Amnesty Aggies holds panel on failing Nepalese liberties
In front of a backdrop depicting a man with his mouth bound by a bandana bearing an “X” and the caption “Freedom of speech is a right, not a privilege,” a panel of Nepalese students and representatives from Amnesty Aggies discussed the decaying state of civil liberties in the south central Asian country.
“There are a certain number of things, as humans, that we need to agree [upon],” said panelist Dr. Ramesh Khanal, who is a native of Nepal. “Tolerance of others’ ideas is one. Even a baby, after his birth, the first thing he does is cry because he has demands.”
Sponsored Tuesday by USU’s chapter of Amnesty International and students from Nepal, the discussion focused on the violent Maoist movement in Nepal that is seeking Soviet-style absolute communism in the government and the subsequent response to the movement by Nepalese King Gyanendra. He has severely limited civil liberties, including freedom of speech and the press, since firing the prime minister and cabinet of the country and taking over absolute control of the government Feb. 1, 2005.
“In [King Gyanendra’s] speech to the nation, he said he has taken this action to curb [Maoist] terrorism,” said Abi Bhattachan, who is president of the International Student Council and from Nepal. “But all he has done is suppress civil liberties and suppress the people.”
After Feb. 1, Khanal said people started getting arrested for speaking out against the government.
“All prominent civil society activists – all of them – were arrested,” Khanal said. “All means of communication – everything, including the Internet – was shut down. All communication was mostly mouth-to-mouth. If you do not meet somebody, you do not know what is going on.”
The Maoist movement began to gain strength in 1996, Khanal said, and the violence has killed about 12,000 people to date. Maoists are employing violent tactics not only to get rid of opponents, but also to intimidate people into supporting the movement, sometimes kidnapping schoolchildren in order to indoctrinate them and bring them into the fight.
“They began killing and kidnapping and maiming and raping people at the grass-roots level,” Khanal said. The situation has been worsened by the government’s clumsy response to the violence, he said.
“A lot of people are antagonized because of the misguided and poor-planned government operations,” Khanal said.
Meanwhile, King Gyanendra, who acquired the throne from his brother in 2004 after the entire family was killed, has dismissed several prime ministers and finally taken over complete authority citing vague language in Article 127 of the constitution, which gives powers not traditionally given to the king to the “caretaker” of the state. The king has decided that he is that “caretaker.”
“If I am the head of house, I need to protect the house, not destroy it,” Khanal said of the king’s actions. “The king is killing all other articles of the constitution.”
“In a way, we’re seeing the same thing on the home front,” Amnesty Aggies member Ben Sharples said in reference to trimming civil liberties to fight the threat of terrorism. “Where do you draw the line? In Nepal, it’s been drawn much too far.”
This, agreed members of the panel, leaves the two factions – the Maoists and the king, fighting around the people of Nepal.
“It’s a very difficult situation and I think the real problem is that people are caught in the middle,” Sharples said. “The two ideologies of the two factions are supported by very few people. It’s two evils, really.”
Bhattachan said that the Maoists have some rural support because they are promising equal rights to women and to lower-caste citizens, who are equal by law but often not in practice. He also said it is difficult for any movement to get started against either faction with the restrictions of speech and press in place.
“If you go to the rural places, a majority of the people are just dragged into the civil war. They are uneducated, unemployed,” Bhattachan said. “Except for the major cities, I don’t think there are any major movements against the Maoists or the king.”
Kim Child, president of Amnesty Aggies, said the two goals of Amnesty International are to raise awareness of the abuse of human rights and to lobby for government action.
“We are the international community,” Child said. “Since we’re raising awareness, you think ‘Well, what do you do? What can be done?’ That’s where Amnesty International and other organizations come in.”
She said she was disappointed with the turnout to the discussion, which was held as part of the sixth-annual International Education Week. Fewer than 10 people were in attendance and most were International Student Council members.
“Obviously, we shouldn’t raise awareness during lunchtime,” she said.
Khanal said recent developments in Nepal raise some hope for peace, but it will take cooperation from both sides. The Maoists have already begun a ceasefire, but are still using intimidation tactics and even the ceasefire may not last if the king does not compromise, which he has not shown a willingness to do, Khanal said.
“The king or the government are not listening at this moment. Maoists are willing to disarm under the supervision of the United Nations, which I think is not too bad,” Khanal said. “I’d appreciate it if they’d do it themselves, but it’s not too bad.”
“So, we currently have three choices,” panelist Kishor Bhattarai, said. “One is the king, who is an absolute dictator. One is the Maoists. One is corrupt political parties.”
-jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu