By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Continuing with the past year’s legacy of turmoil, the new year in Nepal dawned amid frustration and anger Friday with disadvantaged ethnic groups calling for a nationwide strike with little prior notice, leaving thousands in difficulties.
Even as the fear of an indefinite strike declared by the Maoists from Jan 24 dampened festive spirits, the nation was caught unawares as the Adivasi Janajati Brihat Morcha, an umbrella of indigenous and ethnic communities, called a closure countrywide Friday, hitting transport and business.
The federation, which claims the support of the ethnic organisations affiliated to all major parties, including the ruling alliance as well as the opposition Maoist party, said it had called the protest after the government failed to implement the 22-point agreement signed nearly a month ago.
The demands include ethnic communities’ right to self-determination, federal states and indigenous people’s representation in all state organisations on the basis of population.
The fear psychosis hanging over Nepal since last month, which saw four general strikes countrywide and dozens more in different areas as well as an orgy of violence and arson, made shops down their shutters without any protest Friday and public transport disappeared from the capital’s streets.
Braving the morning chill and fog, passengers, especially those with a flight to catch, braced for the long trudge to the airport with luggage.
For holiday revellers, the sudden closure disrupted merrymaking plans.
“I had planned to take my family and friends to a picnic outside Kathmandu valley,” said an Afghan national working for a diplomatic mission in Kathmandu who did not want to be named.
“But I had to cancel my plans especially since we have a baby daughter and are concerned about her safety.”
Nepal’s hotels and casinos, which are banking on a boom in business from New Year’s Eve to the first week of January, were outraged by the strike.
“Is this the peace dividend after we endured a 10-year insurgency?” said a senior casino official in Kathmandu who too did not want to be named.
“All we want is peace to be allowed to do our lawful business without harassment. But the security agencies are so weak that anyone can enforce a shutdown.”
The unmoved federation, issuing a statement, said all educational institutions, industries, shops and markets and transport would be halted for the day.
The disruption comes after Nepal reeled under a sudden spurt in cold following rains on Wednesday that triggered snowfall in mountain districts and heavy fogs in the plains, hampering domestic flights.
Nepal’s telecom services, both those run by the government and private organisations, also collapsed Thursday night with callers unable to get through.
To add to the winter of discontent, Nepal’s power authorities began imposing a massive daily blackout.
Though the Nepal Electricity Authority said there would be daily eight-hour outages, on Thursday the capital was plagued by erratic power supply that saw dark hours reach almost nine hours.
In the coming days, with the dry winter making the level of the power-generating rivers drop, the NEA has warned the daily outage could touch 12 hours. Last year, it went up to nearly 18 hours daily.