Issue 48 Vol II, September 30, 2007

C O M M E N T

No place for Monarchy in Nepal

A series of parleys of the top leaders of the seven parties over the past couple of days had ended inconclusively after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala refused to give in to Maoist Chairman Prachanda’s demand for a fully proportional electoral system for the CA polls.

These hectic parleys have resulted into the picture of the king removed from the Nepalese currency. Later there was some agreement on proportional elections by choosing a mid way. Filing of nominations was postponed by five days to sort out the differences for the November 22 constituent assembly elections. A series of parleys of the top leaders of the seven parties over the past couple of days had ended inconclusively after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala refused to give in to Maoist Chairman Prachanda’s demand for a fully proportional electoral system.

Earlier Nepal’s Maoists rebels who for over ten years waged a relentless war against an atrocious king, finally seeing him ousted are at war again. Over 13,000 people were killed.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) wants the country to be declared a republic before the election for a constituent assembly as it fears that a section of Nepal’s royal army is conspiring to overthrow the present government and stop election mid way.

Four ministers belonging to the party the Maoist quit the five-month-old coalition government thus dealing a massive blow to the nascent peace process. Before that and later also there had hectic negotiations among the top leaders of the eight-party alliance to reach an agreement.

Though the Maoists have walked away from the government, they have not dumped the peace process. They also declared that they will not pick up arms again. “We will focus on peaceful agitation to fulfill our demands. The Constituent Assembly election cannot be held so long as the monarchy exists. Now our party will bring a republic through street agitation.” Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Maoist politburo member and other leaders have been assuring. Indeed, ever since the resignations, the Maoists have been holding rallies all over the country. These were mostly well attended.

Maoists chairman Prachanda has been quoting the November 2006 Accord brokered by the United Nations to hammer that “free and fair elections are not possible until Nepal is declared a republic, senior army commanders who are loyal to the ousted king are shunted out and the fundamental right of the Nepali people to take part in the constituent assembly elections in a free and fair environment without fear is guaranteed.”

The Accord had declared “the beginning of a new chapter of peaceful democratic interaction by ending the armed conflict taking place in the country since 1996, based on the Comprehensive Peace Accord between the two parties in order to accomplish, through the constituent assembly, certainty of sovereignty of the Nepali people, progressive political outlet, democratic restructuring of the state, and social-economic-cultural transformation”.  Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and others have been insisting that this clause would be implemented by the new constituent assembly, the Maoists who have developed serious doubts about the sincerity of some of the leaders of the eight party coalitions, insist that sovereignty of the Nepali people can be best assured right now by declaring Nepal a republic.

Concerned over the Maoist decision to quit the interim government, the United Nations Mission in Nepal has been pressing upon the eight parties to intensify efforts to find a way out of the current stalemate. "Today, UNMIN was informed by the CPN (Maoist) that its ministers have submitted their resignations from the Interim Government. UNMIN understands that talks between the eight parties are ongoing. Given the potential negative implications of this step to the peace process, we urge all eight parties to intensify efforts to find a way out of the current stalemate,” said UNMIN Spokesperson Kieran Dwyer.

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South Asians Criminals in Britain

Indians ranked eighth in a list of the top 20 non-British communities engaged in crime in London.  The Metropolitan Police recently listed that they committed 748 crimes in the city during the first six months of 2007, including 235 violent ones. The sole consolation was that India’s position fell by one rank, from seventh to eighth, compared to a similar list released for the corresponding period last year.

The table showed that a fifth of all crimes committed in London were by people of non British origin. Pakistanis came lower down the order at number 10, with 591 offences, 177 of them violent. Poles, who have been entering the country in large numbers since Poland became a member of the European Union in 2004, headed the list with 2310 crimes, followed by Jamaicans with 1750.

Another shocking  trend is the rail suicides — or suicides committed by jumping in front of approaching trains — are rising in Britain, but only along one stretch of railway track, said a report of the First Great Western rail company released . One third of all such suicides in England and Wales occur on just this track.  This track lies in West London, passing through the Indian dominated locality of Southall.

The First Great Western manager's report added that a "disproportionately high number" of the total fatalities in the area were women of Asian origin, 80 per cent of whom were from Punjab.

One such case which shocked the whole country occurred in 2005, when Navjeet Sidhu, 27, jumped before a train, clutching her five-year-old daughter and 23-month old son in her arms. The engine driver tried hard to stop but failed, and all three were mowed down. Six months later Navjeet's mother Satwant Kaur also killed herself at the same spot. The reasons for the suicides are still not clear.

"The high instance of Asian women suicides is linked to abusive practices within Asian families," said Hannana Siddiqui, of the women's group Southall Black Sisters.

Lord Bikhu Parekh who has studied Asian families and their problems told HT that the rise in number of suicides among Indian women showed the lack of any community group monitoring issues and problems specifically affecting such women.

