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Post |
| Copy paste |
Posted
on 21-Jan-02 04:52 PM
From Info-nepal.com discussion
the presence of Paras
dukkhhii Monday January 21, 2002 2:33 PM
I just came few days back after a one month stay in Kathmandu. The city is filthy as ever-if anybody wants to see hell on earth -he/she should visit Kathmandu-especially the Kalopul and Ratopul area near Pashupatinath temple where the Bagmati river exists as a huge sewer.But, nothing appeared more filthier and repulsive to me than the ubiquitous presence of Paras.At that time it was Paras's 30th or 31st birhday and it was time to celebrate such an important occassion.It was the opportune time for many people to show how loyal they were to the monarchy (how sordid it might have become)-and they rose to the occassion .All the leading newspapers of Kathmandu payed glowing tributes to their august Crown Prince.For many days newspapers were filled with advertizements of myriad oforganizations(governmental and NGOs)and individuals-paying homage to their illustrious future monarch.It did not end there,Paras's pictures were strung on ropes near the Narayanhiti palace and at the entrance of New Road high above - beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.But, as gun-trotting military men were near the vicinity of Paras's pictures, no one would have taken the risk to pull down his pictures and face court marshall.I myself felt like tearing those pictures down and trample them under my feet.Whenever I would pass those roads I could feel Paras looking down at me mockingly from those pictures. But,I had not realized how ubiquitous Paras had become in our lives until I reached one stationary shop in Putalisadak. Inside the shop,I saw Paras looking sarcastically towards me-this time from a calender.I was shocked.I felt humiliated.A sense of hopelessness crept inside my mind.I trembled in anger. I told the shop owner that why god had not turned me blind -so I would not have to see this shameful thing.Of course, when I related this incident later to one of my relatives,I was told that I should not have uttered such profanity in public.He reminded me that it is emergency time and the military is all powerful and the king is powerful.Anyway,I bought the calender for 60 rupees which was published by one "World United Nations Student and Youth Organizations."The calender is still with me -yeah!I carried it with me all the way here to the US and while I am writing this piece Paras and his wife Himani are smiling again sarcastically at me from the calender.They have reasons to jeer at me-because here he is a killer -but still he will be the ruler Nepal tomorrow.He is a murderer -but still he is above the law.He can do anything and get away with it.And, here I am , so helpless-I can't even pull his picture down.
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| bill_pusateri |
Posted
on 21-Jan-02 08:09 PM
Why the h... did you buy that stupid calendar. You probably voiced many peoples opinions in the shop that day where you bought that stupid thing. Only you had the nerve to voice your opinions because you are acustomed to doing so in the USA. I think you are not too bright. First, for buying the calendar when you had many other choices to buy a calendar without his pictue. Second, for leaving it up on your wall as you say to continue to insult you. Tear is down. What will be lost, maybe 25 rupees. What will be gained, your dignity as a man capable off having an opinion without fear of expressing it. Burn the thing.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 21-Jan-02 10:20 PM
You wrote:
no one would have taken the risk to pull down his pictures and face court marshall.I myself felt like tearing those pictures down and trample them under my feet.
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All most all the adults have realized that its politics whether
you like or not, but, they have realized like you that you can
only murmur on the pictures, but, will probably do NAMASTE
if not only Paras but also Khume stands in front of you.
By purchasing the photographs / calender, you had already
done "NAMASTE" to a person you dislike. You already gave
respect to him and his wife. If you had guts you would not
have purchased it.
For common nepalis at large, Paras and Gyanendra are not
problem, problems are Khume, Govinde, and other corrupts
who take directly money from public, make them linger
in govt. office for nothing, for months..... These parasites
should be trimmed. For me the public elected corrupt officials
should hacked to death before we jump on those confined inside
the tall boundary wall.
Do you know ?
1. Govinde asked Maoists to blast bombs outside his home
when he was home minister.
2. Many peoples used Maoists to take revenge on their
enemies.
3. Because of Maoist problem, peoples have started
to post once most hated peoples' pictures on
the walls. Its a dillema. Unfortunately, one of them
should be liked, probably, Paras is better choice for commoners
than, Maoists leaders. Paras killed 2 peoples, Maoist leaders
killd 2,000. Peoples living in developing countries and under
developed countries, army rule is part of life. Peoples are
used to with them, they know how to shut up their mouth.
Those who have big mouth, will suffer.
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| SKRS |
Posted
on 21-Jan-02 11:44 PM
I think the question is not who is better and who is worse. In democratic and open society, what is important is the system and rule. There can not be any comparison between Gyanendra and Paras with Khum bahadur and Govind Raj. The former assume unchecked power whereas the later are in the mercy of people. People make them and people will take care of them if they go wrong. My main point is, there should be law/system/provison to check wrong-doings from anyone who assumes power. We shouldn't pardon any1 from Khum Bahadur to Paras for anything wrong they do. The assumption that King/Prince are always right or will always be right is not valid. How long should we live under the rules where a drunkard person kills his entire family and becomes a king? Has anything changed since or shouldn't this change? What you say?
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| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 12:08 AM
Both Govinda Raj and Khum Bdr, and others will go UNPUNISHED for their whetver crimes:
a) as long as they are 'protected' by that extra-constitutional and extra-judicial body called Central Working Committee of Nepali Congress.
b) as long as there is this institution called Central Working Commitee.
