The stats indicated that over 2000 messages originated from the US embassy in Nepal. There are SO many issues which these might relate to and which I cannot wait to see. What do the US really thing of Sushil Koirala? Have historical fears of far-left politics fed into a modern distrust of the Maoists? Did the US take a view on the 2001 massacre? What was their assessment of King Gyanendra? How did they discuss suggestions of war crimes by the Nepali Army at a time when the US was supplying that army with military aid?

Who knows…the possibilities are endless…but what it certainly true is that a new prism on Nepali politics will be opened over the coming months, and all those who care about what happens in Nepal will be watching with interest.

In that time many of the soldiers responsible for her murder have never faced justice, and have been promoted.

For that reason a new website has been launched: www.justiceformaina.com This site contains most of the original documents which the Nepali government has tried to suppress. It also contains a link to an online petition.

I urge you to visit, and spread the word.

I am biased on this one; I have spent a great deal of very happy time in Iceland and I feel alot more sympathy for them than Roy Hattersley.

I have a few comments:

1) Let us not forget that the Icelandic banks operated entirely within the laws of the UK. They were not modern Vikings sailing in to steal our money, we gave them our money in the hope that it would earn more. Whilst the Icelandic banks deserve criticism for their failings, our politicians (Hattersley included) deserve equal criticism for the lax regulation they introduced.

2)The way we have treated Iceland following the collapse has been reprehensible. By threatning to block their EU accession (some would say how lucky Iceland is…), using anti-terror laws, and generally strutting our major-economic-power stuff we have resembled the worst kind of playground bully.

3) One feature of British political life which is confusing to Icelanders is ego. Their politicans do not have enormous residences, flash cars, and huge security details. They do not present their opinions as facts. They do not make random accusations of brigandry based on the events of centuries ago. They do not act like modern brigands with their expense claims. And, most importantly, they do not come close to bankrupting their nation without asking their peoples’ opinion. They leave these vices to the British….Mr. Hattersley.

I don’t mean to suggest that either state is better than the other, but I have noticed the difference, and just as it feels strange to exercise new muscles so it has felt strange to go from one environment to another.

Nevertheless I could not be more delighted to have gone to Nepal. I was last there 4 years ago and left earlier than I would have wished and in circumstances which were not ideal. I had struggled to build a relationship with an orthodox Brahmin with whom I had not built the rapport I would have hoped for. It wasn’t my fault, but I have always regretted the way things panned out; a part of me has long suspected that had I been slightly older and wiser matters could have been dealt with better. What this experience did give me was a love of Nepal- I felt a tremendous affinity for the country and longed to return. To have arrived home this Christmas having had a wonderful time, having completed my tasks, and having achieved all that I hoped to has given me a great sense of perspective on all that happened in 2005 when I was last in Kathmandu.

Part of this is best explained by reference to this article by the great writer David Foster Wallace. He tragically committed suicide in 2008 and this article is almost his self-penned yet unconscious epitaph. His work (and this particular article) was drawn to my attention in Kathmandu by and American friend and I have found real pleasure, food for thought, and inspiration in that which he writes.

The article in question begins with a fable:

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”

At this point I nearly gave up. The prospect of a few thousand word of moralising sermon about us being the young fish and he being the old was almost too much. To my relief however Foster Wallace was one step ahead. He explains that the purpose of the story is not that he is the old fish, it is simply to demonstrate that ‘the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about’.

The simple truth that we have a direct link to our own thoughts and a much less immediate link with those of others is one such reality. It is this reality which means that we have a tendency to see ourselves at the centre of events. Foster Wallace did not present this as having any moral undertones, he simply called for us to acknowledge its truth:

This is not a matter of virtue — it’s a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.

He explained the importance of this by reminding us that

I have come gradually to understand that the liberal-arts cliché about “teaching you how to think” is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: “Learning how to think” really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.

The most poignant section of this argument (remembering that this is written by an author who subsequently killed himself) comes when he considers the effect of our tendency to focus on our own experiences and the benefit of thinking outside them:

It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in the head. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger. And I submit that this is what the real, no-bull- value of your liberal-arts education is supposed to be about: How to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default-setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone, day in and day out.

