2007-02-28

Chitwan Bus Mishap: 15 dead

The murdering bus-drivers strike again! Been telling all these years that the bus-drivers were killing more Nepalis than the MaoBadBoyz...



Chitwan Bus Mishap: 15 dead; bodies of 6 Indians, 4 Nepalis identified

Binod Tripathi

KURINTAR, Chitwan, Feb 27 - At least 15 people were killed and 31 injured when a Birgunj bound bus from Kathmandu swerved off the road and plunged into the Trishuli river at the Prithvi Highway's Darechowk stretch in Chitwan Monday night.

The injured have been rushed to Kathmandu and Bharatpur and are undergoing treatment at the Bir Hospital in the capital and Bharatpur's Bharatpur Hospital and Medical College.

According to the injured, most of the travelers on the bus were Indian nationals.

The bus fell some 130 metres below the highway.

13 people died on the spot and two died while undergoing treatment.

Out of the injured brought to the Bir Hospital, nine have returned home after treatment. 12 are in critical condition.

The bus fell off the highway at around Monday midnight while the driver made an attempt to avoid a mentally retarded woman who was walking in the middle of the road, police said.

What´s there for us?

Our lovely dogs, Bhaire (r) and Shandi (l) checking out the bag Master brought from Bhaktpur. Lovely evening light marking the end of another glorious day in the Kathmandu Valley.
Steen took this nice shots Monday afternoon - see more on my ´picasaweb´!
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2007-02-26

I have fun living like a bird


Update on the Paragliding Lady:
She´s FANTASTIC!
I was so fascinated with this lady I found this article in obsure czech paragliding mag :






I have fun living like a bird

Standa Hlavinka & Ewa Wisnierska Cieslewicz

Cześć Ewa! Although you look like a tender Polish girl you speak like a strict German. Your double last name puzzles me too. Who are you in fact?

My name is Ewa Wisnierska and I was born on 23.12.1971 in Nysa, a small town in South Poland, only 20km to the Czech Republic. When I was twenty years old, I fell in love and followed it to Germany. He was a Polish boy living in Germany. That time it was not possible to stay in Germany as a Polish girl. So we didn't have other option than marriage. This changed my name to Cieslewicz. Unfortunately, some years later something changed me. My life changed completely. Now I'm alone again, waiting for the official decision about getting back my family name Wisnierska. But flying and traveling also changed my point of view. I'm very happy about it. I prefere the world without frontiers. I still have my Polish passport but I would like to say: I'm an European.

I am always bewitched by your athletic figure. Why did you choose just paragliding from a whole range of sport activities?

When I was eight years old I used to go to a sport school. This gave me my athletic figure. But now I'm very lazy person, not doing any kinds of sports. Once, when my bike had been stolen, I was glad. I had a good excuse for driving my car. And paragliding? I do not need to be strong. I know, good condition would be helpful. Sometimes I try to do some sports. I started snowboarding last year and I'm going to do it this winter again. But there is no sport making me as free and happy as paragliding does.

Is your victory of PWC 2005 in the women category your first paragliding success?

The first success was when I started flying. It was in Poland five years ago. But I saw the difference to the German schools and that was why I decided to learn in Germany. When I get my licence, I knew it will change everything. I left Hamburg for South Germany and had nothing except flying in my head. Three years later some friends told me, I should fly competitions. I thought: OK, I will try. And in the first year I won all competitions. Except the European Championship because I entered the start cylinder too early the last racing day. Thus Petra Krausova won. I beat Louise Crandal in the Nordic Open and reached the second position in overall results. But my personal success in 2004 was the sixth rank in the German Open and in the German League within just one year. This gave me the motivation for 2005. I have never dreamed about winning four of five PWCs in Women category and reaching 20th position generally. But it hapened.



Do you earn a living as a paragliding pilot? Does it earn you enough money or not?

Flying and teaching of it is the only one source of my income. I have neither a flat nor any apartment. I live in my car and don't need to pay any rentals every month. This way of life is not very expensive. And I don't need any luxury. I prefer having time to money.

You are definitely better than Petra Krausova this year. Can you see any fundamental difference between your and her style of flying? Or is your paraglider the reason why?

I'm not sure. I think the secret of my success is my mental fitness. And this is hard work. Lifelong. The other thing is my strong will and a focus on the way of reaching my personal goals.




