Razeno blogas Esperante...

Razen Manandhar Kathmandu, December 28:

It was like a nightmare for 23-year-old Bhagawati Chaudhari, when she saw a group of armed soldiers dragging her husband from her bed. It has been three years and nine months, and the wife is still waiting for the day the government sends her husband back.
“My husband disappeared from our eyes. We do not know whether he is alive or has been shot dead,” she told this daily today. Her husband was abducted and “disappeared” by security men on the night of Chaitra 29, 2058 BS from her home at Manau village in Bardiya.
“They came in a group, broke the door and dragged my husband, saying they send him back the next morning,” she said.
She was married to Prem Prakash Chaudhary for two years. After living a horrible life of bonded labourers, she started dreaming of her own family at her aunt’s land, by making a thatched shed. But the incident shattered all her dreams. “My son was six weeks old then. He often asks me about his father and I cannot even say that he is dead,” she said. “Rather than abducting him and making me live in misery, I wonder why the army did not kill both of us.”
She is a relative of one among the 848 citizens, whom the state “disappeared” since the Maoists launched an armed conflict a decade ago. The exact number of the total “disappeared” is yet to come because the state never comes up with the data. It is difficult for the public to report about such incidents.
Speaking at the programme organised by the Association of Families of Disappeared People by State here today, a number victims’ families said they won’t go home unless the government makes the whereabouts of the disappeared public.
Mandira Sharma, executive director, Advocacy Forum Nepal, said the present legal provision does not recognise the state’s disappearing the civilians as a crime, which creates problem in finding solution to the problem.
“Any institution which is found involved in disappearing somebody, should be termed criminal and the act should be called as severe a crime as murder.”
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Martin’s message
HNS KATHMANDU: In a message to the victims’ families, Ian Martin, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, said: “The disappearance of persons by the State is a continuing human rights violation that does not end until the person’s fate is finally determined. This is one of the most serious violations because, as all of you unfortunately have come to know, it means family members endure agonising periods of uncertainly, sometimes years, before the fate of their beloved ones is known.”
“With UN secretary-general’s support, we will continue to work for clarification of cases of disappearance in Nepal.”

Razen Manandhar Kathmandu, November 10:

Thirty pilgrims will embark on a 500-km march — from the Namobuddha in Kavre to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha — for world peace tomorrow morning.
“The team will begin their journey from Namobuddha hill on Friday and will finally pray for world peace at the sacred garden of Lumbini after walking for 25 days,” Dr Lam Ty Ni, the coordinator of the pilgrims’ team, told The Himalayan Times today.
Sixty-year-old Dr Lam, also known as Ven Huyen Deieu, came to Lumbini in 1969, in search of peace from war-torn Vietnam and started working for the development of the holy shrine.
The team includes 10 Vietnamese, three Indians, one Japanese, a Korean and 15 Nepalis. The eldest member of the team is 62-year-old monk Lama Karma Lhundrub, while 17-year-old nun Ven Susiloti is the youngest in the lot.
The pilgrimage will pass through Banepa, Patan, Bouddha and Swoyambhu before leaving the valley from Balambhu and Naubishe on November 15. After crossing Baireni, Richoktar, Kirutar, Abukhaireni, Dumre, Damauli and Dulegauda on foot the team will reach Pokhara on November 23.
Worshipping at Peace Pagoda on November 24, the pilgrims will pass through Phedikoda, Rangkhola, Waling, Galyang Bhanjyang Malumga, Arya Bhanjyang, Tansen, Kerabari, Butwal, Bhairahawa and arrive at Lumbini on December 4.
The team will take shelter mainly in Buddhist vihars and public schools.
Dr Lam said the pilgrimage has a spiritual as well as a symbolic meaning. He claimed that the prayer would lead to an atmosphere for peace and hoped that after seeing young and old people walking for peace, the authorities will feel the necessity to do something for the peace.
According to him, all the concerned parties - the political parties, the king and the Maoists should sit together for resolving the decade-long war and let people live in peace and happiness.
He said war and peace are in people’s mind and arousing conscience and compassion helps people replace war with peace.
Ratnaman Skahya, a team facilitator and president of International Buddhist Meditation Centre, said two vehicles will follow the pilgrims for emergency support.

