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May 7, 2015
The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Nepal has risen to 8,413, according to Nepal Red Cross Society’s latest calculation today.
A Red Cross report put the number of injured at 17,576, adding 260 people were still missing following the 7.9 magnitude quake.
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May 6, 2015
Over a week has passed since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the Nepali districts of Dhading, Gorkha, Rasuwa, and Sindhupalchowk, and many villages have yet to receive humanitarian assistance. While the most critically injured people were evacuated in the days immediately after the earthquake, those who remained are trapped in their villages, as avalanches and landslides have cut off roads and walking paths.
Since April 29, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams have been traveling by helicopter and on foot to treat people spread across some 15 isolated mountain villages.
On May 3, an MSF team also set up a temporary clinic in the area of Chhapchet, in Dhading district, and began providing basic health care and minor surgical interventions. The team will work to spread the word in the surrounding villages that people can now come to the clinic to receive care. On May 4, another team landed in Lapubesi in Gorkha district, and will stay there for three days to provide medical assistance in the area.
"We are seeing people in need of basic health care, as well as a number of people with wounds sustained in the earthquake that have now become infected," says MSF nurse Anne Kluijtmans. "We are cleaning and dressing wounds, as well as distributing antibiotics and pain medication. We have also treated cases of pneumonia, including among children."
With many villages completely or partially destroyed by the earthquake, the most significant need is for shelter, while some of the more isolated villages in the mountains are also facing shortages of food. MSF teams are distributing high-energy biscuits and blankets in Kyanjin Gumba, Rasuwa district, and in Nampa Golche in Sindhupalchowk district. They have also provided more than 500 shelter kits in Gorkha district. Teams are continuing to explore the most effective ways to transport both food and shelter materials into the mountains, where temperatures at higher altitudes can drop below freezing at night.
There are also significant mental health needs stemming from the traumatic experience of the earthquake. Mental health workers are being added to MSF teams to begin providing psychological first-aid in some of the most-affected villages.
While hospitals in and around Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu were overwhelmed with patients in the first days after the earthquake, the pressure has abated somewhat and the rush to treat patients with acute trauma has passed. People are now waiting for more minor or follow up surgeries, as well as treatment for regular illnesses.
MSF has made supply donations to some hospitals in the capital. In Kathmandu and Pokhara, the authorities responsible for emergency management have mobilized a unit of local nephrologists to treat cases of crush syndrome, a medical condition common following earthquakes, characterized by shock and renal failure after a crushing injury.
An MSF surgical team provided support for three days at the hospital in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, in order to help the staff there operate on waiting patients. In the town of Arughat, in Gorkha district, MSF is setting up a 20-bed inflatable hospital to provide initial treatment for wounded.
Serious logistical challenges, including continued congestion at Kathmandu airport and the fact that the majority of the most-affected areas are inaccessible by road, have hampered MSF’s efforts to scale up activities quickly. “Our priority is to reach people in places where no one else is going and who have not received assistance,” says Dr. Prince Mathew, who was one of the first MSF staff members to arrive in the country. “So it has been a huge challenge logistically to get the necessary supplies in through the congested airport, and secure the air transport we need to be able to provide medical assistance and deliver shelter and relief materials to the people in most urgent need.”
MSF now has more than 120 staff members in the country and has flown in more than 80 tons of supplies, including the inflatable hospital. In addition to flying supplies into Kathmandu, MSF teams working across the border in India’s Bihar State were able to quickly transport shelter, hygiene, and kitchen kits by truck to Gorkha, 200 kilometers [about 124 miles] northwest of Kathmandu and close to the earthquake’s epicenter.
“We will increase the number of clinics as quickly as possible,” says Dr. Mathew. “Our teams also plan to distribute tons of shelters, hygiene materials, and cooking equipment. With the monsoon season approaching, we’re worried that the window of opportunity to reach people in these areas is rapidly closing.”
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May 5, 2015
The death toll from Nepal’s earthquake has now claimed 7,500 lives and still rising. Early predictions that the final count would eventually reach 10,000 seems ever more likely.
Of all the districts, the hardest hit is Sindhupalchowk. As of yesterday, the death toll the death toll has reached 3,656 with well over 4000 injured. According to field hospitals, spinal injuries and amputations are particularly high. A fresh landslide occurred on Friday in Dolalghat area, on the border of Sindhupalchowk and Kavre districts, triggering further panic in the already battered region. Roads have been ruptured by the quake, increasing the difficulty for rescuers and relief supplies to reach the remote areas.
Sindhupalchowk, a district endowed with immense natural beauty, is about 60 kms north from the capital city Kathmandu.
The quakes and subsequent aftershocks have destroyed approximately 90 per cent of the houses in Sindhupalchowk, according to a situation report released by the United Nation's humanitarian agency OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).
A UN official visiting the district to monitor the situation said: "The local government officials themselves, are the victims of the quake, so how does one expect timely help?
Still, relief and is beginning to be seen. At least 200 bodies being recovered from Sindhupalchowk on a daily basis.
The district has a population of over 250,000 and international emergency response teams like the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF), besides other NGOs are providing the vital human link and compassionate touch amid the chaos.
MSF is sending mobile clinics in two helicopters and evacuating the critically injured, if needed.
The IFRC has supplied medical and non-food relied such as blankets, tarpaulins, kitchen-set and hygiene items among others for people in the far-flung area.
DDRC is busy collecting data of death toll using all the local level government mechanism, according to District Administration Office (DAO), Sindhupalchowk. Rescue teams consisting of Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and some foreign rescuers, including Norwegians, have been deployed for search and rescue operation.
Meanwhile, Police Inspector Rupak Khadka at District Police Office (DPO), Sindhupalchowk said that some 600 locals, who were in upper hills to pick yarshagumba at the time of earthquake, are still out of contact.
Also US choppers are beginning to make reconnaissance flights.
"Only the 'Hueys' (helicopters) have gone out so far for reconnaissance flights to try to identify areas in need of relief. No Ospreys have been out," a US embassy official told AFP on Monday.
The Ospreys and a US Air Force C-17 aircraft touched down in the capital Kathmandu on Sunday.
According to American ambassador Peter W. Bodde, besides assessments, the US units have two other aims: delivering relief supplies, and airlifting victims out of remote areas.
The report added that "the number of amputations has increased and the frequency seems to be accelerating".
Late Sunday climbing firms called off their Everest spring expeditions after a quake-triggered avalanche killed 18 on the world's highest peak.
Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, authorities say up to one-third of the city's residents have left since the quake. In the first days, bus stations were jammed with people fearing aftershocks or trying to get home to relatives in devastated villages.
Authorities do not know how many of those people have returned to the capital, but as of today people are still lining up and waiting for buses to leave.
Kathmandu police say nearly 900,000 people have left in the past 10 days. The population of Kathmandu valley — including the city of Kathmandu and smaller towns of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur — is 2.5 million people.
Life has been slowly returning to normal in Kathmandu. Schools are to remain closed until May 14 but some markets are open and trucks have been bringing in fresh food and vegetables every day, which is an encouraging sign.
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May 4, 2015
From Mt. Everest in the north, to Lumbini – birthplace of Lord Buddha, a plains town situated along the southern Indian border – Nepalis are still reeling from the April 25 earthquake, a calamity from which it will take at least a decade to fully recover.
Still, hundreds of Tibetan refugees managed to visit damaged Buddhists shrines and monasteries to mark the birthday of Gautama Buddha and to pray for the country. Born in Lumbini around the year 563 BCE, Buddha’s birthday is celebrated on the full moon day of the Vaisakha month of the Buddhist calendar and the Hindu calendar, which usually falls in April or May month of the Western Gregorian calendar. The festival is alternately known as Purnima (“full moon day” in Sanskrit) and/or Jayanti (“birthday” in Nepali and Hindi).
Given Nepal’s recent catastrophe, of course, “birthday celebration” and “festival” are misnomers. The mood was somber. But in Bhoudanath, as well as at the base of the Swayambhunath shrine, located atop a hill on the northwestern edge of Kathmandu, hundreds of people chanted prayers Monday along with monks and nuns, as they walked around the hill where the white iconic stupa with its gazing eye is located.
Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise as relief operations spread further away from centrally located Kathmandu Valley.
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May 3, 2015
Yesterday, NPR published the following article on their website, written by Diane Cole.
I agree with Diane’s assessment. I would, however, add the proviso: If you are adept at removing dead humans and animals, Nepal will find a place for you. If you dont have that sort of moxie, my suggestion is, for the time being, donate to Red Cross, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders or other tried and true organizations. There are also many scam organizations mushrooming. Be certain that your donations are going to be effective. I personally favor Red Cross for two reasons: 1) Emergency relief has been their forte for many decades and 2) They are prioritized and directly coordinated with Nepal Army’s Disaster Relief Operation, Operation “Sankat Mochan”.
A thousand people have already signed up to go to Nepal on the website for All Hands – a U.S. group that sends volunteers to help out after a disaster. Indeed, people around the world are eager to assist on the ground.
But will your presence hinder more than it will help?
We asked officials at several organizations working in Nepal. Their answer: It depends. On when you go; Whether you're part of an organized group or on your own; And if your skills and experience match what's needed.
Gary Shaye, senior director of humanitarian operations for Save the Children, sums it up this way: "Volunteers play a role, but rarely during an emergency." If you're thinking of volunteering, here's what to consider:
Just Showing Up: Good Intention, Bad Idea
"Showing up with a generous heart" is a noble thought, says Joel Charny, a former Peace Corps volunteer who is now vice president of humanitarian policy and practice at InterAction. But if you arrive without knowledge of the country, with no connection to a group already in place, and without the specific skills or experience the crisis calls for, you risk "getting in the way." To begin with, the busy professionals there will have no spare time to train a newbie.
Moreover, in many cultures it is "very impolite to say no," points out Mark Andrews, Habitat for Humanity's vice president of volunteer and institutional engagement. People whose own lives have been severely disrupted may nonetheless feel compelled to share their scarce resources and assist volunteers in getting their bearings — rather than the other way around.
It's also hard to hit the ground and begin work right away if you're unprepared for the scope, sights, smells and sounds of a disaster. "This is not like working at a soup kitchen," says Dave Hartman, emergency communications officer at Save the Children. "A lot of people don't understand the scale of these environments, working 18 to 20 hours a day for weeks, not in comfortable conditions."
But if you have useful skills to offer, that's a different story. Professionals with experience in disaster relief, medical and surgical interventions, search and rescue, firefighting, engineering and other needed areas could be invaluable. "If my house was on fire, I don't want people to stop and say, 'Oh where do I find a bucket?' " Hartman says. "I want trained firefighters."
No Special Skills But Still Want To Go? Join A Group
So now we're talking about those people knocking at the All Hands door. They range in age from 18 to 60-plus. And they're determined.
What You Need To Know Before Donating To Earthquake Relief For Nepal
Even if you try to dissuade them, they'll want to go, says Erik Dyson, CEO and executive director of All Hands. His organization provides a way for volunteers without specific skills to be productive as part of a team — and without straining community resources.
Since 2004, All Hands has fielded about 30,000 volunteers at 50 disaster sites around the world, filling needs or "gaps" other agencies can't. "There are many tasks that don't fit into the programs of other organizations," Dyson says, "and we can be flexible and fulfill those unmet needs." These are "typically the most difficult and back-breaking work," says Dyson: clearing rubble, carrying sacks of rice, or (as they did in one town after the tsunami in Japan) hand-digging to clear silt from drainage channels.
The organization has staff in Nepal and a shelter that can house 100. Dyson expects the first volunteers to arrive in the next week or so. (The volunteers pay their airfare and All hands provides shelter and food.)
Once the capacity of 100 is reached, people are put a waiting list. "[We] work to schedule them as their schedule allows, capacity is available, and work is needed," he says.
Waiting isn't a bad idea.
There will be plenty of work for volunteers after the immediate crisis passes into the rebuilding stage. "It's going to be a large reconstruction effort," says Andrews of Habitat for Humanity. The focus for his group and other organizations is long-term recovery. So volunteers might not be deployed until three to six months after a disaster.
There's another option for would-be volunteers. Hone your skills for future disasters by signing up for emergency or disaster training at the Red Cross or other organizations, says Hartman. Unfortunately, he notes, "there is going to be another typhoon, earthquake or tsunami."
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May 2, 2015
The following report was filed today by Seth Robson for STARS AND STRIPES:
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Four tilt-rotor V-22 Ospreys, other U.S. aircraft and 150 military personnel headed to Nepal to boost earthquake relief efforts have been delayed a day and are now expected to arrive Sunday.
The delay was not related to capacity at the airport in Kathmandu, said Marine Capt. Cassandra Gesecki, a spokeswoman for Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade commander, who arrived Wednesday in the Nepalese capital with an advance party of Pacific Command troops. A wide variety of factors contributed to the delay, with aircraft, personnel and equipment coming from Japan, Guam, Thailand and the Philippines, she said.
“We are bringing in significant capacity,” Kennedy said Friday of the U.S. assets, which will include Air Force personnel out of Guam who can control air traffic, repair airfields and offload supplies with heavy equipment. He said the assets were originally scheduled to arrive Saturday.
In addition to the Ospreys and three UH-1 Hueys, other U.S. aircraft that will assist include four Air Force C-17 Globemasters and two Marine Corps KC-130s, according to Chuck Little of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, public affairs office.
The Ospreys and Huey helicopters will be tasked with ferrying relief supplies and personnel from the international airport in Kathmandu to outlying areas, Kennedy said.
The Nepalese government, which has only a few helicopters, is rushing much-needed aid to isolated villages hit by the April 25 quake, estimated to have killed more than 6,200 people.
Some of the locations where the helicopters will fly are 18,000 feet above sea level.
Ospreys have seen extensive service in Afghanistan and deployed to the Philippines during relief efforts after Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013. Flying in the Himalayas will be a new challenge, Kennedy said.
“They have never been in anything that approximates this,” he said.
However the mission in Nepal is something that the 3rd MEB is prepared to handle. The unit trained for earthquake response in Nepal twice in 2013 and again last year, Kennedy said.
“It seems unlikely that an amphibious force would come to this landlocked country but … this is a thing that we have anticipated for a few years.”
Kennedy, who visited Nepal during the disaster training, said beautiful brick buildings that he had seen in Kathmandu had been reduced to rubble by the earthquake.
The response of Army Special Forces troops out of Okinawa, who were doing cold weather training in Nepal when the earthquake struck, has been impressive, Kennedy said.
“They went to Mount Everest and started pulling people out,” he said. “It wasn’t just at Base Camp. They went up the mountain and they were pulling people out.”
The soldiers recovered the body of Google executive Dan Fredinburg from the mountain, he said.
“As soon as they were done with that, they were down here going out to villages doing first-aid and even search-and-rescue,” he said.
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May 1, 2015
Yesterday, I attended a briefing at Nepal Army (NA) Headquarters, presented by Maj. Gen. Binoj Basnyet, who is coordinating the army’s disaster relief operation “Sankat Mochan” (loosely translated as “solving the crisis”).
The clear-cut information provided by the five speakers was in stark contrast to the governmental press releases and interviews, which seem defensive and short on details. Nepal Army has always led the way in Nepal, in terms of professionalism, dedication and discipline.
The briefing was divided into four sections:
I. Operation
2. Multinational effort: MNMCC (Multinational Military Coordination Center)
3. Medical Aspects
4. Logistics
OPERATION:
Phase 1: Immediate response – what transpired immediately after the 7.8 earthquake shook Nepal. In the first 24 hours, NA utilized five helicopters (the extent of available aircraft in the first day) and conducted 65 missions.
Phase 2: Coordinating Rescue and Relief. On the second day after the earthquake the Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) brought into Nepal an additional 6 helicopters and conducted 29 missions. Air assessment missions were conducted by both NA and NDRF to see which areas were hardest hit so that the NA could begin the process of prioritizing.
Phase 3: Current Recovery operations, which include multi-day long range patrol and air assessment, focusing on rescue and relief operations, further mobilization (of personnel located in areas not affect by the earthquake), SAR (search and rescue), addressing collapsed structures, Medivac and blood donation drives, creating temporary shelters, designating camp areas (which had been pre-designated during the last two years), provision of essential services (food, water, shelter, sanitation) and recovering dead bodies.
MULTINATIONAL EFFORT COORDINATION (MNMCC)
As of yesterday, there are now 25 countries participating in Operation Sankat Mochan.
Countries include, India, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Bangladesh, Israel, Netherlands, Bhutan, Poland, USA, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, France, Spain, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Belgium, Russia, Norway, UK, Switzerland, Germany and UAE. India leads the countries in personnel with 962 and China comes in second with 370. Israel has set up the biggest field hospital, located in Kathmandu, but they have also brought in search and rescue teams, including dogs. Many of these missions are military but others are conducted by civilians.
MEDICAL ASPECTS
Immediately after the earthquake, the Nepal Army Hospital evacuated 200-300 inpatients receiving treatment. And almost immediately, outpatients began to pour in. First response was provided. Tents were set up to accommodate the inflow of injured. The evening of the earthquake, the NA addressed the extent of civilian casualties and injuries, but it also addressed injuries, which had been incurred within the army itself. The NA also set up a record-keeping plan that included patients received, patients discharged and other details including OT, victims who had been heli-lifted and deaths.
The following day the Nepal Army Medical Corps and multinational groups began the air-lifting missions, bringing victims to the NA hospital. Small medical teams were deployed to affected areas. A field hospital, outside the Kathmandu Valley, was set up.
It became apparent that most of the injured suffered from orthopedic problems.
To address public health concerns, the NA, (in coordination with the Ministry of Health), and medical teams started providing and dispersing sanitation, water and medicine.
LOGISTICS:
In the first 72 hours, SAR and medical teams were deployed to affected areas and set up field hospitals.
After the first 72 hours the army has provided human resources, transportation and security for protecting the relief materials.
Airport coordination is conducted by the Airport Coordination Center (ACC). This includes off-loading supplies, transporting supplies to warehouses and securing these supplies for the distributors. The NA has also provided materials from their own war-stock including to date 2110 blankets, 795 tents, and 40 tons of food items.
There are several logistic limitations recognized by the NA
1) There is an inadequate number of military vehicles, in part because of earthquake damage.
2) Although civilian vehicles are available to help, few drivers are coming forward to volunteer.
3) There is a lack of heavy equipment such as fork lifts to help remove rubble.
4) Damage of army infrastructure has slowed down the process.
5) Relief materials security needs to be improved.
6) Loss of assets including ammunition depot, barracks, armories and military vehicles (25-30% of the military vehicles have been damaged) has slowed down the operation.
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To view video of OPERATION SANKAT MOCHAN
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April 29, 2015
Rishi Khanal was on the second floor of a seven-story guesthouse in New Bus Park Gongabu, Kathmandu, when the earthquake hit on Saturday.
It wasn’t until last night that he was finally rescued.
Below is his story, first reported by oninekhabar.com, a Nepali news site, and just translated into English by my assistant, Govinda Rijal:
During the day of April 28, a Nepali Armed Police Force (APF) and a French Search and Rescue Team were combing the area where Rishi Khanal was buried. They entered a seven-story building heavily damaged. The French team was equipped with “detectors” which could determine whether there were any people still alive in the rubble. The “detector” indicated that there were people somewhere in the building still alive.
The teams began shouting, hoping to get a vocal response. But they heard nothing.
Just then, an APF inspector arrived at the scene, went inside and began shouting, “Please respond! Please respond!” And it was he, who first heard the faint sounds of a man. Finally, the teams were able to determine where the voice was coming from. It was below a corner of a room on the second story. The floor was concrete.
On the technical advise of the French rescue team, the APF cut a hole in the concrete. What they saw below were three trapped individuals, Khanal among them. Khanal looked up and pleaded, “Save me.” The other two people, however, were motionless.
At first, the teams thought they could simply pull Khanal up and out of the hole. But it became apparent that his legs were pinned under a slab of concrete.
About this time, the Inspector General of the APF, Kosh Raj Onta, arrived and instructed his team to forget about other bodies (which had been discovered in the adjacent building by a Chinese team) and to concentrate on rescuing the three who were visible from the hole.
Soon after, a team of doctors arrived and made a visual assessment of the three victims. Khanal was able to speak, but the other two were unresponsive with obvious head injuries and excessive bleeding. The doctors pronounced the other two dead.
The rescue team descended into the hole with an oxygen tank and managed to partially lift the concrete slab (resting on Khanal’s legs) with the help of a jack.
“Back pain,” Khanal kept repeating.
The slab was far too heavy to lift so the precarious process of cutting the slab into smaller pieces began.
After ten hours of intensive work, they finally managed to lift Kanal out of the hole and way from the rubble. It was near midnight.
Khanal was rushed to the nearest hospital and the rescue teams moved on to other buildings.
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April 28, 2015
Latest death toll now exceeds 4400 and it is expected to rise significantly. In fact, this morning, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala predicted that the number could rise as high as 10,000.