You are the best woman in the paragliding world now. What are your next personal goals?

To keep the motivation and to find better (bigger) sponsors to have more time and free mind to do things I would like to do. I would like to make our sport more popular and show more people how fantastic it is. I'm going to make a movie about the beautiful art of flying, which paragliding is.







What should you change in your life if you could?

My car. It's too slow and old. And if I could, I would like to speak all languages. But also at this point I'm too lazy to learn.


Are you satisfied with your life now? Are you happy?

I have fun living like a bird. I don't worry about the future. Maybe it will change one day. Maybe I will wish to have a family and my own home. But I didn't find the right place to stay yet. And currently I enjoy my life and flying.


Where will you spend this Christmas? In Germany or in Poland?

I'm very busy during the flying season in Europe. So I take the Christmas time to visit my parents in Poland and to drink my birthday Champagner with them. After that I'm going to go to Mexico on 27th of December to celebrate the New Year 2006 there. Actually I'm organizing a Paragliding Camp there for two schools. In the end of January I want to fly the Monarca Open as I did the last two years and after the comp I plan to go to Baja California to see dolphins, maybe scuba dive or just relax on the beach with some friends.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, "Birdy"!

Storm whips paraglider to heights of 32,000 ft / 97534 m

Storm whips paraglider to heights of 32,000 ft


By Nick Squires

A champion paraglider described today her terror at being flung to a height greater than Mount Everest by a tornado-like thunderstorm in Australia.


Paraglider survives being flung to the height of Mount Everest in a storm
Wisnerska rated her chances of survival as "almost zero".

Ewa Wisnerska, 35, was sucked so high that she blacked out and became encased in ice.

“You can’t imagine the power. You feel like nothing, like a leaf from a tree going up,” she told Australian radio.

Wisnerska, from Germany, was preparing for the 10th World Paragliding Championships above the town of Manilla in New South Wales when the storm struck on Wednesday.

With terrifying speed she was whisked from 2,500 ft to an estimated 32,000 ft in about 15 minutes.

42-year-old Chinese paraglider, He Zhongpin, was also caught in the storm and died, apparently from a lack of oxygen and extreme cold.

His body was found nearly 50 miles from where he had taken off. Wisnerska said she encountered hailstones the size of oranges as the temperature dropped to minus 58 degrees fahrenheit.

“I was shaking all the time. The last thing I remember it was dark. I could hear lightning all around me,” she said.

Her ordeal was recorded by global positioning and a radio attached to her equipment.

When her desperate attempts to skirt the powerful thunderstorm failed, she concluded that her chances of survival were “almost zero.” “I said, 'I can’t do anything. It’s raining and hailing and I’m still climbing — I’m lost.”’

The paragliding 2005 World Cup winner lost consciousness for more than 30 minutes while her aircraft flew on uncontrolled, sinking and lifting several times.

“There’s no oxygen. She could have suffered brain damage. But she came to again at a height of 6,900 metres with ice all over her body and slowly descended herself,” said Godfrey Wenness, the event organizer and one of Australia’s most experienced paraglider pilots.

After regaining consciousness, she felt like an astronaut returning from the Moon as the ground loomed beneath her. “I could see the Earth coming — wow, like Apollo 13 — I can see the Earth,” she said.

Wisnerska landed safely 40 miles from her original launch site with ice in her lightweight flying suit and frost bite to her face.

She spent just an hour in a hospital for observation and hopes to compete in biennial championships which begin on February 24.

Earlier this month a British paraglider survived an attack by two large eagles while flying in the same area.

Where are the guns?

Military expert raises eyebrows at Maoist weapon stats

Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 24 - Military expert Dr Indrajit Rai on Saturday said that it was not as easy to believe the stats of the Maoist weapons that have been registered at the UN.

The United Nations Mission to Nepal (UNMIN) yesterday had made public that the UN had registered 30,852 PLA combatants and 3,428 weapons from the cantonments across the country.

Rai said that the number of weapons registered at the UN is far less than the number of Maoist combatants registered and the situation arose because "one man, one weapon" principle was not adopted while registering the PLA fighters.

Stating that the negotiators too failed at some critical points, expert Rai said that he had a slight inkling of this situation when it was decided that registration of those fighters also would be done who did not have weapons.

