- Nepali Times

Letters

FROM ISSUE #394 (04 APRIL 2008 - 10 APRIL 2008) | TABLE OF CONTENTS

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POLL VIOLENCE

The Maoists have fielded a strong candidate in my constituency and I was considering voting for them. But now I have given up that idea and made up my mind that I cannot and will never vote for a party which disenfranchises people from exercising their voting rights.

Name withheld,
Lalitpur

. Zimbabwe's Mugabe and the Maoists are the same. Robert Mugabe used a YCL-type youth organisation to win the first constitution elections against Nkomo. Since then violence and intimidation have secured him success in every election. It is no surprise that the Maoists are following Mugabe's techniques. They do have a popular base but it is not sufficient to give them a majority of seats. Violence and intimidation have been their tools for many years, why would you think they will relinquish them now?

Kishor Kamal,
USA

TIBET

India has always maintained a huge interest in Nepali politics. But China only seems to be interested because of the Tibetans who are living here, and is now twisting the Nepali government's arm to make life difficult for them. Tibetans here are not even allowed to carry out a peaceful show of solidarity. It is unfortunate that the Nepali government has forgotten that it came to power through similar democratic protests. The harshness with which the Tibetan protestors are being treated is a shame for Nepal ('Cold blood', #392).

Yes, we all know that Nepal is a small country and comes under heavy diplomatic pressure but the country should not just kowtow to China on issues of human rights.

Name withheld,
email

DREAM ON

Our civil aviation authorities refused to grant permission to engineering students to test fly the ultra-light plane they designed ('Flight cancelled', #388) and Suraj Vaidya's idea of manufacturing three-wheelers in Nepal was rejected ('Making things happen', #393). Both show how narrow-minded our authorities are.

People are creative and inventive when no idea is regarded as being too wild, nothing too crazy. The young dare to dream, we must let them.

The students of the Pulchok engineering campus built the Danfe ultra-light with research and professionalism. And how does our government react? By being petty, throwing the rule books at them, being obstructive.

My son, Kirtan, spent endless nights to design, research, test and forage the metal scrap heaps for the right materials to build a 350cc motorbike called the 'Nepali Chopper'. It was an eight foot monster and despite the grime, grease (and stealth test runs at midnight) was a hunk of a machine.

He wanted to start a workshop to make custom bikes, but met one obstacle after another. Registration was denied. Just like the Danfe is sitting in a hangar in Pokhara, the Nepali Chopper also gathers dust in my shed. The dreamer is now in the United States designing and testing engines for launch in 2010 as part of a research team. Thanks to our bureaucracy and outdated laws, his dreams live on, but not in Nepal where they are needed the most.

Prabhu Ram Bhandary,
Kathmandu

CHILDREN FIRST

As Kul Chandra Gautam says in his Guest Column ('Children first', #393) children should be the first priority of the New Nepal that will be constructed after the polls. Fourteen thousand children dying every 14 weeks is dismal. Let's hope all the political parties, which claim to work for their people, will think about this number and try to reduce it. Children deserve to live better in the New Nepal.

Prerana M,
India

CLIMACTIC CHANGE

The World Bank has provided Nepal with $514,286 for clean development mechanism ('Climactic change', #393). But nobody is talking about who will manage the money or how transparently it will be invested. It's a shame that most of this money will probably disappear in various people's pockets in Nepal. Bhutan has a much better track record of transparency and sound utilisation of funds. Maybe we should emulate them.

Asish Dhakal,
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