The reputation of Indians in Britain who have largely been regarded as honest and law-abiding is getting severely bruised. So far, the Home Office figures also testified to a cleaner image of the community, as the number of Indian-origin convicts in prisons here had been lowest compared to those belonging to other ethnic minority groups.

The latest to hit the headlines was the massive immigration racket run by Sarwan Singh Deo which also has those from the embassy involved in it. The criminals have been caught and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Close on the heels of this sensational bust up, came the news that US court had indicted UK NRI Hemant Lakhani for allegedly trying to sell missiles for terrorism in the US.

In the last three months several serious crimes committed by Indian-origin persons have made the headlines and embarrassed the community. A few months ago one married man with two children kidnapped, raped and then murdered a white schoolgirl and fled to Punjab. A police team has gone to India to trace him.

The case of the "missing" women cricketers from Jalandhar and the murder of two hoteliers Amarjit Singh and his nephew Rajinder allegedly by three Asian youth this week have only added to the feeling of humiliation and disgust in Indians. So many illegal and criminals acts by Indian-origin persons in  a space of hardly two  months have never taken place before.

Love led another to join the roll of dishonour. Computer expert Sunil Mahtani allegedly masterminded the country's biggest ever credit card fraud, simply because he felt inferior to his white girlfriend who earned more money than he did.

Rising prosperity in the community also seems to have brought in its wake rising incidents of crime among youth which needs to be seriously looked at.

The revelations may lead to increased pressure on the government to curb immigration. “Every new piece of evidence shows how damaging the government's failure to control immigration has been,” said Damian Green, Conservative Party member and shadow immigration minister.

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Corruption and Poverty

South Asian countries are world’s most corrupt nations. Corruption is rampant in India, Pakistan and other countries Pakistan is rated at No 138 and India at 72 out of the 180 countries analysed by an anti-graft watchdog Berlin-based Transparency International (TI). Tragically as this annual Corruption Perceptions Index covering 180 countries pointed out that some of the world’s poorest nations were seen as having the most dishonest political and business elites.

The report showed that Pakistan, which is tied at No 138 with Ethiopia, Paraguay, Cameroon and Syria with a corruption rating of 2.4, has “rampant” corruption. The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts. It ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.

However, the group said that even countries believed to be the least corrupt, named this year as Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, needed to do more to combat corporate graft.

the report noted that corruption  was a big drain. “Despite some gains, corruption remains an enormous drain on resources sorely needed for education, health and infrastructure.” It noted significant improvement among African countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, which the organisation said highlighted that political will and reform, can root out sleaze.

Iraq, Somalia top list: According to the report, the corruption in war-ravaged countries such as Iraq and Somalia is hobbling their recovery efforts. “Countries torn apart by conflict pay a huge toll in their capacity to govern,” Labelle said.

“Low-scoring countries need to take these results seriously and act now to strengthen accountability in public institutions. But action from top-scoring countries is just as important, particularly in cracking down on corrupt activity in the private sector,” she added.

The report found  a strong link between poverty and graft with 40 percent of the countries scoring below three this year — indicating that corruption is considered to be rampant — classified by the World Bank as low-income states.

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The Most Expensive Year of the War

THE Bush administration is seeking from the American Congress an additional $50 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan next year. This is on top of $141.7 billion that has already been appropriated.

The new spending request is likely to push the cumulative cost of the war in Iraq alone through 2008 past the $600-billion mark, more than the Korean War and nearly as much as the Vietnam War.

If the Defense Authorization Bill is approved with President Bush's budget request, "2008 will be the most expensive year of the Iraq war." "After nearly five years of this war, more than 3,800 deaths, over 27,000 casualties, and no end in sight, we must change course. This war, this draining, desultory, dreadful occupation of Iraq must end,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, Democrat lawmaker said. No one in America counts the death of civilians in Iraq that run into over more than half a million.

In February, President Bush requested $141.7 billion "to sustain combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year" for the fiscal year beginning Oct 1. That request, however, did not allow financing for a surge in troops [in Iraq] that would last through mid-summer 2008. This request for an additional $50 billion, bringing "the amount the administration is seeking to finance the war effort through 2008 to almost $200 billion. "Most of the additional funding in a revised supplemental bill would pay for the current counter offensive in Iraq, which has expanded the U.S. force there by about 28,000 troops. Nearly a quarter of the new money would go to build additional mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles. The administration's request this year dwarfs that of previous years. In 2004, the two conflicts [in Iraq and Afghanistan] together cost $94 billion; in 2005, the cost went up to $108 billion and in 2006, $122 billion. Even if the Bush administration reduces the size of the force in Iraq in 2008, analysts expect the 2009 budget to remain between $170 billion and $200 billion.

How much America can really spare for oil for which the whole war all is about. And, how many lives must be lost. Finally, what is left in Iraq or Afghanistan is devastated land with no signs of any humans around.  Cheers for the great civilizing role.

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