"There could have been 10-12,000 weapons and I had thought half of those would be registered. Even that figure did not come," said Rai.



---

The missing 10,000 GOOD weapons, not the wrecks in the white containers, are hidden, most probably within walking dinstance of the Valley. The UN, as in Rwanda, Darfur, Congo, Lebanon - pick your favorite failed state - facilitates genocide, rape, theft and bullying. All citizens of these enitities have to fear when UN takes over... Ask the Rwandans, Darfurians... poor Nepal!

Monarchy in Existential Crisis

Rabin Chitrakar laments the decay and chaos of post-monarchy Nepal:
Everyone is playing their own trumpets and expects others to listen to none other but them.

W
e all have preferences. Some of us want change NOW. Others want it the RIGHT WAY. Yet others wish neither happened.

Whatever the choices, the bloodshed in the past decade has forced our leaders to work for peace. And a peace process is in place. Unfortunately, there are some roadblocks to a sustainable peace.
I am not a die-hard supporter of any party, or the king, for that matter. But I believe in a just society, in an inclusive society. Equality, at least in theory, is such an enchanting idea, but no society is equal. We create hierarchies of all sorts intentionally or unintentionally. Equality, whether it is emanating from a king's wishes or from the Maoists' decree, cannot replace fairness and justice, which is so scarce these days in Nepal. Everyone is playing their own trumpets and expects others to listen to none other but them.

After the Maoist insurgency that killed around 15,000 people, the country was in a great chaos. The parties were unable to solve the problem. The five years term of the Parliament was over. The then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba could not conduct general election on time. He recommended the king for dissolution of the house and prolongation of the general election for the second time by six months by applying article 127 of the constitution. His government was dissolved by the king on the charge of incompetence. The King made three consecutive governments under Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Surya Bahadur Thapa and again Sher Bahadur Deuba. Some parties, including United Marxist and Leninist (UML) took the appointment of Deuba as the Prime Minister again as a correction of the king’s earlier steps and hence joined the government.

However, Nepali Congress (NC) continued to demand the restoration of the House. Deuba's government again could not hold general election at the given time. On Feb. 1st, 2005, the king dismissed the existing coalition government of Deuba again on the same charge and formed a new cabinet under his own chairmanship asking for three years of time. Political parties did not support his action. All the parties joined hands with NC's unconditional demand. The king held municipal elections as the preparation for the general election. But most of the parties did not take part in the polls. So the king also could not bring relative peace, the unconditional demand of Nepalis. He could not resist the pressure of the parties. He restored the dissolved lower House in April 2006.

The parties took the proclamation as their victory over the king who was the chief of the national army. The lower house was restored from the provision of the constitution. But surprisingly, and immediately, the whole constitution was paralyzed. It has been abolished with the interim constitution declared on January 16, 2007. The proclamation has victimized the proclaimer himself. All the powers of the king have been snatched. He is in a state of abduction. Increasingly, it looks like the constitutional assembly is going to abolish the very institution of monarchy in Nepal.

The parties were successful in forcing the king to restore the house mainly because of the support of the Maoist party.

So what do we have now? We now have a Nepal divided into anti-royalists, liberal royalists and neutrals. The only difference is the former have the freedom to do what they please and the latter have been denied any voice. The peace process is so fragile that the Maoists continue their decree, and they continue to kidnap and abduct and extort people whenever they please. In remote districts people continue to pay taxes to both the Maoists and the government.

America may have declared its war on terror. But in Nepal the Maoists, in alliance with other political parties, have declared their war on Monarchy. All of a sudden, after April 2006, anything monarchical has become anathema in our national discourse. The object of hatred used to be Maoists. Now it is monarchy and monarchical elements. We have merely shifted the gears. We have not learned much from past experiences.

Another existential crisis
In the name of democracy, the parties have recruited and appointed MPs, without elections of any short. On the other hand, royalist parties and their representatives have been boycotted. There is no freedom for pro-monarchical constituencies. In December 2006, a mob disrupted a national convention of one of the pro-palace parties in Pokhara. It did not end there. A group of Maoists attacked the party members who were on their way to the Prime Minister's residence to submit a memorandum against that disruption. The Maoists’ intention has been to abolish monarchy no matter what. Can we, then, expect a free and fair constitutional election under such circumstance?