DISTRICTS
Sindhupalchowk 1176
Kathmandu 1029
Nuwakot 448
Dhading 303
Rasuwa 250
Kavre 241
Gorkha 223
Bhaktapur 241
Lalitpur 157
Dolakha 50
Makwanpur 35
Ramechhap 26
Solukhumbu 21
Okhaldhunga 17
Sindhuli 9
Sunsari 7
Bara 5
Chitwan 5
Lamjung 4
Parsa 3
Kaski 2
Morang 2
Bhojpur 2
Sarlahi 1
Dhanusha 1
Taplejung 1
Tanashu 1
Nawalparasi 1
Rukum 1
Rolpa 1
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April 28, 2015
Yesterday morning, Christopher Dickey, Foreign Editor of The Daily Beast. contacted me en route to Istanbul asking if I would write an experiential piece on witnessing the quake firsthand. Below is the resultant article, published in The Daily Beast about 12 hours ago:
I was in the middle of Thamel, (Kathmandu’s unofficial pre-base camp for Himalayan trekkers and mountaineers), when the 7.8 earthquake struck on Saturday 25 April 2015. It was almost noon.
Thamel is a warren of glorified alleyways hemmed in with cheap guesthouses, restaurants, massage parlors, bars, travel agencies and handicraft shops catering to Western visitors. The three-and-four-story buildings lean out over the pavements and, when looking up, you see a fuliginous loom of electric and telephonic wires that, at every street corner, converge on one another like overpopulated beehives.
We – I and my assistant – were in the middle of one such lane heading north, when suddenly several people shoved past us yelling, “earthquake”.
“New house!! New house!” my assistant screamed.
We darted into an empty doorframe that looked relatively new and grabbed each other tightly just as the brick building opposite came crashing down. We said nothing to each other. We were merely four legs conjoined and trying hard to adapt to the violent hula dance of the stone threshold beneath us. Throughout the shaking, there was the raining of debris and the percussive explosions created when shop owners dropped their iron storefront curtains. Were they thinking of looters even at that awful moment?
I should mention that I’m based in Los Angeles, no stranger to tremors, but this quake seemed hell-bent on destroying the world. And it was long. An impossibly long two minutes transpired before we could convince ourselves that the worst was over.
We were wrong. The next wave of terror came when people in the street got up off the ground and, like us, tried to think in which direction the nearest open space might be. It was a two-way stampede. We joined the northern current, evaded fallen power lines, got jostled by local women heedless of the drape of their saris, and dodged as best we could the cruel confetti of shattered glass.
At the next intersection a new tremor throttled the buildings around us and I believe that was when I experienced real panic. I remember staring at an abandoned motorcycle, lying on its side, and making calculations: We had not yet reached open ground and there was a good three minutes before we would reach the broad avenue going by Amrit Science College. The avenue was within view from where we stood and yet it telescoped away from us, as if unreachable given the obstacles – both human and architectural – barring our way.
But we did eventually reach it, just as a young Nepali man, bare-chested and grayish-white from dust, emerged from a mountain of crumbled brick and screamed at no one in particular, or perhaps he was screaming at the whole world. We hurried on.
We ran left at the avenue intersection and headed toward the west gate of Narayanhiti Palace. The absence of any sort of vehicle was unnerving. When we reached the palace, we turned northeast onto Lazimpat – one of best roads in the city, widened during Maoist Baburam Bhattari’s brief stint as prime minister. I had dubbed it “Baburam Boulevard” but it didn’t feel like a cute quip during our exodus. Despite the breadth of Baburam Boulevard, we were careful to remain in the middle of the street.
We passed the military barracks to the left where soldiers and civilians alike were frantically digging through the remains of a demolished brick wall under which people were begging for help. Just then a third major tremor caused all the people on both sides of the street to race toward us, toward the center of the avenue.
I’m not quite sure what happened next. But it was about that time that I first noticed the high whine of sirens. Army vehicles, ambulances, police vans, and open-backed civilian trucks filled with injured people began to overtake us, adding to our own confusion even though we were witnessing (and thankful of what appeared to be) a very rapid response from the government. Presumably, these vehicles were speeding toward TUTH, the teaching hospital less than a kilometer away, just up the hill.
We finally reached Shangri-La, my hotel. Local people were funneling into the hotel parking lot – a safe haven from tumbling buildings. They were frantically trying, without success, to reach their loved ones on their smart phones. By then, helicopters were thrashing and zigzagging across the sky.
With each successive tremor, the vibrations became less punishing but somehow just as sickening: they were of a silent stirring nature that momentarily turned the ground to thick jelly. And we were the spoons.
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More than forty-eight hours have transpired since the first harrowing quake. Things have calmed down in the city even as the real work and the true extent of the damage are just now coming into focus.
In the interim, I’ve experience so many bizarre Fellini-like moments.
One example: Yesterday afternoon, I photographed an impromptu community camped in an open space in the Lainchaur area. Some of the homeless Nepalis exuded torpor or hopelessness or both, while others busied themselves in a kind of forced optimism, by being over attentive to family members, etc. Afterward, I returned to my hotel. Upon entering the lobby, I decided to head down the corridor that leads to the garden in the back. The sun was low in the sky but earlier cloud coverage had departed. And this is what I saw: a large contingent of female Chinese tourists, who were gleefully showing each other how to properly wrap their recently purchased saris. They giggled and struck unconvincing “Nepali” poses – chins extended, arms crooked upward. Their girlfriends snapped away with their iphones, making suggestions for newer, even more extravagant poses. Giddiness abounded while, down Baburam Boulevard, you could hear the sirens wailing.
Every time I check the local news the number of dead and injured rises steadily. There is a shortage of water, food, medical supplies and a severe lack of safe housing. People and their families have created tented camps in every park and plaza, including the huge Army Parade Ground in the middle of Kathmandu.
As I write this, it’s precisely 9:39pm April 27, 2015, Kathmandu time. A tremor just shook the hotel for three seconds. You learn to time these things. One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three. Done. Good. But the thumping returns – what I imagine would be the thump of a Chitwan deer’s heart just before the silent leopard swats its prey to the ground.
No time to think about all that. Let’s concentrate on the work ahead. The years of reparation ahead of us, long after the international press has moved on to the next country in pursuit of the next catastrophe.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lank, China, Turkey, Israel, Bangladesh, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have already arrived with their rescue teams and engineers. No doubt there are other nations that have landed. Good for them. INGOs and NGOs like Doctors Without Borders have arrived. Good for them. There’s so much work to be done before the international donors eventually lose interest.
And what about the districts outside the Kathmandu Valley, where the worst destruction has taken place? Few TV units have visited these places. Too hard to get to, I suppose. They have covered the avalanche on Mount Everest, of course. That should be enough, right? That’s the sort of thing people really want to hear and read about.
A news media outfit asked me to write a piece for them, suggesting that I say something about the destruction and irretrievable loss of famous ancient buildings – how it will effect Nepal’s cultural climate. I asked my assistant, who’s young enough to be my son, what he thought about the possible cultural shift. “Yeh,” he said. “Remember, in 2007, the temple in Durbar Square where we filmed the first anniversary rally celebrating Jana Andolan II? Now it’s gone. Gone. When I was a teenager, that’s where we used to take our girlfriends.”
At this very moment, who can think about cultural losses? The common grounds by the ghats are in use day and night now. The cremations are as unceremonious as they are endless.
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April 27, 2015
As of 10:08am, April 27, 2015, the latest update of deaths caused by the Nepali earthquakes is 3218 with 62,000 plus injured. This was released by the Home Ministry. In total, an initial estimate has calculated that 6.6 million Nepalis have been affected by the catastrophe. Below is a breakdown of casualties by Districts:
DISTRICTS DEATHS INJURIES
Makwanpur 32 72
Dolakha 44 62
Solukhumbu 22 65
Sunsari 7 15
Kavre 140 606
Kathmandu 766 2399
Jhapa 2 0
Ramechhap 29 21
Bhaktapur 219 961
Sindhupalchowk 662 239
Parbat 0 5
Siraha 0 2
Dhading 199 256
Kaski 2 13
Rolpa 1 1
Gorkha 160 72
Okhaldhunga 15 12
Bhojpur 2 5
Nuwakot 160 400
Tanahun 1 14
Sindhuli 9 65
Lalitpur 152 791
Rukum 1 1
Bara 2 3
Parsa 3 4
Dhankuta 0 0
Lamjung 4 18
Dang 0 2
Rasuwa 150 100
Achham 1 0
Sarlahi 1 21
Taplejung 1 0
Chitwan 3 12
Rautahat 1 4
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April 26, 2015
Today, another earthquake of 6.9 magnitude with a 10 kilometer depth shook Kathmandu at 12:56. The epicenter was in Banepa, approximately 22 kilometers from the nation’s capital.
The death toll is now 2500 and it is expected to rise; at least 5000 are injured.
Scores of centuries-old historical monuments, including the iconic Dharahara of Kathmandu, were reduced to rubble in the massive earthquake that hit the country on Saturday afternoon.
The combined earthquakes and attendant aftershocks have destroyed around 80 percent of the temples in Basantapur Durbar Square. Several temples, including Kasthamandap, Panchtale temple, the nine-storey Basantapur Durbar, the Dasa Avtar temple, Krishna Mandir and two dewals located behind the Shiva Parvati temple, were demolished by the quake. Kasthamandap, a temple that inspired the name Kathmandu, is an early 16th century wooden monument. A few other monuments, including the Kumari Temple and the Taleju Bhawani, among others, have partially collapsed.
Outside the Valley, the Manakamana Temple in Gorkha, the Gorkha Durbar, the Palanchowk Bhagwati, in Kavrepalanchowk, the Rani Mahal in Palpa, the Janaki Mandir in Janakpur, the Churiyamai in Makwanpur, the Dolakha Bhimsensthan in Dolakha, and the Nuwakot Durbar were partially destroyed.
Prushottam Lochan Shrestha, a historian, said these monuments could be lost forever, as rebuilding them is technically difficult and expensive.
“We have lost most of the monuments that had been designated as World Heritage Sites
in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.
They cannot be restored to their original states,” said Shrestha.
PATAN BEFORE AND AFTER:
BHAKTAPUR BEFORE AND AFTER:
RESCUES IN KATHMANDU:
Although damage has been reported on the Baudhanath Stupa, the extent of damage has not been verified.
For detailed scientific information concerning the earthquakes
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April 22, 2015
Mikel Dunham speaking at the Kathmandu launch of Elizabeth Hawley’s monumental work, “The Nepal Scene.” To the right is Lisa Choegyal, (Honorary Consul of New Zealand), Peter Bodde (American Ambassador to Nepal) and author Hawley.
The Nepal Scene: Chronicles of Elizabeth Hawley (1988-2007), a two-volume set focusing on one of the most tumultuous eras in Nepali history, was launched yesterday at Dwarika’s Hotel in Kathmandu. Published by Vajra Books, the two-volume set is edited by Lisa Choegyal and Mikel Dunham.
Peter W Bodde, the US Ambassador to Nepal, innaugurated the program, which also saw the presence of foreign as well as Nepali dignitaries. Guests included former foreign minister and seasoned diplomat Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, author-publishers Kunda Dixit and Kanak Dixit, former chief of the Nepali Army Rookmangud Katawal, Christian Manhart, UNESCO Director, and Australian Ambassador Glen White, among others.
Today’s issue of Kantipur included details about the actual production of the book, which was two years in the making:
“While Lisa Choegyal, who is also the honorary consul of New Zealand to Nepal, contributed in editing and standardizing the entries for publication, Mikel Dunham, who is an expert of Nepali and Tibetan affairs, played an instrumental role in fact-checking and creating its glossary.” Book design and cover art were also by Dunham.
“The book also owes its publication to a kickstarter campaign initiated by Dunham, which brought in donations from all over the world.”
All proceeds from the book will go to the Himalayan Trust and the Himalayan Data Base.
Mikel Dunham’s speech at the launch:
For seven or eight years, the raw version of this book had been languishing, incompletely organized, on a shelf in a passageway in Elizabeth Hawley’s home.
How I came to discover it was quite by accident. I was at her residence filming an interview, which morphed into a free-flowing conversation that somehow funneled into my main passion for Nepal, it’s political history. It was during that conversation that Miss Hawley mentioned in passing that she, herself, had kept monthly chronicles of Nepal’s political situation for many years.
I was a little shocked. I’d never heard about her chronicles and couldn’t believe that in all my reading and research I had never come across her book.
“What’s the title?” I said. “I need to read that book.”
“There is no book,” she answered. “It’s never been published.”
“But the manuscript exists.” I said.
“Of course,” she said. “Go down the hall, continue past the dining room, take a left and right behind you, you’ll find it.”
I followed her instructions, went down the hall, past the dining room, turned left and there they were, in all their dusty glory, in oversized binders with the year of the contents written on the spines.
It was no accident that the first binder I took down from the shelf was labled “2001”. I turned to “June 1” and began reading her report on the palace massacre. I’ve read a hundred versions of the tragedy. What was exciting about her entry was that it was written in real time, or almost real time…at any rate written within days or, at most weeks, after the massacre took place. And wha was unique about her “voice” was Elizabeth’s abiding sense of sobriety and reliability because her information was carefully underlined by scrupulously identifying all of her many and varied sources. Miss Hawley is nothing if not an ironclad verifier of facts.
I pulled down other folders and scanned other passages. In one of the earliest volumes she was detailing the constantly shifting building blocks of what would eventually profoundly inform the 1990 Jana Andolan, told at just the moment when that cauldron was beginning to simmer and about to boil. All of this priceless information! It was thrilling. It was buried treasure.
I don’t know how long I remained standing there…certainly long enough to feel what I imagine an archeologist must feel when he stumbles across a shard protruding from the ground, and when he starts digging around it, and realizes that it’s just the tip of a magnificent artifact begging to be retrieved.
Eventually, I returned to where Miss Hawley was, by then, busying herself with something else. In the interim, I had become resolved to sit down with the author and convince her that I was the man to help her get the Chronicles published. Later that day, I returned to my hotel with a provisional agreement.
Since I am based in Los Angeles and would be working on the editing process from there, I needed a partner here in Nepal – a partner with a good working relationship with Miss Hawley, the energy of twin jet engines, the wit of a Rhodes scholar and a friend, tried and true. There was only one person on my Rolodex who fit that bill: Lisa Choegyal. I called her and she immediately signed on to the project.
I also felt strongly that this, of all books, must be published in Nepal. My next call was to Bidur Dargol, the publisher of Vajra Books. He, too, immediately signed on.
It was incredibly easy to get the project off the ground. There were hurdles, of course. One was that only part of the manuscript was in hard copy and the rest was stored in Miss Hawley’s computer and some of those files, at least in the beginning, were difficult to locate. Transcription was going to be an arduous undertaking. My personal assistant Govinda Rijal was one of several Nepalis who came to our rescue in that department.
And then there was the question of how to finance such a huge book. When all was said and done, the manuscript was nudging toward 2400 pages!
For that, I turned to social media and created a kickstarter fundraiser and people from all over the world made generous contributions – some of you are here today. Thank you very much. You and I and everyone else who contributed in their own fashions may now share the honor of having played our parts to save Elizabeth Hawley’s 19-years of brilliant work from oblivion.
The two-year publication adventure ends here, today, with Vajra Book’s beautiful first edition. But the historical importance of this book … today is just the beginning.
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April 19, 2015
Surya Bahadur Thapa, the octogenarian politico, who perhaps knew more about the impermanence of leadership than anyone in Nepal, died this week and was cremated at one of the great holy sites for Hindus, the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu.
During his lifetime he served under three kings and became Nepal’s Prime Minister a record five times (1965-1969, 1979-1983, 1997-1998 and 2003-2004). His political career spanned an astounding 65 years, beginning in 1950 when he became involved in an underground student movement that prefigured profound changes in Nepal’s political landscape.
In 2009, I interviewed Thapa at his home in Kathmandu and, after -reading the transcript of that meeting, I think it’s relevant to re-publish it here -- not only because his views from an historical standpoint were unparalleled in clarity, but also because it emphasizes how little, astoundingly little! the political leadership since 2009 has been able (or willing) to move the nation forward, toward a stable and permanent democracy. And that – a stable and permanent democracy in Nepal – was Surya Bahadur Thapa’s greatest wish.
Mikel Dunham’s interview with Surya Bahadur Thapa, May 30, 2009
DUNHAM: What was the political atmosphere like in the 1950s, when you began your political career? And how does that atmosphere differ from today’s political scene?
THAPA: It’s quite different today. When I was a young man, the major power was the king. The parties, still testing their wings, were struggling to be represented in the government. The parties just weren’t very strong.
Prior to 1950 and the Ranas’ fall from power, there was the Praja Parishad party. [Nepal’s first political party established in 1935– a secret society fueled by Kathmandu intellectuals but supported by a broad spectrum of castes and ethnic groups, dedicated to ushering in democracy to Nepal.] The Praja Parishad’s reach was basically limited to the Kathmandu Valley. They were an underground group. They had to be. If the government caught them, they were imprisoned and silenced in that way.
By 1950, the leading democratic party was Nepali Congress. It had a socialistic base and had entered into an armed struggle to overthrow Rana rule, which resonated throughout the country. But also there was a communist party in Nepal that was growing rapidly. And there was the Gorkha Parishad party, [a party formed in 1951 by a group of Rana revivalists – no longer existent]. When the Rana dynasty was overthrown, the Rana clan created the Gorkha Parishad in reaction to the governmental shift. They attempted to project democratic concepts, but it was too rightwing, too old-school to gain much popularity. There were other parties emerging, though with less impact than the ones I have mentioned.
And that was basically the political scene: It was an uphill battle for all the parties to gain ground. The king had a very strong power base. The concept of the monarchy, as well as the king himself -- both were popular with the people.
DUNHAM: I’m interested in the 50s because it was a remarkably dynamic and transitional time for Nepal. Up until the 1950s, Nepal’s borders had been closed to the outside world. Suddenly, there was an influx of Western notions coming in. What was it like, to experience the dramatic infiltration of outside cultures?
THAPA: Yes, prior to that time, the Ranas had maintained a closed society. The only outside presence to be found in the Kathmandu Valley was the British legation. Then after the Ranas were overthrown, we suddenly felt the impact of Indian presence. They had just gained their own independence from the British a few years before.
But beyond that, at least for the first few years, there was not much additional foreign presence felt here. Treaties were made with America, Russia, China and some other countries. Embassies followed. But there was no tourism yet. There were no roads leading out of Nepal yet. There was a small airport that was constructed but the influx of foreign presence remained extremely limited.
Then the first road was built: Tribhuvan Rajpath, which linked Kathmandu with the border town of Birganj. It was constructed by the Indian government. This, of course, allowed a significant flow of traffic from India. But I must say that, even then, the introduction of foreign culture into Nepal remained limited.
The Kathmandu Valley is, historically, very rich, very dense in culture and religion. And those foreigners who came to Nepal, didn’t try to influence or alter our customs.
Socially, on the other hand, there was definitely a shift. Many advisors and experts arrived, especially American advisors, who set up residence here. They didn’t socialize with commoners. They mixed with the privileged classes and within that group you could see that a social fusion was taking place. Our social customs began to reflect some of the Western ways. There was also an introduction of various political ideologies that had a significant impact on Nepali intellectuals. And people working in Nepal’s government were sent abroad for training –especially to America and, to a lesser extent, to Britain and India – and that had a big impact in so many fields: administration, agriculture, technology.
Remember, during most of the 1950s, there was still no university in Nepal. Naturally, many young people began going to the universities of our nearest neighbor, India. And that experience -- getting an education outside Nepal -- colored every aspect of their lives. It was profound. They learned other languages, cultures and attitudes of foreign societies. And when they returned to Nepal, there was a huge impact here – the social structure of traditional Nepali society began to expand -- slowly at first, but continually reaching out to a broader community. And eventually, foreign social elements became more and more acceptable to Nepali society. What I want to say is this: When you ask about the modernization of Nepal, those early years of our young people going abroad to study – that was what really got the wheels turning in a new, more modern direction.
DUNHAM: One of my major interests in Nepal is the impact of its youth – both now and in the past. I’ve interviewed so many young people here. Today, the effect of brain drain on Nepal is increasingly significant. So many talented and intelligent youths are leaving Nepal and not coming back, to the detriment of Nepali society, which needs all of its human resources to build a stable, modern Nepal. What’s your take on this? How can Nepal’s leaders, whichever party is in power, reverse the pattern and persuade the youth to remain in Nepal?
THAPA: Yes, you are right about its significance. But to be fair, I think this is a phenomenon prevalent in all the third-world countries.
Still, that’s no excuse for what is going on here in Nepal. It’s true. We are facing a problem with our youth that we didn’t have in the past. Just as we were discussing: In the early days, after the youth received their higher educations, they came back to Nepal to help with its development. They contributed to all sectors of society: political, economic, health, education -- all sectors.
But now we are facing a different trend. Job opportunities in Nepal? Where are they? Show them to me! There is a stalemate here – wanting to keep our youth here but failing to be able to offer them opportunities here. Complete stagnation – that’s what the youth see. The youth see their future in job opportunities in America, or Australia or Europe. Those who are brilliant and studied abroad and find themselves competitive with the job opportunities in that country, will remain there. Not being able to keep our youths in the country is one of Nepal’s weakest points.
I see two problems. Until and unless we create an atmosphere of political stability in Nepal and until Nepal’s economic horizon is broadened, we do not have a persuasive argument to keep our youth in Nepal. And who wants to stand in the way of their children’s opportunities? The dilemma actually falls into the category of human rights, if you think about it. The youth should have the right to pursue a better standard of living; if a better standard cannot be offered here, what right do we older people have to prevent them from going elsewhere?
If we could provide political stability and economic opportunity for our youths, they would certainly return. But first and foremost, we must be able to honestly tell our youths that the country is politically settled and in a state of permanent peace. With peace established in Nepal, economic opportunities can follow and the youth will want to remain here.
