Brian Cobb, Brave Man

Date:	Wed, 19 Apr 2006 11:14:51 +0100 (BST)
From:	"Dr Brian Cobb"
Subject:	God Moves in a Mysterious Way
To:	paramendra@yahoo.com

Dear Paramendra,

When I opened my email just now I was reminded of the Christian hymn, "God moves in mysterious way, His wonders to perform." Mitari Hospital has invited me back and is managing my work permit and reactivating my Medical Council registration. I will give a course in Trauma Life Support for the doctors and nurses and help out with patient care. My volunteers will be joining me so we're back in business!

I'm sure Kamal Thapa will have a stroke. I was going to say heart attack, but you have to have a heart for that.

I'm looking forward to joining my friends and colleagues again.

Loktantra jindabad!

Brian

From: "sonal singh"
To: paramendra@yahoo.com
Subject: Nepalese doctors/medical students and professionals under threat
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:06:43 -0400

Dear Parmanendra,

We all admire you work for democracy in Nepal.You are all probably aware of the situation in Nepal but the last few days have been particularly difficult for medical professionals who have been detained for taking part in peaceful demonstrations, health professionals have been threatened for treating patients who have been injured in police violence ,and medical students have been beaten up and tortured inside their hostels. Two foreign doctors have been deported in the last few days for treating torture victims.( Dr Brian Cobb)

After discussion with several colleagues one of the ways of expressing support would be a coordinated response letter urging the release of the detained doctors and urging the government to stop these violations of human right in Nepal.While we do not represent any alliance in Nepal it is difficult for us to remain silent on the ill-treatment for our fellow professionals.

I have been in touch with several people from different organisations - like the Centre for International Health and Human Rights Studies, Canada; Physicians for Human Rights,USA ; Peace Through Health,Canada, Physicians for Social responsibility,Canada; Centre for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins; Institute of Human Rights at Emory USA; Physicians for Social Responsibility; IPPNW and several other organistions which some of you represent.

I have attached a link to the petition for your perusal and request that you sign if you agree and pass it on to your colleagues who would be willing to express their support to our colleagues whose lives are in peril.

Thanks in advance

Sonal Singh MD
Johns Hopkins University

http://www.petitiononline.com/lapendoc/petition.html

Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 12:36:00 -0400
From: "kashish shrestha"
To: DFN-Blog-owner@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [DFN Blog] Brian Cobb, Brave Man

hey,

just thought i'd share this with you.. you know that documentary i had made durin the 2004 andolan that they showed at Krishan Pahadi's talk in Queens asti? In that documentary I don't kno wif you realized but there is a footage of Brian Cobb being arrested and he talks to me about the king's dictatorship.

your letter to Brian reminded me of that..

kashish

Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 11:09:02 -0500
From: "anjana shakya"
To: DFN-Blog-owner@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [DFN Blog] Brian Cobb, Brave Man

Hi Parmendra,

Thanks for sending the info on Dr. Brian Cob. I was in Gongabu for many days but last Tuesday was the most horrific one. After that day we had meeting in our office both HimIRghts and Beyond Beijing Committee to give 10% of our salaries with matching fund from the organization. We have already given to both local health providers in Gongabu and to Teaching hospital.

However, i have been trying to find out if the Nepali team is still in custody or not. The people from teh Community Health Center was unable to give us both the names or their status. I called the American Emabassy to inform about Brian, where they told me that he left the day I called. So if the Nepali team is still in Custody please could you get in touch with Brian to give us more info so we could help them get out.

I have raised some money for medicine for the Community health Center and will be continuing to do so but I will not be doing in terms of money for other support for the demonstrators so if you can do it I will try to get contact info. The people from Kirtipur are asking for both medical help and food.

I appriciate what Brian has done for people here.

warm regards,
anjana

From: "Dr. Arzu Deuba"
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Brian Cobb
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 08:52:05 -0700

Dear Paramendra,

I read the blog on Dr. Cobb and Hensel and was horrified and shocked. As you blog site could not be opened fully on my computer - I couldn't get his e-mail add. Please pass on this message to him. Also thanks for bringing this to public attention.

Arzu

Dear Dr. Cobb,

As a Nepali I am shocked at the treatment meted out to by Nepal Police - while you were treating our fellow citizens. Please keep your memories intact - all Nepalese will require them in the course of justice.

