 2003, 165 rhinos have been killed for their horns inChitwan and another 72 translocated rhinos have been poached inBardia. No one knows how many tigers have beenkilled.

In Chitwan, the army outposts closed down duringthe war have been re-established, but in Bardia, SuklaPhanta and Kosi Tappu this process has been slow.

Another fallout of democracy has been theconversion of the King Mahendra Trust for NatureConservation into the National Trust for NatureConservation. The former was run like a royal fiefdomand there is evidence of gross mismanagement in thepast. Despite this, the Trust was working to replicatethe Annapurna project in Kangchenjunga andManaslu. (See p 4)

The Trust’s name has changed and it has beentransferred from the royals to the Maoists who haveturned the organisation into an employment centre forthe YCL. Saving wildlife and protecting theenvironment doesn’t come easily to comrades whohad no qualms about killing human beings.

But here is one area where the Maoists don’t haveto destroy in order to rebuild. We have provenexpertise in promoting rural development not byextorting tourists, but through park fees. We haveshown how villagers in the buffer zones can activelyhelp protect nature.

The Maoists are trying to portray themselves aswater-melons, green on the outside and red inside. Butthey shouldn’t throw away concrete achievements ofthe old Nepal for the vague notion of a new Nepal.

CORRECTIONThe photograph of the Maoist attackon the Naumule police station thataccompanied the translation‘Naumule now’ (#390) wasinadvertently dropped. It was taken byChandra Shekhar Karki.

he fact that the final threecontenders in the USelection race are a woman,

an African-American, and anolder man who often challengedhis own party suggests that theUnited States, after a decline in

popularity during the Bush years,retains some capacity to reinventitself. But the next president willneed to recognise that the natureof leadership also is changing.

The information revolution istransforming politics andorganisations. Hierarchies arebecoming flatter, and knowledgeworkers respond to different

Hard vs soft powerContenders in the US presidential racemust respond to a changed world

incentives and politicalappeals. Polls show that peopletoday have become lessdeferential to authority inorganisations and in politics.Soft power, the ability to getwhat you want by attractionrather than coercion or payment,is becoming more important.

Of course, hard powerremains important too. Hardand soft power are related,because they are bothapproaches to achieving one’sobjectives by affecting thebehaviour of others. Sometimespeople are attracted to otherswho command hard power bymyths of invincibility. AsOsama bin Laden put it in oneof his videos, “When people seea strong horse and a weak horse,by nature they will like the

strong horse.”Hard and soft power

can reinforce orundermine each other.Certainly, the US’s use ofhard power with militaryand police force wasnecessary to counter al-Qaeda, but theindiscriminate use ofhard power (the invasionof Iraq, the Abu Ghraibprison photos, detentionswithout trial) served toincrease the number ofterrorist recruits. Theabsence of an effectivesoft power componentundercut the strategicresponse to terrorism.

Those who rely oncoercion are not leaders,but mere wielders ofpower. Thus, Hitler wasnot a leader. Even tyrantsand despots need a degreeof soft power, at leastwithin their inner circle,

to attract or induce henchmento impose their coercivetechniques on others. At thesame time, except for somereligious leaders, such as theDalai Lama, soft power is rarelysufficient.

Indeed, psychologists havefound that too muchassertiveness by a leaderworsens relationships, just astoo little limits achievement.Machiavelli famously said thatit is more important for a princeto be feared than to be loved. Hemay have been correct, but wesometimes forget that theopposite of love is not fear, buthatred. And Machiavelli madeit clear that hatred is somethinga prince should carefully avoid.When the exercise of hardpower undercuts soft power,leadership becomes moredifficult, as President Bushfound out.

Soft power is not good perse, and it is not always betterthan hard power. But it doesallow followers more choiceand leeway than hard power,because their views and choicesmatter more. Thus, in an age offlatter hierarchies andempowered knowledge workers,soft power is likely to increasein importance.

Hard power has not becomeirrelevant, but leaders mustdevelop the contextualintelligence that allows them tocombine hard and soft powerresources into a ‘smart power’strategy. Whoever the nextpresident will be, he or she willneed to learn that lesson. (Project Syndicate)

Joseph S. Nye Jr is a professor atHarvard and author of ThePowers to Lead.

COMMENTJoseph S Nye

T

POLL DRAMAThis election is very crucial to all Nepalisas it will determine the future of thecountry (‘Poll drama’, #390). The electionmust be free and fair, and it will bedisastrous if any group uses violence toget their desired outcome. We should notbelieve the communist rhetoric of aproletarian revolution, as at least up tillnow they have delivered nothing butbloodshed.

PB Rana, email

It’s very important that the CAelections are free and fair, so Nepal canshow that although we are poor we arestill able to establish a functioningdemocracy. It would have been good thingif the electoral commission had madevoting compulsory so that all the people’svoice would be heard.

Nirmal Ghimire, Spain

DAVID SEDDONMy question to David Seddon, with duerespect, is this. Can the CPN-Maoist,which is modelled on Peru’s SenderoLuminoso, really conform to mainstreampolitics to make a modern republic? And if

the answer is yes, how can one reconcilethe difference between their ideology andthat of multi-party democracy? Maybe it’strue that the NC failed to empower thepeople, but you shouldbe aware that theempowerment thatoccurred after 1990 wasmore implicit thanexplicit, as it allowedordinary people to realisethat change was bothnecessary and possible inNepal. I would havedifficulty voting for a partywhose ideology and policyseem to be conflicting.Even though the Maoistshave set an agenda, willthey compensate all thepeople they have harmedwhile doing so?

Pradipta R, email

WOMEN’S DAYThe article ‘Deepa, Pushpa, Sita andMaiya’ (#390) on International Women’sDay was touching. Thanks for featuring thestories of these four women who have

shown that they can struggle against allodds. They are reminders that we need todo more to help the families that were

affected by the war. Manyseminars are held on thesubject in five star hotelsin Kathmandu, but howwill they benefit manymore women like Deepa,Pushpa, Sita and Maiyaout there?

Manoj Aryal, email

ASININEMuch as I admire yourAss, sometimes he canbe rather, well, asinine.A case in point, hislittle rant about theBritish ‘requiring

Nepalis to apply for visas in Delhi’(Backside, #389). Nonsense! Nepalicitizens will continue to apply, as now, forBritish visas at the VFS Global VisaApplication Centre in Nag Pokhari,Kathmandu. All that’s changed is that,instead of passing the applications to myEmbassy for a decision by immigrationofficers here, the VAC will courier the

documents to our High Commission inNew Delhi (at no extra cost to theapplicant) where the decision will bemade. Applications are turned roundquickly and there is no need for theapplicant to visit Delhi at any stage in theprocess. This is all part of a worldwidemove to issue all British visas from ahandful of regional centres in theinterests of efficiency and higherstandards of service. And of course, therewill always be a warm welcome from theUK to all genuine Nepali visitors.

So, please don’t be mulish. Provideyour Ass with a decent fact-checkerotherwise he will end up talking out of hisderriere (that’s diplomatic speak for….oh, never mind!).

Andrew Hall,British Ambassador, Kathmandu

314 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391

STATE OF THE STATEC K Lal

KOLKATA — Hindus of theShakta sect believe that thosewho have recently lost theirmothers should visit the shrineof the Goddess Kali in Kolkata.The Celestial Mother is supposedto release the faithful from filialobligations and free her from allworldly bondage. With herblessings, vices disappear anddoors of virtue open.

Widows, orphans, theterminally ill, and the poor oncethronged to the Kali temple hereto make a living from the piety ofpilgrims. That changed a bit withMother Teresa and her unlimitedsupply of compassion. TheMother changed the lives of thewretched on the streets of Kolkataand her Sisters of Charitycontinue her work.

There are still someprofessional beggars around, butthe endless rows of fly-infestedlepers and shrieking invalids thatonce lined the temple entranceare gone. However, much to thedisgrace of the Marxistgovernment in West Bengal,vulture-like priests still pounceupon vulnerable devotees.

No organised activity in WestBengal is said to be free of partycontrol. Marxist and Leninistminders of the Kali temple mustbe getting substantial cuts fromthe extortionist priests at thetemple.

