Caterwauling in Kathmandu

Today the Maoist Prime leadership in the coalition government of Nepal decided to sack the head of the Nepalese Army, General Rookmangud Katawal.

This controversial move was the culmination of deliberations over the last couple of weeks as to what to do with a General who had, on the face of it, taken decisions in what he saw as being in the best interests of the Army but that went against the wishes of the government as the ultimate authority within a democracy. The dismissal has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons with Maoist opponents believing that the Maoists are pursuing an agenda of securing supreme control through the emasculation of the Army (along with the judiciary and the media).

These national concerns are reflected in India, whose ambassador to Nepal has been shuttling between Kathmandu and Delhi in a bid to convey the displeasure of the Indian government at the prospect of Katwal's removal. For India has its own Maoist insurgency and the authorities there are very concerned about a sympathetic regime in Nepal supporting that cause. The Nepalese army has been seen by the Indians as a bulwark against a Maoist takeover and they made it known that they would oppose the sacking of Katawal which they could not acknowledge as being an internal matter for Nepal. It remains to be seen how India will retaliate.

Meanwhile, the other main parties in Nepal have all objected to apparent Maoist high-handedness and this evening one of the coalition government partners, the mainstream communist party, pulled out of government. As for Katawal he has refused to accept his dismissal.

So this Sunday evening everything is up in the air. It is quite predictable that the coming week will see widespread protests and demonstrations both for and against the decision to fire Katawal. Of course I have no view one way or the other, but this kind of disruption doesn't help with us trying to get on with the task of making Nepal a better place for its children. This is the worst that the situation has been in Nepal for a very long time.

Red on Red

Now that the Constituent Assembly has been elected the political process in Nepal can now move forward. Right? Wrong...

The Nepali political tradition of wrangling over top government posts continues. The largest party, the Maoists, are claiming the moral right to the appointments of both President and Prime Minister, while the other mainstream parties are saying that it should be one or the other. The Maoists have responded by saying that if they don't get their way within a couple of days they'll withdraw from government and take to the streets. And today the conservative Nepali Congress party has retaliated by calling a rally next week. And so it goes on. With all this infighting going on it is quite remarkable that anyone in the Constituent Assembly can manage some sleep, but the newly-elected highly-paid member pictured right managed to grab forty winks against the odds.

Meanwhile, over the weekend Maoist Chairman Prachanda warned the press - specifically The Kathmandu Post - to refrain from criticising his party or to face the consequences. Needless to say this sent a huge shiver through the media. I have to write that I fully support press freedom, however over the years I have found myself on the receiving end of inaccurate and vicious press reporting that has been baseless. In Nepal this has been the result of disgruntled former staff members making unsubstantiated allegations in a bid to get "revenge" and the papers love to print sensational stories here without risk of penalty. For me it's a case of liberty yes, license no.

It remains to be seen how the Maoists manage power in whatever manifestation that takes. I am hopeful that once things settle down the good relationships we have enjoyed with Maoist commanders at local level will extend to the centre. Last week Shailaja at our Kathmandu refuge received a threatening call from someone in the home district of a girl trafficking agent that we were involved in apprehending in March. Purporting to be a Maoist area commander, essentially his message was that the agent (who to escape justice claims to have senior Maoist connections) wished to apologise and be given a chance to amend her ways. Perhaps her enlightenment could be the result of her being currently in jail pending trial and facing the prospect of a conviction that could mean a 20 year sentence. When he followed up his call with a visit to Shailaja he was very unsettled to be introduced to pukka local Maoist personnel. After an exchange of opinions he returned home to carry out "further investigations". I doubt if he will be back again.

If the Maoists nationally can support our anti trafficking work - as their mainstream predecessors have failed to do in the past - then maybe we can begin to win the "fight" that I have referred to in previous posts.

Continuing violence

Nepal is a land where conspiracy theories abound where apparently all kinds of dark forces are at work to scupper progress and those who are on the side of what is right and good. The best illustration of this is probably the plethora of these that followed the massacre of the Nepalese royal family in 2001. Conspiracy theories make for intriguing speculation by the man in the street but they also are a way that for example a political party can prepare its constituency for failure. The Maoists are no exception in this respect and there have been many statements from them since their landslide victory in the Constituent Assembly elections suggesting that plans are afoot to deny them their destiny to govern and form the "new Nepal". I am sure that they are, at least in part, quite correct however it could well be the case that the biggest threat to the Maoist agenda coming to fruition lies from within. For it would appear that some from the ranks of the People's Liberation Army have not grasped yet that murder is no longer an acceptable activity in the post-conflict Nepal.