Also please don't loose faith in human nature - often violent circumstances bring out the worst side in human beings - let's all pray that good triumphs over evil - as it always does.

Thank you for helping and loving Nepalese and Nepal.

Arzu Deuba

Deuba Off To DC
Deuba In Jackson Heights
Deuba At Hotel Pennsylvania
Deuba At Columbia

Deuba Is Not Going Down
Deuba: The Common Sense Meter
Scapegoating Deuba Shows King's Desperation
Email From Arzu Rana Deuba
Gagan Thapa Arrested, Deuba Re-Arrested

To: Dr Brian Cobb
From: Paramendra

The fund Anil was raising was for the work you were doing. And now we will probably transfer it to the Model Hospital fund run by MaHa. For now we are focused on the medical emergencies at hand. Things might only get worse.

But in the long run, such a fund can be considered. Let's stay in touch. I make no promises now. But I am sure something can be worked out. We can work on it together.

Your volunteers, where are they now? Are you in touch? How are they doing?

Information is power. Raw emails from Nepal really help. People should reach out.

Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 07:47:52 +0100 (BST)
From: "Dr Brian Cobb"
Subject: Re: Cobb, you are a brave man
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"

Dear Paramendra,

Thanks for the nice note. I was able to afford all of the expenses myself, but it could be helpful if someone would set up a scholarship fund for my brave volunteers whom I believe to be in danger now. I can provide nursing education in Bangladesh, where I teach, for them. I have placed below a full account of my visit. Take care.

Yours for a peaceful Republic of Nepal,

Brian

On 3 April I flew to Nepal, where I had previously taught medicine, to give the Basic Trauma Life Support course to a group of student volunteers and offer my skills as an experienced emergency physician to what I thought would be a number of injured people in the coming week, when a nationwide strike had been called by the political parties to protest the King's autocratic rule. After reading threats of shoot-to-kill orders by the Home and Information Ministers, I was expecting the worst. I brought a large amount of medical equipment and purchased stretchers and oxygen tanks in Kathmandu. The following three days I spent training my team, after which we began attending the rallies around the city.

On 7 April we rushed to the Tribhuvan University campus, where we found an injured army intelligence agent, who had threatened students with his pistol, surrounded by a lynch mob calling for his murder. Two of my volunteers and I assisted 4 or 5 journalists and human rights personnel in fighting off the crowd in an attempt to escort him to safety. He stupidly broke free of us at the edge of the crowd and ran down a ravine, hotly pursued by enraged students baying for blood. We also ran off in pursuit over rough terrain. One of my team caught up with him, convinced a small handful of students to help, got him onto our stretcher, and took him to our vehicle to the hospital even as the mob closed in. We then moved to the other side of campus where the police had entered the hostel and were viciously beating students, whom we treated. I spoke to the Senior Superintendent of Police and got him to pull his men back while I negotiated with the students to stop throwing bricks and stones and stay within the campus proper. The standoff then ended and both sides drifted away as we took 8 seriously injured students to the hospital.

We continued to go from place to place treating the injured, protestors and police alike. We never engaged in any protest activities or showed favoritism. On two other occasions we negotiated a "no stones, no tear gas" agreement between crowd and police. On 10 April I jumped into a fire from burning tires to rescue a policeman who had tripped on bricks and fallen into it. We had made it a practice to introduce ourselves to the police at each place and thought we had a good relationship with them.

On 11 April we were in Gongabu, scene of violent demonstrations the day before. At around 1:30 PM we were sitting in our improvised aid station about 10 meters to the side of the interface between the police and protestors. There were chanting and burning of effigies, but no violent acts. Suddenly a large number of club-swinging policemen descended on the crowd, who were savagely beaten as they fled. Two men, one elderly, came to us with heavily bleeding head wounds. As we began to tend to them, SSP Madhav Bahadur Thapa, who was in charge, beat the injured men and knocked them to the ground, then beat one of the volunteers and me. I suffered injuries to my neck, back and right arm. We then saw him gouge a young man in the right eye with the end of his lathi.

