This is in response to Ashutosh Tiwari's 'Banda Aid' (Strictly Business, #196). He mentions five days of strike in two weeks, but forgot the blockades and strikes in other parts of Nepal. This week saw a 12-day strike in the eastern districts, I don't think any media even carried this news. But I agree with Tiwari that there are ways to end bandas. The government can pass laws, but will the bunch of leaders that we have elected follow that law? They have never cared about anything other than their self-interest. Be it Maoists or the five party alliance, if they even cared for the nation, they would not call frequent bandas. A terrorist is defined as a person who engages oneself with public destruction. In that sense, our political leaders are no different than terrorists: they destroy national property, economic developmnent, endanger national security and have plunged us back into the dark ages. If any one of the Maoists leaders or five party leaders have some common sense, they would work towards reforming the nation through their ideologies of development rather than destruction.

avesh Saria,
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