Talking about fairness, this whole problem started because of a general lack of it. The Maoists' began to demand more inclusiveness, paradoxically, with the start of democracy in 1990. The Maoist insurgency started, to my mind, because of huge corruption, injustice, misuse of power and power riddle in our governments. Before the start of the insurgency, the rebels had submitted a 42-point demand. Subsequent governments ignored their demands, and helped fuel the war. We lost peace.

There is no doubt that peace is terribly needed now. But, as a free-minded person, I see that the peace process does not look genuine. A few years ago, only the king and democratic alliance used to be taken as the two major political forces. Now every Nepali may have realized that it is merely because of the existential crisis of the Maoists that we now have a peace process. Had they been taken as one of the important political forces early on, possibly Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, would not have to suffer such a shameful and bloody war. Because of their destructively witty and bold decision, the Maoists have now compelled every one to take them as one of the important political forces.

Now the king has been removed from the list. As once Maoists were minimized, now the monarchy is minimized. Because of personalistic egos of political leaders and the king, our institutions are suffering. We may blame monarchy for backwardness, and monarchy as an institution may be a thing of the past for many countries, but there are still scores of advanced countries with monarchies. Take for example, England or Japan. I think Nepal's monarchy has been blamed unfairly. In fact, except for the Panchyat era, the country's monarchy has been abused by others. The Shah kings have been subjugated over the centuries by courtiers and bhardars. After the unification of the country by Prithvinarayan Shah, the true rulers of the kingdoms were the Thapa and the Pandey mukhtiyars. The rise of the army officer Bir Narsingh Kunwar (Junga Bahadur Rana, a maternal grandson of the famous Bhimsen Thapa) as a premier in 1846, and the 104-year Rana dictatorship left little room for the Shah kings to directly exercise their powers. The Pachayat era is an exception. Now monarchy of Nepal has again become an easy prey because it has become vulnerable.

King Gyanendra should not be turned into a scapegoat more than he deserves. Monarchy and a monarch are not always synonymous. True, an institution is different from an individual. To the fair discerning eyes it seemed that king Gyanandra tried to shift the quarrelsome democracy to a peaceful democracy. Constitutionally, he was merely acting like a president, as they do in other countries during times of crisis. In some states of India, there is presidential rule most of the time. Since the Lower House of Nepal appealed the king to apply article 127 of the constitution, the article of last resort and of conscience, and since the governments were unable to settle the Maoist crisis (instead, they were fighting one another) he tried to resolve the crisis in his own accord, though unsuccessfully. For hundreds of times (if not more) he told the national and international community that he is committed to democracy and constitutional monarchy and he asked only for three years' time. But we know what happened thereafter: The parties played revenge politics and did not listen to him. They boycotted elections (although the Terai region saw 70 percent participation in the municipal polls), and went to the streets. After the movement of April 2006, they went further and suspended monarchy itself.

Monarchy’s future
We all know we are not talking here about a monarchy that committed genocide or mass murders or anything like. The Rayamajhi Commission is not about such things, but does record atrocities against pro-democracy protestors and the killing of a score of demonstrators. Killing of even a single person is certainly unacceptable and it would have been far better had the king stepped down earlier. And, at the same time, we should not forget the much horrible atrocities committed by Maoists and government forces in the past decade. Moreover, even in last month's Terai protest, 31 people were killed by the government side. It may be tempting to find a master evil face in the king to explain the unexplainable in Nepal. But there are several such faces in Nepal and not just one.

We must not forget, particularly during these times of transition, that the institution of monarchy alone does not deserve all the blame for the Nepali ills. The political parties are also responsible to some extent for the mess as they created a background for the king's recent actions. The parties politicized every organization, including the academia. As an example, the executive heads of all the universities were forced to leave their offices following the new political developments in April 2006. All the posts still remain vacant. The government is not in a position to fill out the posts as they have a conflict in the division of the posts. Even for a promotion of staff of any office one should have political links. Cronyism is deeply entrenched in our bureaucracy. Influential party workers and governmental staff members are transferred to 'good offices' that are more lucrative, i.e. where corruption is possible. Corruption has become open.

