TERROR IN TERAI
So far this summer, separatist groups have been playing havoc in Terai—the southern part of Nepal adjoining the Indian border—strategically, Nepal’s “soft underbelly”. Strikes, armed robbery, killings and abductions have increased along the border in recent weeks. Because a series of strikes have been called by different splittist organizations, hundreds of supply-bearing trucks from India now remain stranded: The result is that there is an acute fuel scarcity gripping the nation. To compound matters, truck-drivers from ethnic minorities have instigated their own bandh (strike) in the south—demanding governmental security along the roads.
The newest group to make its debut in Terai is Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha-Second (JTMM-Second). Led by Bisfor Singh, a former Maoist guerrilla, the group recently split from the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha organization, which, in turn, had split from the Maoists and had recently shot and killed Govinda Chaudhary, the Maoist district level leader in Rajbiraj, who was suspected of revealing secrets to rival groups.
In fact, the Maoist seem to be literally under the gun in Terai. According to Telegraph Nepal, "cadres are being picked up by various Terai agitating groups and later killed brutally. Such killings have become common after the Gaur carnage, March 21, 2007," hinting that the Maoists are losing clout in the south.
On June 22, at least seven people were wounded after a series of explosions ripped through Birgunj, a major commercial hub in Southern Nepal. Police have so far failed to identify the group behind the bombings, which detonated within minutes of each other.
The YCL, the youth organization of the Maoist party, are also responsible for recent strikes in the southern districts.
Some groups are demanding autonomy in Terai, some are demanding equal representation in the Central Government, and yet others are insisting that an entirely independent nation be carved out of Southern Nepal. Although the government has not provided official statistics, between 70-100 murders have been committed by these groups since the beginning of the year, casting a shadow over the entire peace process.
A flyer encouraging insurgency
distributed along the Indian/ Nepali border
One way or another, Southern Nepal may be emerging as a new base for Indian separatist organizations as well. Senior leaders of The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), a separatist armed opposition group from the Indian state of Assam, were arrested in northern India. Until recently these rebels, who have engaged in conflicts with the Indian Army, have relied on hideouts and camps tucked away in Bangladesh and Burma (Myanmar). But now, according to captured ULFA leader, Ghanakanta Bora, the Assam insurgents feel far safer using Nepal as a hideout, do to the lack of border security and the ongoing chaos created by Madeshi unrest. Bora also alleged that Maoists elements provided support and helped in the procurement of arms and ammunition. Nepali analysts fear that with very limited employment opportunities for Nepali youths, the lure of easy money from ULFA could be engendering yet another layer of extremism in the south.
MAOIST LEADERS TRAVEL ABROAD
Meanwhile, the senior leaders of the Maoist Party, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Chairman Prachanda, are looking to the international community for legitimacy and recognition on the world stage. Prachanda is visiting Switzerland and Bhattarai left for Norway earlier, before reuniting with Prachanda in the Alps. Maoist leaders have already made two trips to Beijing and claim that their “relations with China are developing smoothly. China treats us as an equal these days.”
According to CP Gajurel 'Gaurab', chief of the Maoist's International Command, the Maoists "joined the government to make the foreign countries feel comfortable to develop ties with us." However, the Maoist's effort has received a cold response from major countries, especially from the United States and India. For the Maoists, the labeling of the organization as a terrorist group by the U.S has seriously obstructed their effort in seeking international recognition. Says Gajurel, “The pro-US countries feel uncomfortable to extend relation with us due to the tag." In regard to India, Chairman Prachanda visited New Delhi last November, but Indian government officials, except for some leaders of political parties, snubbed him.
Gajurel himself visited the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany in March. Although he visited U.K. on the invitation of Department of International Development (DFID), an international aid agency of the U.K., he returned without meeting any British government officials. But the Maoists have assessed Gajurel's visit to the U.K. as a significant development. British diplomats in Kathmandu began meeting with Maoist leaders after the visit. "We feel that UK takes us seriously," said Gajurel.