DUNHAM: Then the next question is how do you achieve political stability? Obviously rule of law must be firmly established and the tradition of impunity must be reversed. But what about the integration of the Maoist army into the Nepal army? It would seem that nothing will move forward until that problem is solved – the Maoists won’t allow it.
THAPA: This is such a sensitive topic in Nepal. And it’s not the first time it has happened here.
Looking back in history, after the Ranas were overthrown, there was a similar problem with what to do with the armed faction of Nepali Congress supporters. They too came into the Kathmandu Valley and needed to be offered some sort of future. But the difference was that they were not trained ideologically. They were simply against the Rana rule. They did not espouse any sort of dogma that had been taught to them by party leaders. They were just open like common citizens, except that they were trained to raise arms against the Rana government. So they came here and when Nepali Congress came into office, they were then trained to serve in the police force. And the amalgamation process was a successful one. Some of the armed people even managed to join the national army, without negative results.
Of course those who were allowed to join the army had an entirely different background than the Maoist rebels today. Back then, the Nepali Congress armed fighters had fought in the Burma War during the era of World War II. They were top-notch soldiers, trained by the British in a completely professional fashion. So they could be integrated into the army and the police force without bringing into question their levels of proficiency in military expertise. Even more important: There was no problem because they didn’t come to the army with ideological differences.
The Maoist rebels came completely equipped with an extreme brand of communism. The Maoist command trained them first in ideology and second in military skills. That was the order of importance.
What happens if the ex-combatants are integrated into the national army? If you want to make a communist country, if you agree to have an extreme communist military force here, there is no problem. You can integrate them into the regular army. In five or six years, there will be a first-class revolutionary army in Nepal.
But just now, the Nepal army is very much independent from communist ideology. They don’t adhere to any ideology. They are a professional army, trained by world-class officers. If you compare army officers with civilian professionals who have, more or less, the same level of expertise in their fields, you will find that the army officers are far superior. Why? Because of their exceptional training. They have been sent all over the world for training: Britain, America and India.
And if you try to integrate the PLA into this highly trained organization, forget about having a professional army. So the people have a choice: they can choose to have an ideologically based army or a professional army. But they can’t have both.
More important: Does Nepal want a Maoist country or a democratic country? You can’t have both.
This is a vital question, particularly while the constitution is being written. The Maoists are very clever. They can make very beautiful speeches about democracy, but their real intentions lead in an entirely different direction.
Outside of the Valley, throughout the countryside, the Maoists have been able to control the people through the YCL -- by threats and intimidation. And no one has tried to prevent them from doing so, including our neighbor to the south. The Indians underestimated the Maoists. Before the election, the Indians never dreamed that they would, overnight, have an open border with a neighbor that was Maoist. India was not alert.
The army is the only institution that has remained alert. And that is why Prachanda was so determined to get rid of General Katawal – to break down the professionalism of the army. The Maoists are not interested in real integration.
DUNHAM: The Supreme Court supported General Katawal, but the SP is being attacked by the Maoists too.
THAPA: Yes, and the democratic parties must be very cautious about these attacks and come to the defense of the Supreme Court. That’s one thing. The second thing is the international community should be defending the Supreme Court as well. This is no time for the international community to remain silent.
DUNHAM: Yes, to take my country as an example, for instance: America. It’s been interesting for me to watch the difference in diplomatic approaches -- between Nancy Powell and James Moriarty. Moriarty, the former ambassador, never failed to speak his mind -- especially when it came to the Maoists. It’s been the very opposite with Ambassador Powell. The current embassy is very discreet.
THAPA: And I think this is a problem. Since there is no political mandate in Nepal, the people who want to see democracy work in Nepal, very much look to three countries -- USA, UK and India – to support their democratic ambitions. They want to hear theses countries’ voices.
Perhaps, to some extent, the Nepali government – whoever is in power – is to blame for international silence. Our politicians always like to give the impression to their constituents that, “We are a very independent country and we can judge and determine what to do without the interference of international powers.” But the reality is different. All parties, including the Maoists, are at least partially dependent on the attitudes and wishes of the three countries I mentioned. Those countries inspire much of how Nepali politicians proceed in governmental activities.
You mentioned, the previous American ambassador – Mr. Moriarty. He was very frank. He said what he thought. Now, whether it was diplomatically correct for him to do so or not is not for me to say. But personally I never regarded it as interference with our government.
I do understand that, in the diplomatic world, there are norms that cannot be stepped over. If a democratic government in Nepal is strong enough, then the foreign powers can act significantly to support that government. But if the international powers are watching how an unstable, tentative government proceeds, they will be hesitant to go too far in making their voices heard.
Still, given the current situation here, I find the international silence disturbing. In principle, it is OK to say that each sovereign country should make its own decisions, but in practice, these countries’ goals are to safeguard democracy throughout the world, so they should speak up.
.Your position -- as I understand it -- your desire is to bring the moderate parties together to create a meaningful block, as a response to the Maoists.
THAPA: Yes, as I’ve been watching this transition, what I’ve seen is that the Maoist have not come to Kathmandu to surrender their basic ideology. And if you think that is not the case, then you will be surprised one day. So in Nepal, just now, the democratic forces – and I’m not talking about any particular party right now -- all the democratic parties must speak up as one voice – to create a strong opposition to the non-democratic parties.
As it stands now, the democratic parties are off-balance and the Maoists are taking advantage of them, as well as the common people, to see how far they can go. If there were a strong democratic block in Nepal, the Maoists would be automatically checked.
In particular, I am asking Nepali Congress to get unified. There are many good, young people in the Nepali Congress party who understand the dynamics of the situation. Unfortunately, they are still not in the positions of power. They are not part of the upper echelon of the party hierarchy. But I’m telling the Congress party to please take the initiative. And I think what I am saying is beginning to have some resonance within the party. But without Koirala’s consent, no one can do anything. So it all hangs on what GP Koirala will do.
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Highly recommended analysis by JAYADEVA RANA
Jayadeva Ranade, a former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, is the Founding Trustee of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy (CCAS). He is also its President and CEO. Mr Ranade is presently a Member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB); Member of the Core Group on China of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and Distinguished Fellow with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS).
In the midst of reports of emissaries being exchanged between Beijing and the Dalai Lama’s set-up and positive references to Buddhism by Chinese leaders, clearer indications are becoming discernible in recent months to suggest that Beijing is contemplating a new initiative on the Tibet issue. There has, at the same time, been no easing in the policies being enforced in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) or Beijing’s efforts to shrink the room for manouevre available to the Dalai Lama.
The latter has been highlighted by Beijing’s orchestration of protests against the Dalai Lama during his travels abroad by Shugden worshippers and groups of ‘nationalist’ Chinese students. This is reinforced by the steadily increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on foreign governments to refrain from meeting the Dalai Lama. Resultantly, the number of world leaders who have officially received the Dalai Lama has dwindled appreciably in the past couple of years. Examples are: Denmark shying away from scheduling any official meetings in the second week of February 2015; the Pope declining to meet the Dalai Lama in Rome in mid-December; earlier South Africa refusing him a visa; the Norwegian government refusing to officially receive him in May 2014; and, the capitulation of UK on the Tibet issue in the formal Joint Statement issued during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit in April 2014. The US, however, declined to succumb entirely to Chinese pressure and invited the Dalai Lama to the annual breakfast prayer meeting in Washington on February 5, 2015, although US President Obama avoided any direct interaction with him.
All this has been accompanied by an apparent mellowing in references by senior Chinese leaders to the 79-year old Dalai Lama, prompting him to describe Chinese President Xi Jinping as “more realistic” and his government as “softer” during an interview to the Nikkei Asian Review on November 25, 2014. Interesting is the Dalai Lama’s remark of October 8, when he said "some Chinese officials, for example the Deputy Party Secretary in the autonomous region of Tibet, he also mentioned the possibility of my visit." Though reports of any formal contacts have been denied by the Dalai Lama’s set-up, fresh speculation was sparked by the Dalai Lama’s interview on BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ programme on December 17, 2014, where he commented that he may not have a successor. He was quoted by BBC as saying "The Dalai Lama institution will cease one day. These man-made institutions will cease. There is no guarantee that some stupid Dalai Lama won't come next, who will disgrace himself or herself. That would be very sad. So, much better that a centuries-old tradition should cease at the time of a quite popular Dalai Lama."
Of particular interest are the activities of Prof. Jin Wei, a senior member of the faculty of the Central Party School in Beijing, which she joined in 1985. Jin Wei has a pronounced background in minority issues and is Deputy Director of Minority Issues in the Central Party School. The Central Party School is the crucible for training senior cadres of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) earmarked for upward progression and its faculty comprises CCP members hand-picked for their reliability. An ‘insider’ joke in the Central Party School at one time said that everyone drove carefully within its precincts as no one knew who would rise to become the CCP Central Committee (CC)’s General Secretary!
An important interview by Prof. Jin Wei, which was published on June 6, 2013, by the Hong Kong-based Chinese-language magazine ‘Yazhou Zhoukan’ (Asia Weekly), appeared to reveal important elements of the Chinese leadership’s new thinking on the Tibet issue and the Dalai Lama. Pertinent is that Simon Kei Shek Ming, the journalist who interviewed Prof. Jin Wei, used to be noticed accompanying Xiao Wunan, a former provincial level cadre of the CCP Central Committee (CC)’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), on his travels. Xiao Wunan is Executive Director of the Chinese government-sponsored NGO, the Asia Pacific Economic Exchange Foundation (APECF), and claims proximity to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Simon Kei Shek Ming accompanied Xiao Wunan when he travelled to Dharamshala in August 2012, and in a rare accomplishment met the Dalai Lama, Ughyen Thinley Dorje who is a claimant to the throne of the Gyalwa Karmapa [making him the 7th Karmapa], and the ‘Sikyong’ Lobsang Sangay, all in one day.
The APECF, incidentally, was also the first Chinese outfit to reveal its interest in Lumbini – the Buddha’s birthplace – when it unveiled a US$ 3 billion plan for re-development of the city. In December 2014 reports suggested that the Nepal government’s Social Welfare Council (SWC) had initiated proceedings against the APECF to black-list it for, among other reasons, lack of transparency and failure to submit its audit reports. In the process the SWC uncovered that while the APECF had made inroads into rural areas adjoining Lumbini like Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa and Nuwakot, it had not informed the SWC of the year-long education and three-year long agriculture projects run from 2013-2017 in these districts.
In her interview to ‘Yazhou Zhoukan’, Prof Jin Wei was categoric in her assertion that China must ensure that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation is found “inside China” and China must “make every possible effort to avoid the embarrassment of the “twin Panchen Lama” event”. She was critical of past policies and, advancing a new framework for talks, said it was necessary “to put aside disputes and break the current impasse” and acknowledge that the Dalai Lama is considered a “living god” by six million Tibetan people. China’s dealings with him, she said, “affects the feelings of thousands and thousands of Tibetans” and therefore “we cannot simply treat him as an enemy”. She described the Dalai Lama as a “key figure” in Tibet-related issues and recommended re-starting the talks with his representatives that have remained suspended since 2010.
Her views were swiftly and sharply rebuffed by Yu Zhengsheng, Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) member and Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Zhu Weiqun, presently Director of the CPPCC’s Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee and former Vice Minister of the CCP CC’s UFWD. Zhu Weiqun said “when we refer to Mr. Tenzin Gyatso as the Dalai Lama we are recognising his spiritual rank. However, in the course of time, he has acquired another label which we should never forget. Because of his efforts to split China he has become a political refugee”.
Prof Jin Wei’s continuance at the Central Party School despite the opposition generated by her interview, suggests that her views have approval at some high level. This has been implicitly confirmed in the past few months with Prof Jin Wei having apparently been drafted by the CCP to publicise its ‘new thinking’ on the Tibet issue in influential circles abroad.
In late 2014, she travelled quietly to the US where she had closed-door meetings with select think-tanks and, more significantly, with some of the Dalai Lama’s key supporters in Washington DC and New York. More recently, she spoke at Oxford and addressed the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS) in London on November 11, 2014. It is understood that she will very shortly be travelling again to London at the invitation of SOAS.
Prof Jin Wei’s remarks in the UK were interesting and hinted that Beijing could be re-evaluating its policy of aid to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). In her talk at SOAS entitled ‘Opportunities and Challenges in Western China – a case study in Tibet’, she expressed doubts about the benefits of Beijing’s financial assistance to TAR. Noting that the autonomous region’s GDP had grown steadily since the “peaceful liberation” of Tibet in 1951, Prof Jin Wei observed that the region had taken “initial steps” in establishing a “modern economic base”. Tibetans now had access to “basic” health care and education, good quality housing, usually with electricity and gas, and life expectancy had risen by 31.5 years. She highlighted, however, that Beijing’s top-down economic policies in the TAR had created what she described as a “two-way dependency”.
She gave the following break-up of projects undertaken in the TAR:
Year Number of projects Investment in TAR (in 100 million RMB)
1984 43 4.8
1994 62 48.6
2001 117 311
2005 24 64.2
2007 188 137.8
2011 236 419.2
2014 670 599.9
Her analysis of figures highlighting investment in TAR by the Central Government and provincial authorities revealed that only RMB 7 out of every RMB 100 spent by the TAR authorities came from local revenues. This was despite TAR having the second highest expenditure of any province.
She said that despite the increasingly large amounts being invested in TAR, the rate of increase in GDP growth had plateaued. She hinted that Beijing should discard established policies and explore new ones. She concluded that while aid to Tibet and high-levels of central investment need to continue, the authorities need to tailor these to local conditions and the needs of Tibetans. While Prof Jin Wei said that not all projects had failed, she asserted that almost 70 per cent of the projects started in TAR had become bankrupt or been forced to close down. Citing examples of the failure of the top-down policy of development assistance, she mentioned a wool processing plant in Naqu in northern TAR which had been forced to close down due to poor management and lack of a market for the wool; a “new” hospital where, because of the heavy cost of maintenance that local authorities could not afford because of inadequate local revenue, the roof leaked so badly that the patients had to shelter under plastic sheeting; and the Potala Square in Lhasa, which is the centrepiece of Beijing’s massive urban redevelopment of Lhasa, where the work unit in charge of the square had told Prof. Jin Wei that they lacked the funds to maintain the road surface which was badly potholed and cracked.
Prof Jin Wei said she had often travelled to Tibet since 1984 and on each occasion she had been touched and moved by the Tibetan people’s belief in religion. She disclosed that this has raised major concern among scholars and leaders in China. Prof Jin Wei pointed out that in 1950, the year before the PLA entered Lhasa, there had been a total of 2,711 temples and monasteries in the TAR and 114,103 monks and nuns. This had fallen to 553 and 6,913 respectively in 1965 but had increased to 1,787 and 46,000 respectively by 2014. Commenting on the issue of controls over monasteries and nunneries in China, Prof Jin Wei observed that though the number of monasteries and monks in TAR had increased since 1965, most officials in TAR saw monks as “trouble-makers”.
Commenting on the issue of the tightening controls over monasteries and nunneries in China, she said that the new policies introduced in 2011 included linking monasteries with towns by road, providing them electricity, requiring them to display photographs of Chinese leaders, fly the Chinese flag, and enrolling monks and nuns in social security schemes. She said “the most significant reform” had been to place more officials inside monasteries and nunneries and on the Monastery Management Committees. She disclosed that for every six monks and nuns in the TAR there was one official based in the monasteries across TAR. Stating that the officials stationed in the monasteries felt marginalised and didn’t like the job, Prof. Jin Wei described the policy as “unsustainable” but implied that there was little chance that the authorities would change their approach since most officials in TAR saw monks as “trouble-makers”. Prof Jin Wei commented that “policy makers” and those who “oversee policies on religion” were themselves not religious which also made it difficult for them to formulate “ideal” policies. She acknowledged that these reforms had increased “internal tensions”.
Within weeks of Jin Wei’s visit, TAR Chairman Lobsang Gyaltsen led a high-powered 8-member delegation to Canada and the US from November 30-December 6, 2014. It was the ninth overseas trip by Tibetan legislators since 2009. The delegation included two Deputies of the National People’s Congress (NPC) as well as Tenzin Lhundrup (Ethnicity: Tibetan) Deputy Secretary General TAR People's Government; Phuntsok (Ethnicity: Tibetan), Deputy of the TAR People's Congress and Director of the Standing Committee of Ngari (Ali) Prefectural People's Congress; and Zhang Yanqing,( Ethnicity: Han) Mayor of Lhasa and Deputy of the TAR People's Congress. The delegation visited five cities in North America. Tenzin Lhundrup, Deputy Secretary General of the TAR government and a member of the delegation, told Global Times that the “Tibet question groups" set up by more than twenty western parliaments to assist "Tibet independence" forces were “the key targets of, as well as barriers to, our communication efforts."
In Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa they met overseas Chinese, Tibetans and Canadian officials. Lobsang Gyaltsen met Daniel Jean, acting Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Victor Oh, Canadian Senator and Chairman of the China-Canada Parliamentary Association in Ottawa, who officially invited the delegation.
During his meeting with the Canadian officials, Lobsang Gyaltsen explained the CCP’s Tibet policy and the ‘tremendous’ social and economic progress that Tibet has made under the CCP’s leadership. He reaffirmed that “Tibet is an inalienable part of China since time immemorial” and that the “CCP liberated Tibet peacefully” more than 60 years ago. Lobsang Gyaltsen stressed that the TAR authorities fully adhere to the policy of religious freedom, promotion of religious harmony and strengthening the management of religious affairs according to law. He described the current situation in Tibet as the best period in its history and appealed to Canadian officials to take an impartial view of Tibet and recognize the importance and sensitivity of the Tibet issue. He requested them not to provide any scope for anti-China activities in order to cement the healthy and friendly relations between the two nations.
Welcoming the delegation led by TAR Chairman Lobsang Gyaltsen, Canadian officials affirmed that Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and that Canada does not support the "independence" of Tibet and is not willing to see the Tibet issue obstruct the development of relations between the two countries.
Lobsang Gyaltsen left for the US on December 2, 2014, where he visited Washington and New York. He spoke at the Brookings Institute and met journalists, overseas Chinese and overseas Tibetans.
Interesting too are the reports circulating in the US and West which, quoting reliable Chinese sources, state that Xi Jinping had conveyed to the Government of India that he would like to meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to India in September 2014. These sources claim that the Indian government did not respond.
In a fresh development laden with political overtones, on January 29, 2015, Xiao Wunan, a former provincial level official of the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) and Chief Executive of the APECF, released a video tape of his meeting with the Dalai Lama in August 2012 through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It clearly depicts Xiao Wunan informing the Dalai Lama that there is a void at the top in China's Buddhist religious circles. He suggests that this could be filled by the Dalai Lama and offers the Dalai Lama the job. The video also attempts to portray that China allows a modicum of personal religious freedom by showing a room in Xiao Wunan's house that has been set aside as a shrine for worship of the Buddha. The video shows that in this room a photograph of the Dalai Lama has been given pride of place. It is obvious that the release of such a video, which is unprecedented, has been 'cleared' at a high level in the CCP.
To view this BBC interview, go to http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30983402 and scroll down 2/3 of the page.
It is perhaps the first time that there has been such a brazen and publicised propaganda push to lure the Dalai Lama back to China. The video reveals that the main objective of China’s efforts and of Xiao Wunan’s visit to Dharamsala in 2012, was to persuade the Dalai Lama to return to Beijing to a religious post. It is interesting too that Xiao Wunan, who refers to himself in the video as a practising Buddhist, is described as a “former official” and that he has been able to inject the suggestion that he has a family relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China has in recent months seemingly stepped up engagement with foreigners on the Tibet issue. Examples include the participation by foreigners in the Tibet Forum in Lhasa in mid-August 2014, tour of Beijing-based foreign military attaches to Tibet the following month and the release in late January 2015 of Xiao Wunan’s video via the BBC. Simultaneously, Chinese officials appear to be trying to bring increasing pressure to bear on Tibetans. During a visit to Nepal in October this year, TAR Chairman Lobsang Gyaltsen asserted that “China doesn’t have any refugee as such” and those crossing the border into Nepal are “illegal”. This appeared to hint that China could at some point question the status of ‘political refugees’ accorded to escaping Tibetans.
Separately, members of Chinese think-tanks have been noticed raising the Tibet issue during meetings with their Indian counter-parts in India and abroad since late 2014. They generally observe that the Dalai Lama's presence in India is an obstacle to India-China relations and that while the "Dalai Lama has a religious colour" the "present person" is a political individual indulging in anti-Chinese activities.
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January 8, 2015
Jayadeva Ranade, a member of India’s National Security Advisory Board and former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, is also president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy. Ranade published this yesterday in the HindustanTimes.
In the midst of reports of emissaries being exchanged between Beijing and the Dalai Lama’s set-up and positive references to Buddhism by Chinese leaders, recent developments suggest that Beijing has decided on a new initiative on the Tibet issue. At the same time, there has been no change in the policies being enforced in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) or Beijing’s efforts to shrink the room for manoeuvre available to the Dalai Lama.
Chinese officials are simultaneously bringing increased pressure to bear on foreign interlocutors on the Tibet issue. The latter was highlighted by the Pope’s refusal to meet the Dalai Lama in mid-December, South Africa declining him a visa and the Norwegian government declining to receive him last year in May. While visiting Nepal in October last year, TAR chairman Lobsang Gyaltsen asserted that “China doesn’t have any refugee as such” and those crossing the border into Nepal are “illegal”. Implicit is the hint that China could question escaping Tibetans being accorded the status of ‘political refugees’. Separately, members of some Chinese think-tanks visiting India late in 2014 observed that the Dalai Lama’s presence in India was an obstacle to India-China relations and that while the “Dalai Lama has a religious colour” the “present person” was a political individual indulging in anti-Chinese activities.