What I see in the present efforts of the parties for abolishing the monarchy is that they are trying to hide their faults by blaming the king for all their misdeeds. The peace process has totally disregarded monarchy. What is the wisdom, for example, behind the criticisms against Girija Prasad Koirala for his saying that in a democracy everyone, including the King, must be given a space? We say we are for a non-violent change and for an inclusive democracy but we don’t even tolerate an institution that is the very foundation of our nationhood. We have become a society of bigots.

Many people in this country still believe in monarchy, at least a monarchy without state powers. But who is listening to their voices? This institution, for many, is symbolic of national unity. The Hindus of pre-dominantly Hindu country as well as millions of Hindus in neighboring India identify with Nepal’s monarchy.

Now the interim constitution has been declared, and it is a positive step for democracy. But democracy is based on popular aspirations, not on parliamentary declarations by unelected representatives. Do the majority Hindus of Nepal truly want a secular Nepal? Isn’t Hinduism itself a secular religion? Is that declaration based on popular consensus? The root cause of discord and backwardness are not monarchy or Hinduism. Nepal's immediate foes are corruption, injustice, inequality and lawlessness. If these are in order, there will be peace and development, no matter what type of system it is.

A change of system does not ensure a new Nepal. We need a new culture of individual responsibility where justice and fairness are the norms of daily life. And where rule of law reigns supreme. If a farmer goes to market to sell potatoes, for instance, he should be confident that he can sell them and return home safely. Unfortunately, this is not the case even after ten months of peace deal. Today even the police don’t bother to investigate cases of murder and torture. I have myself witnessed such cases in the hands of the police.

What puzzles me is that there is total public shunning of all things monarchical, despite the fact that there are millions of supporters of monarchy as well as other marginalized groups in the country. How long will this “spiral of silence” continue? At what cost? These people don’t get any floor to express their views. Every institution, even the news media, are overtly partisan and highly politicized. They have nothing positive to talk about monarchy. They are not fair and balanced. There is very little reporting on the significance of monarchy in our history.

We can expect little from political parties, whose history is a history of internal feuds. Their fruitless feuds helped the Maoist cause and their nationalistic slogans became louder and louder, as evidenced in the protest of Mahakali hydroelectricity and irrigation treaty with India.

A truly nationalist party, however, works for national unity and integrity, culture and democracy and against corruption, injustice, inequality and lawlessness for a rapid development of the nation, which would provide people the things of immediate need like electricity, water, communication and food for a reasonable price and make people feel secured. That would help bring peace. Peace is possible through inclusive democracy, not from separation or difference. And this is the will of the international community as well. But instead of securing peace and making it sustainable in this way the parties are again creating existential crisis.

There is no talk of national unity and integrity anymore. Peace cannot be secured even if monarchy is wiped out. The crisis in the Terai is an example. Becoming a republic does not ensure peace and development. Look at India, for instance. It is often wreaked by terrorist attacks. But I think there is relative peace under monarchy in many countries, not out of the terror of the kings but because the institution provides a sense of unity to the country. We should learn something from history. After king Norodom Sihanouk left the throne in 1972, the communist dictator Pol Pot killed between 1 to 3 million people within eight years of his rule. True, we are not another Sikkim. But our leaders, including the Maoist head Prachanda, dance to the tune of New Delhi.

A radical democracy may reject monarchy all together. But I believe most Nepalis are moderates. And they want a total renewal of their political system, but not at the cost of traditional assets. True, democracy must be able to retain the good aspects of the traditions. And Nepal’s monarchy certainly has some positive features. It epitomizes several millennia of our past stretching to the times of Balmiki and Vedbyas. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala may be right to say that some room should be given also to the monarchy. The existential problem of Maoists is being settled. What about monarchy’s existence? King Gyanendra restored the house only to be wiped out?

Previously kings exercised unlimited powers, and considered such powers as divinely given. In the constitutional monarchy, political parties began to act as if they were almighty. In a true democracy, no body is almighty. No matter what, justice should play vital role in this matter.

Therefore, it may be good to rethink on the agenda of doing away with monarchy altogether. And most important, if the king has to show his popularity at all, it should be done through free and fair referendum, not through the first meeting of the pre-planned constituent assembly.

2007-02-25

Dejà-vue-all-over-again: Prague 1948/Kathmandu 2007

Prachanda steps up tempo against monarchy

Maoist chairman Prachanda has intensified his call for the declaration of republic in the country right away.

