Your editorial Suicide (#28) certainly encapsulates conditions in Nepal. on 31 January my Nepali business partner and I were leaving the popular Harati Restaurant and Bar near my home in Naya Bazaar at about 8 pm. We found the police hauling customers to a police van to be taken to jail. I protested (in English) and abusive obscenities were shouted at me in Nepali (which I understood). Rather than go to the police van, I walked to my scooter a few metres away, followed by two police officers demanding to smell my breath, evidently for alcohol. They noted only the scent of supari and let me go after inspecting my driver's license. My partner, instead, was forced to spend a night in jail paid for by His Majesty's Government. What is the purpose of all this: the enforcement of the law or the abuse of it, for what, hapta uthaune? These and other harrassing tactics toward an already disenfranchised citizenry creates more hopelessness and "negativism", as the US ambassador recently pointed out. As your editorial summarised: "and where went carpets and garments, tourism is sure to go". Harrassment of unsuspecting tourists and foreigners, not to speak of Nepalis, will add fuel to the self-destructing flames of an industry on the threshold of suicidal collapse.

John Snyder
Executive Director, Pilgrims Publishing