 Kathmandu, November 4:
The seventh Asia Pacific NGO’s Environment Conference (APNEC 7) kicked off here today with the participants laying stress on the need to forge a regional cooperation to protect the environment.
Addressing the inaugural function, chief justice Dilip Kumar Paudel said that environmental degradation has become a global issue. Healthy environment is a fundamental right of every human being, he said.
Noting that environment protection is an issue which is affected by political boundaries, professor T Awaji, the chairman of the Japan Environmental Council, sought regional cooperation in environment protection.
“The conference can pave the way for mutual partnership and cooperation,” Awaji said. Dr Shankar Sharma, the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, noted that Nepal, like most of the countries in South Asia, has been suffering from environmental degradation at an alarming rate.
“The growing population, pressure on cultivable land, shrinking forests, industrial development and tourism industry have contributed to environmental degradation in the country,” he said.
Among others, climate change, river pollution and scarcity of drinking water in the urban areas are noted impacts of the threat to environment, he said.
Dr Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha, the chairman of the APNEC 7 technical committee, said that environmental issues dogging Nepal should also be looked in the light of armed conflict.
According to the organisers, about 150 participants from 15 Asian countries are taking part in the three-day conference. Over a dozen working paper on various environmental issues will be presented in the conference.

Himalayan News Service Kathmandu, October 28:

Media expert Dr Ram Krishna Regmi today said that the recently promulgated media ordinance will cast a long-lasting impact on the development of media in Nepal.
Addressing a talk programme, organized by the Nepal Journalism Students’ Organisation, Regmi said that the ordinance has closed all doors for Nepal to be called a country having press freedom, “It will also leave the teachers embarrassed when they try to teach the young generation what kind of press freedom the state has granted to the people.”
Regmi added that the ordinance has surely been drafted or promulgated by those who want to kill press freedom and get benefits by blocking information that should reach the people. “The government’s only motive, it is now proved, is to terrorize the presse way,” he said.
Regmi said that news is aired by FM stations in some countries but not in others. “In the context of Nepal, it is cheap and easily accessible. Hence, it should be allowed. Discontinuing news on FM station will deprive the people of their right to information,” he said. Regime also said that the proposed monopoly of Rashtriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) in distribution of news will make Nepal a country where people would remain in the dark about the whereabouts of detained political leaders for years. “RSS is only a government news agency, it is not a national news agency. If it becomes the sole agency, people will miss hundreds of news items everyday because most of the news that we read is not covered by it,” he said.
Bishnu Nisthuri, president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, said the journalists would launch a bigger movement to compel the government to withdraw the ordinance. “The ordinance has already invited international criticism and is a matter of shame for the whole nation in the international arena,” he said.
In another interaction on the ordinance, organised by the Editors’ Society of Nepal (ESN), speakers focussed on the need for open dialogue to resolve the ongoing controversy over it.
Govinda Biyogi of ESN stressed the need for discussion and finding common ground for combating the media ordinance.
Srish Samshere Rana, a senior journalist, said the ordinance is incomplete and may require some changes but the solution could not be found in street movements. “Let’s wait until the Supreme Court gives a verdict. Alternatively, let’s sit together for better results,” he said.
Hari Lamsal, editor of Rashtra Vani weekly, said it was still possible to hold talks with the government regarding any problem or flaw in the ordinance.

Kathmandu, October 18:

The general-secretary of the CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, today said the King has invited a situation of direct-confrontation between the monarch and the people by announcing elections.
“A tsunami of mass movement is in the offing after Tihar. It will sweep away all the pretexts of election and the King’s autonomy itself,” he told reporters at a tea-party organised by the party.
“We were waiting for an excuse to accelerate our movement and the King has given us a good one. We will take our movement to new heights. Many aspects of the agitation will be historic,” he said, adding that the mass movement will end only after uprooting the monarchy and establishing full democracy.
Nepal reiterated that the seven-party alliance wants restoration of the House of Representative (HoR) to bring the derailed democracy on track and the HoR would later plan for a Constituent Assembly.
He said though the communists took part in the Panchayati elections, it was only to “destroy the Panchayati system.” “However, this time around, there is no such thing and the parties have only one option — to defy the elections,” he said.
Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala said that the King has closed the doors for a reconciliation and left the door for a mass movement ajar.
Commenting on the recent media ordinance, Koirala said: “Since the King himself is unconstitutional, all his steps are unconstitutional.”
Chairman of Nepal Peasants’ and Workers’ Party Narayan Man Bijukchhe said his party shares a good rapport with the seven-party alliance and as such there is no possibility of a split. “We are not going to turn our back on the movement, even if someone offers us the prime minister’s seat,” he said.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand said what the nation now needs is a reconciliation and not elections. He, however, also said that anything can happen in the days to come as possibilities in politics are unlimited. Chairman of the Rashtriya Janashakti Party Surya Bahadur Thapa, however, refused to comment on the statements of Koirala and Nepal, but said that a table-talk should be held instantly to wipe out all possibilities of confrontations.
“The one who is holding power should take the initiative to hold talks,” he said.
He also condemned the recently-promulgated media ordinance, saying it was wrong to introduce such a fiat without discussing it with media professionals.