This has at the same time been accompanied by a noticeable mellowing in references by senior Chinese leaders to the 79-year-old Dalai Lama, prompting him to describe Chinese President Xi Jinping as “more realistic” and his government as “softer” during an interview to the Nikkei Asian Review on November 25, 2014. Interesting is the Dalai Lama’s remark of October 8, when he said “some Chinese officials, for example the deputy party secretary in the autonomous region of Tibet, also mentioned the possibility of my visit.”
Though reports of any formal contacts have been denied by the Dalai Lama’s set-up, fresh speculation was sparked by the Dalai Lama’s interview on BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ programme. He was quoted by BBC as saying “The Dalai Lama institution will cease one day. These man-made institutions will cease. There is no guarantee that some stupid Dalai Lama won’t come next, who will disgrace himself or herself. That would be very sad. So, much better that a centuries-old tradition should cease at the time of a quite popular Dalai Lama”.
In recent months China also seemingly stepped up engagement with foreigners on the Tibet issue. Examples include the participation for the first time by foreigners in the Tibet Forum in Lhasa in mid-August and the invitation to Beijing-based foreign military attachés to tour Tibet the following month.
Particularly interesting are the activities of Professor Jin Wei, deputy director of minority issues in the Central Party School in Beijing, which she joined in 1985. The Central Party School is the crucible for training the senior cadre of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) earmarked for upward progression and its faculty comprises CCP members hand-picked for reliability.
In an important interview published on June 6, 2013, by Hong Kong’s Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly), Jin asserted that China must ensure that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation was found “inside China” and “make every possible effort to avoid the embarrassment of the ‘twin Panchen Lama’ event”. Stating that “we cannot simply treat him as an enemy”, she advanced a new framework for talks and recommended breaking “the current impasse” and re-starting the talks — suspended since 2010 — with the Dalai Lama’s representatives.
In the past few months Jin has travelled to the United States and Britain to publicise the CCP’s new thinking on the Tibet issue. During her visit to the US a couple of months ago, she had closed-door meetings with select think-tanks and, more significantly, with some of the Dalai Lama’s key supporters.
In November 2014, she spoke at Oxford and addressed the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS) in London. Hinting that Beijing could re-evaluate its policy of aid to the TAR, she suggested that while policies to aid Tibet and extend high-levels of central investment should continue, they should be tailored to local conditions and the needs of Tibetans.
Jin disclosed said that while the number of monasteries and monks in the TAR had increased since 1965, most officials in the region saw monks as “trouble-makers”. She attributed the increased “internal tensions” in the TAR to the policy of placing officials inside monasteries and nunneries and on the monastery management committees. The officials stationed in the monasteries, she said, felt marginalised and the policies are “unsustainable”.
Within weeks of Jin’s visit, TAR chairman Lobsang Gyaltsen led an eight-member delegation to Canada and the US from November 30 to December 6, 2014. Meeting Canadian officials, Gyaltsen appealed them to take an impartial view of Tibet and recognise the importance and sensitivity of the Tibet issue. He requested them not to provide any scope for anti-China activities in order to cement healthy and friendly relations between the two nations. In New York and Washington, which he visited from December 2 to 6, Gyaltsen spoke at the Brookings Institution and met think-tanks, journalists, overseas Chinese and Tibetans.
China has increased the frequency of ‘informal’ contacts with the Dalai Lama’s establishment, possibly to ‘soften’ his stance prior to inviting him to China. At the same time it is working to undermine his influence and support base abroad.
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December 18, 2014
Filed by Times of India on December 18, 2014
To effectively counter terror activities mounted by Pakistan from Nepal, home ministry is working on a proposal to double the strength of the intelligence wing of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) [literally, “Armed Border Force”, one of India's Central Armed Police Forces] and give it state-of-the-art technical intelligence tools. SSB, which guards the porous Nepal and Bhutan borders with India, is the only paramilitary unit to have a full-fledged intelligence wing.
Sources said the idea is to shore up SSB's capabilities to effectively guard entry of ISI-backed terrorists and monitor the activity of the Pak spy agency in fast mushrooming madrasas on the border. It would also help the force counter activities of northeast insurgents on the Bhutan border.
In addition to this, the SSB is also introducing non-lethal weapons among the troops in a big way and a proposal is in the works. Sources argue that since Bhutan and Nepal are friendly countries use of lethal weapons is not recommended and this emboldens smugglers and militants who know they would not be fired upon unless forces are challenged. Non-lethal weapons, conversely, can prove more effective as a deterrent.
SSB director general B D Sharma said, "Intelligence is our biggest weapon when it comes to securing the open and porous borders with Nepal and Bhutan. These are sensitive borders. We have sent to the government a proposal in this regard as we seek to revamp our snooping infrastructure."
"We want to excel in intelligence-related works because at these two unfenced frontiers it is only 'good information' that can help secure the area from illegal elements," he said.
Sharma said the government has accorded the 70,000 personnel-strong SSB a Rs 658 crore modernization budget which the force is utilizing to procure surveillance equipment and other gadgets and weapons.
SSB officials elaborated that under the intelligence revamp proposal, the force wants to double the number of its personnel designated for this job and it wants to procure a number of gadgets that provide technical snoop data with the help of imagery and biometrics.
However, increased vigil on the border is also annoying VIPs in Nepal. Sharma said added security measures along the Nepal border has also led to complaints from the leaders and VIPs on the other side as he got communications from "MPs and other important people from Nepal who say they were being frisked or stopped by SSB troops before entering India".
"People on both the sides have to get used to frisking and other security drills. We cannot compromise on security," he said.
The "snoop" wing of the force, designated as the lead agency on these two borders, has an estimated 4,000 people. The force, the DG said, will also send a proposal to the home ministry soon with an intention to acquire non-lethal weapons to be deployed along these two borders, on line similar to what BSF does along the Bangladesh frontier.
"There are numerous benefits of having non-lethal weapons on these borders as this would better allow our troopers to deal with illegal elements active here. Being an open border, it is not always advisable for our troops to use their standard weapons which are lethal in nature," he said.
The DG also said that the force, along with its counterpart paramilitary in Nepal, has also decided to strengthen mechanisms to curb instances of human trafficking along the 1,751 km Indo-Nepal border.
Sharma said illegal smuggling of narcotics along Nepal border is a real challenge for his troops as he conceded that the force was "not able to catch everything" that was being transported across this frontier.
He said the force has initiated some new steps to increase vigil along the Nepal border by operationalizing five helpline numbers in Ranikhet, Patna, Guwahati, Lucknow and Siliguri which can be used by the public to inform it about any smuggling or illegal activities in the border areas.
SSB will also enhance the number of its border posts along Nepal from the current 470 to 539 and along Bhutan from the current 150 to 195 by the year 2016. It will also raise six more battalions (1,000 personnel in each) by 2018.
The DG said the force has sought approval of the home ministry to begin an annual exchange and meeting of its top brass with the Royal Bhutan Police as is prevalent with its Nepalese counterparts. India shares a 699-km border with Bhutan.
The DG said illegal operatives along the Bhutan border are functioning from camps on the Indian side and they take benefit of the dense jungles and difficult terrain to carry out their activities.
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December 16, 2014
Filed by Natalie Obiko Pearson for Bloomberg, Dec 14, 2014
In the dusty outskirts of Kathmandu, south of the Himalayan mountain range that holds the world’s highest peaks, Chinese engineers in orange hard hats oversee construction of Nepal’s first eight-lane highway.
The $45 million upgrade of a road circling the Nepalese capital is one of dozens of projects helping China challenge India’s dominance in a country that is sandwiched between them. Until recently, the Himalayas served as a natural barrier that prompted Nepal to trade more across its flat border with India.
“China is growing in importance,” Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepal’s Finance Minister, said in a Dec. 4 interview in Kathmandu. “Because of new trade horizons and the cheap pricing of Chinese goods, Chinese trade vis-a-vis Nepal is growing.”
China this year overtook India as Nepal’s biggest foreign investor, funding power plants, noodle factories and meat-processing units in one of the world’s poorest countries. Trade is also booming: Nepal’s commerce with China has outpaced that with India by 17 times since 2006, eroding the influence of New Delhi’s leaders.
Signs of China’s growing presence are visible throughout Kathmandu, including the flags that wave about the construction site, Mandarin announcements at the international airport and a Chinese-language book shop that popped up in the capital last month. Local markets are flooded with China-made goods such as Hindu idols once sourced from India.
“China looks to Nepal as a gateway to South Asia,” Akshay Mathur, head of research at Mumbai-based Gateway House, said by phone. “It’s part of a broader strategy to extend its sphere of influence.”
India Complacent
China is already seeking a land route through ally Pakistan to the Arabian Sea as President Xi Jinping pledges $40 billion in investments along the Silk Road trading route. China in August completed a railway link near the Nepal border, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, which could divert Chinese goods from India’s Kolkata port.
“India and Indian businesses had been complacent,” Mathur said, in reference to China’s moves in Nepal. “They’ll have to sit up and take notice.”
India accounted for 53 percent of Nepal’s trade last year, down from 60 percent in 2006, when a Maoist insurgency ended. China’s share of Nepal’s commerce has risen to 31 percent from 3 percent in that time, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
China’s investment pledges worth 7.3 billion Nepali rupees ($73 million) outstripped India’s 6.5 billion for the first time in the year through July. They are projected to do so again this year, according to data from Nepal’s Department of Industry.
China’s competition with India is a boon for Nepal, whose remittances-dependent economy is smaller than all 50 U.S. states. Its 28 million people have the lowest spending power of any Asian country apart from Afghanistan, International Monetary Fund statistics show.
“We’re in between the two fastest-growing major economies in the world,” Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Nepal’s central bank governor, said in a Dec. 3 interview at his Kathmandu office. “No other country has such an opportunity, a market of billions of middle-class populations on both borders.”
Nepal is boosting yuan holdings to 15 percent of foreign-exchange reserves, equivalent to its stocks of the Indian rupee, Khatiwada said. While the Nepalese currency’s peg to the rupee is working for now, it might be reevaluated if India’s economy sees high volatility in the future, he said.
Even though China has made inroads, India is still poised to gain as Nepal expands. An India-Nepal power trading pact signed in August could be a “turning point” in solving South Asia’s energy woes, Johannes Zutt, the World Bank’s country director for Nepal, said by phone Dec. 5.
Power Sales
Some 6,000 rivers fed by Himalayan glaciers could be harnessed for more than 80 gigawatts of capacity, according to Nepal’s Investment Board, enough to power a third of India. It has tapped less than 1 percent of that potential while suffering blackouts for as many as 16 hours a day.
Exporting electricity to India rather than China is easier because its rivers flow south off the Himalayas toward India’s most populous states, while China’s biggest cities and industries are far to the east.
“Nepal can become a rich country by selling electricity to India,” Narendra Modi told Nepal’s parliament in August during the first visit by an Indian prime minister in 17 years, while offering a $1 billion credit line to fund development. “We do not want free electricity; we want to buy.”
‘Balancing Act’
In the biggest deal ever from an overseas investor, Bengaluru-based GMR Group said Sept. 22 it would build a 900-megawatt hydropower plant, estimated to cost $1.4 billion, to export electricity to India. State-run SJVN Ltd. (SJVN) signed an agreement this month for another plant on the same river, which is estimated to generate more than $3 billion over 25 years.
Mahat, Nepal’s finance minister, said blackouts will end in three years as new projects come on line, boosting growth in the $20 billion economy by as much as 2 percentage points each year from 4.5 percent now.
While it’s too early to say if Chinese trade will reach parity with India -- particularly with only one all-weather road between the countries -- the signs are promising, Mahat said. The number of Chinese visitors has tripled in recent years, he said.
In Kathmandu, workers with the Shanghai Construction Group Co. (600170) are widening lanes, reinforcing bridges and building bus stops. A nearby compound housing employees has a basketball court, a vegetable patch growing Chinese cabbage and a dining hall where cooks from the mainland make noodles and tea.
“All these developments unsettle India quite a bit,” said Purnendra Jain, professor at the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Asian Studies. “The Nepalese government is aware India and China are competing for influence and it doesn’t want to put one party off. That’s a huge balancing act.”
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December 2, 2014
LINK HERE FOR PROMOTIONAL VIDEO
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November 25, 2014
Nepal has been ranked 20th among 167 countries in terms of the prevalence of modern day slavery. The 2014 Global Slavery Index has estimated that 228,700 people in the country are subjected to modern day slavery.
The report released by Walk Free Foundation last week has also listed Nepal as the fifth most vulnerable country to modern day slavery in the Asia Pacific region. Neighbouring India ranks top most in the region followed by Pakistan, Cambodia and Mongolia.
In the world rankings, India and Pakistan are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. Mauritania ranks first in the index with four percent of its almost 4 million people subjected to modern day slavery, followed by (2) Uzbekistan, (3) Haiti and (4) Qatar.
The report also highlights that men from Nepal along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh working in the Middle East are in forced labor in the construction industry, while women from the same countries have been subjected to sexual exploitation and domestic violence.
The case study of Qatar carried out in the report also says that migrant workers from Nepal and other South Asian countries are subjected to a range of exploitative practices, including forced labor, domestic servitude, extortionate recruitment fees, illegal confiscation of passports, withholding of salaries, hazardous workplaces, unhygienic living conditions and physical, psychological and sexual abuse from employers.
The Australia-based organization, which works to end modern day slavery, prepares its report based on researches over a year. The report terms the modern day slavery as involvement of a person possessing or controlling another person to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty and with the intention of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal. The report states that India also remains susceptible destination for Nepali women and children. “Young Nepali women banned from traveling to the Gulf for domestic work also pass through India as an alternative route. Some of these migrants then experience abuse and exploitation. Other migrants are fraudulently sent by recruiters to India to be transported to jobs in the Gulf, only to remain in India in positions of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation,” the report has stated.
According to the report, around 38.5 million people around the world are the victims of modern day slavery.
To download the Report
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November 21, 2014
The Highway Routes: Small Arms Smuggling in Eastern Nepal
In 2013, the Small Arms Survey estimated that there are around 440,000 civilian firearms in circulation in Nepal, only 55,000 of which are legally registered. The availability of firearms in the country is moderate by international standards, but the concentration of small arms in the hands of criminal groups poses a threat to law and order that has yet to be fully assessed and addressed.
Despite some notable improvements since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) in 2006, such as the fall in the number of armed groups and increased police presence, the country continues to be afflicted by crime and insecurity, fuelled in part by the proliferation of small arms.
The Highway Routes: Small Arms Smuggling in Eastern Nepal, a new Issue Brief from the Small Arms Survey’s Nepal Armed Violence Assessment project, examines various dimensions of the illicit trade in small arms in eastern Nepal, based on fieldwork conducted between December 2013 and April 2014, including over 100 interviews with representatives of law enforcement and the underworld.
The Issue Brief analyses the sources of illicit small arms, the methods of smuggling and routes used, illicit trade and related activities, and the consumers and other actors involved, as well as relevant government policies. Its major findings include:
Most firearms circulating in eastern Nepal are trafficked via the open border with India rather than the more heavily regulated frontier with China. They transit through towns and cities in the border areas to the main destinations of Kathmandu, Dharan, and Chitwan.
The trafficking of small arms in Nepal is predominantly an ‘ant trade’, carried out by individuals or loosely organized groups.
Criminal elements increasingly prefer to rent rather than own illicit firearms because it reduces the likelihood of arrest.
The illicit traffic in small firearms is dominated by craft (country-made) and counterfeit guns.
Government and police efforts to curb the trafficking of small arms and ammunition have included a range of legal and policy responses, with mixed results. ‘Buy-and-bust’ sting operations have succeeded in arresting and disbanding a number of smuggling rings, although some maintain that it is generally the carriers who are arrested rather than the main organizers.
To download “The Highway Routes: Small Arms Smuggling in Eastern Nepal”
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November 18, 2014
My friend, Bangladeshi activist, Everest climber and writer Wasfia Nazreen has been selected as one of National Geographic’s Ten Adventurers of the Year 2015. Now, it is the public’s opportunity to vote for Wasfia as the best of the best, THE Adventurer of the year, which will be announced in January 2015. Below, you will find National Geographic’s criteria for her selection—her ongoing dedication to empower her country’s women and girls – as well as National Geographic’s interview with her. But first, here’s the link to place your vote Wasfia:
National Geographic’s write-up on her:
The Activist: Wasfia Nazreen
A Bangladeshi aid worker hula-hoops on the Seven Summits to empower her country’s women and girls.
While exact numbers are difficult to pin down, approximately 350 people have climbed the Seven Summits. If activist Wasfia Nazreen summits Oceania's Carstensz Pyramid in late November, it won’t rank as a stunning mountaineering feat—ascending to the continents’ high points isn’t as revered as other more daunting mountaineering feats. Certainly, she may become the first to hula-hoop on all seven, but Nazreen’s goal reaches far beyond summits, routes, and firsts.
In 2010, Nazreen was working for international humanitarian aid group CARE in her native country of Bangladesh. One of CARE's projects pulled 3,000 women and children out of brothels and began educating and training them for careers outside the sex industry. Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country, with just under a third of its people living below the international poverty line. Then the funding for the project dried up. Unable to win a grant to continue the program, CARE left and Nazreen watched as the 3,000 women and children were left in social limbo, ostracized by Bangladeshi society and removed from what little social support the brothels had afforded them, according to Nazreen.
“Worse yet were the kids. They had almost escaped the cyclical nature of the brothel life,” says 32-year-old Nazreen, who has worked in the human rights field since her early 20s, after graduating from Agnes Scott College. “We were so dependent on these foreign organizations. If [an NGO] left, it was almost like a program just ended.”
Nazreen decided that while foreign support had its role in the developing nation, it was time for the Bangladeshi people to begin building aid organizations that were not headed by foreigners. She had begun mountaineering in 2006, while working in Tibet to stem human rights violations by the Chinese government. She decided to combine her two passions—activism and climbing.
Nazreen sold some family jewelry, took out tens of thousands of dollars in loans, and went to work. First, she created the Bangladesh on Seven Summits foundation to oversee the climbing portion of her mission and began ticking off the peaks with a Bangladeshi flag in hand. At that point no Bangladeshi had completed the Seven Summits. The 40th anniversary of Bangladeshi independence was in 2011, and the country was hungry to celebrate. Nazreen added her own unique flourish by packing a 2.5-pound, collapsible Hula-Hoop in the Bengali colors and breaking it out on top of each summit. Hula-hooping was something she had been forbidden to do as a child. When Nazreen summited Everest, international media began picking up her story, which she used to generate momentum into the second phase of her project.
“Eighty percent of the people haven’t seen a mountain,” says Nazreen of her country, which is known for its flat, fertile river deltas. “Going to every continent took the Bangladeshi people to every continent. It gave them a lot of pride.”
This fall, with six of the seven climbs behind her, Nazreen implemented the second stage of her project. She launched the Ösel Foundation, aimed at educating marginalized young women and getting them into the outdoors. Bangladesh is a deeply patriarchal society in which even educated girls are discouraged from participating in sports, and arranged marriages are commonplace. Women who have been born into the sex trade or victimized by rape enjoy a fraction of the rights that others do. This January, the Ösel Foundation begins its education and outdoor initiatives with a six-month pilot program for 50 teenage girls. The curriculum is influenced by Western outdoor education programs.
“We are trying to change our society,” says Nazreen. “This seemed like a good place to start.”
—Fitz Cahall
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S INTERVIEW:
National Geographic Adventure: So first off, what’s with the Hula-Hoop?
Wasfia Nazreen: When I was a little girl, one of my first memories was of this foreign couple visiting my town. I’d never seen white people. Their daughter had this Hula-Hoop. I wanted to play with it. I was trying it, and one of the neighborhood women said something along the lines of “Girls shouldn’t be shaking their hips.” The way she said it had this very derogatory meaning. I thought, Good girls can’t play with Hula-Hoops.
This was taken from my life—the right to play as a little girl. I was told I couldn’t bike because it would take my virginity and other nonsense. I’m doing this for myself and for the little girls back at home. It’s my little way of saying, “No more.”
NGA: You are a star in your country for your climbs. Has the response been entirely good?
WN: For the most part. There was a celebration at the prime minister’s. And this man, this colonel in the Bangladeshi navy or army, came in and screamed, “This thing got up and our army couldn’t get up.” He was screaming at his people, his men. He couldn’t even call me “she.” He just said "thing.” In the long run, it’s flattering. The men in our country—it hit some of their egos. Now we are starting to get fathers coming to ask if their daughters can be a part of our foundation. I don’t want the fame, but the fact that some men are starting to see that they can get their daughters involved in sports and the outdoors, that’s a matter of pride. Seeing that shift is huge for me. There aren’t many positive stories in Bangladesh. This is one of them.
NGA: Which of the peaks has been the most difficult?
WN: Well, Denali and Everest are the most difficult, but the hardest thing is honestly the logistics. I haven’t used a commercial outfit for these climbs, so the logistics of getting permits and organizing was harder than the climbing. Raising the funds has been the hardest. In Bangladesh, I had to prove myself over and over again. I’ve had a lot of help from friends.
NGA: Bangladesh is coastal and pretty flat. How and where did you start climbing?