For the Maoists, the recent meeting in Kathmandu between Chairman Prachanda and visiting former President Jimmy Carter in early June is the most crucial development in their effort to develop relations with the U.S. During the meeting, the Maoist leadership urged the former President to take initiative in having the group removed from the list of terrorist organizations. In response, Carter had assured the Maoist leadership that he would relay the Maoists request to U.S. President George W. Bush.
"We are hoping that Carter will convince U.S. President Bush and we will soon be free from the terrorist label," Gajurel said, adding, "Once we will be removed from the US terrorist list, I think it will be easier for other countries to develop relations with us."
If Carter believes he can sway current US foreign policy, he will have his work cut out for him.
NEPAL SUSPENDS INTERNATIONAL CHILD ADOPTIONS
Nepal has suspended international adoptions
until new laws can be drafted to clamp down
on long-standing abuses.
In poverty-stricken Nepal where annual per capita income is $240 many parents place their children for adoption in a bid to give them a better life. Some sell their children. “Child adoption from Nepal has been temporarily stopped as we’re preparing new policies to end irregularities and malpractice in the adoption process,” Ministry of Children Secretary Madhab Bhattarai told Agence French Presse.
The new standards would comply with adoption rules in the Hague Convention. The multilateral treaty requires that government officials ensure babies have not been bought or stolen and that adoption fees are kept to a minimum. “The reforms in the legal process for adoption will be made more transparent to meet international standards,” Bhattarai said. Official paperwork to adopt a Nepali child costs about 300 dollars, but child welfare groups say people pay as much as 20,000 dollars, and the lure of cash has led to rackets to sell children. Foreigners have adopted 1,715 children—746 boys and 969 girls— in the past seven years.
STARVATION IN NEPAL
Not everyone is as lucky
as most of the people
in the Kathmandu Valley.
In the last week of June 2007, in an isolated region in the far west of Nepal, famished villagers looted and feasted on rotten grain declared unfit even for animal feed. According to officials, the decomposition was so severe that the grain could not be even thrown into rivers or buried for fear of causing an environmental hazard.
Enraged men and women, clutching empty containers, rushed officials who had been instructed to burn hundreds of rice sacks which had been rotting for four years in inadequate storage. The villagers fell on the trucks laden with the tainted rice, stamped out the fire meant to destroy the stock, and carried away their trove.
Originally, the rice was mean to be distributed to people in the Jumla district—a project undertaken by the UN agency, World Food Program. But because of the ongoing insurgency, much of the rice was never delivered.
“The reaction of the people confirms our view that there is a serious food problem…as demonstrated by the lengths that people will go to feed themselves, said Richard Ragan, WFP representative in Nepal.
NEPALI HOUSEWIVES WITH AIDS INCREASES MORE THAN 100%
Among migrant laborers, intravenous drug users and sex workers, housewives have become one of the most vulnerable groups to contract AIDS. The rate of infection has risen by more than 100 percent.
According to Nepal's National Centre for AIDS and STD Control, 1,883 housewives were infected as of mid-May 2007, while the number had been 765 in 2005.
In the past 18 months, the number of HIV infected children has also soared from 138 to 428 signifying a staggering 200 percent rise.
"We are extremely concerned," said Giridhari Sharma Poudel, executive director of the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN). The association runs intervention programs in four remote districts as well as other campaigns and mobile health camps across the country.
Poudel attributed the rise in HIV cases among housewives to growing migration both within the country and abroad, mainly India and the Middle East.
"You have all these migrant men leaving home in search of work and remaining away for periods of one to three years. They have sexual contact while away from home, get infected and spread the infection to their wives when they return. The low condom use among families helps the infection spread," said Poudel.
The number of people infected from sex workers has also increased from 2994 to 4421.
In 2005, 5647 people in Nepal were recorded as being HIV positive. The May records show that the number has grown to 9329.