Addressing a mass gathering in the western Terai town of Butwal on Saturday, Prachanda said the republic should be declared both by the parliament as well as from the streets. He said declaration of republic by parliament alone may not suffice and that it should be supported by street agitation.

"The monarchy will not be able to save itself even if foreign forces support it," he said at the mass meeting.

Stating that the Maoists had been the original party who demanded federal republic, Prachanda said the interim government including them must be formed immediately if the election for the Constituent Assembly is to take place on stipulated time. He claimed central leaders of his party would not keep personal properties for next 20 years to concentrate in the development of the country.

At the same meeting, senior Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai accused that reactionaries were trying to use some army generals to introduce army rule in the country.

Maoist leaders have been addressing a series of mass meetings in Terai towns since past one week. They have already addressed similar public gatherings in Biratnagar, Janakpur and Birgunj.
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They are everywhere, they even "collect donations" in the Parliament! Their "trade unoins" harrass hoteliers, demand punishment for the King, hijack school-kids, hide weapons.
Never mind 48-52% (accord.to diff. polls) still respect and venerate the King, we, the bolševiks, know better! As Prachanda´s role-model, the greatest mass-murderer of all time, Josef Visarionovič DŽUGAŠVILI a.k.a. STALIN
said: "Sometimes you have to chase people into paradise with a stick!"
Just wait... This is the End of the Beginning.
Year -1.

Legacy of 9/11: "US senior citizens" not pusies!

US tourist allegedly kills mugger with bare hands | Jerusalem Post

A tour bus of US senior citizens defended themselves against a group of alleged muggers, sending two of them fleeing and killing a third in the Atlantic coast city of Limon, Costa Rica police said on Thursday.

One of the tourists - a retired member of the US military - put assailant Warner Segura in a head lock and broke his clavicle after the 20-year-old and two other men armed with a knife and gun held up their tour bus Wednesday, said Luis Hernandez, the police chief of Limon, 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of San Jose.

The two other men fled when the 12 senior citizens started defending themselves. The tourists then drove Segura to the Red Cross where the man was declared dead. The Red Cross also treated one of the tourists for an anxiety attack, Hernandez said.
---
The moral of this story: After Flight 93 don´t F*CK with Americans, civilians or military, young or pensioners! They've seen the Daniel Pearl-beheading, the corpses hung on Falluja bridge, they know they got nothing left to loose... but their heads!

2007-02-22

Nepali Maoist Arrested Has Links With Laskar -E-Toiba, Says Indian Army

Nepali Maoist Arrested Has Links With Laskar -E-Toiba, Says Indian Army

Update 2007-02-26

Well, maybe we are victims of Indian Army manipulation:


Indian Army claim on Maoist-Lashkar nexus fictitious: Indian media

By Special Correspondent

KATHMANDU, Feb 23 - The Indian media quoting investigators on Friday ruled out the Indian Army's claim that a Nepali national, Pasang Lama, who was arrested in Kashmir 10 days ago, was a Maoist and that he had a nexus with the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba.

The Indian police had detained Lama on Feb 13 from Baramulla, Kashmir and had claimed that Lama was a member of the CPN-M and that he was trading weapons with the terrorist group Lashkar.

The Indian media today stated that Lama was neither a Maoist nor was he in Kashmir for the alleged arms deal.

"The claim (by the Indian Army) is not true. There was no deal at all. We have asked local police to reassess the case filed against him (Lama)," reported Hindustan Times, one of the top English dailies in India, in its Friday's edition quoting a security personnel involved in the investigation.

The Maoists have already dismissed the Indian Army claim.

Spokesperson of the Indian Army, Lt Col VK Mathur had said on Feb 13 that Lama was arrested by the Indian police along with Md Yunus, a member of the banned terrorist group Lashkar. Mathur had also mentioned that Lama, when nabbed, was making an arms deal equivalent of IRs five hundred thousand.

Lama was immediately sent to judicial detention.

In the investigation report, Lama has been described as a businessman dealing in Pashmina raw materials. The report also added that Lama exports the raw material to businessmen in Kashmir.

Lama was reported to have told the investigators that he was asked to accept an AK-47 rifle instead of his outstanding cash, which Lama rejected.