We put on our backpacks, grabbed our stretchers and headed back along the road to find and treat the injured, including police. A group of youths was stoning the windows, which had interior steel barwork, of a police official's enormous home. We could see guns being fired out the windows and damage to the masonry of surrounding homes from bullet impacts. We continued to tend to the injured but were soon called to see people shot by the police a few blocks away. Many had been shot in the back, face or abdomen with lead 00 buckshot pellets; one young man had powder burns and the plastic shot sleeve in addition to the buckshot in his chest near the spine, proving that he was shot in the back at point-blank range. We rushed into a small clinic to help the Nepali doctors with them, when 4 more shooting victims, of whom two were children, were brought in. After we left the staff told us that SSP Thapa had entered and beaten one doctor and two assistants clad in white coats.

When we went out onto the street we saw the police defenestrate a woman from the third floor of a building under construction. We were told by many people that the police had carted away 15 bodies in their vans. As we persisted in treating those beaten severely and transported 35 people to TU Teaching Hospital and 2 to the Eye Hospital in our vehicle, we saw that most of those beaten had injuries to their backs and the backs of their heads, proving that self-defense could not have been the motive. Schools were entered and students beaten and, in a few cases, shot. We estimate that we treated a total of over 200 victims that day.

I was sought out by journalists, including those from AP, the Washington Post, BBC, Channel 4 and Kantipur TV, for interviews, in which I described the carnage I had seen. Despite official claims of Maoist infiltration, we saw no weapons in the hands of protestors other than bricks, stones and sticks.

On 12 April we spent most of the day treating leftover injuries from the day before, but at 4 PM I was approached in Gongabu by an SSP and Inspector without nametags and told, "We want you to come to our office. Our IGP wants to apologize and talk to you." They told us, "Best to come in your own vehicle. Just follow us." Our driver, Dr Hensel from Germany, a Nepalese doctor and 5 Nepalese student volunteers went along. We followed a large, gray police truck to the armed police headquarters, where we were told to wait in the lobby.

We waited idly for an hour and a half, at which time I told the uniformed woman at the desk of the circular lobby pavilion that we would like to reschedule the appointment because we had work to do and it seemed that the IG was busy. She said nothing but called someone on the phone. Immediately one Inspector Tamang, a short bald man with four stars, came out and told us we were under investigation as criminal suspects and could not leave. I asked if we were under arrest and he said no. I then walked outside to the vehicle with Inspector Tamang and several other police, some with lathis and some with submachine guns, who told us to get into the vehicle. We complied, but when two policemen with SMGs pushed their way into the vehicle and told our driver to do as he was told and called my team filthy things in Nepali, I got out and walked over to a UNOCHCR team that had just left the building and was walking to their blue and white Land Cruiser.

I told them I had been denied 3 requests to contact the US and German Consulates or to call Yubaraj Sangroula, Dean of the Kathmandu School of Law whom I wanted to file a Habeas Corpus petition. They used their radios and satellite phones to alert our Consuls.

An Inspector Jagat Koirala, a very obese man in white shorts and T shirt, appeared arrogantly refused my request for consular assistance, telling me, "This is my country. You have no rights here. If they [consular officers] come, we won't let them in." The others got out of the vehicle to join me but were surrounded by 8 to 10 police, most with SMGs.

The Inspectors went inside and there was a conference on the first floor balcony overlooking the carpark. We could see people pointing to us from time to time and hear the murmur of discussion. This was at about 6:30 to 7. The UN team told me the US Consul was coming and that he believed phone calls were being made about us at high levels. At about 7:30 to 8 the Inspectors emerged and again told us to enter our vehicle, which I refused to do. I had also whispered to the Nepalese to use aliases and taken their ID cards and placed them in my pocket.

Shortly after this Inspectors Koirala, Tamang and several other SPs approached us and told us the CDO wanted to meet us. I told them I respectfully declined the invitation because we had already been lied to and intimidated, and that our continued detention despite repeated denials that we were under arrest, while being told we were not free to leave, was unlawful. Then, with the UN team at our sides, Dr Hensel and I were roughly handcuffed, told we were under arrest, and forced at gunpoint into a large gray police van; I am not sure if it was the same one we had followed or not.