WN: I worked in Tibet on a four-year campaign to protest the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Chinese were using them as a way to validate their claim on Tibet. During that time we were traveling a lot in Tibet and Nepal. We were organizing these protests and events. We’d climb bridges or towers for these events, and so I got some [climbing] training. In 2006, I started doing small climbs. By 2007, I was starting to do six- and seven-thousand-meter peaks.
NGA: You’ve taken big financial risks to start your foundations and work constantly—what pushes you to do all that?
WN: I have a really deep calling. I have some big bank loans. I have no idea how I’m going to pay it off. If you think about it practically, I should be really worried about that, but my brain doesn’t function like that. In my adolescence and in my own life, this is like healing. Growing up, I was marginalized. I don’t want any other girl to go through that. That’s where the power comes from.
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November 10, 2014
Talking to the Air: The Horses of the Last Forbidden Kingdom, written, directed and shot by Sophie Dia Pegrum.
Talking to the Air tells the story of the ascent of civilization in the high Himalaya and turns a lens on issues of globalization, fragile border in the heart of the Himalaya, where the Lo people of Mustang have depended on the horse for their survival and have developed a deep spiritual connection with the equine. The Lo people tie their karmic being to the lives of their horses, and this film explores the ancient practices and belief systems that still very much part of daily lives. It also includes fascinating archival footage of the Tibetan Resistant Fighters who settled in Mustang after China overran Tibet and the Dalai Lama fled to India for his life.
Premiering at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival this December. Produced by Horsefly Films in Association with Adventure Nepal Productions and Shakti Pictures.
For more clips and ways that you can assist in funding post-production
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October 30, 2014
Filed by Kosh Raj Koirala for Khabar South Asia
Amid reports of criminal activity and growing religious fundamentalism in border areas, Nepal's Armed Police Force (APF) and India's Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) are enhancing intelligence-sharing activities to guard against security threats along their 1,880km border.
"It is our policy not to allow any activities that are detrimental to the interests of our neighbours in our border areas. We have made security arrangements accordingly," Home Ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told Khabar South Asia.
The moves follow Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Kathmandu last month, during which he "expressed his concern on the growth of religious fundamentalism in the border areas", India's Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
Bam Dev Gautam, Singh's counterpart, pledged full co-operation, according to Nepalese Home Ministry officials.
Monitoring madrassa visitors
As part of measures to prevent religious extremists from infiltrating madrassas in border districts, Nepalese police now require all Muslim schools to notify them about visitors, particularly foreigners.
"As a precautionary measure, we have also made it mandatory for all madrassas to provide details about each new visitor," said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nawaraj Silwal, chief of police for eastern Nepal.
Members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) are known to have crossed the border to try to recruit fighters, and IM leader Yasin Bhatkal was arrested in Nepal last year.
Open border
The nations' border is open thanks to a 1950 bilateral friendship treaty allowing Indian and Nepalese nationals to cross without visas.
However, in recent years, the APF and SBB have responded to security threats from human traffickers and counterfeit money smugglers taking advantage of the porous border. SSB has more than 466 border outposts (BOPs) compared with 87 outposts established by the APF.
"Our BOPs are monitoring criminal activities along the border," APF Additional Inspector General Singh Bahadur Shrestha told Khabar. "We have been conducting searches and investigations of suspected persons travelling across the border."
With high-level SAARC meetings scheduled for late November in Kathmandu, tight border security is of paramount importance, according to Shrestha.
"We have to further increase our movements," he said. "This is not a situation to be complacent about security."
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October 27, 2014
Claims Journal report filed by BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
Last wekk, Nepal said it will introduce new rules, improve weather forecasts and better monitor the movement of trekkers after the Himalayan country’s worst hiking disaster left dozens dead last week.
Tourism Department official Tulasi Gautam said trekkers venturing to mountain trails will be required to take trained local guides, and will have to rent a GPS tracking unit to help authorities trace them in case of an emergency.
Gautam said the government plans to announce the new rules nationwide before the next trekking season in the spring.
“The main reason for the high number of casualties is that those trekkers without proper guides were prompted to continue with their trek in attempts to beat the storm. So we plan to strictly enforce new rules of no trekking without porters or proper guides,” Gautam said.
At least 43 people were killed last week when a blizzard and avalanches swept the mountains of the Annapurna region in northern Nepal. Of those, 21 were foreign trekkers and mountaineers from countries including India, Israel, Canada, Poland, Japan, China and Slovakia. Twenty-two were Nepalese guides, porters and villagers.
Many of the trekkers around the Annapurna route are independent hikers who do not hire guides. The route is also dotted with lodges and tea stalls that sell food, snacks and lodging.
Authorities also plan to improve the weather forecasting system and make it easier to deliver information to remote trekking routes.
The government also said all trekkers must now register at check posts while entering and exiting the trekking areas. Previously, foreign trekkers were required to buy permits or at least register before entering trekking areas, but Nepalese nationals were not. And no one was required to check out when they left.
Home Ministry Secretary Surya Prasad Silwal said rescuers were able to fly 518 stranded trekkers, including 310 foreigners, to safety before the search operation ended Monday.
“It was the biggest rescue operation in Nepal that included hundreds of soldiers, policemen and local officials. Swift response saved many lives,” Silwal said. He added that every available helicopter was used in the effort.
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October 19, 2014
Nepal blizzard trek toll up to 39, more than 370 rescued
Reuters, October 18: The death toll in a blizzard that engulfed trekkers on a popular hiking route in Nepal rose by nine on Saturday to 39.
Sixty more people were rescued from the Annapurna trail, a three-week route popular with foreign adventure tourists that circles the world's tenth-tallest mountain, bringing the total saved to 371. Dozens more were still missing.
"We have spotted nine new bodies today," said Govinda Pathak, police head in the district of Mustang. "We could not retrieve them because of bad weather conditions and snowfall. I can confirm that the toll is 39 now."
Twelve helicopters were pressed on Saturday into action to drop searchers in otherwise inaccessible spots, and soldiers fanned out in different directions along the 240-km (150-mile) route.
It was the most intensive effort yet to find survivors of one of the country's worst mountain disasters, which struck at a time of year when the weather is usually calm and clear.
Foreign victims included hikers from Canada, India, Israel and Poland who were caught on Wednesday by the tail end of a cyclone that battered India's eastern coast last weekend before heading northward.
Thorong La, the highest pass along the Annapurna trek, is at an altitude of 5,416 meters (17,769 feet), but the route does not require mountaineering experience. Eyewitnesses said many victims perished trying to descend the pass in freezing, whiteout conditions.
In the capital, Kathmandu, survivors recounted their brush with death during the blizzard.
SWEPT AWAY
Four Nepali guides were swept away by an avalanche, said Horst Ulrich, a 72-year-old German, who was on his fourth trip to Nepal with a group of friends.
"We were in a dangerous spot and shocked at the conditions we were seeing unfold in front of our eyes," he added. "We just got lucky."
Munchang Lama, 35, a guide for two Israeli women, found himself marooned while he was pitching a tent for them.
"Suddenly it started raining and I took shelter between two rocks," said Lama, who was rescued on Friday, suffering from frostbite and minor injuries.
"Next morning I was not able to walk because my leg was stuck in snow," he added. "I realized I would only be able to get out when the snow melted."
Lama said he was able to keep up his strength by munching on nuts, chocolates and a banana he found in the women's bags.
"This kept me alive for 48 hours," said Lama, adding that he did not know what became of his clients.
The government has admitted failing to issue any warning that the weather would take a sudden turn for the worse, and has promised to set up an early-warning system.
This week's incident was the second major mountain disaster in Nepal this year after an avalanche killed 16 guides on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, in April.
The home ministry told officials in the five affected districts to trace missing people who could have taken shelter from the storm in hamlets, temples or other isolated spots.
At least 45 Nepali families have approached officials in the districts of Mustang, Manang and Dolpa for help tracking down their missing menfolk who worked as porters and guides.
"The problem is that any Nepali is free to start operating as a porter and they do not require a licence," said Keshav Pandey of Nepal's Trekking Agencies Association. "According to our estimate more than 85 Nepalis are still stuck."
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains. Income from tourism, including permit fees from trekkers, who made up more than 12 percent of its 800,000 tourists in 2013, accounts for 4 percent of its economy.
(Filed by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Raissa Kasolowsky)
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October 17, 2014
Reuters report filed by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Robert Birsel.
Mountain rescue teams in Nepal searched for scores of missing trekkers on Thursday after unseasonal blizzards and avalanches killed at least 27 people along the high altitude Annapurna mountain route popular with backpackers.
Army and civilian rescue workers say between 73 and 85 trekkers registered on the trail were unaccounted for. Not all of those people were necessarily trapped by the weather and some may have left the area, rescue workers said.But the death toll, which included 11 foreigners and three yak herders, was expected to rise with so many unaccounted for after snowstorms brought by the tail end of a cyclone that struck eastern India last weekend.
It was the second major mountain disaster to strike in Nepal this year, after an ice-avalanche killed 16 sherpa guides on Mount Everest in April."This is one of the worst mountaineering accidents that I can remember," said Gopal Babu Shrestha, the treasurer of the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal, who has been helping with the rescue.
"It is inevitable that the death toll will rise from here."
Shrestha took part in helicopter rescue operations on Wednesday and said he had seen what looked like bright jackets and backpacks scattered near the Thorang-La pass, at an altitude of 5,416 meters (17,769 feet).
The pass is the highest point of the trail that loops around the Annapurna peak, the world's 10th highest mountain.
A Facebook page set up on Wednesday to help friends and relatives trace loved ones trekking in Nepal quickly filled with concerned posts from the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea.
Rescue efforts focused on the Thorang-La area, where a blizzard on Wednesday killed six Nepali citizens, three Polish nationals and three Israeli hikers. Separately, in the neighboring district of Manang, four Canadian hikers and an Indian national were killed in an avalanche.
About 15 people have been rescued, and some are recovering in hospital in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.
MORE HELICOPTERS
The 240 km (150 mile) Annapurna circuit offers spectacular views of jagged peaks and Buddhist villages.
Taking almost three weeks to complete, it is perhaps the most popular walking routes in the Himalayas and is dubbed the "apple pie" circuit because of the teahouses lining the route that offer cold beer and home baking.
"It is our most popular trek," said Hari Thapoliya, a member of the Trekking Team Group in Kathmandu, which offers guides to tourists. "It is not particularly challenging. If you keep fit by running or doing other exercise you can do it." The hikers' deaths come during the peak trekking season in Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.For two days this week, Nepal was lashed by heavy rain brought by the cyclone that also battered neighboring India, killing at least 24 people. In Nepal, the weather triggered blizzards at high altitudes.A ground team of about 50 soldiers and police joined army helicopters looking for survivors or bodies."The weather is good," said Baburam Bhandari, district governor of Mustang district, the area worst hit by the disaster. "One army helicopter has already left for the site and more helicopters will be pressed into service later." Nepal's climbing business is still recovering from the shock of an ice avalanche that struck the lower reaches of Mount Everest in April, killing 16 guides in the worst disaster in the history of the world's highest peak.
More than a tenth of the nearly 800,000 tourists who visited Nepal in 2013 went hiking or climbing, providing a key revenue stream for the aid-dependent nation, which relies on income from tourism for 4 percent of its gross domestic product.
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October 16, 2014
"Arrest of CK Raut Violates Free Speech Rights"
Dr.CK Raut, a former US-based Nepali computer scientist, returned from the US to Nepal in 2011, and since then has become the central coordinator of the Alliance for Independent Madhesh, a group which is seeking establishment of an independent and sovereign Madhesh, the plains region in southern Nepal. Raut earned his PhD from Cambridge University, is a social activist, director of the documentary ‘Black Buddhas' (2011) and the author of 'A History of Madhesh', among other books. To view Raut’s entire documentary, see my link at the end of this report. The report was filed by Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch:
Many Nepalis have recently struggled to break out of feudal structures and ensure democratic rights. Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of a good democracy. But the government is going after an activist expressing concerns about marginalized communities from the Terai.
The Nepal authorities should immediately withdraw sedition charges and unconditionally release rights campaigner Chandra Kant Raut, who was arrested for his expression of peaceful political opinions. Nepal should amend its practices to comply with international and domestic standards to protect freedom of expression.
Raut was arrested on September 14, 2014, for allegedly advocating that the southern plains of Nepal, known as the Terai, be allowed to secede from the rest of the country as part of a long-standing debate on state restructuring. On October 8 he was charged with sedition, presumably under the Crime against State and Punishment Act 1989, which forbids any “attempts to cause any disorder with an intention to jeopardise sovereignty, integrity or national unity of Nepal.” It carries a penalty of life imprisonment. Police also said that Raut has written articles and books advocating secession by Madhesis, the Terai community. There is no evidence that Raut advocated the use of violence, or that his actions led to violence.
“Many Nepalis have recently struggled to break out of feudal structures and ensure democratic rights,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of a good democracy. But the government is going after an activist expressing concerns about marginalized communities from the Terai.”
Nepali politicians have long been drawn largely from the upper-caste hill tribes. Following the ceasefire agreement of 2006 after a 10-year civil war, the country embarked on a constitution-writing process which promised inclusion for traditionally marginalized communities, including from the Terai. Central to the promise of inclusion was the pledge to re-draw the state to create provinces or regions without giving dominance to the upper-caste hill tribes. However, the constitution remains in limbo as political parties have failed to come to a consensus.
The debate has been filled with anxiety that the Terai, which runs east to west along Nepal’s porous border with India and is a critical transit for trade in the land-locked country, will seek greater autonomy. Raut, formerly a US resident, returned to Nepal in 2011, and leads a group that seeks to establish an independent Madhesh in the area.
“Raut’s call for an independent Terai has to be understood in the historical and political context in which the discussion on state restructuring is occurring,” said Adams. “His arrest threatens the chances of a robust debate on federalism, and undermines the promise of inclusion. Raut’s arrest shows that minority voices can and will be easily sidelined.”
Nepal is a state party signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to free expression. Any limits placed on free expression must be set out clearly in domestic law, be nondiscriminatory in impact and must be strictly necessary for national security or public order. The authorities have not produced any evidence that Raut’s peaceful call for an independent Terai was a threat to national security or public order that could justify his arrest.
“Instead of releasing Raut for lack of a genuine threat, the authorities decided to justify their arrest by slapping sedition laws against him, nearly a month later,” said Adams. “Such laws are typically used by repressive regimes to control critical speech, and it appears that Nepal has decided to go down this unseemly route.”
To view Raut’s documentary in full, click on the two links below:
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October 8, 2014
By Pramod Jaiswal for IPCS, published October 7, 2014
China is steadily extending its reach into South Asia with its growing economic and strategic influence in the region. It has huge trade surpluses with all South Asian countries and it reciprocates these surpluses with massive investment in infrastructural development, socio-economic needs and energy production in those countries. It also provides them with low-cost financial capital. The largest beneficiaries of such economic assistance are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Due to China’s rising interest and influence in South Asia, India appears perplexed. Hence, it has changed its foreign policy gesturing. With the election of Narendra Modi as the Indian prime minister, New Delhi has given highest priority to its South Asian neighours. Inviting the heads of the South Asian countries during his swearing-in ceremony and making his first foreign visit to Bhutan and later to Nepal are the clear indications in those directions.
China’s Inroads in Nepal
Given the claims that Nepal may be used by the US for its larger strategy of encircling China, Beijing is concerned about Kathmandu being manipulated by other external powers. Security experts on China state that Beijing increased its interest in Kathmandu due to the perceived threat to Tibet via Nepalese territory – particularly due to the prolonged state of instability and transition in Nepal.
Ever since the March 2008 uprising, when the Tibetans strongly started the global anti-China protests on the eve of the Beijing Olympic Games, there has been a major shift in China’s policy towards Nepal.
The Nepalese King, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Nepalese army, used to be China’s trustworthy partner and served Beijing’s security interests. However, after Nepal became a republic in 2008, China found it expedient to cultivate the Maoists to do the same. They wanted to curb underground activities of the approximately 20,000 Tibetan refugees settled in Nepal. Ideological affinities made Maoists in Nepal cast sympathetic eyes on China. China accepted the friendly hand extended by the Maoists when they were in dire need of support from a strong power. The former Prime Minister of Nepal, Prachanda’s, acceptance of China’s invitation to attend the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics not only made him the first prime minister to break the tradition of making India the destination for the first foreign visit following assuming office, but also proved his inclination towards China.
Maoists view India and the US as ‘imperialist powers’ and have stated that they were fighting against their interference in Nepalese politics.
India expressed serious concern over Prachanda’s action. The Indian media went overboard stating that India has lost Nepal from its sphere of influence and that it would affect India’s security in the long run. Interestingly, China supported the Maoist Party only after they emerged as the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly election of April 2008, while, it was the only country to supply arms to King Gyanendra to suppress the Maoist insurgents at a time when India, the US and the UK had refused to provide help of such nature.
Linking Via Railways
China is planning to extend the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to Nepal by 2020. The rail link is expected to be extended to the borders of India and Bhutan as well. Through Qinghai-Tibet Railway, China connected its existing railway system to Tibet’s capital Lhasa in 2006 – which passes through challenging peaks on the Tibetan highlands, touching altitudes as high as 5,000 meters as part of government efforts to boost economic development in the neglected region. In August 2008, six additional rail lines were proposed to connect to Qinghai-Tibet railway – such as the Lhasa-Nyingchi and Lhasa-Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Golmud (Qinghai province)-Chengdu (Sichuan province), Dunhuang (Gansu province)-Korla (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), and the Xining (Qinghai Province)-Zhangye (Gansu). The project is expected to be completed before 2020 while the Lhasa–Shigatse segment was completed in August 2014.
The Lhasa-Shigatse segment extends over 253 kilometers, carrying trains at 120 kmph through valleys and over three bridges that run across the Brahmaputra River. The opening of this segment has reduced the travel time from Lhasa to the remote border towns of Tibet by half. This particular railway line is to be extended to Rasuwagadhi in Nepal via the Shigatse-Kerung stretch. Rasuwagadhi is about 500 kilometers from Shigatse. It is also reported that the link will have two separate extension points, one with the Nepal border and the other with the borders of India and Bhutan.
Shigatse is an important monastery town, home to the Tashilhunpo monastery that has been the seat of the Panchen Lamas, and is an important centre of pilgrimage for many Tibetans.
In response to the Chinese attempt to extend the railway link from Tibet to the Nepalese border, Kathmandu has drafted a plan to extend its railway links to Nepal. [NOTE: The above is in dispute. M.D.] Simultaneously, India has announced assistance worth Rs. 10.88 billion for the expansion of railway services in five places along the India-Nepal border.
Though Chinese claims that the rail network expansion will be crucial in economic, cultural, and tourism promotion in South Asia, it has alarmed New Delhi because of its strategic implications. While Nepal is shares a common dream of extending the railway line to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, through Kathmandu, there is sign of nervousness among the Indian government due to the possible threat. Such fear might gradually fade after Modi’s invitation to the Chinese to fulfill his ambitious bullet train plan.
Pramod Jaiswal is a SAARC Doctorate Fellow, Centre for South Asian Studies, JNU
IPCS (Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies) conducts independent research on conventional and non-conventional security issues in the region and shares its findings with policy makers and the public.
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October 6, 2014
For the first time, a comprehensive analysis of Nepali labor migration and foreign employment has been assembled and published by the Asia Foundation in cooperation with the Government of Nepal, the International Labour Foundation, the International Organization for Migration and financial support from the EU. The 60-page report breaks down current trends, structural gaps, the pitfalls of recruitment agencies, and dangers faced once laborers reach overseas destinations, among other important considerations.
Headquartered in San Francisco, The Asia Foundation works through a network of offices in 18 Asian countries and in Washington, DC. Working with public and private partners, the Foundation receives funding from a diverse group of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, foundations, corporations, and individuals.
For the complete report, link here:
Below is a sampling of the many helpful graphs within the report:
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September 30,2014
My colleague Jayadeva Ranade, (member of India’s National Security Advisory Board and former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India), just published this assessment in the September issue of Diplomatist. It is the magazine’s cover story. Photographs added by Mikel Dunham.
Making Sense of 'Modi Operandi'
Prime Minister Modi has outlined India's policy towards its neighbours early in his term. The key to building good relations with neighbours will not only be India's willingness to adopt a large-hearted approach but, most importantly, the ability to conceive, conclude and complete contracted projects within an accelerated time schedule. A good relationship with neighbours will enable Modi to engage more confidently in future with more powerful and sophisticated nations like China, believes Jayadeva Ranade
Dispelling any doubts that the new Modi government had not formulated its foreign policy, Prime Minister Modi gave clear indications within three months of his swearing-in that the central pillar of his foreign policy will be to accord priority to India's neighbourhood and pay particular attention to ensuring friendly neighbours. In the process, he simultaneously defined the contours of his government's policy for India's neighbourhood and outlined India's geographic area of immediate strategic interest.
Breaking New Ground
The new initiatives were set in motion even before the swearing-in ceremony on May 26 when, for the first time ever, leaders of neighbouring countries, and those in whom India has an abiding interest, were invited to New Delhi for the event. This initiative immediately sent out a number of messages, including that the new prime minister will take active interest in foreign policy issues and would readily engage and communicate directly with these and other world leaders. The initiative strongly signalled that India, as the biggest country with among the largest and fastest growing economies in the region, is eager to tap the existing economic potential, by assisting in the development of its neighbours. It offers all these countries an opportunity to forge a closer, cooperative partnership with India, join in India's growth and benefit from the enhanced economic opportunities flowing from India's growth and rise. The resounding popular mandate, not seen in the past 30 years that his party, the BJP, received, strengthens the initiatives that Modi could take, and many relationships will be examined afresh, possibly breaking new ground.