When he was arrested, the Indian Army however was not in a position to verify his involvement with the Nepali Maoists and the Maoists in Nepal had ruled out the claim laid by the Indian Army. Nonetheless, the Indian Army is still maintaining its claim that Lama is a Maoist and has links with Lashkar.

Mathur said, "Criminals never admit their crimes. We did not find any weapon on him but he has confessed that he came to make an arms deal."

---

Or the story is true, what would Nepali have to sell in Kashmir? Pasmina means Kashmere - that's were the word originated! So this is preposterous, just an excuse?

Lösar @ John´s

Steen took to the floor with Indu. The rock-band was from SIKKIM, and the singer, well she was Eve Cassidy´s younger sister!
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Shifting the goalposts


In The Pioneer > Columnists Sandhya JAIN writes:

The stoning of King Gyanendra's cavalcade on the auspicious occasion of Shivaratri, supposedly by egalitarian Hindu devotees objecting to the custom of royal precedence, suggests growing Maoist fears that the forthcoming election to the Constituent Assembly may not give them a winning mandate. Reports from Nepal indicate that the institution of monarchy continues to exert a mesmeric influence over ordinary people in the Himalayan kingdom, and the prospect of its abolition may be eroding the Maoist grip over popular imagination.

---

During a visit to New Delhi last week, Nepali Congress leader Sujata Koirala complained that the Maoists have gone "out of control" and are an obstacle to her country's transition to a full-fledged democracy. She claimed the Maoists have resiled from all promises, have not surrendered all arms or returned lands seized previously. Indeed, she said, the Maoist cadre is still threatening the people, the police and even foreign diplomats. Even former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has charged the Maoists of breaking their promise to return seized public property; he fears this could affect the Constituent Assembly election (The Rising Nepal, February 8, 2007).

Although Ms Koirala was too polite to express dissatisfaction with the UN's handling of the arms issue, in the light of India's sad experience with the UN mission on the Indo-Pak border, I can only surmise that a devious international game is afoot to give an unrepresentative bunch of thugs the control of this strategically vital nation. Not surprisingly, Ms Koirala, who is known for her political candour, has asked India to perceive the Nepal situation as a "fire in the neighbourhood", and take appropriate action before it engulfs us in turn. Given the grim situation in States battling Naxalite violence, not to mention ISI presence in both countries, the warning is apt. It remains to be seen if it has been well received; it is not clear which UPA leaders she succeeded in meeting during her stay.

Ms Koirala revealed that Nepal's greatest problem is law and order and that Home Minister KP Sitaula is widely perceived as being 'too friendly' with the Maoists, and hence unable to act decisively against them. She took public opinion by surprise when she defied her father, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, and openly demanded Mr Sitaula's resignation on the issue of the Terai violence. It appears that many political parties in Kathmandu are waking up to the reality of the 'coup' that has gifted the Maoists a major share of the interim Parliament, without any proven ability to truly represent the people. With arms surrender inadequate, and suspicions about UN collusion with the Christian leadership of the Maoists rampant (even if unstated), the constituents of the Seven-Party Alliance have found a heaven-sent escape route in the Terai flare-up.

The trouble in Terai broke out unexpectedly on January 19 this year, when the escort of Maoist leader Ram Karki shot at and killed Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum activist Ramesh Kumar Mahato in Lahan district. The situation deteriorated when the Maoists seized the dead body and forced the family of the deceased to immediately cremate the body. The resultant public anger boiled for three weeks, taking at least 38 lives and leaving several injured in police action, before a truce was called.

This brought international spotlight on the Terai's gross under-representation and forced Prachanda to agree to a draft Bill to amend the interim Constitution. Once approved by the interim Parliament, Articles 134 and 154 of the interim Constitution will be amended to provide a federal state structure and new constituencies in the Terai, as also additional seats for proportional representation according to the percentage of population growth. It is thus envisaged that 20 constituencies will be added in Terai and four in the hill regions. An additional 20 seats will be increased for proportional representation.

According to The Kathmandu Post, this means that the 20 southern districts, which comprise 48.4 per cent of the population, will receive 49 per cent seats in the Constituent Assembly. The remaining 51 per cent seats will be divided among the 55 hilly and Himalayan districts, which constitute 51.6 per cent of the population. This appears to be an equitable distribution, and it is to be hoped that the aged and sick Prime Minister will be able to execute the delimitation exercise properly.