Last week some PLA fighters abducted a Kathmandu business man, Ram Hari Shrestha, and took him to one of their cantonment camps near Chitwan. It was alleged that he had been involved in theft and for that he was beaten to death. A PLA brigade commander has been arrested and two others are at large. The Maoist leadership has been quick to condemn the outrage. For Shrestha was not just any old member of the public. He was prominent within the Kathmandu community and his family had given shelter to the Maoist fighters during the People's War. Such was his connection to the Maoists that the Maoist chairman himself, Prachanda, went to the widow's home to tell her of the vicious circumstances of her husband's demise. There have now been street protests against the Maoists and today in Kathmandu there is a "bandh" (strike) that will close down the city and all transportation. This has been a Maoist shot in the foot if ever there was one but maybe Shrestha's death will not be in vain given the impact that perhaps the public revulsion will have on ensuring that the Maoists stick better to a non violent path in future.

More difficult to read has been the bomb attack on the Norwegian Embassy last weekend, a discrete establishment which is within ready walking distance (earshot) of my home. It is hard to imagine why the affable Norwegians should be the target of anyone's aggression. Unless perhaps someone from the European community is giving them a taste of their own medicine for the atrocities inflicted upon their ancestors by marauding Norsemen a thousand years' ago. More likely it is a protest by a disgruntled Nepali tourist who has been on holiday in Norway and is making a statement against the cost of the basic essentials of life over there. I visited Norway way back in 1984 and the cost of beer was ridiculous. I haven't been back since.

A clean sweep

This morning I drove past a Standard Chartered Bank signboard praising "Magnficent, Mystical Nepal". Now another "M" can be added to that; Maoist. For the Maoist party has enjoyed a landslide success following Thursday's polls. Through the ballot box they have won a battle that they were incapable of winning militarily - the conquest of Kathmandu valley. The scale of the Maoist victory has surprised everyone, probably even the Maoists themselves. There isn't the slightest question of vote rigging and there was a remarkably good turn out considering the logistical difficulties of getting to election booths in Nepal. So what has happened? My suspicion is that this has been in large part a protest vote against the mainstream parties who have done so little for the electorate in the past. Now another party is being given a chance to deliver on promises and at least while the Maoists are in power there will be no return to violence for the war-weary population.

Maoist Chairman Prachanda is already sending out reassurances to potentially unsettled foreign stakeholders that the Maoists will follow a constructive path and I really hope they can. At the end of the day we are all (development organisations included) aiming to make society a better place and to help the downtrodden, although our methods have differed somewhat in the past. There is such a need for social reform in Nepal that it can only really be fully addressed by action from central government. Organisations like mine can only nibble at the edges of issues like the trafficking problem and child labour, hoping that through our advocacy and example others more powerful will intervene. Now the Maoists can do something that really would be revolutionary in Nepal.


This afternoon I took a little trip out to Dwarika's Shangri La Resort in Dhulikhel, about one hour's drive out of Kathmandu. It was great to escape the filth of town for a few hours and to see in the Nepalese new year with a drink, a dal bhat (lentils and rice) and the sound of the cuckoo.

A short drive across Kathmandu on a Wednesday morning

After visiting the Social Welfare Council (our local regulatory body) this morning I had a blog post-provoking drive across town.

I found myself drawn to a billboard advertising a new brand of alcohol with the slogan "You don't need an occassion (sic) to celebrate with passion”. With my hard-learned knowledge of the 3R’s, the outcome of an old-fashioned Irish education, I dislike bad spelling - with a passion – and it is doubly shocking when even major displays (as opposed say to quick e mail exchanges) exhibit spelling errors. Oh, and the alcohol brand in question was called “Passion Cooler”; this is probably clinically accurate but I’d have thought that the product’s marketing people would be trying to push this stuff as offering exactly the opposite effect.