The presence of Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lanka's Rajapakse at the swearing-in ceremony unambiguously clarified that India's foreign policy. would be decided by the Centre and will not be held hostage to local political considerations or by state governments. The meetings with the Sri Lankan and Nepalese leaders are said to have been quite frank. The ruling BJP's majority in parliament gives New Delhi a high degree off flexibility in crafting foreign policy.
Parameters for Future Indo-Pak Engagement
India's most troubled relationship among its neighbours is with Pakistan. Relations have remained strained for decades because of the volatile border, unceasing terrorist attacks sponsored by Pakistan and the dispute over Kashmir. In fact, the vexed issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was catapulted to the forefront with the terrorist attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat in southern Afghanistan on the eve of Modi's swearing-in ceremony. The terror strike was launched by Hafez Sayed's 'Lashkar-e- Taiba' (LeT), the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit trained and financed by the Pakistan Army, in the early hours of May 22, just four days prior to Modi's swearing-in ceremony on May 26. The intention was to 'test' the fledgling Modi government. The LeT's well-provisioned terrorist group planned to disrupt the swearing-in ceremony by a protracted hostage situation, but was providentially frustrated by the Indo- Tibetan Border Police and failed. Prime Minister-designate Modi, who, by noon the same day, had spoken to India's Ambassador in Afghanistan, Afghan President Karzai and concerned officials in Delhi, was fully briefed, but went ahead with a scheduled meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Nawaz Sharif is known to have close ties with the extremist jihadi tanzeems. He and his brother officially allocate funds from the Punjab provincial budget for Hafez Sayed's Jamaat-ud-Dawaa (JuD). Nawaz Sharif's acceptance of Modi's invitation was also delayed till news of the failure of the terrorist attack on Herat was confirmed on the afternoon of May 22. While Nawaz Sharif's daughter tweeted the following day that her father would attend the ceremony in Delhi, the Pakistan Foreign Office officially confirmed Nawaz Sharif's attendance on May 24. The incident served, yet again, to highlight Pakistan's agenda and point to Nawaz Sharif's duplicity as he would have had prior knowledge of the terrorist action.
Any doubts about Pakistan's involvement were dispelled by Afghan President Karzai in a publicised interview to Headlines Today, a day prior to Modi's 50-minutes meeting with Nawaz Sharif. Blaming the LeT for the terrorist attack, Karzai said this had been independently 'confirmed by a Western Intelligence Agency'. By going public with the information on Indian national television, the Afghan President gave Modi additional basis for a 'frank talk' with Nawaz Sharif. Reports indicate that India's security concerns and 'red lines' were conveyed to Pakistan's prime minister.
The decision in mid-August to suspend Foreign Secretary-level contacts following the Delhi-based Pakistan High Commissioner's meeting with so-called 'leaders' of the Hurriyat follows from Modi's discussions with Nawaz Sharif. Continuance of this policy, which is being put to test by the heightened firing by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (JB), will set the parameters for future India-Pakistan engagement.
Consolidating Commerce and Cultural Connections
Equally important was Modi's decision to visit Bhutan and Nepal which rectified the absence of high-level diplomatic exchanges between India and these countries, and continued the engagement started at the swearing-in ceremony. Relations with both countries impact directly on India's security. The existing close ties between India and these countries and persistent efforts by China to make inroads into Bhutan and expand influence in Nepal right up to Nepal's borders with India, were undoubtedly major considerations. By making Bhutan the first foreign country that he visited, Modi emphasised the importance of this relationship to India. He received a warm welcome and met Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema. The emphasis was on enhancing and consolidating people- to-people ties and business interests, with trade as an additional area of focus.
Recent hiccups in Nepal's relations with India need attention. China's ingress into Nepal is a cause for additional concern, especially the inroads it has made into Nepal's political, military and business elite. While India continues to be the largest provider of FDl to Nepal and gives Nepalese people 'national status', or the unrestricted right to employment, residence and purchase of property in India, Chinese government NGOs (GONGOs) have stepped up activities inside Nepal. China has used them to access and expand its influence in border areas in northern Nepal and, more significantly, among interest groups around Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. The Chinese GONGOs have unveiled plans for development of Lumbini as a hub for 'Buddhist tourism'. These include a modern airport and monastery-cum- seminary where monks from the region - mainly practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism and inhabiting India's vulnerable Himalayan border belt - will receive free accommodation, food and 'religious education'. Obviously, the airport will be built and managed by the China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the monks 'educated' at the monastery's seminary will return to their abodes in the Himalayan states.
Modi's two-day visit to Nepal in August 2014, the first by an Indian prime minister in 17 years, was aimed at emphasising traditional socio-cultural ties between the two countries. He sought to assuage Kathmandu's concerns by expansively stating that India was open to all suggestions by Kathmandu, including on the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950. Cooperation, connectivity, culture and the constitution were the leitmotifs of the visit, when he interacted with the full spectrum of Nepal's political leadership, including CPN-Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known by his nom-de-guerre 'Prachanda', and Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal, KP Oli. He especially appreciated that the Maoists had given up arms and opted instead for the ballot box. He sought to subtly impress on the Nepalese leaders and people that certain benefits could only be provided by India.
In addition to extending a $1 billion line of credit, he emphasised the development of road transport and Internet infrastructure with India and hydel power projects. The first two directly highlight the employment opportunities that will become available once they are developed. Construction and exploitation of Nepal's hydel power reserves will not only give Nepal adequate power supply, but will provide the country an unceasing steady source of revenue. All three benefits can only result from closer cooperative lndo-Nepal ties. Prime Minister Modi also subtly hinted at concerns about the developments in Lumbini by mentioning that he hoped to visit that city on his next visit six months later.
Modi has outlined India's policy towards its neighbours early in his term. Carrying forward the momentum will be visits to Bangladesh and Myanmar, which could materialise soon. Clearly, the stress will be on building economic ties and cooperative relations, while seeking to dispel any apprehensions of interference by India. At the same time, Modi's government will be expected to ensure India's security interests by eo-opting the support of its neighbours. The key to building good relations with neighbours will not only be India's willingness to adopt a large-hearted approach but, most importantly, the ability to conceive, conclude and complete contracted projects within an accelerated time schedule. A good relationship with immediate neighbours will enable Modi to engage more confidently in future with more powerful and sophisticated nations like China.
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Jayadeva Ranade is also President of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy, New Delhi.
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September 23, 2014
First posted on National Geographic’s website on September 22, 2014, by guest writer Joseph Allchin.
Bouncing Back: Nepal’s Tigers Survive Civil Turmoil
Dhaka, Bangladesh–For years the Himalayan nation of Nepal lacked a functional government. Years of war and subsequent reorientation of the state, left vulnerable the nation’s rich fauna and in particular its tigers to the rampant poaching that has decimated wildlife populations across Asia. While Nepal’s politicians bickered, fears rose for its iconic tiger, one of its most majestic animals. But now Nepal’s big cat may be on the rebound.
“When tiger range countries (TRCs) met in St. Petersburg in 2010, we realized we needed to do something. The population [in Nepal] was a total of 121, [we] realized it had gone down dramatically,” said Sabita Malla, from WWF Nepal, on the sidelines of a recent global tiger conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
“During the civil war we knew that the rhino population was being decimated, but we didn’t know about the tigers,” explained Dr Marshwar Dhakal, from Nepal’s department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
Tiger numbers and poaching of the big cats are harder to detect, Dhakal said, because poachers take the entire carcass to sell body parts for various traditional medical uses.
“Security forces were not prioritizing wildlife protection during the war,” he added. “Now peace has been restored the army is now deploying in protected areas to prevent poaching at its source.”
Latest estimates put the number of wild tigers in Nepal at 198, up from 121 in 2010–a rare success story in the fight to preserve the Critically Endangered big cat.
It’s not just redeployment of anti-poaching units that are making the difference: “Fifty percent of revenues [from tourism] are given back to local communities, which is much more than most other countries,” Dhakal said. This and “other financial incentives have built trust and partnership with communities.” The additional incentives incude relatively high compensation rates for attacks on humans or livestock by tigers.
“If we talk about areas of high tiger population density, they make a lot of money from tourism,” Malla said. Tourism was worth U.S. $370 million to the impoverished South Asian nation in 2012, and even as the civil war dented the sector’s revenues it has remained a vital source of income.
In the country’s Bardia National Park, “there used to be a lot of hunting for subsistence, so prey numbers had gone down, so those communities were brought under buffer zone management system,” Malla said. “They now get support for energy and other benefits and have handed over their guns.” She also notes that “connectivity corridors” were set up to connect the park to habitats in neighbouring India. “We estimated in 2013 that numbers in Bardia had increased from 18 to 50.”
It hasn’t all been plane sailing however. Increased numbers of tigers has inevitably meant increased conflict with the increasing numbers of humans. Nepal’s human population growth has slowed, but is still growing at around 1.2% a year.
Peace has also enabled infrastructure and industrial growth. “We are facing a lot of development infrastructure, which is the main reason for fragmenting habitats of tigers,” Dhakala said. “Other [government] departments seem to get priority in building infrastructure and they always prefer virgin land,” he lamented.
Tiger range countries have met every four years since 2010 for a “stock taking” exercise, which is funded by the Global Tiger Initiative. This has helped to share ideas about what works in the conservation of the cats. For instance, Nepal and neighboring India have seen success in intelligence-sharing regarding poaching in the respective countries. “Before 2010 countries had national, but not international programs and infrastructure; [a global forum] has helped to look into common issues and find solutions for them,” said Andrew Zakharenka of the Global Tiger Initiative Secretariat.
A global estimate put numbers at a mere 3,200 in 2010, down from over 100,000 a century ago. With little accurate data about numbers however, there is hope that a global census will be taken by 2016 to establish an accurate census.
National Geographic supports scientific research of lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, and other big cats with a view to finding viable ways to protect them in their natural habitat. LEARN HOW YOU CAN HELP BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW:
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September 11, 2014
Jayadeva Ranade’s analysis written for Hindustan Times on Tuesday:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, within a fortnight of his summit with Japan’s Shinzo Abe and before his meeting later this month with United States President Barack Obama, highlights the strategic flexibility that India exercises.
When Modi meets 61-year-old Xi next week, he will meet a self-confident, intelligent individual with wide administrative experience who is comfortable with the exercise of power. He will also meet a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadre who suffered during the Cultural Revolution and was sent to the country-side for ‘political re-education’, but nevertheless joined the CCP and rose through its ranks exhibiting unwavering faith in the party and belief in its ideology and ‘China’s destiny’.
Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, was a veteran communist cadre and close comrade of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Xi Jinping enjoys the support of many fellow ‘princelings’ and influential ‘elders’ in the party and army who were his father’s comrades. He buttressed links with the military when he was secretary to his father’s friend, defence minister Geng Biao, during 1979-82. This support helped Xi rapidly consolidate additional power within a year of his appointment in December 2012 to China’s three top posts of chief of the CCP, army and the state. He quickly installed loyalists in key positions in the CCP, security establishment and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and heads seven of the CCP’s highest bodies. The authoritative party journal Qiu Shi this June described Xi as “one of China’s greatest communist leaders.” Xi is today the most powerful leader in China since Mao.
Of particular importance to China’s neighbors is the ‘China Dream’. This is a muscular aspiration articulated by Xi at the 18th Party Congress comprising three elements: Making the Chinese people wealthy; making China strong; and the ‘rejuvenation’ of China. ‘Rejuvenation’ includes restoration of China’s ‘lost’ historical territories and former status in the world. China’s actions in the South China Sea and maritime territorial dispute with Japan are pursuant to this.
Pertinent in this context are the intrusions last April in the Depsang Plains in Ladakh and one of shorter duration in the Burtse area of Ladakh in mid-August this year. Senior Chinese officials disclosed last April that the intrusion was approved by the Politburo, which had also assessed that India would not cancel the scheduled visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The intrusion in August followed an inspection of PLA posts opposite Chushul, Pangong Lake and Shenwenxian, which exercises operational jurisdiction over the Depsang Plains, by a high-powered PLA delegation led by Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the CMC and another by the deputy secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
China also claims Arunachal Pradesh and has expanded claims over Jammu and Kashmir. It has successfully pressured international financial organisations to accept its version of so-called ‘disputed’ areas.
Xi will be accompanied among others by Politburo member Wang Huning, seen by Xi’s side at all meetings; China’s special representative for talks with India and state councillor Yang Jiechi; foreign minister Wang Yi; and commerce minister Gao Hucheng. Also 135 Chinese CEOs are registered to arrive with Xi.
Economic issues will figure prominently, especially the imbalance in trade and Chinese investment in India’s infrastructure and economy. India offers China the world’s largest market for investing its sizeable cash surplus and getting a return on investments. It is anticipated that Japan’s recently announced commitment to invest $35 billion over five years will see higher serious Chinese commitment. India needs to quickly and clearly identify infrastructure and other projects open to Chinese investment and companies for time-bound completion, while carefully isolating those in sensitive sectors.
Xi may propose some confidence-building measures additional to the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA), but there will be no concessions on issues of sovereignty and territory. India should, however, respond positively to China’s offer of an additional route via Nathu-la for pilgrims visiting Mansarovar.
The inclusion of Pakistan in Xi’s original travel itinerary was to re-emphasise that Sino-Pak relations remain steadfast. Its postponement, a decision China would not take lightly as it likes to demonstrate that it stands by its friends, reveals serious concern about the political and security situation there which places China’s massive strategic investments, in Gilgit-Baltistan, Baluchistan and nuclear plants at Karachi and elsewhere, at risk. While reports earlier indicated that Xi will try to assuage India’s concerns about Sino-Pak ties, he is now likely to elicit India’s assessment about developments in Pakistan. As China’s leadership deliberates whether to insist that India reiterates that Tibet is a part of the People’s Republic of China, a statement India has withheld making for four years, the Tibet issue will be on the agenda.
Xi’s objectives, for his first visit to India as president, are to get acquainted with India’s new leadership, ‘manage’ India-China relations and prevent India from partnering with the US and Japan to ‘contain’ China. Deepening economic engagement with India will be of mutual benefit in addition to offering Beijing the prospect of creating an influential pro-China lobby among India’s businessmen. China has made amply clear though, that burgeoning economic ties will not translate into good bilateral relations.
Jayadeva Ranade is a member of the National Security Advisory Board and former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. He is also president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.
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September 3, 2014
Nepal Army has continued its efforts to carry rescue operations and deliver relief materials to the victims of monsoon-related disasters across the country.
According to the home ministry, as of last Saturday, the flood and landslide death toll has risen to 249. In addition, 252 people are reported missing and 153 are wounded.
According to Nepal Army officials, 17,021 army personnel have been deployed as a part of natural disaster management. 539 victims trapped in natural disasters (including floods and landslides) have been rescued by army choppers. Of them, 66 injured were transported to health facilities. Likewise, NA has helped the government in delivery and transportation of nearly 64,047 kg relief materials to various parts of the disaster-hit areas across the country. Similarly, army forces deployed at the local level to facilitate public, have provided primary health care to 1,577 injured persons.
Flood waters and landslides have affected 41 districts -- the major destruction has been recorded in Sindhupalchowk District, where 50 people have died and the number of missing is pegged at 124, according to nepalnews.com.
The National Emergency Work Performance Centre reports that 16,169 families have been displaced
Various organizations have donated more than RS 250 million to the Prime Minister's Central Natural Disaster Relief Fund. Various NGOs including Nepal Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam, Care Nepal, etc have focused their relief distribution works on most-affected people: pregnant women and children.
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August 1, 2014
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Thousands of Tibetan exiles recited prayers and offered white and orange scarves Thursday during the cremation ceremony for a revered Tibetan monk, whose funeral in Nepal nearly fell victim to regional politics.
Nepal had initially given permission to let the remains of Shamar Rinpoche enter the country, but immediately withdrew amid concerns that Tibetan exiles would protest China's rule over their homeland during the rites. Nepal strictly prohibits any activities considered to be anti-China.
During the Buddhist ceremony at the Shar Minub monastery near Katmandu, Tibetan exiles refrained from political protests. Police kept a close watch but did not interfere.
Rinpoche — who has followers in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Europe — built the monastery and preached there for several years. His followers said he wished to be cremated there.
He died last month in Germany at the age of 62.
In the weeks after Rinpoche's death, Nepal refused to allow his body into the country, saying he was a citizen of the nearby Himalayan nation of Bhutan, not Nepal. The threat of anti-China demonstrations during the funeral was likely a significant factor in the refusal, according to analysts and exile leaders.
On Tuesday, the Nepal government reversed itself, citing the monk's contribution to Buddhism in the country.
Tibetan exiles hold frequent anti-China demonstrations in Nepal but authorities quickly break up the rallies, saying they cannot allow protests against a friendly nation.
Thousands of Tibetan exiles live in Nepal, and many travel through Nepal on the way to Dharmasala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives and the self-declared exile government is based.
China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries. Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent until China occupied it in 1950.
As reported by BINAJ GURUBACHARYA to the Associated Press on July 31, 2014.
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July 31, 2014
As published by Press Trust of India, July 29, 2014
Nepal's tiger population has increased by 64 per cent in the last five years and the country plans to double their numbers by 2022, government said today.
Addressing a gathering here on the occasion of World Tiger Day, Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Mahesh Acharya said that tiger population in Nepal has increased by 64 per cent from 2009 to 2013.
"The current population of tiger in the country is estimated to be 198, up from 121 in 2009," Acharya said.
The minister also expressed confidence that Nepal would easily achieve its target of doubling its tiger population to 250 by 2022.
Pointing out that the loss of habitat, human-animal conflict, organised poaching and illegal wildlife trade were the major threats in tiger conservation efforts of the government, the minister suggested that Nepal needs to work in collaboration with tiger reserves in India for better results.
Director General, Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation Megh Bahadur Pandey said that Nepal was among the leading countries in the world in tiger conservation efforts owing to its strong security arrangement, regular tiger monitoring mechanism and participatory conservation efforts.
Chitawan National Park is the largest tiger sanctuary in Nepal, which is home to 120 tigers, followed by Bardia National Park with 50 tigers, 17 in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, seven in Parsa Wildlife Reserve and four in Banke National Park.
World Tiger Day is celebrated on July 29 every year to raise awareness about tiger conservation efforts throughout the world.
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July 15, 2014
In recognition of its exemplary efforts to combat wildlife crime, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has presented Nepal with a certificate of praise.
In 2011, no rhinoceroses, tigers, or elephants were illegally killed in Nepal, and in 2012 the country lost just one rhinoceros to poaching. On the first UN World Wildlife Day, 3 March 2014, Nepal for the second time celebrated 365 days with zero poaching.
Among the 180 countries that are party to CITES, Nepal was the only country to be honored with this specific award, said Dr Maheshwar Dhakal, ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Protection.
CITES Secretary-General John R Scanlon presented the award during the recent CITES conference held in Geneva, Switzerland.
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July 14, 2014
The government has retracted from its earlier decision to bring the body of Shama Rinpoche, the 14th Shamarpa, a prominent spiritual figure of Tibetan Buddhism, into Nepal from India to perform his final rites.
Acting on an application filed at the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu, the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi had earlier issued ‘no objection letter’ to let the body into Nepal. The embassy issued the letter without any consultation, thinking that the Rinpoche was a religious leader who ran a monastery in Nepal.
A Home Ministry source said the ‘no objection letter’ had been withdrawn under pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. The embassy requested the Home Ministry not to issue a permit upon learning that a representative of the Dalai Lama from Dharmashala was scheduled to accompany the body to Kathmandu and that the Tibetan community was preparing for a rally in the Bouddha area, according to the source.
Acting Nepali Ambassador to India Krishna Prasad Dhakal said the last rites of a foreign national who died outside the country cannot be performed in Nepal. He, however, remained tight-lipped when asked why the embassy earlier issued ‘no objection letter’ to allow the Rinpoche’s body into Nepal.
The Rinpoche was the 14th Shamarpa who was born in Derge, Tibet, in 1952. He ran Shar Minub Monastery in Nagarjuna, Kathmandu. The Shamarpa possessed a Bhutanese passport.
The 61-year-old spiritual leader who passed away in Germany last month following a heart attack was brought to India on June 22. His body is now at the Shri Diwakar Institute in Kalimpong in West Bengal.
“Due to some unanticipated circumstances, we have to postpone the departure of Shamar Rinpoche’s ‘kudung’ (remains) from Kalimpong on July 13,” the official website of Shamarpa stated on Saturday.
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June 27, 2014
This article was originally published by IRIN.
Many women in Nepal return to work immediately after giving birth, thereby increasing the risk of a prolapse developing.
Nuche Maya Maharjan suffered a discomforting medical condition for 35 years before she built up the courage to seek medical assistance. For years she had no idea what the condition was and whether it could be treated.
“I had just given birth to my first child and was working in the fields near my village. Suddenly I felt as if my insides were dropping out of me,” the 66-year-old recalled.
Baffled by what had happened, she told no-one - not even her husband – hoping the problem would go away.
But over the years, her prolapsed uterus (see box) got worse, to the point that it protruded from her vagina completely, making it difficult for her to walk or even sit upright. She required surgery, a fact prompting this uneducated Nepalese mother-of-five to finally seek help.