The most EVIL and undemocratic institutions in today's Nepal are these various Politburo-like Central Working Commitees of all our political parties. These Committes wield enormous unchecked, arbitrary power, are NOT accountable
to people at large, and serve as some sort of an elite paternal club within each political party.
In the US, to cite one example, that Vermont Senator could change his political party when his own party started doing things he did not like. That Senator could do so because he was/is accountable to the people of Vermont and NOT to the bigwigs of the Republican Party. In other words, a single MP or a Senator could challenge his own party ko leadership.
But in Nepal, our system is such that any Member of Parliament from anywhere
has to be MORE beholden to his or her own political party leadership in Kathmandu than to the people who elected him or her.
Take Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, for example: he was elected by people in
Parsa District, wher he has NEVER lived, where he owns no property. Since
being elected, what has he done for Parsa ? Nothing. How many times has he even gone back to Parsa? Zero. With all due respect, what the hell is he
doing in Kathmandu?
There's something ROTTEN in our democracy when elected MPs have this bizarrely perverse incentive to be nearer their party netas (of CWCs) in Kathmandu than to be nearer to the people who elected them iin the first place.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| An Indun Poet |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 12:22 AM
And to PROTECT democracy, both Congress and UML signed a bill that would not allow cross-party voting, which gave the power to the party rather than the MPs. So if UML or Congress decides to make Dhadhing 1 a dumping site of all the Garbage of Kathmandu, then whoever is the MP of Dhadhing 1 cannot vote against it. This was ludicrous, but people were so fedup with the government changing every three months and MPs for sale, no one uttered a word. This was a step back in democracy.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 12:49 AM
AIP wrote:
>This was ludicrous, but people were so fedup with the government changing >every three months and MPs for sale, no one uttered a word.
Well, some people did utter some words against such a move.
Rupesh Pradhan wrote an article in The Kathmandu Post in 1997 arguing
against the logic of the so-called anti-defection bill. And so did I in another
article. If I remember clearly, both Rupesh and I were saying that individual MPs matter more in democracy than some CENTRALIZED descion-making apparatus that the political parties have in place.
Perhaps our arguments then were in English, and or perhaps the timing was not right or perhaps no one read(s) the Kathmandu Post anyway or perhaps op-eds do/did not carry any influence whatsoever . . . whatever.
Anyway, the irony of multi-party democracy in Nepal is that, over the last 12 years, multi-parties have done much to weaken democracy in Nepal.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| MD |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 10:39 AM
Whatever the shortcomings of democracy, I find it hard to buy the argument that direct rule of either Paras or Gyanendra will take the nation to new heights. Gyanendra may be a clever man, but he is not a clean man . I believe many wrongdoings during the days of the Panchayat, were attributed to Gyanendra including kickbacks during airplane purchases for RNAC.
I agree with previous posters that the lack of accounatbility has been one of the biggest problems in Nepal for the last fifty years. I do not see how introducing a system that will most likeley have less accountability than even the current one, will "save" the nation. On the contrary, we will be replacing elected governments, with very little accountability with unelected governments with no accountability. I fear the situation in the country will only worsen as a result.
I also agree with Ashu that the central bodies of our parties have become too powerful and almost detrimental to democracy in Nepal. Therein lies one of the biggest failures of Nepalese democarcy - the lack of intra-party democracy. I think it is imperative for the Congress and UML parties to democartize more to strengthen democary in Nepal. It is time democarcy in Nepal reformed itself and there is no better place to start than the political parties themselves.
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| Janis |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 11:20 AM
I've heard quite a lot about Paras. Does anyone know of any sites that may contain pictures of this person??
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| SIWALIK |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 12:06 PM
While it is appropriate to think of independent MPs as crucial to proper functioning of democracy, the multiparty system with proportional representation does not allow for independence. Strict party discipline is the norm, unlike a presidential system. Individual and political cost is too great for MPs to think independently. The bill sounds redundant.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 06:36 PM
Janis: I've heard quite a lot about Paras. Does anyone know of any sites that may contain pictures of this person??
---
Best site to you would be
http://www.sebsonline.org/
You can even get additional photographs if you can
join their discussion forum.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 22-Jan-02 06:44 PM
True. CWC in each political party is too powerful,
more than that, the head of the political party is
making more useless, because he can appoint
50% of the total CWC members. So, Girija is
appointing all his chamchas in the 50% seats
reserved for his use, except a very few appointments.
We can see how Girija is appointing his relatives
bhai bhatija, bhanja bhanji, bhauju to fulfill his
need. They cheated the whole country. When
I talked with some one supporter of girija he
said that he can appoint anyone he likes. I am not
sure how things are happening in UML. I hardly
care that party.
In another note, the political paraties are also misusing in
the upperouse member nominations. The upperhouse
was supposed to be for the peoples who have professional
capability and donot have time to engage in local
politics, but, have contirbuted a lot in their professional
field. But, the upperhouse is a place where they nominate
the guys who could not win the election in their constituency.
Its a lottery for those guys. In Japan, I can see how
they nominate peoples from various areas like Journalists
lawyers, TV celebraties ....engineers doctors ...
But, who cares in Nepal.
HahooGuru
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