The more things change, themore they remain the same istruer of Kolkata than any othercity in the region. This is a placewhere rickshaws are still pulledrather than pedaled and

pushcarts with wooden wheelsand bamboo platforms creakalong wide avenues under theload of 60 bags of cement.Kolkata was the first city inIndia to get a functioning metro,but it continues to run tramsbuilt in British India.

Ambassador taxis jostle forspace with American SUVs onnarrow streets which areperpetually dug up to makespace for underground utilities.However, unlike the maniacalhonkers of New Delhi, drivers inKolkata don’t display road rageand switch off their engines andwait whenever a minor scuffle, aVIP motorcade or a marriageprocession holds up traffic.

In the first flush of

privatisation in mid-nineties,Kolkata bid farewell tounannounced power-cuts. Butthe power shortage is back witha vengeance, making visitorsfrom Kathmandu feel perfectlyat home.

Despite challenges from themoderate left, radical right andredundant centrists, leftistcapitalism continues toprosper in West Bengal.Intolerance of outsiders is lessvisible even though there is thesame contempt here as inMaharashtra for Biharis.Language-based nationalismdid help counter religiousextremism in the Indian union,but it has ended upexacerbating latent tensions

between communities. Perhapsthere is some justification in thelogic that immigrants shouldmake an extra effort to adapt tohost communities.

There is a whiff of electionshere too. With a populistrailway and central budget, the

Letter from KolkataWhat if Maharajganj becomes Marxganjand Laincour is renamed Leninchaur?

ruling coalition in New Delhiappears to be preparing itself forsnap polls by the year end. Recentelections in Tripura andMeghalaya have shown that theRahul Gandhi magic isn’tworking in the north-east. Thereis resurgent communalism in thesouth-west with the rabidrightwing politics of NarendraModi. Regional parties havealways dominated the DeepSouth and the north too is in thethrall of provincial players likeMayawati and Nitish Kumar. Socoalition politics is here to stayin India.

Nepal’s monarchists may wishotherwise, but the left-orientationof the Indian establishment isunlikely to end despite USpressures. The Indians have learntto live with Marxist-Leninists.There is no reason for Nepalis tofear the domination of LeninistUML or Stalinist CPN-M in ourown constituent assembly. At thevery least, once left parties comeinto power, they are in no hurryto leave.

If Nepal’s donors valuepolitical stability so much, theywould do well to let CA electionsproduce a left-dominated house.So what if Maharajgunj isrenamed Marxgunj and LainchaurLeninchaur?

HOWRAH BRIDGE LONG AGO: Kolkata is marginally less destitute than it used to be.

4 NATION 14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391

epal Airlines, the NepalArmy and our embassiesabroad were stripped of

their ‘royal’ prefixes after April2006. Even the conservationgroup, King Mahendra Trust forNature Conservation, was notspared. It had ‘King Mahendra’lopped off last year.

But the change is not just inthe name. The Maoists havereplaced the Trust’s former royalpatrons and turned Nepal’s best-known conservation foundationinto a recruitment centre. Insteadof crown prince Paras, the Trust isnow headed by the primeminister with the Maoist Ministerof Forest and Soil Conservation,Matrika Yadav, as ex-officio chair.

After the Maoists joined thegovernment, they bargained hardto keep Yadav as forest minister.He appointed a new governingboard in which almost no one hasany conservation experience tooversee pioneering eco-tourisminitiatives like the AnnapurnaArea Conservation Project.

Maoist-appointed membersecretary Bimal Kumar Baniyasays the new board is moreinclusive. “We have membersrepresenting women, Madhes andindigenous communities,” Baniyatold Nepali Times.

Manu Humagain, one of thewomen trustees is a Maoistactually contesting the electionsfrom Kathmandu-3. She is also ina probe committee set up byYadav to investigate Trust’sfinancial irregularities during itsroyal days. (See box below.)

Capt Man Bahadur Gurung

The morethings change...

and Karma Gurung representindigenous people, but no onein the environment field hasheard of them. DharmendraKarn, a media representative inthe board, is not even known injournalist circles. OnlyBasundhara Bhattarai is aconservationist.

Baniya says re-staffing wascarried out to “enhanceefficiency”. But he admittedsome of those hired werechildren of “martyrs” and Dalits.He said there is continuity inthe Trust’s work and it hasreopened offices in theAnnapurna and Manaslu areasthat were closed during the war.

But former employees sayfield staff in Bhujung, Sikles,Ghandruk in the Annapurnas areMaoist cadre. Staff aredemoralised because they have

been appointed over people withyears of conservation experience.There is no one from the technicalmanagement team to look afterforestry and ecology, sections thatearlier had seven staff. There is noconservation officer in theManaslu conservation area after adedicated officer was replacedwith someone his junior.

All this has impacted on theTrust’s funding. Only threepreviously funded projects areleft: a rhino conservation schemeunder the Darwin Initiative of theZoological Society of London, aBagmati River EcosystemConservation Project funded byUNEP and the Regional RangelandProgram in Upper Mustangsupported by ICIMOD.

The Trust’s chapters in Japanand Germany did not participatein two successive board meetings,while the Germans have officiallywithdrawn partnership. TheCanadians were planning tosupport an integratedconservation project, but have lostinterest.

But Baniya doesn’t seem to bebothered. “I am not in the leastworried about finding donors,they will come,” he told us.

Some insiders say the reasonfor Baniya’s confidence comesfrom the Chinese who see Maoistcontrol over the Trust as a way tomonitor the activities ofAmerican groups involved inrestoring monasteries in sensitiveregions like Mustang.

he military base is at the edge of the jungle, overlooking a vastgrassland that stretches as far as the eye can see. There is awatch-tower with a sentry manning a machine gun.

Sandbagged pill boxes and concertina wire surround the base.The Nepal Army at this forward post is not fighting Maoist

guerrillas anymore, neither is it deployed to guard Nepal’s borderwith India which is only two kilometers away.

It is here to protect the Sukla Phanta Nature Reserve in thesouthwestern tip of Nepal from armed poachers. This 305 sq kmsanctuary has Tarai’s original hardwood jungles and a uniquegrassland habitat with swamp deer, wild boar, tiger, wild elephant andother species.

Indeed, if it hadn’t been for the military, Sukla Phanta, Bardiya,Chitwan and Kosi Tappu would have by now been decimated bypoachers and squatters as have some national parks across theborder in India.

“There is just too much pressure on land, and cross-bordercriminal gangs hunting tigers and rhinos are so active that you needa physical military for deterrence,” says a Nepal Army officer whomans a base in Bardiya.

After 2001, many of the bases in the tarai parks were pulled backand the army’s total troop strength at nature reserves was reducedby 70 percent. The conflict also affected the intelligence network ofvillagers that had been established on the park perimeter to counterwildlife traffickers.

The result was a dramatic surge in poaching. Chitwan lost 165rhinos in the past five years, and 72 rhinos have been killed inBardiya, many of them translocated at great expense from Chitwan.

While the count for dead rhinos is fairly accurate becausepoachers hack off the horn and leave the carcass behind, every partof a tiger can be sold, so there is no trace. In Chitwan, an estimated30 tigers have been killed in the past five years. Here at SuklaPhanta, a tiger census is in progress but so far only seven tigershave been counted from an original population of about 25.

Chitwan is high-profile and has more resources from tourism, soit has re-established many of the jungle bases that were abandonedduring the war. As a result, rhino poaching has all but stopped.

But in Bardiya and Sukla Phanta, there is no budgetary or othersupport from Kathmandu. Even the army can’t do much. Ironically,things have got more difficult since the end of the conflict becausethe National Parks Directorate at the royal palace that used tocommand the army in parks has been handed over to the ministries.

“We need at least three more outposts to check cross-borderpoachers, we need more vehicles for patrolling,” says anexasperated army officer here, “what is the point keeping the army inthe barracks, let them guard the national parks.”

The only hope conservationists here have is that after the polls,there will be enough political stability to bring back the tourismentrepreneurs who abandoned their hotels during the conflict. Withtourists will come revenue to fund anti-poaching units.

It is evening when a herd of swamp deer, with wild boars inattendance, come grazing to the base perimeter. They scatter whenvisitors in civilian clothes appear, but aren’t afraid of an approachingsoldier.

