NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Letter To President Bush from Nepalese Community

To Honorable President George Bush The White House Washington DC

Dear President Bush:

This letter of support for the bold and justified moves of His majesty the King of Nepal was prepared by more than forty members of the Nepalese community living in different States of the United States. We also organized a Peace Rally today in Washington DC. Rally co-ordination Committee has also collected signatures of more than 1400 Nepalese people residing in the USA and friends of Nepal. The list of signatures is included. In addition, a number of significant newspaper editorials and articles supporting the actions of HM the King from prominent newspapers from Nepal are added as exhibits to corroborate our own support.

As you know,Our election is schaduled for 8th of Feb. Altogether 72 parties registered for the 8 February polls. The Election Commission has also launched a nation-wide campaign for the maximum participation of people in the coming vote. The King has also ordered parliamentary polls before the expiry of its deadline.

As you also know, Nepal has been facing Maoists insurgency for the last nine years. As a result of the insurgency, more than 11,000 Nepalese people have lost their lives. Another 23,000 have committed suicide because they could not take the pain and suffering caused by the loss of relatives and property. It was just too unbearable for these individuals. Thousands have been very badly injured and disabled. Thousands of children have been orphaned. It is estimated that nearly a million people have been displaced and forced out of their homes and have become refugees either in the district head quarters or have moved to Kathmandu, the capital city due to the actions of the insurgents. Thousands have gone to India to look for manual labor jobs. Another 400,000 Nepalese people have gone to other countries (primarily to Arab countries, South Korea and Malaysia) in search of unskilled labor jobs. Many of them have died as a result of working in hazardous conditions. Twelve Nepalese workers were brutally murdered by Iraqi terrorists in Iraq.

The late King Birendra introduced democracy in 1990 as a result of demonstrations orchestrated by the political parties and the economic blockade from India. After the introduction of democracy, not a single elected parliament served a complete term of five years. The government changed thirteen times in fourteen years. Some prime ministers started having huge cabinets just to stay in power. At one point there were as many as forty eight ministers in the government. Members of parliament were bribed so that they would not vote against the government. The bribing was so fast and furious that at one point, they had no time to count the money. So, the prime minister started to weigh the money instead of counting so that money could be distributed fast enough so that the prime minister could stay in power.

There was constant struggle and fighting both within and among the political parties. Instead of concentrating on the welfare of the people, the elected government and members of the parliament resorted to all means of corruption. The personal interests of collecting wealth became the main focus of the members of the government and the parliament. Consequently, the party bosses became like the new kings. They abused the foreign loans and grants given by international agencies. Once the ministers themselves were involved in massive corruption, the whole government bureaucracy became corrupt. Some people became very disenchanted with the corrupt democratic system, and joined the Armed Maoists insurgency group.

The elected prime minister dissolved the Parliament in 2001 and promised to hold the general elections within six months. The dissolution of the parliament was approved by the Supreme Court. However, the same prime minister postponed the elections citing the reasons of violence by Maoists insurgents. Since the Prime Minister was unable to function, His Majesty the King using article 127 of the constitution fired the Prime Minister and appointed a new government in October 2002. The new government was asked to form a national coalition government, negotiate with Maoists and hold the general elections. However, the new government was unable to carry out its charge and consequently resigned. His Majesty the King appointed a new government and gave it the same charge. It too failed to carry out its responsibility.

When the second government appointed by the King failed to carry out its responsibility, His majesty the King asked all political parties to come together and recommend one person who will represent the political parties and form a national coalition government. The political parties failed to recommend the new prime minister despite of the repeated request by His Majesty. Finally, the government headed by Sher Bahadur Deuba was appointed by the King since no consensus candidate was recommended. Deuba was highly incompetent and failed to maintain basic law and order even in the capital city. An example of the lack of rule of law was when the news of the murder of twelve Nepalese citizens by Iraqi terrorists reached Nepal, a huge mob ransacked the whole city to show their anger and frustration. The government led by Deuba became a bystander and did nothing to prevent the mob from carrying out the destruction. It also failed to settle the Maoists issue and hold the general elections.

During all this time, the Maoists Insurgency was intensified. There was no rule of law. Corruption became uncontrollable. The whole nation was living in terror. The business community could not continue their work. School children were not allowed to go to school. Instead of concentrating on their studies, college students were used as tools for political gain by the political parties. There was a nationwide destruction of public and private property. The whole nation was sliding towards becoming a failed state. It was becoming an international terrorist's hub.

While the elected leaders and party bosses were busy protesting in the capital where it is relatively safe from Terrorist attacks, His Majesty the King took time to visit just about every region of the nation including those areas in Western Nepal where Maoists are supposed to have their headquarter. Every where he went people were crying for help. All these people wanted, was to live in peace and left alone so that they could carve out a meager living by working on their farms. People from every district and village wanted the King to establish direct rule so that the terrorists could be defeated and rule of law can prevail.

Please note that 90% of the Nepalese people live in villages and the only means of livelihood they have is farming. Nearly 72% of the Nepalese people are illiterate. More than 80% of the people make less than 58 cents a day. Nearly 20% of the infants die before they celebrate their first birth day. Ninety percent of the people have no access to health care. Less than 1% of the people have access to cable TV and less than 5% have access to telephone. According to a report published in Janadharna a weekly newspaper published in Kathmandu on Feb. 10, 2005, the political parties and their leaders have looted Rs, 92 billion. That is equivalent to US $ 1.5 billion. The Royal Commission appointed by HM the King is busy unearthing the looted money.

The majority of individuals, who represent a cross section of Nepalese people including the 70% illiterate people of Nepal and 90% of those who have no access to modern amenities, whole heartedly support the decisive moves taken by His Majesty. The King had absolutely no choice but to impose the state of emergency to prevent further death and destruction in the country. By taking this action, His Majesty has put his life and his throne at stake. Please believe us; if the King fails Nepal will turn into another Cambodia. The Pol Pots of Nepal will massacre nearly eight million people, that is, a third of the population of Nepal.

Right now, less than five percent of the people of Nepal support the political parties. Another 11% support the Maoists. However, the vast majority of the people living in villages both in the mountains and the terai, that is, nearly 83% of the people support the King's move. When there is a vast majority of people supporting the King, it is not fair on the part of the USA and other nations to disapprove the actions of His Majesty the King of Nepal. These temporary steps were taken by the King with a view to defeat the terrorists and maintain the law and order as requested by the vast majority of the people. Friends of Nepal must not be influenced by the propaganda of the corrupt political party bosses and their cronies.

The same countries which have opposed the steps taken by the King of Nepal have supported the military rulers in Pakistan, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, and many other countries. The UN and other countries which are opposing the actions of the King of Nepal do support the absolute rule by Kings of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Bhutan, Swaziland, and many others. In many of the Arab countries females are not even allowed to vote in any kind of elections. They are not allowed to show their face in public. Females are not allowed to drive. Well, no one has said anything about the human right of the people of these countries. Therefore, is it not a double standard to disapprove the temporary measures applied by the King of Nepal? The UN and EU and others also support the communist countries such as People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea and Cambodia Therefore, why is it a problem when the King of Nepal imposes a temporary state of emergency to control a communist insurgency and massive corruption by the government?

The political parties wanted to reinstate a duly dissolved parliament so that they could continue in their efforts to loot the country. The Supreme Court rejected out right the idea of reinstatement of the parliament. One cannot make a dead horse live again. His Majesty the King wanted to hold elections and mandated not one or two but three governments to hold the general elections. However, they all failed to do so. Many political parties were opposed to elections. What kind of political parties are these which oppose elections?

Therefore, on behalf of all those