Why is this important? Well for me it has shown me something I have always known but never thought about- that actual anonymity has nothing to do with environment. I began this post by commenting that in Kathmandu it was possible to feel totally anonymous but in Kentmere it wasn’t. I have realised that the key to this is that in a small community the ties that bind us are more obvious: you are likely to know the names of those around you, their family and their business. It is this which makes us more likely to shift our viewpoint from ours to theirs. In a city, where you are one of many, it is similarly more likely to get lost in yourself and in your own problems.

The pleasant thing about my recent trip is that I have discovered that whilst it is possible to feel anonymous in Kathmandu it is not probable. It has been confirmed for me that Nepal is not a society where anonymity rules- it is hardly possible to ask for directions without a five minute prologue in which you discuss your family and business with a passerby, the simple act of having a cup of tea at a roadside stall requires a conversation about who you are and why you’re there, and strangers greet each other as brother, sister, mother or father. I have been reminded in Nepal that a city 4500 miles from home can still provide ample means to avoid ‘imperial’ loneliness (which in retrospect is how I felt in 2005) and for that I am profoundly grateful.

KATHMANDU, DEC 21 – Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari has come out strongly in defence of Maj. Niranjan Basnet, the Nepal Army official accused of murdering Kavre-based teenager Maina Sunuwar in 2004. The United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Chad deported Maj. Basnet two weeks ago after it discovered the serious nature of the allegation.

The UN and human rights groups want Maj. Basnet  prosecuted in a civilian court. The Army insists he has received clean chit from a Military Court of Inquiry and he can’t be tried again for the same case.

Bhandari told Maj. Basnet’s relatives on Monday “there would be no injustice” to him from the government. Basnet’s kin asked Bhandari “to defend him as he had already been acquitted” by a Military Court of Inquiry in September 2005.

Maj. Basnet has an arrest warrant in his name from Kavre District Court for his alleged involvement in Sunuwar’s murder and suspension from service. He is currently in the custody of the military police at the Army Headquarters in Kathmandu.

“The government is aware that Major Basnet has received a clean chit in the case. He followed orders of the government and his institution according to the exis-ting Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Act,” the defence minister’s Press Adviser Subash Devokta quoted Bhandari as telling Basnet’s relatives. “You need not worry about his future.”

Following repatriation, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had directed the Army to immediately produce Basnet before a civilian court.

The Police Headquarters on Dec. 13 sent a letter to the Army demanding that he be handed over. The Army said it would decide only after it looked into reasons behind his repatriation.

On Monday, the Army constituted a three-member Military Court of Inquiry under the chairmanship of Brig. Gen. Pradeep Bahadur Singh to look into the repatriation.

“The inquiry body was formed to investigate causes behind Basnet ‘s repatriation while he was in the middle of a mission despite his acquittal by the military court in Nepal,” said Army Spokesman Brig. Ramindra Chhetri. He said “further action” on Basnet would be based on the findings of the Court of Inquiry, which

will start its work from Tuesday.

The Army says the Court of Inquiry found Army personnel Boby Khatri, Amrit Pun and Sunil Adhikari guilty in the murder of Sunuwar. Basnet, however, was found to be innocent as he had only, according

to the Court of Inquiry, arrested and handed over Sunuwar to Panchkhal barracks. “He, the enquiry concluded, was only following the commanding officer’s order,” said Spokesman Chhetri.

A few observations:

1) The military court of inquiry referred to is the same one which eventually commenced charges against three of the perpetrators of the attack. Their eventual sentence was six months imprisonment for negligence in the carrying out of orders. In other words it didn’t even recognise that an unlawful killing had taken place- it merely felt that Maina’s death was a result of negligent behaviour. On any reading of the facts Maina Sunuwar was tortured- to relegate torture to negligence is a grotesque parody of law.

2)I note that the Defence Minister points to the fact that he was only following orders. This is indeed an interesting line of defence. I only wish that the learned Minister had been present at the Nuremberg trials to advance such sterling argument. Oh, wait a minute, I remember now…I think someone might have tried that one before…I don’t think it worked.

3) The minister should take note- the Kavre District Court have issued a warrant against Major Basnet. In those circumstances proceedings are continuing against him. I do not comment (or presume to bore you)  on Nepali sub-judice rules or any of the legalities of the Minister’s decision. I do state that the Minister is quite wrong to interfere with the courts. This is a blatant attempt to invade the jurisdiction of the District Court by a member of the executive. It is profoundly unhealthy and unhelpful.