“They recognise our camouflage fatigues,” says the soldier. Kunda Dixit in Sukla Phanta, Kanchanpur

A secret internal report has listed numerous instances of lavishspending on foreign travel, expensive parties and unaccountedspending in the past 10 years when the King Mahendra Trust forNature Conservation was headed by Gyanendra and his son Paras.

The exhaustive report goes into meticulous details like, forexample, how Rs 5.8 million worth of computers, cars, and other Trustequipment are still being used by the palace. The Trust spent Rs 1.35million just on alcohol in the period between 1998-2005, madeundocumented transfers to banks in Singapore and unauthorisedcredit card expenses.

“The Trust earned a name in conservation work, but we found thatit also spent a lot of money on entertainment for palace cronies,” saidEkraj Bhandari, a lawyer in the probe committee. The inquiry ischaired by the Trust’s new Maoist-installed member of the board ofgovernors, Muna Humagain.

In addition, millions were advanced to the royal family for, amongothers, trips to England for Queen Komal’s check-up, Gyanendra’sforeign visits and Paras’ trips to Austria and France where there aresaid to be no proper accounts.

Bhandari says more worrying than the financial irregularities arethe fact that laws were flouted and the Trust was treated like a privatefiefdom of the royal family. Kiran Nepal

Parkingthe army

“What is the point keeping thearmy in the barrack, let themguard the national parks.”

T

GUARDING GRASS: An army patrolstops at Sukla Phanta’s unique

grassland habitat to look for signs ofpoacher activity.

KUNDA DIXIT

DEWAN RAI

Royals did it too

Maoists behave no differently than royalsin Nepal’s premier conservation trust

N

KIRAN PANDAY

514 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391BUSINESS

STRICTLY BUSINESSAshutosh Tiwari

ig businesses are rarely celebratedin Nepal. First, there’s theperception problem. Most are seen,

often without good evidence, to be corruptand discomfortingly close to those inpower, and to most educated Nepalis in

non-private sector jobs, the phrase ‘bigbusinessmen’ unfairly conjures up imagesof smooth-talking hustlers ormiddlemen who make money byfleecing innocent customers andproducers.

And second, while almost allpolitical parties are quick toannounce various job-creationpolicies, they remain incapableof understanding that greatergood can only come about if thegovernment is confinedprimarily to the role of enforcingthe existing rules fairly, whileallowing many competitivesmall and large businesses in allsectors to play out their sagasunder the watch of a fearlesslyindependent business press.

For the past six years, theboss monthly magazine hasworked hard to change thenegative perceptions surroundingmembers of the business community. Ithas chronicled the success of Nepalientrepreneurs, bankers and managers,giving the next generation ofbusinesspeople role models they can lookup to.

On Wednesday, the monthly hosted awell-organized and well-attended 5th

Business Excellence Award in whichNepali businesspeople, entrepreneurs,CEOs and management students, judgedbest in their respective categories, were

Uphill all the wayThe hurdles which big business has to face in Nepal

given trophies.But besides these perception

problems and stories of excellence thereremain two major constraints which arelikely to hinder the growth rate of mostNepali companies in times ahead. One isthe shortage of middle managers. Theother is the rise of militant unions.

Shortage of middle managers:Most big Nepali businesses are familyenterprises which are slowly learningthe value of hiring professionalmanagement talent. While senior

managers remain much in demand, thereis a severe shortage of middle managerswho can carry out day-to-day functionswithout much supervision.

The result is that instead of chasingopportunities with potentially highpayoffs, senior managers have no choicebut to spend time on crossing the T’sand dotting the I’s on routine tasks.Indeed, it appears that, in the last sevenyears, most potential middle-managershave left for other countries as eithergraduate students or professionals, and,

B as a friend joked the other day, are nowfound only on Facebook.com!

Some companies are trying to addressthis shortage by increasing the intensity oftheir in-house training programs, and byholding on to the productive employeesthat they already have, but it remains anissue.

Rise of militant unions: These days,almost any sector of Nepali business hasone or more labour unions, often affiliatedto political parties. True, in many cases,shoddy management practices made it

timely for these unions to comeup to defend labourers’ rights.

But now, drunk on the successof some of their earlier victories,most union leaders could not careless about good or badmanagement practices, and spendmore time building up their ownpower base. Lip-service for Leninand Mao masks personal designs,and union leaders viewthemselves at a rank equal to thatof a company’s seniormanagement. Needless to say, theyare not hesitant to use brute forceto get what they want.

Some Nepali companies havetried pleading with their militantunions; others have tried ignoringthem. Some have shut downaltogether after incurring losses to

accommodate union demands.In times ahead, whatever else happens,

learning to engage positively with theunions in an open, fair andcommunication-intensive manner willremain a challenge for senior managementin many Nepali businesses.

Bad perceptions can be overcome byvisible success stories. Besides thosepresent at the boss awards, these are stilltoo rare in this country. We can only hopethere will be more examples for others toemulate in the future.

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Global leaderAashmi Rana has been chosen by theWorld Economic Forum as a YoungGlobal Leader for 2008. Drawn from a

pool of almost 5,000candidates, 200-300young leaders arechosen from all overthe world as global

leaders. Aashmi Rana is managingdirector of the Himali PashminaUdhyog.

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Two for LaxmiLaxmi Bank has added two newbranches at New Baneswor and Damak,their 12th and 13th Branch. The branchat New Baneswor will also house acorporate banking unit. Laxmi Bank hasadded four new branches in the currentfinancial year and intends to add twomore by mid July.

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Ace and VisaAce Development Bank is now anassociate member of Visa International.

Ace can now issueVisa Debit cards andcan also buy and sell

American Express traveller’s cheques.Ace has banking facilities inKathmandu, Kirtipur and Birganj.

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Banks in PokharaCitizens Bank International opened itsfourth branch in Pokhara’s New Roadwhile Pokhara’s Shangri-la bankopened its first branch in Dulegauda inthe Tanahu district.

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Share dealCoca-Cola Sabco has sold 22 percentof its shares in Bottlers Nepal to MutualTrading, a subsidiary of the Khetan

Group. However,Coca-Cola Sabcostill retains a

majority controlling interest in BottlersNepal and has also announced theappointment of SaumindraBhattacharya as its country manager.

LOOK WHO'S BOSS: Padma Jyoti of the Jyoti Group receivingthe boss Lifetime Achievement Award from Finance MinisterRam Sharan Mahat on Wednesday.

KIRAN PANDAY

6 14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

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IntegrationTilak Pathak in Nepal, 16 March

Two days after the agreementbetween the government and theUnited Democratic MadhesiFront, army chief GeneralRukmangad Katuwal hasexpressed his dissatisfaction. Hesays that the Nepal army isalready inclusive and thegovernment did not need topromise inclusiveness in thearmy.

Katuwal made his opinionknown in a program held at themilitary headquarters to mark the43rd anniversary of the NationalCadet Corps. According to sources,Katuwal had also pressured thegovernment to reject the UDMF’sdemand for one Madhes oneregion, citing that it underminednational integrity.

In the agreement signed on28 February the governmentagreed to ensure proportionalinclusion of the Madhes andother ethnic groups in the NepalArmy. The government had nochoice but to accept after theMadhesi leaders added thedemand for an inclusive army atthe last minute.

