If I was a poor, jobless Nepali my best bet would be to go to Iraq. I can earn three times more than in Kuwait, and if I am killed by terrorists, I will get Rs 1 million from my government, one of my family members will get job with the Khethan group and my dependants will get charity from funds created by FM stations. I may have been born unlucky, but I die lucky. At least I will die with dignity and my family would be taken care of. If there is anyone to blame for the 12 Nepalis killed in action in Iraq it was a succession of incompetent governments in Nepal. They denied us good education, jobs, social welfare, health care. They denied us dignity of work in our own country and pushed us out. And even when the Nepali hostages were pleading for their safety, the government dismissed them as law breakers. As Kunda Dixit says in his poignant 'Black Wednesday' (#212) what about compensation for the 10,000 Nepalis who have been killed in their own country at the hands of fellow-Nepalis? Many were tortured and butchered just like the Nepalis in Iraq-and their blood soaked the soil of their own motherland. Unless more is done for peace and development in our own country by our own government more Nepalis will continue to die in Nepal and abroad. That is what governments are supposed to do: protect citizens from harm's way.

Anup Raj Upreti,
Kathmandu