Maharjan is one of many rural women who regularly come to the Kirtipur public hospital on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, seeking treatment for prolapses - the leading cause of ill-health among women of reproductive and post-menopausal age in Nepal today, doctors say.
“This is more of a rural problem than an urban one,” Dr Ganesh Dangal, an attending gynecologist at the NGO-funded health facility in Kirtipur, told IRIN. “In rural areas, there are no hospitals to treat this condition, forcing many of these women to travel to the cities for help.”
What is a uterine prolapse?
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a uterine prolapse is a maternal illness the uterus protrudes into the vagina from its normal anatomical position.
The uterus is normally supported by pelvic connective tissue and the pubococcygeus muscle, and held in position by special ligaments. Weakening of these tissues allows the uterus to descend into the vaginal canal.
Tissue trauma sustained during childbirth - especially with large babies, difficult labour and delivery and multiple births over short intervals of time - is typically the cause of muscle weakness.
In Nepal, the chance of a prolapse occurring are accentuated by fact that many rural women return to heavy manual work immediately after giving birth without adequate rest.
In the early stages of a prolapse, pelvic exercises can significantly improve a minor condition. In the next stages, before the uterus has fully dropped into the vaginal canal, ring pessaries can be used to support the uterus in place. After this, surgery is the only alternative - an option costing more than US $200 in Nepal and not affordable to most Nepalese women.
According to health experts, prolapse symptoms include back pain, painful abdominal cramps, burning urination, difficulty standing, walking, sitting or lifting, as well as foul smelling discharge, among others.
Yet despite the obvious physical discomfort suffered by these women, many prolapse sufferers do not seek help due to the social stigma the condition carries - a fact only exacerbating this otherwise preventable condition.
“Most rural women don’t even look at this as a disease and don’t seek help,” Dangal confirmed. “Instead they seek comfort in the company of other women in their villages suffering from the same thing - which, regrettably, there are many.”
Given the social stigma associated with a prolapse, coupled with the woman’s inability to satisfy her partner sexually, some husbands remarry and sufferers and their children often find themselves socially excluded, ridiculed or abandoned.
Specialists estimate that more than 600,000 women in the Himalayan kingdom of 27 million inhabitants suffer from uterine prolapse, making it one of the leading causes of morbidity among lower caste and rural women.
For more acute cases, surgery is the only treatment. At a cost of US $200, most Nepalese women cannot afford this. The World Bank estimates that about 30 percent of Nepalis live below the poverty line.
A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) study undertaken in eight districts of the country in 2006 - including hill, mountain and southern Terrai regions - concluded that about 10 percent of all women of reproductive age suffer from the condition.
More than a health problem
But despite the numbers, many women suffer in silence.
“This is a multifaceted problem. It’s not just a health problem,” Dr Peden Pradhan, UNFPA assistant representative for Nepal, said. “When you are poor and not educated, you generally get married earlier in rural areas, which makes the prevalence of the problem more widespread there.”
The incidence of prolapse could be decreased by having more deliveries attended by trained paramedics, she said. More than 80 percent of Nepalese women give birth at home and inappropriate maneuvering by unskilled birth attendants during delivery increases the risk of prolapse.
Pradhan added that women in Nepal’s male-dominated society lack real empowerment over when they have children. In addition, they lack awareness of what a prolapse is and what to do about it.
Addressing the problem
UNFPA and the government of Nepal are working together to develop a three-fold national strategy to tackle prolapse.
Improving access to appropriate health care for low-income women, low caste women and women living in conflict areas.
Improving the volume and quality of reproductive health care services, including mobile reproductive health camps.
Promoting awareness of the issue at community level.
“I didn’t know I could talk to people about this. I was embarrassed and ashamed,” said Maili Maharijan, another prolapse sufferer in Kirtipur who waited eight years to come forward.
Unaware that treatment was available, the 70-year-old would routinely push her uterus back in place herself, only to have it drop out again when she coughed or sneezed.
“It was very embarrassing and caused me a great deal of discomfort,” she said.
Such stories underscore the despair, rejection, isolation and stigmatisation felt by many prolapse sufferers in Nepal today.
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June 7, 2014
Posted yesterday by Sri Lanka Guardian
Prashant Jha's book, released today, 'Battles of The New Republic: A Contemporary History of Nepal' tells the story of the country's transition from war to peace, monarchy to republic, a Hindu kingdom to a secular state. The following extract details how India Research and Analysis Wing plays a critical role in Kathmandu politics:
2003-05: I asked a former RAW [Research and Analysis Wing, India's overseas intelligence organization] official, who was well acquainted with Nepal’s affairs and even served as the organization’s head at one point, about India’s initial engagement with the Maoists. Sitting on the top floor of one of Delhi’s premium hotels, he said, ‘My organization’s engagement with the Maoists began in 2003. It was also the time when they were in talks with the king’s nominated government back in Nepal.’ But didn’t declaring the rebel group as terrorists and supporting Nepal’s security forces, yet keeping channels of communication open with the Maoists and allowing the top leaders to stay in India, reflect conflicting objectives at best and devious intent at worst? The Palace, generals of the army, and a dominant section of the NC [Nepali Congress party] saw Indian ‘doublespeak’ as the primary reason for the Maoists’ success, and blamed Delhi for covertly supporting the rebels. The former intelligence official responded, ‘This is not true at all. We had links, we had communication. But that is the nature of intelligence organizations. We keep in touch with the enemy and we establish channels so that if at any point, our policy-makers shift tracks, there is a pathway to implement it.’
He may have been right, about agencies developing ties and relationships with actors across the ideological and political spectrum. But there was surely more to it if the engagement was happening with a group that was supposedly hostile to India’s interests. Analysts have long pondered the connection between India and the Maoists.
[...]
It was also a time when everyone was talking to everyone else in Nepal. The RAW official I spoke to emphasized this point and argued that India could not be behind the curve. ‘We knew the Palace and Maoists had been in touch in the early years of the war and still retained contact through intermediaries. We knew that both factions in the NC — Sher Bahadur Deuba and Koirala — kept channels open with the Maoists. We knew that various Left leaders had met Maoists in India. We had consistently asked all parties and the Palace to work together against the Maoists, but they just did not understand the gravity of the situation. It was clear to us that, eventually, a political solution would need to be found. In statecraft, you build up leverage when you can.’
Those who were then serving in the Indian establishment take great pains to emphasize that being in touch could not be construed as support. And as proof, they point to how several Maoist leaders were arrested in India during that period. C. P. Gajurel ‘Gaurav’ was picked up in Chennai when he was travelling on a fake passport to England. The party’s ideologue, and Prachanda’s political guru, Mohan Vaidya ‘Kiran’, was arrested in Siliguri. The Maoist leader from the Madhes, Matrika Yadav, was arrested and handed over to Nepal. (Yadav’s arrest seems to have been a result of a difference in outlook between the IB [India's Intelligence Bureau] and RAW. The RNA [Royal Nepalese Army] had passed on information about Yadav to an IB official who was visiting Nepal with an Indian minister’s entourage; and a RAW functionary once mentioned to me how IB had ‘messed up’ by arresting a key source.) Upendra Yadav, who was known to be close to the Maoists, though his exact relationship with the party remained ambiguous, was picked up, but then mysteriously let off. Suresh Ale Magar, the ethnic theorist for the Maoist party, was arrested and so were Ram Karki, who had served as an important link of the party with India’s radical movements, and Bamdev Chhetri. Cases were filed against many Maoist cadres. It became a lot more difficult for the top leadership to travel in India as compared to the late 1990s.
[...]
The arrests caused a ripple within the Maoist organization. Despite the sporadic communication his party representatives had with Delhi, Prachanda was now convinced that the principal contradiction of the people was with the ‘expansionists’, meaning India. Worried about their safety, both he and Bhattarai returned to Rolpa in 2004 and began living in their base areas. Prachanda even announced that they would eventually have to fight a war with India, and called for trenches to be dug for that purpose. Bhattarai was uncomfortable with the rhetoric, for he continued to view the Palace and the monarchy as the key problem, the enemy which needed to be vanquished, not India. The tension had historical roots, with different schools of the Nepali Left prioritizing either ‘nationalism’ or ‘democracy’.
* * *
2009-10: Like many other Nepalis, I was angered by India’s policy, actions and behaviour in that period. Having covered the political process day in and out, I had seen the depths to which the Indian establishment had plunged to isolate the Maoists, with little regard for the notions of sovereignty, democratic norms and processes, or political ethics. India’s actions appeared to confirm long-held apprehensions in Nepal that Delhi was not comfortable with any domestic force with a sizeable mass base, and one which refused to take dictation from the babus of South Block. Delhi’s desire to be in control of events and actors in Kathmandu has often preceded any other objective. In 1960, the Nehru-B. P. Koirala relationship had become uneasy when Koirala had struck out and asserted his strong and independent personality. In the 1990s, minor incidents disrupted India’s ties with the NC which eventually benefited the Palace. And now, India had a problem with the two forces who had been most successful in the 2008 elections—the Maoists nationally, and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) in the plains. It seemed India really wanted pliant agents, and was just not mature enough to deal with autonomous political agents in a neighbouring country.
[...]
I asked a thoughtful RAW official why they could not let go and allow domestic processes in Nepal to play out, irrespective of outcomes, without meddling. ‘If you have an open border, there has to be a special security relationship. We could have lived with a Maoist dictatorship if it was 5,000 miles away but, across an open border, we cannot risk it.’
What India was attempting with the Maoists was not a simplistic strategy of isolation, though. It was emulating a highly sophisticated tradition of statecraft it had practiced, with mixed results, in Kashmir with the Hurriyat Conference and, in the Northeast, with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah). Engage, coerce, divide, frustrate, exhaust, corrupt, lure, repeat the cycle, and give nothing. It had never stopped talking to the Maoists even when the war of words was at its worst. It had isolated them to show them the high costs of not listening to advice. It had encouraged Baburam Bhattarai as a counter to Prachanda in order to sharpen the divisions within the party.
It had created a situation where the leadership could deliver nothing to the cadre, frustrating them and increasing the gulf between the top and the bottom. It offered inducements and showed the benefits of cooperating and playing along with the existing political-economic networks. And it kept up the strategies until the incentives for the other side changed, and caused a transformation in its behaviour which suited the establishment.
[...] this time, India was intervening not in favour of universal values but to influence outcomes in a fragmented but democratic political landscape. There was no reason for Delhi to play favourites among Nepali politicians, for no one—including the Maoists—had harmed India’s security interests. They could have let domestic political processes take their own course instead of preventing a natural equilibrium from emerging. For a neighbour to actively intervene in order to try and kill another country’s elected institution, and target one political force, went beyond any acceptable norm of inter-state relations.
But the Nepali Maoists, despite this baggage, had come around to the new political reality. They had participated in the elections and won legitimately. Despite sporadic incidents, they had allowed a free and extremely critical press to flourish. They had given up their base areas and opened it up to political competition so that other political parties could operate there. They had dissolved their parallel courts and had agreed to have their former army put into cantonments. Prachanda had resigned when faced with an uncomfortable political situation, and was making a bid to return to power by gaining a majority on the floor of the house.
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2011: There was also a change of personnel in the Indian establishment. And as we had seen in 2005-06, individuals played a major role in shaping policy. Sanjeev Tripathi had taken over RAW in January 2011, and he was understood to be in favour of reengaging with the Maoists. Alok Joshi had taken over as special secretary who looked after key neighbouring countries. Joshi had served as the station chief in Nepal between 2008 and 2010. A product of JNU, and an Indian Police Service officer from the Haryana cadre, he had sharp political sense and knew the lay of the land in Nepal.
RAW did not believe in giving the Maoists a blank cheque and recognized the importance of challenging them in order to get them to deliver on commitments. But it could also see that the experiment of keeping the Maoists out of power had perhaps outlived its utility, and the Indian position needed revision. It argued to the national security advisor, Shiv Shanker Menon, that the Maoists should be given ‘one final chance’.
Rakesh Sood had left Kathmandu for Paris, and the new ambassador, Jayant Prasad, had not yet arrived in Kathmandu. A soft-spoken, brilliant diplomat, with uncanny political sense and a commitment to basic democratic ethos, Prasad had an old Nepal connection. His father, Bimal Prasad, a former professor in JNU [Jawaharlal Nehru University], had been India’s envoy to Kathmandu in the early 1990s and had a reputation of being close to the NC. But Jayant Prasad had visited Nepal only once during his father’s tenure and carried little baggage. A ‘free-thinker’ in his student days in JNU, where he distinguished himself academically, Prasad could empathize with broad socialist and Left political thinking, but carried no dogma. While Prasad did not take charge till August-end, Sood’s departure had already helped to partially detoxify the India-Maoist relationship.
Prachanda had met senior Indian intelligence officials during his trips to various Southeast Asian cities through the summer of 2011. In early August, they met in Kuala Lumpur where Prachanda once again committed to completing the peace process as soon as the Maoists led the government. He briefed them on internal tensions within the party, and said that after Khanal resigned, the Maoists would put forward Baburam Bhattarai as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. Indian officials are learnt to have told him that they would not object if the Maoists observed all democratic processes and mustered a majority on the floor of the house. This was a significant meeting in rebuilding the relationship between the two sides. While the mistrust was deep, both sides were slowly inching back to the more nuanced approach they had with each other between 2005 and 2008. To borrow Prachanda’s metaphor, the warmth may not have returned, but there was a thaw. A rapprochement was on the horizon.
Would it finally enable the successful accommodation of the Maoists into the formal power structure? Would it help integrate the Maoist combatants into the NA [Nepalese Army] — an issue which was at the heart of the tensions over the UN’s role in Nepal, over General Katawal’s dismissal, over the Maoists’ re-entry into government, and the yardstick for whether the rebels had indeed transformed into a democratic force? Would it finally push forward the Constitution-writing project, which had been in limbo as power games overwhelmed Kathmandu politics? Would the renewed engagement between India and the Maoists bring back the focus on the core political goal of restructuring the Nepali state and Nepali nationalism?
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The NC was now in panic mode. Ambassador Sood had completed his tenure in Kathmandu and had left a few months earlier. This had weakened the voice of the MEA within the establishment, which was more averse to giving the Maoists a chance. RAW, on the other hand, had veered towards allowing the Maoists another chance. They had not encouraged the Madhesi parties—but the ‘agency’, as Kathmandu politicians called RAW, had not discouraged them either. Left to domestic factors, the NC realized that there was little that would stop the Madhesi parties from choosing the more attractive option.
The NC now used all its political capital to get India involved on their side. The former party leader, and now President, Ram Baran Yadav, shared a personal equation with finance minister and old political warhorse Pranab Mukherjee—the only senior political leader in Delhi who really paid attention to Nepal. They spoke to each other in Bangla—Yadav had attended school in Calcutta. President Yadav warned Mukherjee that the Maoists’ return to power would be dangerous, and they must help stop the Madhesis from voting for Bhattarai.
An Indian embassy official, upset with the [Nepali] President’s attempt to undercut the local mission and reach out directly to the political leadership, told me about this conversation and said that it had rattled Delhi. Surya Bahadur Thapa, the former prime minister who had excellent ties with Delhi’s political and bureaucratic elite, called up his interlocutors with a similar warning. Thapa’s grandson Siddhartha had become a close friend and, over coffee at Babar Mahal, Siddhartha expressed deep unease at the evolving Indian stance, as they saw it. Shekhar Koirala, G. P. Koirala’s nephew who had played an active role in the run-up to the signing of the 12-point Understanding, shared cordial ties with National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon. They had known each other since Menon’s time as a joint secretary handling Nepal in the mid-1990s. Koirala called up his old friend, urging India to get the Madhesis to support Poudel. He warned India that having the Maoists in power at this time would ensure that they remained in office if the CA ended without a Constitution having been finalized and that would have adverse consequences for Delhi. I met Koirala in the CA [Constituent Assembly] compound a few days later, and he confirmed to me that he had reservations about India’s position and felt that Delhi was making a mistake.
Delhi seems to have become worried by the multiple messages from friendly interlocutors. The political section of the Indian embassy now got into the act. They warned the Madhesi parties that the Maoists would deceive them, that their commitment to federalism was opportunistic, and that the parties of the plains must reconsider their options. The pressure could either have been born out of a desire to show to the NC that India was doing its bit, or born out of a genuine policy line to block the Maoists once again. Delhi ordered RAW, which was more open to the Maoists, to step back from the process.
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June 3, 2014
Today, Jayadeva Ranade, (member, National Security Advisory Board, President, CCAS & Distinguished Fellow, IPCS), published this analysis for the Delhi-based think-tank Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies:
“The meetings with the Sri Lankan and Nepalese leaders are said to have been quite frank.”
Elected with a massive popular mandate not seen in the past thirty years, Narendra Modi took a bold foreign policy initiative even before he was sworn in as Prime Minister on 26 May 2014. The initiative did not emanate from the foreign policy mandarins in South Block, but was mooted by advisers of the Prime Minister-designate. In addition to quickly defining the contours of the Modi administration’s policy for India’s neighbourhood, it simultaneously outlined India’s geographic area of immediate strategic interest.
The invitation to the Heads of Government of member nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for the swearing-in ceremony of the Indian Prime Minister was an unprecedented out-of-the-box initiative. Myanmar was left out presumably because it is not a member of SAARC, but that relationship needs to be actively nurtured. The initiative immediately sent out a number of messages, the import of which would not have been lost on analysts.
It would have, in the first instance, put officials of India’s Foreign Office on notice that the new Prime Minister will take active interest in foreign policy issues and is ready to engage and communicate directly with other world leaders and the people. They will need to examine many relationships afresh and possibly break new ground. Citing precedence or favouring continuance of old policies in bilateral relationships may no longer suffice. An unmistakable and strong message is that India’s new leaders will accord priority to India’s neighbourhood and pay it particular attention. In the present context this has strategic implications.
By inviting SAARC member-countries, India’s new Prime Minister has indicated that he is keen on promoting regional economic ties and giving bilateral relationships a substantive economic content. The invitation quite strongly suggests that India, as the biggest country with the largest and fastest growing economy in SAARC, is willing to tap the existing economic potential and assist in the development of its neighbours. It offers all these countries an opportunity to join in India’s growth and benefit from its rise.
The impromptu gathering of South Asian leaders effectively delivered a few additional messages. The attendance at the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lanka’s Rajapakse unambiguously clarified that India’s foreign policy would be decided by the Centre and not be held hostage to local political considerations or of state governments. The ruling BJP’s majority in parliament underscores this, while giving New Delhi a high degree of flexibility in crafting foreign policy.
The gathering afforded Modi and his new External Affairs Minister an opportunity, albeit brief, to personally interact with the SAARC leaders and size them up. Indications are that they took the opportunity to sketch out the general contours of their foreign policy and clearly spell out India’s national and security interests. The meetings with the Sri Lankan and Nepalese leaders are said to have been quite frank.
India’s troubled relationship with Pakistan and the vexed issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism were catapulted to the forefront with the terrorist attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat in southern Afghanistan. Launched by Hafez Sayed’s Lashkar-e-Tayeba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit trained and financed by the Pakistani Army, the terror strike was launched at 3.40 AM on 22 May, four days prior to Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on 26 May. Providentially the attempt by the LeT’s 4-man terrorist group, which had come well-provisioned for a protracted hostage situation, was frustrated by personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and failed. By noon the same day Modi, still as Prime Minister-designate, had spoken to India’s Ambassador in Afghanistan, Afghan President Karzai, the concerned persons in Delhi and issued a press statement.
The episode served to yet again highlight Nawaz Sharif’s duplicity and that he had knowledge of the terrorist action. Nawaz Sharif is known to have close ties with the extremist jihadi tanzeems and he and his brother officially allocate funds from the Panjab provincial budget for Hafez Sayed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawaa. Circumstantial evidence also shows both Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Foreign Office’s complicity.
Both Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Foreign Office delayed confirming the former’s acceptance of Modi’s invitation till news of the failure of the terrorist attack on Herat had been confirmed. The failure of the attack was confirmed by the afternoon of 22 May and the following day Nawaz Sharif’s daughter tweeted that he would attend the ceremonies in Delhi. Some reports claimed that Nawaz Sharif’s son had met the Pakistan Army Chief earlier that day. The Pakistan Foreign Office officially confirmed Nawaz Sharif’s attendance on 24 May. Whatever doubts anyone may have harboured were addressed by Afghan President Karzai in an interview to the Indian national TV channel, Headlines Today, the day prior to Modi’s 50-minute meeting with Nawaz Sharif. Karzai squarely blamed the LeT for the terrorist attack and said this had been independently “confirmed by a Western Intelligence Agency.” By going public with the information on Indian national television, the Afghan President gave Modi an additional basis for a frank talk with Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif. Reports indicate that India’s security concerns were conveyed to Nawaz Sharif.
In the coming months Modi will engage with more powerful and sophisticated nations, like China. Beijing has separately made amply clear that burgeoning economic ties do not necessarily mean good bilateral relations, which depend entirely on recognition of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. India will have to carefully balance economic interests with national security interests with China.
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June 2, 2014
Yesterday’s article written by Ramyata Limbu for Al Jazeera
Official efforts to protect the thousands of women who travel abroad in search of work may be backfiring.
Kathmandu, Nepal – They trickle into the nondescript hotel room in Dhading Besi on a Saturday afternoon, articulate young college students, demure housewives in saris, unlettered farmers with weathered faces, and nursing mothers with toddlers in tow.
