What follows is from a friend whose pasal + godown were destroyed last Wednesday by the rioters on Kantipath (near the Qatar Airways building). *** Dear Sir/Madam: I am sure you are aware of the unprecedented incident that took place on September 1, 2004 -- destruction and vandalism in various part of Kathmandu by unidentified mobs. During the same incident, our retail store and godown, [ ] located in Siddhi Bhawan, Kantipath was completely looted and burnt down to ashes by the unruly crowd that attacked Qatar Airways and a dozen other establishments in Siddhi Bhawan. I was personally present at the site from the beginning to the end of the incident, and it was quite impossible for me to have done anything to counter the violent activities of the huge crowd, their attitude and their premeditated plan of looting. I say "premeditated plan" because I saw with my own eyes some members of the crowd breaking open the locks with steel crowbars they had carried with them. The violence continued unhindered for five hours (from 9 am to 2 pm) -- which is sufficient time to fly in security forces from neighboring countries if required. The fact, however, remains that we received no help from the government security forces despite continuous SOS calls. The fire brigades only arrived after the curfew was clamped at 2 pm, by which time the whole building was ablaze and nothing was left to be salvaged. The government has now formed a high-level investigation committee to assess the damage caused by the riots. By way of this letter, I am requesting your kind favor in mobilizing your contacts to lobby with the committee members and tell them that justice needs to be done and appropriate compensation needs to be given to the victims. I will forever remain indebted to you for your assistance. Sincerely, __________________ Siddhi Bhawan, Kantipath Members of the High-Level Investigation Committee: 1. Top Bahadur Singh, Former Justice of the Supreme Court 2. Narendra Pathak, Deputy Attorney General 3. Dr. Govinda B. Thapa, Additional Inspector General of Police 4. Shree Purush Dhakal, Additional Chief of National Investigation Department 5. Shushil Shumsher J.B. Rana, Joint Secretary of Home Ministry 6. A Representative of the Civil Society to be appointed by the Home Minster