Normal life thrown out of gear as curfews, protests continue Normal life in the Kathmandu Valley and elsewhere has been crippled as the government’s curfews and the general strike carried out by the seven opposition parties continued on the sixth straight day on Tuesday. Transportation service, both long and short route, has come to a halt and almost all parts of the country and education institutions, businesses including banks and markets have been closed. Tens of thousands of people going to the districts remain stuck in Kathmandu while those on their way to the capital city have been stranded at various places as transportation services have come to a complete halt from last Thursday when the general strike called by the seven-party alliance (SPA) started. Reports said dozens of tourists who were to return to Kathmandu have been stranded in the western resort town of Pokhara and various other places. In the meantime, a group of over 100 carried out a candle rally in Pokhara to protest the manhandling of a Japanese tourist by the police on Monday. The Japanese visitor whose name appeared in media reports as Toksang had gone out of his hotel at Lakeside to dine at a nearby restaurant when he was stopped by the policemen and beaten up along with the hotel owner who had accompanied him. Tourism is one of the many sectors hard-hit by the continuous curfews and the general strike of the parties. Says Bishnu Soti of Nepal Tourism Board, “Although we have been doing our best to arrange emergency services for tourists, the curfew and the ongoing general strike have badly affected the tourism industry.” He, however, said no there were no reports of tourists caught in violence. Meanwhile, due to continuous closure of markets and transportation service, the prices of necessary goods have skyrocketed and shortage of food items, especially vegetable, is looming large in Kathmandu. “The price of vegetable has almost doubled while we don’t see fresh vegetables in the market,” a shopper at Kalanki vegetable market said. Crowds were seen at vegetable markets around Kathmandu in the morning as the night curfew imposed within Ring Road ended at 4:00 a.m. but shops in busy areas remained closed due angry protests ensuing in different parts of the city. In interior areas, retail shops looked busy as the local residents rushed to store goods. For most city dwellers compelled to stay indoors in daytime due to curfew, it’s been a terrible experience. “I’m feeling choked staying indoors for days while my work has been affected. Worse still, there are no signs of immediate respite from this situation,” says Narayan Kandel of Baglung, who runs an English language institute at Sohrakhutte, Kathmandu. “Things are getting worse. Life of people depending on daily earnings has become tougher,” a seemingly frustrated Kandel told Nepalnews. What frustrates him more is the prospect of further confrontation between the agitating parties and the royal government. “We have had too much of anarchy, violence and wrangling. Now time has come for the King to listen to the agitating parties and start reconciliation process. This can be the first step towards establishing peace in the country,” he added. Says Soniya Sharma, an MA student says, “Everything has come to a halt due to the curfew and the strikes. Educational activities have been disrupted for over a week now as colleges are turning into battlegrounds. How long will this situation continue?” In the meantime, mobile phone services have been snapped in Kathmandu and many other districts since Thursday morning. The workers’ union of the Nepal Telecom said the company has already suffered a net loss of Rs. 2.5 billion due to frequent disputation of services by the government. Including the telecom workers’ union, trade unions of civil servants, bank employees and doctors seem unhappy with the ways of the royal government. Now, they have expressed solidarity to the ongoing pro-democracy movement. Doctors and nurses working in major hospitals in Kathmandu like TU Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital, Gangalal Heart Center and Thapathali maternity hospital carried out dharna (sit-in protest) in support of the movement and against the government clack down. Citing possible violence and loss of properties in the agitations, the district administrations of Kathmandu and Lalitpur clamped night curfew from last Wednesday. On Thursday, the first day of the nationwide general strikes, 13-hour daytime curfew was imposed from 7:00 a.m. Since then day curfews have become a regular phenomenon and so has violence. Seven-party protesters came out on the streets to defy the curfew. On Tuesday, the authorities relaxed the day curfew by two hours – starting from 12:00 in the afternoon till 5:00 in the afternoon. Outside Kathmandu, Kaski, Chitwan and Kavre districts have witnessed growing tension following the death of three agitators, one each in three districts, when security forces opened fire at the protesting crowds. Curfews continue in these areas while reports of clashes between the protesters and the police pour in from other parts of the country as well. Over a thousand pro-democracy activists have been arrested and hundreds others injured during protests across the country in the last six days. Those injured and detained also include journalists, human rights defenders, professionals and civil society leaders. The government says the Maoists have infiltrated the protests and are triggering violence while the SPA has said this is a lame excuse for the government to crackdown on what call ‘final push’ for total democracy. nepalnews com Apr 11 06