The army is against any kindof reconstitution. Katuwalhimself is against the proposedintegration of the People’sLiberation Army with the NA. Ata recent press conference, Armyspokesman Ramindra Chettri said:“We will not accept anypolitically active individual in

Drishti, 11 March

While Chairman Prachanda is threatening tocapture power after the CA polls, an eleven pointcircular has been secretly distributed to theMaoist party workers in various districts. Thecircular directs workers touse force to secure CAelections in their favour. Itreads as follows:

1. Create a secret emissaryin all VDCs to check thedaily activities and theroles of various people inthe elections. Collectinformation and keep tabson the opposition. The areacommittee should submit allinformation to the districtcommittee.2. Prepare at least 20 YCLcadres in each VDC. TheYCL should follow thedirections of the party andtry to make the youth pro-Maoist. Try and influenceeveryone to vote for theMaoists. Make and submitthe list of people who arenot in favour of the Maoiststo the respective authority.3. Make it difficult for NC workers to stay in thevillages. Lower their self-confidence and makethem unhappy so that they lose the elections.4. Make the oppositional forces fight amongsteach other. Sit together to eat and drink but hitthem hard when you get the chance. Work todivide the international forces especially India,

Booth youthAmerica and European Union so that they cannotmonitor our activities.5. Bring the dead to life for the 10 April elections.Make a list of those killed or absent from thevillage and vote in their names. The securityforces and the police are afraid of us so we do not

need to fear them. Everyoneshould vote. If possibleforbid the opposition tocaste votes.6. The YCL should keepkhukuris, sticks and otherweapons of self-defence atsecret hide outs.7. Be very good to thepeople of the lower rungs ofthe society. Cajole themiddle class and threatenthe upper class so that theyare unable to play any rolein the village.8. Start the electioncampaign from mid Marchwithout caring for your life.Use all the tricks known toturn the all-importantelections in the favour ofthe Maoists.9. All activities of the partywill be broadcastedregularly as a cultural

program on Gandaki FM. Everyone should listenand inform others of the program.10. Encourage and be nice to nationalist forces.11. Draw together teachers, intellectuals, socialworkers and businessmen. Turn teachers,students and youth into full-timers. After a monthor two there will be a huge campaign to make full-timers.

the army.”The prime minister also

doesn’t look too happy about thearmy integration. While the armyhas clearly stated its opinion onPLA integration, views on theinclusion of Madhesis and otherethnic groups have only come outindirectly. This is no doubt dueto the fact that the agreement onthis was signed by the three mainparties currently forming thegovernment.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

CommitmentJanadesh, 11 March

Exactly a month from today,Nepali people will vote in thegreat move towards a new era.

KIRAN PANDAY

SAM KANG LI

714 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

The day will be historic in thecreation of a modern Nepal. Thevoting will instruct thegovernment to establish thefederal republican Nepal that hasbeen announced in the interimconstitution.

As the CA polls near, royalistsand foreign powers who areagainst the nation are worried thatthe people will chooserevolutionary forces in theelections. The imperialists andfeudalists have come to theconclusion that now there is nostopping the victory of therevolutionary people in Nepal,and these enemies of the Nepalipeople are conspiring against theCA polls. There is no doubt thatthe people will once again foiltheir attempt.

The Maoists are responsiblytrying to unite the leftist parties,patriots and republicans, andhelp them work together to makethe CA polls successful. However,the UML are siding with theconspiring imperialists andfeudal royalists. The people havebegun to despise theopportunistic and cowardlynature of the UML. The Maoistsare committed to making thepeople win.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

No inclusionGorkhapatra, 12 March

Although the interimconstitution has clearly spelledout that the political partiesshould consider the principle of

inclusion while choosingcandidates (clause 63, sub-clause4), this principle has not beenimplemented in the directelections.

The candidate lists that havebeen filed for nomination from 16different parties clearly show thatwomen, janajatis, Madhesis andDalits have not beenproportionately represented.

The national census six yearsago shows that women form 50.1percent of the total population.But, in most of the politicalparties, women candidates make

““QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Nepal, 16 March

SELECTED MATERIAL TRANSLATED EVERY WEEK FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

Peace...Security...

Nepali Congress is like the Ganges; people come,bathe and go. If someone takes away a mug of waterfrom the Ganges, you cannot say they have takenaway the Ganges.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala quoted inNaya Patrika, 10 March

only 10 percent of candidates.The Nepal Workers and PeasantsParty has the highest percentageof women candidates at 27.5. TheMaoists have 17.5 percent,whereas the UML and NC have10.8 and 10.4 percentrespectively.

Although there is acompulsory provision forincluding a minimum number ofwomen, janajatis, Madhesis andDalits in the proportionalelection procedure, there are nosuch compulsions for directcandidacy.

A road ruhen Swiss geologistToni Hagen in 1952took the famous

photograph of porters crossingthe Kali Gandaki with Nilgiri inthe background, he chose it forthe cover of his book, Nepal.

For decades, that picturebecame symbolic of Nepal’ssheer beauty and its poorinfrastructure. It was also aniconic photograph thatintroduced the rugged terrain ofthe deepest gorge on the planetto the outside world.

Hagen, who died in 2003,probably would never haveimagined that barely 55 yearslater, a highway would pass

along the valley where he madethe first-ever geologicalexploration.

The Kali Gandaki is calledthe deepest scar on the earth’ssurface. Up the valley at Dana,this frothing river flows at only1,200m above sea level inbetween the ramparts of the8,000m + peaks of Annapurnaand Dhaulagiri which are only25km apart.

This dizzyingly deep gorgeshould have been declared aworld heritage site, but now it’stoo late.

It was perhaps inevitablethat a river that has cut throughthe mountains would be theonly trade route between Tibetand India. For centuries foodand cloth from the south and

salt and skin from the northwere bartered in the markettowns of Nepal. The motorableroad has just followed that oldtrading route. Once Jomsom islinked to the Chinese border,and the road is paved, one couldget from Kathmandu to LoManthang in one day.

The sound of dynamiteblasting through the sheer rockface at Bandarjung had beenreverberating in the narrowvalley for the past four monthsas the Nepal Army tried to clearthe last major obstacle to linkthe two ends of the highwaysfrom north and south.

Mindful of the criticism thatit just opened the Surkhet-JumlaHighway and left it at that, thearmy is trying to make sure the

A road ruW

PICS KUNDA DIXIT

KUNDA DIXIT in MUSTANG

WONG SHU YUN

ns through it

Things will never bethe same again on theKali Gandaki Valley

THEN AND NOW: Toni Hagen’sfamous picture of Nilgiri fromTatopani taken in 1952 on thecover of his book, Nepal (inset)and Nilgiri today from the samespot.

Min Bahadur Basnet supervisesthe blasting of the 200m sectionof cliff at Bandarjung overlookingthe Kali Gandaki gorge nearGhasa as soldiers usepneumatic drills to lay dynamite.

At Timure near Beni, the roadhas to be literally carved out ofthe rock face above the KaliGandaki.

from Beni to Tiplang. Heexpects a windfall of businesswith tourists, pilgrims as wellas Mustang’s apples andapricots and is planning toadd more jeeps to his fleet.

But owners of trekkinglodges are distressed. “It’sfinished, first it was the warthat killed trekking, now it isthe road,” says Nara Gurung,who runs a lodge nearTatopani.

Not everyone is giving upon tourism. There aremotorcycle taxis alreadyferrying pilgrims plyingbetween Beni and Dana. InJomsom, former lodge ownersare investing in tractors.

There might even be atrekking boom. Myagdi DDC is

working on an alternativetrekking route up the valley onthe other side of the highway.Some trekking groups are alreadyplanning new hiking itinerariesnow that the East DhaulagiriGlacier, Mirsiti Khola and theupper reaches of AnnapurnaSouth suddenly become moreaccessible.

Infrastructure ministerHisila Yami helicoptered in lastmonth on an inspection, andadmitted that the highway hasbeen delayed because of theconflict. “We shouldn’t havetargeted (the army building theroad),” she admitted tojournalists. She added, “But thework would have gone muchfaster if the two armies wereintegrated.”

Kali Gandaki road is safe andmotorable.

“The highway was delayedby the conflict, then worksuffered because of the dieselcrisis, but we are also trying tomake sure that this is not just apilot track when we hand itover,” says army engineer MinBahadur Basnet.

This week, a convoy of four-wheel drives made history bytraversing the road from Beni toJomsom for the first time.Things are never going to be thesame again in the Kali Gandakivalley, and there is mixedreaction among locals.

“If it wasn’t built today, itwould have been built in fiveyears, we can’t stop it,” saysMana Gauchan who plies a jeep

ns through it

10 14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391

In Constituency On the campaign trail with the 'first president'

mesh Lal Das refuses to acceptcongratulations for being included inthe PR list for elections. Instead, he

is angry and hurt and holds forth for anhour on the injustice of politics.

He rails at the casteism of the Yadav-Muslim-Bania combine in the tarai, themyopia of Kathmandu-centric Madhesileaders, the insult of being confined to thePR list and the tragedy of being a Kayasth ina district of Muslims, Yadavs, Tharus andPahadis.

