Nepal is place of extremely varied geography. It has lush
rainforests, fertile agricultural land and of course, some of the world's
highest mountains. Besides, it is home to several different ethnic and
occupational groups. The Sherpas are famous traders and mountain guides,
the Manangs were primarily herders; both are of Tibetan origin. There are
Hindu Nepalis, Buddhists (Newari and Tibetan,) and there are also worshippers of nature
deities, many of whom are members of tribal groups.
The Newars
The Sherpas
Sher-pa is Tibetan for "easterner" > shar is east,
pa is person. Legend has it that the first settler was Padzin, a descendant of
Osel, a local deity of Kham in East Tibet. The route taken by the ancestor is traced from
Kham, Salmo-Gang to Shripal, in
Tibet, then to Rolwaling, and over Tashi Laptse (auspicious high pass) to Khumbu.
On the way, Padzin had to fight off evil spirits and
guardians of beyul, or hidden valleys. His descendants are the Paldorje clan,
founders of Khumjung.
Politics
Nepal has always had to walk a fine line between its two powerful neighbours,
China to the north, and India around its southern borders. Currently,
Nepal is experiencing a period of civil unrest.
- May 7, 2002: "The Terror In Nepal" by M. Moynihan (Washington
Post.)
Since 1996, when Maoist rebels began their assault on the fledgling democracy
in Nepal, some 3,000 Nepalis have been murdered. Rebels now control more than
half the countryside. An impoverished rural populace is daily terrorized by gang
rapes, abductions, mutilations and beheadings.
Last June [2001] Nepal's King Bhirendra and members of his family were massacred
during a palace dinner. The family killings left the nation in a state of shock,
which, predictably, emboldened the Maoists to penetrate the Katmandu Valley, and
the war has been raging since. Even as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba
prepared to meet here today with President Bush, the government in the past few
days has been carrying out a major offensive that it claims has taken the lives
of several hundred rebels.
Although no foreigners have been harmed in Nepal's turmoil, tourism -- the
country's primary source of foreign exchange -- has been crippled, leaving
millions of Nepalis without employment.
For years Nepal has been ignored by journalists and policymakers, earning only
occasional headlines when intrepid mountaineers are stranded on Everest. But the
collapse of law and order has perilous consequences for the whole of South Asia.
Since Mao Zedong's annexation of the Tibetan plateau in 1951, Nepal has been one
of the most critical and effective buffer states in Asia, poised between the
world's two most populous nations, Communist China and democratic India.
What do the Maoists want? Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, convener of the United
Revolutionary People's Council of Nepal, recently issued this statement:
"By ideological persuasion, we are for the ultimate withering away of all
national boundaries and the creation of a classless and stateless global
community, to smash the moribund parasitic classes of the arch-reactionary Shah-Rana
family and their close courtiers."
One would think this sort of Stalinoid cant had long ago been rendered
obsolete, but the grimly familiar 20th century phenomenon of socialist zealots
who justify a reformist agenda with a rigid ideology -- and enforce it with
psychotic brutality -- is spreading like a virus through this fragile Himalayan
nation, raising a threat to the delicate regional balance of power.
A nation of radically diverse ethnic groups, Nepal has a remarkable tradition of
cultural and religious tolerance. For four decades it has granted sanctuary and
citizenship to refugees from Tibet and has preserved fragments of many ancient
Himalayan civilizations. In 1990 the late King Bhirendra restrained the army and
welcomed a democratic revolution, unlike his neighbor Deng Xiaopeng. Yet Nepal
receives little recognition, or support, for these achievements.
In the past decade, while struggling to restructure a medieval feudal social
order with democratic institutions, Nepal has seen its population soar to 25
million (about 6 million more than Australia) without a parallel growth in
education and jobs. A young, disenfranchised populace is vulnerable to crime,
sex trafficking, smuggling and international terrorist operations.
In December 1999 an Indian Airlines flight originating in Katmandu was hijacked
to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The plane was returned to New Delhi after the
release of several terrorists in Indian custody, including Omar Sheik, who
recently took credit for the abduction and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.
Many Katmandu residents fear that if the Maoist insurgency goes unchecked, Nepal
could become a base for larger terrorist networks operating throughout Asia.
On Feb. 20, one week after 200 people were slaughtered by Maoists in western
Nepal, Prime Minister Deuba stated: "I appeal to the international
community to give us your support at this time of crisis. We announced our firm
support for the U.S. coalition against terrorism from the moment the U.S. asked
for that support. I cannot believe that the U.S. war against terrorism was meant
for terrorism only in Afghanistan."
Investing in nation-building in Nepal at this critical hour would be a less
costly measure than providing military assistance in the aftermath of future
carnage.
The writer [Maura Moynihan] has worked with refugees in India and Nepal for many
years.
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Kerala and Maharashtra are Indian states also known for leftist government.
Communist activists known as Naxalites have been active in the northeastern
part of India for several decades. The Naxalite movement originated in
West Bengal and is named after Naxalbari, a town involved in the 25 of May
1967 peasant uprising.
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