NEPALI AMBASSADOR DR. MASKEY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO CHINESE PRESIDENT HU

NEPALI AMBASSADOR DR.MASKEY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT HU

Kathmandu, 1 March.: Nepalese Ambassador to China, Dr Mahesh Kumar Maskey presented his credentials to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday, RSS s reports.

On the occasion, Chinese President Hu said that the two countries have been enjoying historical relations and hoped that the relations between the two countries would further deepen in the days ahead, said Ram Prasad Subedi, Councilor at the Nepalese Embassy, Beijing.

On the occasion, Nepalese Ambassador Mr. Maskey said that Nepal was committed to ´One China policy´ and expressed the confidence that the relations between the two countries will be more harmonious in the future, Subedi told RSS.



________________________________________



OPINION

Nepali Congress faction desperate to be ‘different’
Kathmandu, 1 March: A group of Nepali Congress leaders is in search of an avenue to appear different, sound novel and exude an aura of intellectualism. Among them are members of the Constituent Assembly like Nara Hari Acharya, Suprabha Ghimire, Gagan Thapa and Gopal Man Shrestha, TrikaalVastavik writes in People’s Review.
At a time when much of the debates in public, parliament and the press are focused on parliamentary and presidential systems of government for a “secular, federal, democratic republic of Nepal,” it is interesting to note that the faction of the country’s oldest functioning political party is holding arm-chair talks with some of their party members on finding a third model.
Never known for any definitive ideas on such serious issues, the group is lost in the lack of audiences willing to hear them out with patience and, hopefully, keen interest. In fact, it did not shake any leaf in the party branch.
When their own party members do not take them seriously, it is extremely rare for the general public to be enthused by their search for a better, if not perfect, model. Mercifully for the NC “youth leaders,” one or two newspapers gave coverage to their views. Public relations with journalists help in Nepal; more so, when some reporters or even editors are tilted toward one party or other.
Those in the habit of talking tall, especially when they sight journalists around, do what they are best at: seeking a morsel of publicity. As for the scribes who cover the leaders, it is inexplicable as to what prompts them to do so. Perhaps proximity to the politicians, or outright party affiliation, or sheer lack of depth that make scribes hanker after leaders who make empty promises with the knowledge that cutting comments are not made by “friendly” or “ignorant” journalists.
Media educators could perhaps make insightful comments based on their studies of contemporary media trends and practices in Nepal and other parts of the world. This observer, however, suggests that the NC rank and file devote quality thought on reviving the sagging morale and strength of the organization that boasts of having led “all democratic” movements that ended up “successfully.”
Every now and they NC members recall B.P. Koirala, little realizing that either the late leader’s stand taken 36 years ago is irrelevant or the party members need to make amends for the lapse they made in upholding constitutional monarchy and democracy.
The NC never suffered the kind of drubbing it did in 2008 when it could not obtain even half the number of seats the NCP (Maoist) secured in the polls for the Constituent Assembly. The Maoists were pressing for a republic since long. The CPN (UML), as is its wont, played a double game of accepting monarchy with a semblance of reservations but plunging into the Maoist agenda once it became clear which way the winds stoked by some INGOs that sought to liberate Nepali souls through religious conversion were blowing. B.P. would never have condoned what his party does today.
Many “NGOs” willingly upheld the inquisition whose history will be written by their brethren only after decades, that is, if there are no repercussions. Their benefactors, meanwhile, have been filing periodic reports to their religious bosses and funding sources in Europe. A “rationalist” with a powerful pen in Europe, during a recent trip, confided that the campaign for religious conversion will be stepped up next year. But he did not elaborate as to why “next year” and not “this year.”
There is a faction within the Nepali Congress that takes serious note of the development of INGO-sponsored agendas ruling the roost with gay abandon after the onset of what is touted as “loktantra” whose characteristics are yet to be defined and detailed. Most of its members were at one time openly in Sher Bahadur Deuba’s camp.
Most Nepalis are frustrated and fed up with the political parties and their leaders who speak on their behalf but hardly ever act for them when it comes to taking concrete action.
It is more than a decade since the last local body elections were held. The “loktantrik” years have not witnessed any elected local government in the 5,000 village development committees. The major political parties (Maoists, NC and UML) have been monopolizing local bodies, where according to a study by a Harvard economist and a former Nepali chief secretary, corruption is 80 percent, except for a few that are running relatively well with “30 percent corruption”.
Going by the incidents of human rights violations and crimes in general, Nepalis today are witnessing the worst in 60 years since multiparty democracy was first introduced in 1951. Prices have soared; corruption is indexed as one of the worst in the world; law and order has completely broken down; and international standing is confined to past performances.
What is prevailing is a polarized political climate not just in the course of poll promos and speeches but round the year and virtually at every place, with animosity and opportunism serving as the two pillars of the existing regime.
Even with a proper prefect, you never get a perfect model for effective practice. Nara Hari, Gagan Thapa and their ilk never spoke against the ruthless activities of their party leadership but only tried to create a space for him in the public to appear as an intellectual par excellence.
Acharya’s actual knowledge of any issue is berated by his former colleagues in the Nepali department of the Tribhuvan University. “Punditry is no intellectualism,” said an academic with more than three decades of experience and has watched the NC leader from close quarters.
Yet, Acharya is not alone in such masquerading. If he were, one would not worry at all.
There are many others who put up a pretense of being liberal, open-minded and well-respected. In reality, they are bent on grinding their axes at any opportunity. They relish flatteries that praise them high and downgrade other senior leaders of their own party.
A free advice to such leaders is that they would do a great service to their own organization if they pulled themselves into convincing their party leadership to introduce inner-organizational democracy, shed any fear to make a critical assessment of their own performance and take to the public agendas they believe in and intend to uphold to the end. This is no new model in a functioning democracy but something novel for Nepali political parties.
Nnnn