“They pushed me into this sheet ofpaper,” he says in Maithili, peeling abanana, “one year of being on the streets forthe Madhes movement and I still didn’t geta ticket from MJF.”

Despite proportional representation andall the talk of ‘inclusiveness’, Umesh’s casteworked against him in an election that issupposed to frame the laws of a new Nepal.

Caste, which was concealed by thebroader Madhes struggle for the past year, isback as an election issue. It is determiningthe way in which the Madhesi alliance isselecting candidates and getting splintered,and it will decide who will win.

To see just how complicated caste is inBara, just look at how it is divided.Constituency 1 has Yadavs, Kushawas andKalwars. While most parties are fieldingYadav candidates, TMLP has put upJitendra Singh who is banking on a split inthe Yadav vote to see him through. Number2 has Yadavs, Muslims and Telis whereCongress and UML will see a tough contest.Constituency 3, which includes Kalaiyabajar, has Kalwar, Kanus, Muslims and

No Madhesi waveCaste and the big parties sideline the Madhesi alliancePRASHANT JHA in BARA

U

Dalits. Some believe NC will win whileothers think MJF’s Pramod Guptahas a chance.

Constituency 4, with areas like Jitpurand Parwanipur on the highway, has asubstantial chunk of Muslims and will seea contest between Farmullah Mansur of theNC, UML’s Mahmood Alam, and royalistYunus Ansari. Number 5 is a Tharustronghold with NC’s Umakant Chaudharyhaving a head-start while the sixth will seea Pahadi winner, possibly PuroshottamDahal of the UML. The Maoists will be ableto pick up votes in all constituencies,especially the ones with a sizeable Pahadipopulation, to add to their vote share inthe PR.

But hold on. Where is the Madhesiwave for Madhesi parties? Less than amonth after the signing of an agreementwith the government, bickering within the

Electoral violenceWith only a month to go until elections,a poll watch group has recommendedsecurity and crowd management mustbe improved to reduce the danger ofviolence.

Democracy and Election AllianceNepal (DEAN) in a report issued thisweek urged that party organisers keeptheir cadres peaceful.

”Political party leaders shouldimmediately denounce use of violenceby their supporters, cadres, andaffiliated groups,” the group said in astatement.

DEAN’s Political-Election ViolenceEducation and Resolution project alsotallies instances of violence in the run-up to elections and recorded a dramaticincrease in January to 97 wounded in45 incidents. There were 25 otherinstances in January of kidnappingsand intimidation, clashes between youthgroups in which 19 were wounded, 3killed, and 6 kidnapped. The projectrelies on a network of 240 monitors ineach constituency who report onviolence and tension in theircommunities, and is funded by USAID.

Madhesi alliance has eroded its supportbase. Even Madhesi cadres are annoyed.Ramkishore Yadav of the MJF says testily:“Who do these leaders think we are? Theyused us to get seats and forgot about theMadhesi cause.”

The big parties are therefore back inbusiness, but fielding Madhesi candidatesbecause they know the Madhes Street willnot accept Pahadis. They have theexperience in electoral politics,the organisational strength, the traditionalloyalties and the money. In the11 constituencies of Bara and Parsatogether, the NC and UML may take asmany as eight seats. The elections mayactually strengthen the hand of Madhesiradicals who can now point to poorrepresentation of the new Madhesi partiesin the constituent assembly to show thatnothing has changed.

SUBEL BHANDARI

BADLY HURT: Deb Shankar Poudel ofthe UML, who was badly beaten byMaoists in Ramechhap on Wednesday,was helicoptered to Kathmandu fortreatment.

AJIT TI WARI

SANTA GAHA MAGAR

1114 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391

n 1976, when Pushpa Kamal Dahal picked up his suitcase toleave Arughat, the villagers came out to see him off. At the busstop, a crowd stood round him, many weeping.Two years earlier when he arrived in this village in Gorkha,

Dahal was a fresh graduate from the Rampur Campus in Chitwan,and came to teach agriculture at Arughat’s Bhimodaya High School.

“A talented teacher,” recalls Satrughan Shrestha, an ex-student,“he never had to refer to the textbooks and would tell us interestingstories to keep our attention on the subject.”

“He gave us a lot of homework,” recalls another student, KrishnaKumar Shrestha, “and after dinner he went door to door to makesure we were doing it.”

No one ever saw him lose his temper or raise his voice. Hechose patience over punishment. During the two years, Dahal taughtat the school, it achieved an unprecedented 100 percent pass rate inagriculture.

Students say they respected him, but he also maintained friendlyrelations outside school hours. “When he caught us peeking at himswimming in the river, instead of reprimanding, he would call for usto join him,” recalls Shurendra Prasad, now a retired grandfather.

It has been 32 years since Dahal left Arughat to lead the Maoistmovement and became Comrade Prachanda. Dahal was a strongbeliever in education, locals remember, and he taught illiterateadults in the evening, four days a week.

During his free time, he would go down to the fields todemonstrate modern farming techniques to improve harvests. Hewas also the first to teach villagers how to build outhouses andchimneys. Honest, helpful and responsible, that is how most peoplehere remember the man.

But more difficult to believe may be that the Maoist chairmanwas an avid dancer, and choreographed performances that won thevillage first place in two local dance competitions. Ganesh KumarShrestha, a colleague, admitted that Dahal wasn’t the best dancer inthe world. “But he was very creative,” he hastened to add.

Just about everyone in the neighbourhood knew that Dahaldetested the monarchy. “He was against the caste system, and usedto stress the importance of equality,” said Bhuban Pasad Shrestha,Dahal’s former landlord in Arughat.

When cleaning Prachanda’s room, Bhuban once chanced upon astack of communist books, including Das Kapital and others by Maoand Lenin, which he had been hiding under his bed. It being thePanchayat era, political parties and communist literature werebanned.

But villagers remember that Dahal was quite open about hisbeliefs. Sukbahadur Nepali, who attended Prachanda’s nightclasses, said that the literacy lessons were sometimes more likecommunist sermons. Another man, who had joined the dancecompetition, realised later that the tune, Najau Bides, chosen byPrachanda, was actually a communist song.

Dahal doesn’t seem to have tried to foist his ideology on theyoung minds at school. None of the former students interviewed wasaware their teacher was a communist. But a passing comment heonce made to a colleague perhaps hinted at his political aspirations.“If I want to be a minister of the country, I can easily achieve that,”he had said.

With elections around the corner, no one is predicting which waythe vote will go in Arughat which suffered from the brutality of thewar years. But if Dahal was a candidate here, he may have a goodchance of winning.

he road to Dakshinkali isusually quiet. But last weeka convoy of seven Boleros

were raising a dust storm as theyroared through with all thebandobast of a Gyanendraentourage. This wasn’t the kinggoing to Dakhinkali, though, itwas Pushpa Kamal Dahal, theself-styled first president of therepublic of Nepal.

The SUVs roared throughforests and fields belowChandragiri, past monasteries,temples and the ghostly relic ofan abandoned cement factory. Inaccordance with the electoralcommission’s orders, the YCLhave been white-washing wallslogans, but the paint is thin andanyone can still read the‘Prachanda for President’ lettersunderneath.

This is Kathmandu’sContituency 10 which stretchesfor 25km south of the capital andis the second seat Dahal iscontesting apart from hisstronghold in Rolpa. At Pharping.Comrade Chairman was greeted by

five maidens, and adorned withred tika and marigold garlands.Party flags fluttered in thefields, banners were strung fromrooftops.

Tsering Lama, a monk at anearby monastery was waitingto shake Dahal’s hand. “I takehis visit as a good sign. No oneelse has come here yet,” he toldNepali Times. Lama says heisn’t interested in politics butis willing to give Dahal achance. “Let’s see if he canprove himself,” he said, “all theprevious leaders who won fromhere never came back.”

Gopal Lama, a shopkeeper,is more skeptical. “I can’tdepend on these politicians. Ijust hope they will just give usan opportunity to work inpeace,” he said. But even Lamasays he will vote for theMaoists, not because he hasgreat hopes of them, but becausethey are the only fresh thing onthe menu.

At a dusty schoolplayground, Dahal went to themic to address a crowd of 700people waiting in the brightsun. “I am ecstatic to be here,”he began, “the Nepali peoplehave never won in the truesense. The politicians alwayswon, but the people lost. Thistime it will not be me who iswinning, it will be you thepeople.”

Dahal, and Nepal, have comea long way. Less than two years

ago, he was the most wantedman in Nepal with a price onhis head and even sought byInterpol on terrorism charges.He represented a party thatkilled people who didn’tagree with it. And here he is,on the campaign trail, askingfor votes like everyone else.

Dahal said his main focuswould be on education,public health andemployment for all. Heproposed a four-lane highwayfrom Kathmandu to Hetaudavia Dakshinkali, and evenpromised a railway link fromTibet to Kathmandu, Pokhara,and Lumbini.

Not everyone wasimpressed. Twenty-three-yearold Sanu Kancha Tamang wasalso skeptical: “Him as thefuture president is a stupididea. This election is aboutwriting a new constitution,not electing a president.”

Prakash Thapa, a localschoolteacher said, “He is likethe others, blaming everyonebut himself. We wanted tohear what he will do for us.”

As the shadowslengthened, Dahal walked tohis dust-covered SUV toreturn to Kathmandu for therelease his party’s manifestothat has his picture on theback cover with the caption,‘First President of a NewRepublican Nepal, ChairmanComrade Prachanda’.

10SUBEL BHANDARIin PHARPING

T

Arughatremembers

DahalsirVillagers recall a school teacher

who became a revolutionary

SHEERE NG in GORKHA

I

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Pushpa Kamal Dahal (left), with formercolleague Ganesh Kumar Shrestha (right) and an unidentifiedfriend.

Borderline militancyn Bihar, Madhesi extremists wait and look atRanbir Singh’s right foot, which is shorterthan his left one. A clash with Maoists in

Saptari a few years ago left him with a bulletinjury. He was treated in Bihar’s Darbangha, andSingh says with a mixture of pride and self-pity:“Look, there are eight screws here. The doctor saysdon’t walk too much, but in my line of work Ihave to.”

Singh is the Madhes sarkar pramukh of theJwala faction of the militant JTMM and numbertwo in the hierarchy. A former Sadbhabanaactivist, he was in the original team that defectedfrom Jai Krishna Goit.

Singh calls the eight point agreement a'bhram', an illusion. “Where is the unitedMadhes, autonomy? Where is right to self-determination? Where is a full PR system? Thegovernment is fooling people.”

Chandrashekhar, head of the group’sintellectual front, chips in, “Mahant Thakur isthe biggest enemy of the Madhes. Girija has senthim.” The JTMM is angry at the Madhesi partiesfor not acknowledging its role in the movement,and not being consulted before the Kathmanduagreement.

But the extremists are now fighting forpolitical survival. If elections happen, they riskgetting marginalised. If they step up violence, thepublic may turn against them.

“This is the lull before the storm,” saysChandrasekhar, “there is no way the Pahadi sarkarcan hold elections in the eastern Tarai.” Jwala’sgroup has also warned of violence in Kapilbastuand Banke and says it is has laid land mines inparts of Saptari and Sunsari. In the comingweeks, it threatens to capture candidates, set offbombs and kill election officials.

“The ground activists are ready. We are justwaiting for instructions from the leadership,”

says Sunsari incharge, Krish, who is on the runfor having allegedly killed Shekhar Koirala’sbrother-in-law in January.

But the militant groups know that thepeople want elections, and admit that they willultimately have to work with the Madhesiparties. Some extremist cadres are even involvedin poll campaigning for Madhesi candidates.

“In certain seats, we may support somecandidates if they are committed to theMadhes,” says one leader, “the assembly won’tgive us any rights and the Madhesi parties willcome to us for help. And we will lead the nextmovement.”

The Militants are now running scared of theIndian authorities, and have become morecareful while they go back and forth betweenBihar’s border towns where they live withsympathisers.

Unlike the mainstream Madhesi parties,Jwala’s group is more inclusive of all Madhesicastes. The top leaders include a Dalit, Yadav,Brahman, Kushawa, while the district chiefsinclude a Musahar, a Dom, Brahmans, Rajputs,Muslims, and even, it is said, a Sikh.

But the extremist groups deeply distrusteach other over money, dealings with the mediaand attitude towards talks. Prime MinisterKoirala personally spoke to a JTMM leader onthe phone in January, inviting the group fortalks with his daughter. While one faction waskeen on it, Jwala Singh vetoed the idea.

Koirala’s hardline statement this week,however, has weakened this faction’s effortwithin the armed group. Says Ranbir Singh: “Weare not against talks. Our preconditions arerelease of activists, withdrawal of cases, callingoff STF operations, and a unilateral ceasefire bythe state.”

Prashant Jha in North Bihar

I

12 14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391NATION

t Bhanu Chok, threeshopkeepers sit on woodenstools outside their shops.

They discuss politics wearily, asif beleaguered with the constanttalk of coming elections. AChinese pocket radio crackles tolife beside one and suddenly allthree jump out of their seats. Agoal has been scored in theongoing Buda Subba footballtournament.

While election fever sweepsthe rest of the country, it isfootball fervour that hangs in theair here in Dharan. With the BudaSubba tournament in full swing,political parties have yet to bringout their best game.

The streets are strangelydevoid of party slogans andgraffiti. Besides a few Maoistslogans and crudely drawnLimbuwan messages, the walls areclean and paint-free. There are nomessy election symbols, not evenPrachanda for president.

“We are still in the finalstages of preparation,” says TilakRai, secretary of the NepaliCongress’ Dharan chapter. He saysthe NC will start aggressivesloganeering and step up theircampaign from 16 March. “Rightnow, we’re concentrating onletting individuals know who ourcandidates are.”

“Our party workers have beendeployed in the surroundingVDCs and peripheral areas tospread awareness,” saysMukshamhang Manejangbo(Mukesh), secretary of theMaoists’ Limbuwan NationalLiberation Front. The Maoistshave been conducting communityprograms, fielding their inclusivecandidates. But no mass ralliesyet and no poll sharing, saysManejangbo. “If smaller partiescome to us then we will of coursetake them in, but we will neverlink up with the NC or UML.”

Rather than expectation andexcitement, the mood in Dharanseems to be one of indifference.“We are certain that the electionswill happen but since none of theparties has shown any stronginitiative, we’re not reallybothered,” say doctors at Dharan’s

s anyone who follows the British media will know, PrinceHarry, third in line to the throne, was on secret military dutyin Afghanistan. Apart from his pride and joy at being able to

‘muck in’ as one of the lads, Harry expressed his respect andadmiration for the Royal Gurkha Rifles in which he served. He isalso happy with the khukuri they have given him as a present.

Meanwhile, back in Pokhara and Dharan lots of new villas arecoming onto the market as more and more ex-British Gurkhas andtheir families are leaving Nepal to settle in the UK. It’s not just realestate–Nepal is apparently losing Rs 5 billion a year to lostremittances that are now staying on in England.

After many years of campaigning, ex-British Gurkhas won theright to apply for UK citizenship in 2004, and to settle therepermanently with their families. So now many young Nepalis arenow able to live the dream of going abroad without having to spend

all that time studying forIELTS or queuing at themanpower agencies.

The British Army hasbeen recruiting Gurkhassince the Anglo-Nepali War

in 1816, and although the size of Gurkha regiments has beenreduced drastically from more than 100,000 in the Second WorldWar to some 3,500 today, they are still indispensable to the BritishArmy–a fact which many officers admit without hesitation.

Why do they still hold the Gurkhas in such high regard? Moreor less for the same reasons that they first recruited them nearly200 years ago. The civil and military bureaucracy whichadministered British India classified many of the hill peoples ofNepal as ‘martial races’, by which they were supposed to embodycertain military virtues such as bravery, self-sufficiency, stoicism,loyalty, and honesty.

Though of course the terminology of the 19th century BritishRaj sounds somewhat ridiculous nowadays, one could guess thatit is these same beliefs the British still have about the Gurkhas,the ‘myth of Gorkhali’, which to some extent motivated the Britishgovernment to give citizenship rights to retired Gurkhaservicemen. As usual, Britain reaps benefits.