4) It is disappointing that this shows fault lines in the government on this most important issue. Such fault lines must be avoided- as soon as they provide a hiding place for those who torture they are a source of impunity. Such impunity will damage Nepal.

5) That Facebook group still exists….http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=221155176833&ref=mf

P.S.

In reference to my last post, these were clearly not my final thoughts, they are extremely important however and justified breaking the schedule.

My final three days in Nepal (for the time being at least) were taken up by a bandh. As well as reinforcing the points in my last post this did show up some of the best sides of Nepal.

On one day Sarah and I had decided to take a mountain flight- an opportunity to get as close to the summit of Everest as I ever want to be. We woke early, uncomfortably early in fact, and began to walk to the airport. I have always loved this type of early morning walk, the chance to see Kathmandu before she puts on her face, all huddles of strangers round kerosene stoves, waiting for that shot of oh-so-sweet tea which heralds the day. That morning they were interspersed with riot police looking, outlined by the orange flames of the stoves, like teracotta warriors waiting for battle.

There are one or two problems with that gloom though- problems which I ably demonstrated by disappearing into a large hole in the pavement midway through a particularly coherent explanation of Nepali politics (on looking back I realise that I may have also demonstrated that Sarah’s prayers can be answered).

Notwithstanding such travails we arrived at the airport safely, checked in and waited, and waited some more. I am not the world’s most patient person. I began to fidget. After some more time I obtained Sarah’s agreement to begin investigating the delay. After a short discussion the managers of Buddha Air appeared. It seemed that we were the only people who had bothered to turn up for the flight, forgetting us, they had promptly cancelled it. Nevermind though said one, grabing our boarding passes as he spoke, they’d put us on another airline’s flight- no need to recheck in, no formalities, here were the boarding passes. Marvelling at this standard of organisation (and a trifle concerned that an undetectable con was taking place) we got ready to go.

It was worth it at every level. I love mountains- I turn to them in every situation, but this was something different, to see a point close at hand and know that no ground is higher is remarkable, I felt moved and even slightly tearful.

The second thing to say is this. I have found blogging a lot more enjoyable than I expected. There is one more purely Nepali post coming- final thoughts or some such- but then this blog will not die but (in very Nepali fashion) be reincarnated as a general place for me to scattergun the various topics I’m interested in (including Nepali politics). Fortunately my Drawing Room has always contained these many interests as well, and my travels are far from over. I will be delighted by any readers and hope some you keep coming back. For now though (in truly daytime TV fashion) all I’ll say is Merry Christmas!

It can’t have been easy: one day you were leading a violent band of insurgents, the next you were Nepal’s first ever Maoist prime minister. “We campaign in poetry, but govern in prose” they say and it couldn’t be more true for the Maoists: your fight had all the ideological fervour and rhetoric for which the left are justifiably famous. Your government was a flat failure. The problem in my view is that once you have been a violent rebel its hard to move on to more constructive politics. To be honest your government resembled the worst kind of playground- even the reason for your leaving the government bore a close resemblance to a child throwing their toys from a pram.

So what are the problems?

1) There is no need for a political party apparently committed to democracy to have a violent youth wing. I know that you try to pretend that the Young Communist League is just like the Young Conservatives of 1980′s Britain but at the end of the day they never had martial arts training, turned up on mass at riots, beat people up, or enforced ideological protests. And (just in case it had escaped you) everyone thought they were quite weird anyway. The tragedy with the YCL is that all you are achieving by politicising the really young is ensuring a lifetime of disillusionment. It is absolutely unacceptable to create a situation in which you have instilled violent protest as a legitimate means of expression in the future of your country. You are planting very dangerous seeds.

2) It is outrageous to constantly refer to civilian supremacy and democracy and then force those who don’t agree to follow you. I have encountered genuine fear in Nepal in the last few days- the fear that unless they followed the orders of your men and shut up shop, genuine, honest and hardworking Nepalis would end up in hospital. A general strike has no legitimacy if it is only in place because of thuggery.

3) You and your party are happy to shout from the rooftops about their rights but have little respect for others- take the journalist who your cadres beat up and left to die. You have yet to apologise to her or to criticise those responsible. You have shown yourself to be both weak and morally vacuous. Dissent is healthy and should be welcomed in any political system. By crushing it you have simply damaged the fabric of Nepali political life.