The final sight, just before I arrived home, was that of an election jeep from the Nepal Rastra Party winding its way in front of us along the back streets. The blaring loudspeakers were bad enough but to my horror Party workers were throwing leaflets out of the back adding to Kathmandu’s already gross litter problem. Such conduct would be anathema these days apart from anywhere else but here. I expect the paper hadn’t been recycled either.

Mass graves

When I was holidaying in Spain in October it felt very much like a nation that was beginning to come to terms with its past and righting a few wrongs in the process. The last of Falangist Franco's statues were being removed. Bodies were being exhumed from mass graves, the locations of which had in places been an open secret for the previous seven decades since the end of the Spanish Civil War. And there seem to be a lot of such graves dotted around Spain, more than one would expect in a civilised European country with the possible exception of Bosnia.

It seems to be a feature of history that after wars and civil wars nations out of necessity seem to feel the need to move on quickly rather than to risk self-immolation by addressing the crimes that have been committed on both sides under circumstances when peacetime law and order had been suspended. This expedient approach allows all kinds of psychopaths to escape justice, especially if they are perceived as having some short term residual value in the new post-conflict society.

Following a tip-off, evidence of a mass grave was found yesterday in the woods to the north of Kathmandu. It is believed that this could hold the cremated remains of 49 Maoists who were detained at a notorious Army barracks during the "People's War". The site is being investigated by forensic teams and by the National Human Rights Commission. But if it indeed proves to mark the final resting place of those who were tortured and executed it remains to be seen if anyone is brought to book for the crimes.

Bondage

I was rather pleased to note that the YouTube video that I published on Friday of our art workshop in Kathmandu in progress had proved so popular. It has attracted many more views than any previous film that we posted on the web. It was only last evening that I worked out the reason for this unusual degree of interest. In the text that accompanied the video I had written that we had freed the students from "bondage" within the Indian circuses. The word bondage has attracted viewers and links to other videos whose interest in, and association with, bondage is sexual in nature. I have since amended the text but this has been an exercise in closing stable doors. So the tip is that if you wish to boost your Blog traffic use "bondage" as one of your key words.

Yesterday two Maoist leaders called at our Kathmandu refuge. They said that the Maoists are now conducting their own survey of children's homes, given that these have a reputation for mis-directing donor money. They wanted lots of information from Shailaja CM (our local Director), donations and even asked if some of their leaders' children could travel on our school bus. Shailaja spoke to them openly about our work and about my background and why I am here. But declined their other requests. I believe they were quite happy in the end but expressed an interest in meeting with me - the local leader apparently knows me quite well as he lives just behind my home! So I have suggested to Shailaja that we take the initiative and call them for a meeting tomorrow afternoon rather than wait for them to follow up their first approach. This should be an interesting exchange and we have nothing at all to hide. Quite the opposite; I will take pride in showing them our work.

A visit to our refuge children in Bhairahawa

Today I paid a flying visit to Bhairahawa in the southwest of Nepal, close to the Indian border. It's where our work started out eight years ago before it expanded to Kathmandu and Hetauda. It remains home to 28 school age children (rescued from prisons or life on the streets) at the so called "White House" refuge and another 25 former circus children in the "Blue House" and "Red House" who are a little older. This latter group are undertaking a fast track course that will take them from zilch education to joining class 8 (about age 14) in a couple of years, essentially joining school at a level more appropriate to their age.

At the White House I was pleased to meet our four latest arrivals - two girls who are sisters of a former street boy that we'd been caring for and a boy and a girl that we have just brought from inside Tulsipur jail in the far west of the country. Assisted by the Director of our partner organisation, ex British Army Gurkha Gunraj Gurung, I was able to mount five mosaics at the buildings, mosaics that had been made in by Godawari studio and commissioned by supporters in the UK (www.ebtrust.org.uk/site/commissionamosaic.htm). The kids were clearly thrilled by these.

The White House children were all of school today as this is Day Three of the Tihar Festival. Day One and Day Two involved worship of the crow and the dog respectively. Today it was the turn of the nation's cows to receive a tika on the forehead and a garland. And after dusk the goddess of wealth, Laxmi, is worshipped and Nepali houses are festooned with lights (fairy or candles) in an attempt to entice her inside their dwellings. Children go from door to door singing and dancing, the so called "Bhailo", for which they receive modest amounts of money from appreciative neighbours. The White House children were rehearsing this afternoon and are aiming to raise enough pocket money to pay for a picnic for themselves.