Let me explain. In contrast to Nepal, which is burgeoning withyouth, the UK’s population is growing old. The demographic shiftis becoming so serious that the country cannot replenish itsworkforce from its own birth rate alone. In this situation, althoughmany in the country try to deny it on various emotive pretexts,Britain needs immigration in order to keep the economyfunctioning properly. And who are more obvious candidates thanthose the British Army Brigade of Gurkhas webpage calls “theclosest of friends and bravest of allies that Britain has known”?

Nepali Gurkhas must be one of the most attractive groups theBritish government can hope to recruit en masse to join the UK jobmarket. They are used to hard work, they have comparatively veryfew networks of organised crime or fraud (well, every country hassome…), they have been trained in a variety of skills, have beenlong acclimatised to the British way of life, and generally have apositive view on Britain and British society. If some of the ex-servicemen are getting on a bit, there are always their children,hence bringing the family along is also a bonus.

Old men are happy when Gurkhas buy them drinks at the pub,old ladies like it when they help them get on the bus. Thepoliteness with which all Nepalis, Gurkha or otherwise, treatstrangers makes them model citizens in Britain, with its unspokenbut rigidly-observed codes of courtesy and gentilhommerie.

All the waves of immigrants into Britain have enriched andbenefited British society, but the settlement of Gurkhas and theirfamilies is something that many people especially welcome. Theyare a compliment to the country both economically and socially.

But although it is easy to understand their decision to leavewar-weary and still struggling Nepal, it is also a loss for thecountry that some of its most able and progressive citizens areleaving for good, and with them their plans, dreams and capitalwhich could have been a help for building a brighter future inNepal.

Ae GorkhaliharuBritain’s gain is Nepal’s loss All quiet on the

eastern front

Dharan is far from election frenzy

A

BP Koirala Institute of HealthSciences.

Pairs of policemen linger atchoks and major intersections andthe police station seems to beholding more men than usual.“But we have nothing to fear,”says comrade Manejangbo. “Comepoll time, we will mobilise 200youth volunteers to maintain thepeace and ensure free and fairelections. It is the people’s dutyto help the police keep control,”he adds. While the Maoistvolunteers will mostly be minorsbelow voting age and a few adultswho are unable to vote forundisclosed reasons, the NC toowill be fielding their own men, ahundred youths, who will voteand maintain order.

Although Dharan istraditionally a UML bastion, TilakRai is certain his party will pullthrough. “We have the onlyfemale candidate in this region,so the women’s vote is secure,”says Rai confidently. Thenormally haughty Maoists seemsubdued, content to say that ifgiven a chance, they will changethings. Says Manejangbo: “We area new party and we are young.Why vote for those same old tired

faces? Just give us a chance toprove ourselves.”

There is slightly more actionin Kakarbhitta. UML graffiti issmeared across temple walls andthe customs office, Maoist slogansadorn other vacant spaces and amotorbike draped with the NepaliCongress flag speeds past. Partyflags fly high on bamboo poles atstrategic intersections.

“Although there haven’t beenany big rallies or mass meetings,the parties have startedcampaigning,” says InspectorDeepak Giri, at the area policestation. “I have already beenvisited by candidates from all thethree major parties,” says HemLimbu, a convenience storeowner.

All the parties seem to be onbest behaviour, and Inspector Giriseems confident that everythingwill go off without a hitch. Therehas been no trouble as of yet, andeven the agitating Limbuwangroups seem peaceable at themoment. “It doesn’t matter howmany people the parties deploy,”says Giri, “there will be enoughsecurity forces to make surenothing untoward happens andthat no one is hassled.”

KHAIRE BHAITom Owen-Smith

APRANAYA SJB RANA inDHARAN AND KAKARBHITTA

ANUP PRAKASH

SUPPORT LINES:In Dharan this week,football banners are

more prominent thanelection posters.

14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391 13REVIEW

ohn Carney’s Once, aptly named, isquite a singular film. Although amusical, it is very different from both

the Bollywood and the increasinglyfrequent Hollywood varieties. Here we haveintimate, simply crafted songs that arenaturalistic as opposed to flashy, showynumbers that are fantastical. The musicalsections are not moments of escapism withcostume changes and orchestras. Insteadthey emerge believably from the characters

(who are musicians), and entrance theviewer with their intimacy. In Once,instead of melodrama, there is quietmelancholy; instead of idealisticdeclaration of love, a rarely-voiced affectionand the gritty realism of circumstance. Yetyou will be hard-pressed to find a moresatisfying romance from recent times.

Set and shot in Dublin, Once is asimple story of two characters. One, anIrish busker, strums his guitar for apittance when he’s not helping out at hisdad’s vacuum-cleaner repair shop; theother, a Czech immigrant, does odd-jobs tosupport herself and her family whileharboring a talent for the piano. This pair,down-trodden and semi-tragic, and offsetby the trendy retail stores and bustlingcrowds of metropolitan Dublin, are twoindividuals evidently out of step with the

CRITICAL CINEMAA Angelo D’Silva

Once is not enough

mainstream society around them.Glen Hansard’s character (who, like

his counterpart played by Markéta Irglová,remains nameless, the credit roll simplyidentifying them as ‘The Guy’ and ‘TheGirl’) is nursing his wounds from a break-up with his girlfriend who has moved toLondon, while Irglová’s more complicatedhome-life – estranged husband, a toddler– pushes their developing relationshipinto uncertain territory. This premise tiestogether a songbook of Indie pop-rock.

Once is a chaste romance, and at thesame token quite convincing. GlenHansard’s character is bumbling andearnest in his pursuit of the forward,cheeky yet evasive character of MarkétaIrglová. Their attraction, charged as it is, issublimated into a creative collaboration,which to both themselves and to theaudience is a delicate metaphor for arelationship that isn’t named. She is thecatalyst for his ambition to record analbum which is the product of a

An anti-musical romance

J relationship, and the eventual impetus forhim to leave Dublin for London. The actorHansard is the lead singer of the Irish bandThe Frames, and Irglová like her characteris a pianist-songwriter, so their talentseasily lend themselves to the musicalrequirements of the film, which they pulloff with real verve and feeling.

The filmmaking, like the characters, hasa scruffy charm which impresses both inits modesty and ambition. The film wearsits thin budget on its sleeve. Eschewingsets, it uses public spaces for many of itsmain scenes. Here the camera isunobtrusive, keeping its distance andrarely crowding the characters, and passers-by seem oblivious to the fact that a movieis being shot at all. Yet, it does not shyaway from cinematic flexing, withflourishes such as a several minutes longmis-en-scene trailing ‘The Girl’ walking toher neighbourhood store trying out thelyrics she’s written to some music by‘The Guy’, which she’s listening to ona Discman.

In an altogether unassuming manner,the film shows up many bigger-budgetedproductions, and its tiny imperfectionsmake it possibly more endearing. Themelodies and characters of Once will lingersweetly long after the film ends.

OnceDirector: John CarneyCast: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová.2007. R. 88 min.

KATHMANDU VALLEY

14 14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391CITY

ABOUT TOWN

WEEKEND WEATHER by NGAMINDRA DAHAL

The big event of this week is a sudden rise in temperature, marking the realbeginning of spring. The satellite picture on Thursday morning shows two opposingfronts in action – first, a southerly front pushing warm air from the north Indianplain towards the central Himalaya, and second, a northerly front crossing thewestern Himalaya to pour cold air over into Afghanistan and western Pakistan.Currently the low pressure sitting over northern India and Nepal is sucking inclouds from the surrounding areas. However, the Bay of Bengal and Indian Oceanare calm, which means the fragmented clouds will not produce much more thanthunder and drizzle. Expect the mercury to keep rising up until early next week,when the current system is likely to reverse temporarily.

KATHMANDU

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Call 4442220 for show timings at Jai Nepalwww.jainepal.com

10,000 BC follows D’Leh, a young mammoth hunterfrom the Yagahl tribe during the middle stone age.When a band of mysterious warlords raid his villageand kidnap the beautiful Evolet, D’Leh is forced tolead a small group of hunters to pursue the warlordsto the end of the world to save her. The unlikely bandof warriors must battle sabertooth tigers andprehistoric predators and uncover a lost civilization.In the land of the pyramids, they must battle againsta powerful god.

