NEPAL: Business community bemoans worsening security situation
KATHMANDU, 29 August 2007 (IRIN) - Nepal's business community has expressed concern over the worsening security situation: industries and factories are closing down owing to constant protests, strikes, threats and extortion by former Maoist rebels and pro-Madhesi groups in the Terai region of southern Nepal.
Local entrepreneurs say the environment of fear and violence is costing their businesses dear, and this in turn has been affecting the livelihoods of workers.
Some haulage firms have been unable to operate and many industrial products are failing to reach the capital, Kathmandu, where over 60 percent of consumer goods normally end up. According to the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, the impact has never been so bad.
"It's a very demoralising situation," Binod Shrestha, a local entrepreneur, told IRIN on 28 August in Kathmandu.
A peace agreement in November 2006 ended a decade-long armed conflict between the government and Maoist rebels. However, the former rebels are not abiding by the agreement, according to reports by human rights organisations.
"The situation is much worse today than during the armed conflict because then we had to deal with only one group of rebels, but now there are many," said a local businessman who requested anonymity for fear of being targeted.
Maoists
Former Maoist rebels joined the interim government in April 2007 and disarmament and demobilisation are proceeding under UN supervision. However, activists of the local human rights group Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) say many ex-rebels are out in the streets helping the Maoist-affiliated Youth Communist League (YCL), trade unions and dozens of other Maoist-affiliated organisations.
"The Maoists force us to pay donations almost every month and this is extremely frustrating, with the government being unable to do anything," said an industrialist who preferred anonymity.
Senior Maoist leaders have denied involvement in extortion, while government officials said they have been putting pressure on the Maoists to stop any illegal activities.
According to rights activists, Maoist leaders are unable to control their supporters.
Madhesi protests
In addition, protests and strikes by various pro-Madhesi groups in the Terai region - a densely populated strip of lowland in southern Nepal running adjacent to the Indian border which is the agricultural and industrial heartland of Nepal - have been spreading fear among civilians, especially the traditional ethnic rivals of the Madhesi, the Pahades or hill people from the region. Many Pahades own industries and businesses and are seen by the Madhesi as oppressors.
"It's a traumatic situation for us as there seems to be no solution for dealing with the worsening anarchy and fear," said businessman Damodar Acharya, a senior member of the Nepal Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
"We can't sustain our livelihood any more in Nepal and now many of us are migrating to India where there is peace," said Ramu Biswakarma, a driver originally from Banke District, nearly 600km southwest of Kathmandu. "By next week, we will have nothing to eat at home."
Background on Maoists and Madhesi
The Maoists and the Madhesi are arch rivals and are not actively colluding to bring down the government. For example, 29 Maoists were killed in Gaur village of Rautahat District, 110km southeast of the Kathmandu, on 21 March by a pro-Madhesi group called the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF). The Maoists and Madhesi have separate aims and agendas:
The Maoists are communists who want to see Nepal become a republic. They have some sympathy with the Madhesi cause but also campaign for the rights of other minority groups throughout Nepal, not just in the Terai. Owing to the attacks on them by Madhesi groups, the Maoists want the government to ban the MPRF and other militant pro-Madhesi groups like the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM).
The Madhesi, on the other hand, are exclusively focused on winning more rights for the Madhesi community, which makes up nearly one third of the country’s 27 million people. They want the Pahade-dominated government and political parties to give them greater political rights and allow them to establish their own autonomous region in the Terai, which does not include Kathmandu, which is some 200km distant. They want more Madhesi representatives in parliament, and Nepal to become a federation.
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Copyright © IRIN 2007
This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
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