RAJU SHRESTHA

While the media continues to mull over Girija Prasad Koirala's demise, Nepali legacies of a more martial kind are taking shape home and abroad.

What has been the legacy of the British Gurkhas' collective contribution to the ever-shrinking empire of Her Britannic Majesty? Last July, actress Joanna Lumley crowned her victory in helping secure UK settlement rights for veterans with a lap of honour in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Damak and Dharan. She was hailed as a 'daughter of Nepal'. This year, sad tales of Gurkhas hoodwinked into shelling out their savings to end up penniless, jobless and even homeless in the dead-end British army town of Aldershot have begun to surface. Was this the dream the campaign fought for?

In the Tarai, the lawlessness and corruption that has proliferated in the aftermath of our own civil conflict and prolonged political instability is giving rise to another, more frightening legacy. It was bad enough that food crops were being displaced by cannabis. Villagers with no alternatives are now turning to highly lucrative opium cultivation, helped along by Indian middlemen and local politicians and police. The road to Afghanistan is a short one.

On a more positive note, Nepal may still be dragging its feet on signing up to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, but significant progress has been made in clearing landmines: it is estimated the last of 53 army minefields will be cleared by mid-2011.

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