Skewed morality & national healing

As a law student long ago, I heard from my professor a story of skewed justice. An American judge saw an assassination taking place in front of his eyes. The murderer appeared before him in court. Clever lawyers argued on behalf of the murderer. The twelve-person jury decided that the defendant had actually killed no one. The judge freed the murderer, but also resigned from his post. When he failed to convict a felon he had seen in the act, he could not continue the office anymore.

In 1999, at a New Delhi restaurant, Manish Bhardwaj, the son of a Haryana politician, shot dead Jessica Lall because she refused to serve drinks after her restaurant had closed. Because Manish had his politician-father behind him, he succeeded in intimidating witnesses. In February 2006, the court acquitted Manish and his two friends. Only a public outcry re-opened the investigation which led to Manish receiving life-imprisonment in December that year. This event inspired a movie No One Killed Jessica. (Last year, a native artist satirised the Nepal Army with a cartoon, No One Killed Maina Sunuwar.) These true stories highlight how clever lawyers can often make a wrong appear right.

A hundred and fifty one lawyers volunteered to argue on behalf of Minister for Information and Communications Agni Prasad Sapkota in the Supreme Court. On May 27, human rights activists had filed a writ seeking nullification of the appointment of Sapkota as a minister. The "noble" lawyers felt that these petitioners were obstructing the peace process and delaying the constitution-writing. The Maoist leader Sapkota had evidently instructed the abduction and killing of a Kavrepalanchowk resident Arjun Lama on April 29, 2005. Not all 151 lawyers received the opportunity to defend Sapkota in the court; but many did it voluntarily (without taking a single paisa from the “poor,” proletariat Maoists) so that he could remain in the office. On June 21, the Supreme Court decided that Sapkota should continue his office. Should not these lawyers have advocated voluntarily for Lama’s wife Purnimaya instead?

As a minister from the UCPN (Maoist), Sapkota has many things in his favor. He has power. His party boasts of most members in the parliament. These 151 lawyers probably wanted to win blessings from the Maoists who will rule the roost for some time to come. Many of these lawyers belong to the Maoist party; and, hence supported Sapkota blindly regardless of whether he was right or wrong.

Contrast Sapkota with Purnimaya Lama. She lost her husband in a Maoist "cleansing." As a widow, she has struggled to bring up her children alone. In addition, she has been running from Kavre to Kathmandu for justice. So far, in vain. She despaired even further when the Sapkota, under an arrest warrant but evidently "absconding" from the police, suddenly became a minister. Insignificant as she became, she did not catch the attention of those 151 lawyers.

Both the Maoists and "security" forces should get together to organise a Nepali Sorry Day. Then, our skewed morality will begin to correct itself; and initiate the healing that our country so badly needs.

From Kavre, we go to Biratnagar where the Nagarik journalist Khilanath Dhakal barely escaped with his life. Goons that Youth Force leader Parsuram Basnet hired tried to finish him off. Journalists have made peaceful protests throughout the country for Basnet’s arrest. However, even bigger crowds of misguided lads and lasses protested violently when police arrested UML-fathered Youth Association Nepal’s leader Mahesh Basnet, openly boasting of shielding Parsuram from the authorities. Youth Force’s cadres made havoc when Mahesh went behind the bars. On June 16, they caused enough mayhem in Shankar Dev Campus, burnt vehicles elsewhere; and also brought Dharan to a standstill. Shouldn’t they have protested peacefully in favor of Khilanath Dhakal instead?

During the early 1990s, a Minister for Agriculture suffered police custody on a corruption scandal. Political pressure won him his release. Garlanded and red-powdered, he walked out of the prison and waved to a cheering crowd, as if he had just won the Magsaysay award. In 2008, Maoists goons attacked the various media offices. A national daily went off the newsstand for about a week. The police finally arrested some who had manhandled journalists, and kept them in custody for about four days. When they came out, who greeted them with garlands but the present Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara? Mahara, just a party official then, made heroes out of jerks. No wonder, Mahesh Basnet of UML has recently defied Mahara, who nurtured Maoist goons in the past. Basnet claims Mahara has no moral authority.

Last year, when Paras Shah shot in the air at Chitwan’s Tiger Tops, false nationalism erupted. His opponent, Rubel Chaudhary, a Bangladeshi national and Sujata Koirala’s son-in-law, did not have the phone-bypass and the Sudan scam accusations against him then. Paras received a hero’s reception both in Pokhara and Chitwan. Overwhelmed by the undeserved respect, the former crown prince blurted out that he would always act in favor of his country! Common sense should have warned his lackeys that Paras had already killed two people with drunken driving, created similar scenes in various Kathmandu hotels, and was probably at fault in the Chitwan shooting incident too.

The ten year Maoist war has skewed the morality our country had before 1996. The Maoists really had no excuse for the conflict. Dr Baburam Bhattarai had his 40 point demands which merely provided the trigger. His party began the war before the deadline expired. About 10 people lost their lives every week until the so-called "People’s War" came to an end in 2006. Retaliating against the Maoists, the "security services" did no better. They and the rebels sowed seeds of violence which have now borne fruit. When Bhattarai faced a death threat from his own party member some weeks back, responses in newspapers stated, "You haven’t renounced violence, so it has caught up with you. You’re reaping what you sowed." Having seen Maoist and government brutality, the Nepali population has learned to accept murders, abductions, and use of weapons as a part of life.

Author Michael Hendersen (Forgiveness, Breaking the Chain of Hate) relates how Australian whites held the National Sorry Day to apologize for taking away aboriginal children to "educate" them. This plan to brainwash thousands of native boys and girls into western culture meant that they grew up without knowing their parents. The white Australian government had the courage to say sorry and begin healing their country. Hendersen also mentions that on March 18, 1990, Wilhelm Verwoerd, grandson of H F Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, wrote a letter of apology to Nelson Mandela, thus initiating the healing process in South Africa.

The Maoists and the government can begin to correct our skewed morality by uttering one word with utmost sincerity—sorry! The Maoists will have to do it first for 16000 lost lives. The security forces will have to follow. Their trigger-happiness made them slaughter double the number that the rebels killed. Once the leaders apologize, youths like Parsuram Basnet can think of peaceful means to settle disputes.

Following the Australian and the South African examples, both the Maoists and "security" forces should get together to organise a Nepali Sorry Day. Then, our skewed morality will begin to correct itself; and initiate the healing that our country so badly needs.