Political empowerment of the aggrieved and anti-Maoist Madhesis, however, is unlikely to go down well with Prachanda, who is again busy shifting the goalposts, violating the spirit and substance of the November 21, 2006, accord. Indeed, less than a month after declaring peace, Maoist goons had resorted to large-scale violence and intimidation in Kathmandu on December 18, 2006, to force the Government to cancel the appointment of Ambassadors to 14 countries, including India. Now they are trying to muscle their way into the interim Cabinet without surrendering arms.

Given their unreliable nature, the original seven parties of the interim Government would do well to seize the political initiative, rather than let Prachanda dictate the national agenda. The SPA should dissociate from the plan to abolish the monarchy, and emphasise a truly federal polity. It should support retention of Hindu supremacy in the Himalayan kingdom, with safeguards against fraudulent conversions currently being pushed among border and marginal communities; already a major portion of Nepal's Buddhist community has been converted to Christianity in the past few years. The SPA should also call upon the Nepal Army to ensure free and fair elections in June, as it is virtually certain that the UN will fail to control the murderous People's Liberation Army.

Maoist excesses go unchecked

Elderly person thrashed by PLA men

DANG, Feb 19 - A group of Maoists from People's Liberation Army (PLA) beat up 63-year-old Tom Lal Bhusal of Saudiyar VDC-2, Beruwa on Sunday.
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Maoists continue labor camp

PYUTHAN, Feb 19- Months have passed since Maoist Chairman Prachanda abolished all "peoples' courts" and "peoples' government" run by them. However, over a dozen people continue to be 'detained' at a labor camp.
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Above just a few headlines from Kathmandu Post. As ever, those of us who PREDICTED this kind of behavior, are proven RIGHT.
It really reminds me of situation in 1948, when communist leader in Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald pressed old, ailing, tired
President, Dr. Eduard Beneš, into appointing him Prime Minister. The rest is history: we waited for another FREE ELECTIONS 41 years!!!

2007-02-19

It snowed again... after 62 years!

Some pictures from our compound on the day it snowed! Though it was around 13:00 in the afternoon, the tempeature plummeted to +1.6°C/abt.+34.9°F !
All afternoon we heard a roar of bikes and cars going flat-out up the hill to Nagarkot.

2007-02-06

Bustur varede 25 år

Udland Jyllands-Posten: "Jaeyaena "
Af LASSE NØRGAARD Jyllands-Postens korresondent
76-årig kvinde genforenet med sine otte børn, der troede hun var blevet kørt over af et tog. Hun havde blot taget den forkerte bus.

Endnu en kvinde, der har været forsvundet i årtier, er dukket op i Sydøstasien. Men i modsætning til "junglekvinden" i Cambodja har den 76-årige Jaeyaena Beuraheng boet i en relativ stor by, siden hun for vild for 25 år siden.

Den malaj-muslimske Jaeyaena tog en bus fra sin hjemby i det sydlige Thailand for at komme til den noget større by Narathiwat.

Måske troede hun at bussen kørte en gevaldig omvej, men det gik først rigtigt op for hende, at noget var gevaldigt galt, da hun stod af bussen i hovedstaden Bangkok 1.200 kilometer længere nordpå.

I håb om at komme hurtigt hjem igen brugte hun sine sidste penge på endnu en busbillet, men i stedet for at køre syd på, tog bussen hende yderligere 700 kilometer mod nord - til landets næststørste by Chaing Mai.

Som mange andre muslimer fra det sydlige Thailand kunne kvinden ikke tale thai, men kun bahasa. Ude af stand til at fortælle om sin fejltagelse måtte hun ernære sig ved tiggeri i fem år, indtil hun blev samlet op af politiet og anbragt på et hjem for hjemløse.

Personalet troede, at hun var stum, inden de for nylig fik besøg af tre studerende fra Narathiwat. Kvinden genkendte de muslimske klædedragter og en del af sproget, når de tre talte indbyrdes, og hun begyndte at kommunikere med dem.

Jaeyana er nu blevet genforenet med sine otte børn i det sydlige Thailand. De havde fået at vide, at hun var blevet kørt over af et tog.