Fri Sat Sun

28-13 28-12 25-10

For inclusion in the listing send information to editors(at)nepalitimes.com

EXHIB IT IONSPetals paintings by Neera Joshi Pradhan, 11AM-5.30 PM, until23 March at Park Gallery, Lazimpat. 4419353Double vision prints by Nan Mulder, Gea Karhof, Seema SharmaShah and Ragini Upadhyay, until 15 March at the Siddhartha ArtGallery, Babar Mahal Revisited.Tibetan Lhosar photographs by Daniel Collins at the SaturdayCafé, Boudhanath stupa, until 31 March.

E V E N T SFrancophonie week with Recontres a multidisciplinary exhibitionwith 10 Nepali and French artistes, at the Alliance Francaise,starting 14 March at 6PM. 4241163Nepal Malaysia Education Fair organised by Google EducationalFoundation, 14-16 March, 11AM-6PM at Hotel Malla. 44204573rd Tewa Carnival at the Birendra International Convention Centre,15 March, 10AM-7PM, Rs 100.Breathless a film by Jean-Luc Godard,screened by Cine-Sankipa, 17 March, 5.30PM at the Rimal Theatre, Gurukul.4466956Weekly human rights film screenings withThe Syrian Bride a film by Eran Riklis atthe Sama Theatre, Gurukul, 5PM on 16March. 4466956Toastmasters a communication andleadership program, organised byKathmandu Toastmasters Club everyWednesday 6PM at Industrial Enterprise Development Institute(IEDI) building, Tripureswor. 4288847

MUSIC23rd Yala Maya Classic with Dhrubesh Chandra Regmi andPramod Upadhyaya, 15 March, 5PM at Yala Maya Kendra, PatanDhoka. 55537671974AD Unplugged tunes from 1994 to 2008, 22 March, 6.30 PMat the Patan Museum. 9841320007Yankey and friends live acoustic music every Friday at theBourbon room Restro-bar, Lal Darbar.Anil Shahi every Wednesday and Rashmi Singh every Friday,live at the Absolute Bar, Hotel Narayani Complex, 8PM. 5521408

D I N I N GSt Patrick’s Day with green beers and silly hats, 17 March atKilroy’s Thamel. 4250440The Kaiser Café open now at the Garden of Dreams, operated byDwarika’s Group of Hotels, open from 9AM-10PM. 4425341Steak escape with Kathmandu’s premier steaks available forlunch and dinner at the Olive Bar and Bistro, Hotel Radisson.4411818Jalan Jalan Restaurant with a new Italian menu, Kupondole.5544872Bourbon Room Restro-bar now open for lunch and dinner withover a 100 cocktails, Lal Darbar.Cocktails, mocktails and liqueurs at the Asahi Lounge, openinghours 1-10PM, above Himalayan Java, Thamel.Continental and Chinese cuisine and complimentary freshbrewed coffee after every meal at Zest Restaurant and Bar,Pulchok.Illy espresso coffee at the Galleria cafe, every Friday espressococktails. International four course buffet at the Sunrise Café with a rangeof Boris’ signature dishes at The Chimney, Hotel Yak and Yeti.4248999Pan Asian evenings every Wednesday at The Café, HyattRegency with food from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.4491234Jazz in Patan with coffee, food, drinks and dessert at the NewOrleans Cafe, Jawalakhel. 11.30 AM-10PM. 5522708Saturday special barbeque, sekuwa, momos, dal-bhat at The TeaHouse Inn, Windy Hills, Nagarkot every Saturday. 9841250848.Scrumptious wood fired pizzas, cocktails and specialty coffees atRoadhouse, Bhatbateni 4426587, Pulchok 5521755 and Thamel4260187.Cocktails and jazz with the JCS Quartet and a choice of cocktailsat Fusion – the Bar at Dwarika’s. 4479448Starry night barbecue at Hotel Shangri-la with Live performanceby Ciney Gurung, Rs. 666.00 nett. per person, at the ShambalaGarden, every Friday 6.30 PM onwards. 4412999Kebabs and curries at the Dhaba, Thapathali. 9841290619Calcutta’s rolls, biryani, kebabs Indian cuisine at Bawarchi,Bluebird Mall Food Court. 9741000735Lavazza coffee Italy’s favourite coffee at La Dolce Vita, Thamel.4700612Little Britain coffee shop fresh organic coffee, homemade cakes,WiFi internet, open all day, everyday. 4496207Pizza from the woodfired oven at Java, Thamel. 4422519

14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #391 15

EVER WATCHFUL: The eyes of Boudhanath loom over Tibetan refugees’ demonstration tomark 49 years since the 1959 uprising on Monday. Police stopped the demonstrators atChuchepati on the road to Baluwatar, where they planned to hand a memorandum to theChinese Embassy.

KIRAN PANDAY

HAPPENINGS

TAXI STANDSTILLt a

DEWAN RAI

BE GOOD: Election commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel takes cabinet members through thecode of conduct for the CA election.

KIRAN PANDAY

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14 - 20 MARCH 2008 #39116 BACKSIDE

G iven the tectonic forcespushing the Indianlandmass relentlessly

from the south and the Eurasiancontinent squeezing us from thenorth, it is easy to understandwhy Comrade Prithbi Narayan theGreat likened Nepal to “a sweetpotato between a rock and a hardplace”.

It is geology that pushed MtEverest to its present height but itis geopolitics that is making theChinese really antsy aboutTibetans using the Olympics toget into the news. Now comesword that the highway built toSagarmatha base camp on theRongbuk side won’t be used for awhile because no expeditions willbe allowed on the north face till10 May.

Not just that, the Chinese haveleaned on us not to allowexpeditions from the south sideeither till that time. That is whythere are only four expeditionsfrom the Khumbu this springcompared to 25 last year. Canunderstand why they’re worried.Wouldn’t want any pro-DalaiLama demos on the summit justas the Olympic torch beingcarried up the northeast ridge isbeing beamed live to the worldnow, would we?

The real question the Ass hasis how they are going to keep theOlympic torch from being blownout by the jet stream up there at8,848m.

From the land of a dead Mao tothe land where Mao is alive andkicking came Chinese viceminister of foreign affairs HeYafei.He met our Supreme Commandoand apparently told him incomradely fashion that heshouldn’t be using the GreatHelmsman’s name in vain becauseit was tarnishing Mao’s name.

After all, the CPN-M is nolonger strictly speaking a Maoist

Nepal’s first republican emperorparty but a Stalinist one.

Actually the Maoistsshould rename their party CPN-L since they have nowabandoned Maoism to adhere toLeninist traits. Hearing theFirst Emperor of a RepublicanNepal go on about “capturing”power and “taking over” if hisparty loses the constituentassembly elections mustremind people of VladimirIlyich and how he staged amilitary coup when theBolsheviks lost the constituentassembly elections in Russia 90years ago. Which must be whythe building that houses theMaoist unions at Tin Kune iscalled Lenin Bhaban.

As elections approach, cash-starved politicians areindulging in all-party extortion.A phone call from a prominentpolitician these days can onlymean one thing: “You scratch mybackside, I’ll scratch yours.” Theonly difference with the Maoistsis that when they come by thesedays and ask you for “one” theymean “one karod” and not “onelakh” as one businessman foundout to his chagrin last week.

Seeing Comrade Makunay erasingMaoist election slogans inRautahat this week is proof thatthe Election Commission’s Codeof Conduct is being enforced ass(at)nepalitimes.com

bro now have jobs in yourministry?

Young commies in tracksuitsbeat up a UML cadre inRamechhap so badly he had to behelicoptered out. Surya BahadurThapa’s election entourage inDhankuta, was attacked andwarned not to come back unlesshe wanted a hasty departure tokingdom come.Why is the YCL istrying its level bestto sabotage itsparent party fromwinning thiselection?

strictly. And after the Ass’expose last week about dummycandidates, even the FearsomeOne has withdrawn the 17 fakecandidates his party put up inConstituency #10. Yes, giventhe way he is cracking thewhip on the party leadershipBhojraj Pokhrel is wasted inthe Election Commission.Bhojrajji for President!

He got ministers to agreenot to use white plate vehiclesfor election campaigning. Now,how about yanking in politicalparties using ministries undertheir command asrecruitment centres?Comrade Yummy, anyparticular reason your sis and