4) Have you heard of the Balkans? Ethnic politics are dangerous, seriously dangerous. To employ cliche ‘fools rush in where angels fear to tread’ yet you have rushed in to the creation of ethnic autonomous states in Nepal with an astonishing disregard for the dangers. I know the history of Nepal. I understand that Nepal used to be a collection of kingdoms. I also believe that it would be mad to turn back the clock. The creation of these states will intensify ethnic rivalry. What will happen when one state sees that another is more wealthy? Before it was simply a question of location. Now it will be a point for ethnic conflict.

You are not a saviour. Your are not a visionary. In fact you are truly fierce, fierce in that you will destroy this country, fierce in that you are setting the seeds of ethnic conflict. I love Nepal, I have seen it as a kingdom and a republic, I laud you for that which you have done right (joining the peace process for instance), but in your present incarnation you are no statesman. It is statesmen which Nepal needs now more than anything.
Yours etc….

Our eventual arrival in Bhaktapur (or Telos to continue stretching my political analogy to breaking point) demonstrated that those who say that ‘it’s not the destination it’s the journey’ are exactly as smug, self satisfied and inaccurate as we have all always expected. Bhaktapur is a wonderful place, less obviously commercial than Kathmandu and a whole lot more charming for that reason. It sits in the far reaches of the valley, with the terraces of the hills shelving up behind. The city was, and is, home to a flourishing community of artisans and the buildings all bear tribute to their efforts- stunning shrines to individual talent, which remain wonderfully unspoilt

We had a wonderful day getting lost in the streets of Bhaktapur and taking in this beautiful old city

We then returned for a 12 course Nepali meal- it wasn’t actually meant to be 12 courses- I ordered that number by accident- but it was delicious, even if we are still feeling quite full!

Maina Sunuwar’s Mother holding her photograph

“How can any man be said to have a happy life when its violent termination brings to his attackers not only impunity, but the height of glory?”

As of this morning it is reported that the Nepal Army are refusing to give a date when Major Niranjan Basnet will be produced in court. It seems that the Chief of the Army, General Chatra Man Singh Gurung has gone on holiday sorry ‘important military business’ to India (where in fact he is being made an honorary general in the Indian Army) and in his absence no one knows what to do.

What has been decided is that another military court-of-inquiry will be established- this time to look into the circumstances surrounding the UN’s decision to repatriate Basnet. Interestingly this decision was taken by acting chief of the army Major General Toran Jung Bahadur Singh. He has a fairly questionable human rights record himself- he commanded the notorious tenth brigade, including the Bhairavnath battalion, during 2003-04 which had a particualrly unpleasant habit of “disappearing” those who were thought to be against the regime.

So- he can establish an entirely new court of inquiry of his own volition but he can’t comply with a direct request of the police. They wrote to the army requesting custody of Basnet but were told to wait. Major General BA Kumar Sharma (the army’s chief of legal affairs) explained that they hadn’t yet had a chance to read the letter.

So many generals…so few people to actually do the paperwork it seems.

That facebook group is still open you know….

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=221155176833&ref=mf

The case of Maina Sunwar has become one of the most significant for the entire Nepali Human Rights movement. The facts, briefly, are as follows. In 2004 Maina Sunuwar, aged only 15, was at home in Kavre District near Kathmandu. Her mother was away. A group of soldiers arrived searching for her mother, when they heard of her absence they took Maina instead. She was taken to a nearby military base.

In the course of the next 1 1/2 hours she endured appalling torture. That torture included electrocution and drowning. After this she was blindfolded and left to die. The soldiers buried her in a shallow unmarked grave.

The full facts are given here: http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/313/FromtheNepaliPress/12418

Those responsible have never received an appropriate trial or sentence. Whilst a military court did find some of the perpetrators, they received a sentence of only six months.

One of those involved, Major Niranjan Basnet,  was until recently  (by a cruel twist of irony) a leading UN Peacekeeper in Chad. On hearing the allegations against him the UN have repatriated him to Nepal. The Nepali government is trying to avoid putting him on trial. Whilst he was ‘arrested’ on his return he was placed in the custody of the Army. They have track record of ignoring the dreadful facts of this case.

For those interested a Facebook group has been established to put international pressure on the Nepali government to take action. Amnesty International have found that groups such as this can be extremely effective.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=221155176833&ref=nf

I urge you to join.