These women are prospective migrant workers who expect to find jobs as housemaids in secluded villas in the Gulf to escape extreme poverty, unemployment and debts.
But human rights groups believe government efforts to protect them – about 13 percent of the 1,700 Nepalese who migrate every day are women – may increase the risk they face of exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, forced labour and trafficking.
"Domestic workers account for an estimated 80 percent of the total number of women migrant workers," says Dr Ganesh Gurung, a migration specialist and former chair of the national network for safe migration.
"The majority are undocumented. It's unfortunate that government bans enforced to protect Nepali women migrant workers from exploitation and abuse have had the opposite impact."
Their journey often begins in the room in Dhading Besi, three hours' drive from the capital, Kathmandu, that has been transformed into a makeshift classroom.
They listen intently as Manju Gurung, a former migrant worker, lists the dos and don'ts of the economic migrant.
"Always go through formal government channels, know what's in your contract, pre-departure training and orientation are mandatory," she stresses.
Once a rural hamlet, Dhading Besi has been visibly transformed by the money earned by Nepalese migrants, and new buildings and shops flank the town centre.
Gurung, a founder member of the Pourakhi Nepal organisation established to empower women migrants, acknowledges the economic benefits of working abroad but is also aware of the stigma that attached to these women and the emotional toll migration takes on their families.
She told Al Jazeera, "We don't support or discourage female migrant labour. But we believe women are entitled to work and to make an informed choice."
Sexual services
Karma Lama (name changed) hails from a highland village in Nepal where three years ago, barely out of her teens, she dropped out of school to help her family scrape a meagre living on the rugged terraces.
She collected firewood and fodder, took animals to graze and carried out household chores while dreaming of working overseas in order to save enough to marry and settle down.
Encouraged by money orders sent home by her older siblings, both domestic workers in the Gulf, Karma sold wild berries to travellers to raise cash for a passport and new clothes.
She pestered her parents, impoverished farmers, to raise 50,000 Nepali rupees ($500) to pay an agent, a close relative, to procure a tourist visa to Dubai.
Despite her family’s misgivings about her age - Nepal's government prohibits women below the age of 30 from working as domestics - Karma was determined to leave.
A week before her departure she travelled to Kathmandu, a day's bus ride away, where basic lessons in housekeeping comprised learning to cook on a gas stove and cleaning a toilet.
Yet ill-prepared for household work in a foreign land and unfamiliar with the language, within weeks she had lost two successive jobs in Lebanon - before the local agent forced her to work providing sexual services to men.
Just a month after leaving Nepal and badly traumatised, Karma is back home, recovering in a shelter for female migrant workers in Kathmandu where she receives counselling and medication.
"Approximately 25 percent of women who come to us have undergone some kind of sexual abuse or trauma," says shelter supervisor Satra Kumari Gurung.
"They struggle to cope with what's happened. They're extremely withdrawn. Recovery is one day at a time."
Abuse and exploitation
In 2012, Nepal's government banned women under 30 from working as domestics in Gulf states amid concerns about abuse and exploitation, and in April this year stopped issuing work permits following the repatriation of three dozen women from Lebanon - which officials say is an interim measure as they look into solutions to ensure the safety of female migrant workers.
But rights body Amnesty International believes these policies have increased the risks women face by encouraging them to migrate through informal channels that expose them to greater exploitation.
"You can't stop them," says Dr Gurung. "The day of the decision women migrant workers flew for foreign destinations from the international airport. Who's keeping count of those travelling through other channels?"
One of those exploited women was Tula Subba, 32, who recalls how she was an easy target for unscrupulous brokers that scour Nepal's villages for unsuspecting women to lure into forced labour.
Displaced by the Maoist rebellion that afflicted the country from 1996–2006, Subba's family abandoned their fields and village shop in the east of the Himalayan nation for the southern plains bordering India, where work prospects were few and income limited.
Before long she had joined a group of girls who travelled overland to India accompanied by an agent then flew to Kuwait.
She spent a year with a family before returning home on the pretext of ill health - with no money and only her ticket paid for. Constant haranguing and violent outbursts by her employer took a heavy toll on her mental and physical health.
"I could no longer cope. I had to get out," she told Al Jazeera.
Faced with a similar situation, Sita Chettri (name changed), 32, slipped out of the house in Kuwait where she had been working for nine months and made her way to the Nepalese Embassy as she had been instructed in Kathmandu.
Within two months at a shelter supported by the Nepalese government - occupied by up to 300 women awaiting repatriation at a time - she had regained weight and recovered her spirits.
She abandoned any thought of finding another employer when she saw dead bodies of workers being brought to the embassy and heard the extent of abuse some women had endured.
"I don't want to die. I have young children," she told Al Jazeera.
But Chettri has mixed feelings about returning home."I’ve no money, no gifts, nothing for my young son. People are bound to talk."
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May 23, 2014
According to a report released today by Phys.Org, climate change has caused Nepal's Himalayan glaciers to shrink by nearly a quarter in just over 30 years, raising the risk of natural disasters in the ecologically fragile region, a scientist said Friday.
A new study by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) shows that the area covered by glaciers has decreased by 24 per cent between 1977 and 2010.
Samjwal Ratna Bajracharya, lead author of the report, told AFP, "the shrinking of glaciers in Nepal is definitely connected to climate change, glacial melt is a huge indicator of rising temperatures."
The Norway-funded research project led by ICIMOD took three years to complete, as scientists mapped satellite imagery from several decades to see the extent of ice loss in the region.
The fastest decline occurred between 1980 and 1990, Bajracharya said, adding that prior to the late 1970s, satellite imagery reflected little change in Nepal's glacial area.
He said the glacial melting is creating huge, expanding lakes that threaten to burst and devastate mountain communities living downstream.
The accelerated glacial loss raises concerns over future access to water resources, particularly in regions where groundwater is limited and monsoon rains are erratic.
"If the trend continues, the immediate impact will be felt by those living in high-altitude regions, who are dependent on freshwater reserves from glaciers," Bajracharya said.
The findings, published earlier this month, also sound alarm bells for Nepal's push to develop hydropower projects.
"Nepal cannot use its water resources to develop the country without assessing the state of our glaciers and river basins," he said.
A government report in India recently blamed hydropower projects for devastating floods last year that killed thousands in India and Nepal.
The government panel said the build up of sediment in rivers, due to the dumping of soil that was dug up during construction of hydropower projects, exacerbated flooding when record-high rainfall hit the region last June.
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May 18, 2014
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE LUMBINI, THE BIRTHPLACE OF LORD BUDDHA is a 19-minute documentary that premiered in Lumbini this week on the occasion of Lord Buddha’s Buddha Jayanti (birthday).
It’s beautifully shot, focusing on the site’s historical significance as well as emphasizing the importance of proceeding carefully with future tourism development in and around the Greater Lumbini area. Of particular interest is the filmmakers’ concern for the well being of the impoverished local population.
The documentary is a joint collaboration between the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu and UNDP Nepal, with the assistance of the Lumbini Development Trust.
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May 14, 2014
This article was first published in HINDUSTANI TIMES on May 11, 2014 and passed on to me by it’s author, Jayadeva Ranade. Ranade is a member of the National Security Advisory Board and former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. He is also president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.
As the dust of the hotly contested general elections begins to settle and memories of acid rhetoric begin to recede, India’s new leadership will have to grapple with a host of major problems.
Undoubtedly the domestic economy, security of its citizens and effective delivery of social security and health services must be priority. These challenges will be accentuated by the young voters, who constitute almost 21% of the electorate and have high aspirations, a low threshold of tolerance and demand visibly different policies from what they have witnessed over the years.
This makes it imperative for any new government to ensure that impactful and visible delivery begins within the first six months. Failure to do so will subject it to trenchant, persistent and possibly debilitating criticism.
A few immediate foreign and strategic policy challenges will, however, have to be tackled equally promptly if India is not to be marginalised even in its own strategic neighbourhood.
Most immediate are the developments unfolding in Afghanistan and the threat from Pakistan. As US troops prepare for withdrawal from Afghanistan and hitherto effective CIA-trained specialist forces begin to go home, the Taliban will regain lost ground in the Afghan countryside.
Attacks against the Afghan and international security forces have already intensified. This will simultaneously relieve pressure on Pakistan’s borders. India will have to find ways to retain meaningful influence in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s establishment has in the past few weeks signalled its readiness to allow terrorist actions against India by increasing the incidence of firing along the LoC, [Line of Control, see below] attempting to push in terrorists, and permitting free movement by leaders of jihadi terrorist groups like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. India’s new leadership will need to keep carefully calibrated ripostes ready for prompt implementation against imminent terrorist attacks.
[The term Line of Control (LOC) known as Asia's Berlin wall refers to the military control line between the Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which, to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de facto border. ]
More significant, but longer-term, is the challenge posed by China’s recently unveiled policy of ‘Peripheral Diplomacy’ (zhoubian), which brings India’s strategically sensitive borders and neighbourhood within the ambit of Beijing’s assertive foreign policy.
This policy for the first time ever categorises neighbouring countries as ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’ and warns those obstructing China’s quest for pre-eminence in the region to be prepared for punitive measures over a sustained period.
It seeks to co-opt neighbours into supporting its regional ambitions through either outright financial largesse or economic dependency, supplemented by a network of bilateral and regional security alliances. The latter raises the spectre of India being ringed by China-led, or China-dominated, security alliances.
‘Friends’ supporting China’s efforts are already being promised large sums of economic assistance. This is intended to facilitate implementation of the ‘new Silk Road economic belt’ — which Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken personal charge of — and the Beijing-initiated Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor, or erstwhile ‘Kunming Initiative’.
Both economic manoeuvres emanate out of China’s southern Yunnan province and thrust across Myanmar, Bangladesh, India’s north-eastern states with their fragile economies, Bhutan, Nepal and go onward.
Beijing’s new policy promises huge economic benefits for countries and regions along the routes that support it. These proposals, fuelled by China’s vast economic reserves reinforced by military might, will appreciably boost China’s political and economic influence in these regions. India will have to quickly fashion robust policies to safeguard its influence, territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Insidious is the definitive role assigned to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP can be expected to appreciably step up activities in China’s neighbourhood and in India. The objective would be to ‘win over’ and consolidate relations with political parties other than ‘fraternal’ ones, enhance interaction with ‘sympathetic’ entities and seek out a role in the religious and cultural spheres.
The new government will additionally have to tackle the complexities of the emerging global environment where the US and the West are trying to rearrange the extant international trade and economic regime together with bilateral equations to ensure global pre-eminence.
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) considerably raise labour and tariff standards and will dilute the competitiveness of developing economies and disadvantage countries like China and India.
India’s exports will immediately be adversely affected and, combined with its poor manufacturing capacity, its large market and agriculture sector could become more vulnerable. As the target date of end 2014 approaches, India will need to quickly decide whether to opt for the TPP/TTIP. Beijing, despite continuing to view the proposed regimes with suspicion, is revising its position and thinking of applying to join.
Simultaneously, in addition to accelerating domestic economic reforms and military modernisation, China has initiated measures to rival the economic influence of the US and international organisations in Asia and floated the concept of a China-led regional development bank.
It has announced plans to earmark around $3 billion towards its fund, which, in course of time, will rival the Asian Development Bank.
India’s new leadership will have to formulate a set of policies to safeguard national interests and address these challenges.
It will need to unambiguously advise neighbours, like Nepal and Pakistan, of its ‘Red lines’ and willingness to enforce them against infringements.
Bold initiatives that bridge India’s economic and strategic requirements should be contemplated such as allowing direct investment on liberalised terms in sectors like housing, hi-tech manufacturing, dual-use civilian and defence industry, etc, by countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Investment by China in select sectors should also be considered.
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May 8, 2014
Matteo Pistono’s new book, Fearless in Tibet, a biography of the great 19th century mystic Terton Sogyal, could just as easily be called Fearless in Writing.
Until the very recent past, Tibetan biographies have been strictly hagiographic in tone and content. The readership was confined to accomplished practitioners of tantric Buddhism and the books were penned in a pre-20th century timeframe, in which empirical science played no role. Buddhist manifestations of magic neither contradicted nor compromised Tibetan readers’ experience of the “real” world. Tibetans simply lived in an atmosphere of the marvelous. If someone was said to have super-human origins or skills, no one jumped through hoops to embrace the notion. A biographer’s emphasis was on the subject’s inner journey, not the dates and place-names of his or her outer life, which was regarded as mundane, if not irrelevant.
It is no easy task, then, for a Western writer with a Western readership to bridge that cultural gap, to bring to life the story of a highly realized Buddhist master – to explore the tantric’s spiritual achievement while also folding into the narrative Terton Sogyal’s political significance.
Matteo Pistono has done precisely this.
His biography not only accurately identifies Terton Sogyal as one of the diplomatic lightning rods of his time – replete with Sogyal’s profoundly crucial relationship with the 13th Dalai Lama and his accurately assessed threat of a Chinese takeover– but the infighting of Lhasan aristocrats as well, which, tragically, sped up the eventual demise of Tibetan independence.
As Pistono explains in his “Author’s Note”: I had to position him [Terton Sogyal] against the turbulent sociopolitical backdrop, place him in a linear historical sequence, and show his apparent challenges and frustration.
This book was fifteen years in the making. Pistono’s boots-on-the-ground peregrinations through eastern and central Tibet, his accumulated interviews with (and teachings from) the great lamas of the day, his tireless academic research – all come together and make Terton Sogyal’s story both immediate and contemporary.
Peripheral snapshots of fellow mystics and the fruitions of their hermetic existences, interspersed with popular cults, customs, traditions, Fearless in Tibet is nevertheless also something of an adventure story. We ride along with Terton Sogyal, circumventing brigands waiting in ambush in altitudinous passes – over the vast expanse of Tibet and into the hushed corridors of Lhasa’s Potala Palace, which he came to know so well during his spectacular topographical and spiritual road trips.
In a way, the biography of Terton Sogyal is the biography of many men, who, according to the Tibetan tradition, were incarnations of Dorje Dudjom. Dorje Dudjom was one of the original 25 disciples of Padmasambhava, (the guru from Oddiyana), who established Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century. Padmasambhava created a system for future “treasure revealers”, or tertons; who would uncover long-hidden spiritual teachings through texts written in dakini script, statues, ritual implements, medicines or sacred relics. The key to this system was that the treasures would be discovered only when the time would be most beneficial to the people of Tibet.
Terton Sogyal’s emergence as a terton couldn’t have occurred at a more politically precarious time in Tibet’s history. China’s Qing Dynasty, British controlled India and Tsarist Russia were all vying for control over the Buddhist nation. Perhaps even more dangerous was the internecine power struggle going on between civil leaders within the boundaries of Tibet. Little wonder that the 13th Dalai Lama – twenty years Terton Sogyal’s junior – came to love and rely on his spiritual achievements:
[Terton Sogyal] was being called to Lhasa to perform tantric rituals capable of turning back the British army that was deploying on Tibet’s southern border. Mantras recited by Terton Sogyal were believed to provide protection from the threat of foreign invasion. The State Oracle had told the young Dalai Lama that Terton Sogyal must serve the nations. This was Terton Sogyal’s effective appointment as chaplain to the Dalai Lama.
One can also value Fearless in Tibet as a partial biography of Sogyal Rinpoche, the current incarnation of Dorje Dudjom and Terton Sogyal. Sogyal Rinpoche has established one of the largest networks of Tibetan Buddhist dharma centers in the West: Rigpa Fellowship. And his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is one of the most widely read dharma books to date, having already been translated into 34 languages.
On whatever level one chooses to read Fearless in Tibet, Western Buddhist practitioners owe Matteo Pistono their gratitude for this major contribution to Tibetan literature.
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The official publishing date for Fearless in Tibet is May 27, 2014.
To pre-order your copy now,
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April 30, 2014
For decades, renowned photojournalist Thomas L. Kelly has tirelessly explored various Asian cultures and the human rights issues arising therein.
Yesterday, Thomas was kind enough to send me photographs he took on April 21, documenting the last rites of the 16 Sherpa guides who lost their lives in the Everest avalanche of April 18, 2014. The bodies of the deceased were flown to Kathmandu and paraded to their cremations. Below are a few of those photographs:
Mingma Sherpa is Managing Director of Seven Summit Treks Pvt. Ltd. He is fighting the government on behalf of the 16 Sherpas who passed away in the Everest disaster: 1 million Nepali Rupees for each family; 30% of the royalty the government receives from foreign climbers to be placed in a fund; and the organization of a fund for the children of the deceased fathers until they reach class 10.
To view more of Kelly's work,
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April 27, 2014
On Thursday, fresh ice avalanches struck the same perilous Everest route where 16 Sherpas were killed last week, making it almost certain this climbing season is over.
Contrary to claims touted by Nepal’s Tourism Ministry – published by THE HINDU and, unfortunately, repeated in this blog on Friday – the Sherpas have not agreed to resume work but, rather, have left the mountain.
According to Californian mountain guide Adrian Ballinger (as reported by Reuters), “even before the latest avalanches, there had been an exodus of teams from base camp due to the aggressive behaviour of a group of younger Sherpas there.
He said these Sherpas were determined to ensure that no one scaled Everest from the south side during this year's climbing season, which ends around May 25.
Yesterday, THE GUARDIAN reported that, “even as the pujas for the souls of the Sherpas were being held, a new mood took hold: anger. Its first and most obvious target was the government, which had announced a compensation package of 40,000 Nepalese rupees (£245). This was a derisory sum to the Sherpas, whose funeral rites could cost 10 times that figure, and a demonstration last Monday followed the religious ceremonies.”
Nevertheless, “amid growing calls for an immediate end to climbing on Everest as a mark of respect to the dead, Madhusudan Burlakoti, a senior official at the tourism ministry, quashed the idea that the season should end: ‘The expeditions will continue up the mountain. There is no reason to think it's unsafe now because of this natural disaster. These things happen in cycles and we will address them as they come.’”
THE GUARDIAN further reported that:
Such breezy reassurances did nothing to quell the growing anger among Sherpas that it is they who take the risk on Nepal's mountains and the government that takes a disproportionate share of the profits.
“Those who do not come from the region remained in camp, talking about what should happen next. Younger workers from other regions of Nepal that in the last decade came under the influence of Maoist political tactics of coercion and threat found the atmosphere of grief and anger the perfect moment to pursue a more aggressive agenda.
Two strands emerged at base camp, a 13-point plan demanding reform of Sherpa working conditions and a greater share of revenue for local people, and a more strident, less developed agenda that demanded an immediate end to climbing. A religious ceremony on Tuesday ended in a well-orchestrated demonstration.
More darkly, the team of Sherpas known as the Icefall Doctors who fix the ropes up this part of the mountain were told not to go back to work. Filmmakers were ordered to put their cameras away. One foreign expedition had communications cables cut during the night. Climbers and Sherpas alike speak of an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
Last year, following an assault on three European climbers by an angry mob of Sherpas at camp two, the government promised better security on the mountain, including a "facilitation office" with a police and military presence. It also promised that expedition liaison officers, who rarely bother to visit base camp, would be more visible. None of this happened. When the bodies of the Sherpas were airlifted to base camp, there were no officials on hand to record the names of the dead.
In a bid to shore up government authority, Nepal's tourism minister, Bhim Acharya, flew to base camp on Thursday, an oxygen mask on hand, to bolster morale, agree to most Sherpa demands for improved working conditions, and promise foreign climbers their permits would be valid for five years should their expeditions quit the mountain.
It was already too late. The exodus was under way, and as each of the bigger, better-resourced teams quit, the rest followed. Dave Hamilton, leader of British commercial expedition organisers Jagged Globe, told me: "The season is over. Almost all teams, including us, have cancelled for a variety of reasons. But it really comes down to the vast majority of Sherpas do not want to work. The minority who do have been threatened and intimidated into joining the action."
One thing is certain: The profile of Everest climbers has changed dramatically since Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary first climbed the peak in 1953. Hardcore alpinists have been replaced by rich vanity mountaineers, who pay a fortune to have their picture taken on the summit, while Sherpas do all the heavy lifting and risk their lives in the process.
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April 25, 2014
Nepal’s agitating Sherpa mountain guides on Friday agreed to resume work on Mount Everest following negotiations with the government on their demands in the wake of the deadly avalanche that killed 16 of their colleagues in the worst disaster on the world’s highest peak.
The mountain guides had halted work in the Himalayas for a week to mourn the death of their comrades last Friday.
The Sherpas had threatened to halt work indefinitely to press for fulfillment of their demands relating to increasing insurance coverage, facilities, providing compensation and ensuring their safety in the Himalayas.
After a visit by top government officials led by Tourism Minister Bhim Prasad Acharya to the Everest base camp, the Sherpas have agreed to resume work, officials said.
While discussing with the Sherpas, the minister had urged all the mountaineering teams to continue their climbing expeditions, the Tourism Ministry said in a press release.
“The minister had also urged all concerned agencies to fix ladder and rope. In response to the request made by the minister the supporting climbers have agreed to support expedition activities,” the ministry said.
If some climbing teams want to quit their expeditions for this season and want to extend their permits, the ministry would make necessary arrangement to extend the time of their permit for next five years for the expedition teams of spring 2014,” the ministry added.
The ministry however requested all the teams to continue their expeditions as all necessary arrangements have already been made for the same.
The government earlier agreed to provide compensation to the kin of the deceased climbers, increase their insurance money by 50 per cent to $15,000, bear necessary expenses of the injured climbers and install a memorial of those killed in the accidents on Everest.
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