With the Nepalese and some police in our van following and the UN team behind them, we were taken to the Chief District Officer's office, where a certain Mr Ghimire was introduced to us as the CDO. My right hand, now uncuffed, was bleeding onto his chair so he allowed one of my volunteers to bandage it. He seemed nervous and had an obviously forced laugh and had himself served with tea as he told us this was just a routine visa check for tourists. However, he said he was under orders but refused to say whose. The US Consul spoke with him on the phone for about 5 to 10 minutes, after which he told Dr Hensel and I, whose passports were in our hotels, that if I left my US driving license we could go and return the following day with our documents, but that the Nepalese would be kept in the jail - at this point he made threats to them in Nepali - to ensure our return. I spoke to the UN people and then told Mr Ghimire that if the Nepalese went to jail, I would go with them. He then talked privately with the UN team and agreed to release them with us if one of them would accompany me on Thursday morning.

At around 10 PM we went to our vehicle and went to our hotel. The following morning I went, as instructed, to the Immigration office with Alys Spensley, the US Vice Consul. As demanded, one of the Nepalese appeared with me, and Dr Hensel arrived with two German consular officials. We met with the Immigration officials, who told us we were illegally working. They showed us the regulations in English, from which it was clear that giving first aid as individuals was not illegal. Nonetheless, we were offered the choice of voluntary departure or official deportation with no right of return. We obviously chose the former. My driving license was returned and we signed statements saying we were voluntarily leaving and aware that it is illegal to work in Nepal with a tourist visa.

Ms Spensley had me fill out an affidavit regarding the incident and took down some more details herself. I went in the US consular vehicle with Ms Spensley and an immigration officer to the airport where I boarded Biman flight 702 to Dhaka. My flight had been advanced by a Nepal friend from a travel agency that morning. I arrived safely and am now resting comfortably, since Friday is the holiday here.

Paramendra Kumar Bhagat wrote:

I salute you. And as a Nepali I thank you.

Anil (Vice President, Hamro Nepal. Vice President, Alliance) was raising money to send to you since you were among the few out in the streets doing what you were doing.

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2006/04/hamro-nepal-latest.html

Nepal deporting docs treating protesters Daily News & Analysis, India
2 foreign docs treating injured deported Kantipur Online, Nepal
Clash shakes Kathmandu as Nepal again tries to stop pro-democracy ... Canada.com, Canada
Police open fire on Nepal protesters Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Police clash with Katmandu protesters San Diego Union Tribune, United States

From: "Kendra Shrestha"
To: paramendra@yahoo.com, now@samudaya.org
Subject: FW: Nepalese physicians and medical students under threat in Nepal
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 00:44:56 -0400

----Original Message Follows----
From: "sonal singh"
To: "Kendra Shrestha"
Subject: Nepalese physicians and medical students under threat in Nepal
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:49:48 -0400

Hi kendra,

You are all probably aware of the situation in Nepal but the last few days have been particularly difficult for medical professionals who have been detained for taking part in peaceful demonstrations, health professionals have been threatened for treating patients who have been injured in police violence ,and medical students have been beaten up and tortured inside their hostels. Two foreign doctors have been deported in the last few days for treating torture victims. See their email below ( dr brian cobb)

After discussion with Physicians for Human Rights and other colleagues one of the ways of expressing support would be a coordinated response letter urging the release of the detained doctors and urging the government to stop these violations of human right in Nepal.

I have been in touch with several people from different organisations - like the Centre for International Health and Human Rights Studies, Canada; Physicians for Human Rights,USA ; Peace Through Health,Canada, Physicians for Social responsibility,Canada; Centre for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins; Institute of Human Rights at Emory USA; Physicians for Social Responsibility; IPPNW and several other organistions which some of you represent.

I have attached a link to the petition for your perusal and request that you sign if you agree and pass it on to your colleagues who would be willing to express their support to our colleagues whose lives are in peril.

I know you knew some of the folks at samudaya

Thanks in advance

Sonal Singh MD
Johns Hopkins University

http://www.petitiononline.com/lapendoc/petition.html

Dear Sonal,

For some reason I can't access my univ email system and so am writing from this one. Below is the email I received from Brian Cobb earlier today letting me know that he is safely back in Bangladesh. In addition to the essay he has written for Kathmandu Post (whihc he copies into his email to me) I have asked him to write accounts of what he saw at Gongabu and the circumstances of his arrest etc.

Best wishes,

Judy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr Brian Cobb
Date: 14-Apr-2006 06:33
Subject: Re: Making contact and checking that you are safe
To: Judi Pettigrew

Dear Judi,

Thanks for your kindness and concern. I am safe (but a little sore) back in Bangladesh.

What I saw in Gongabu--many people shot with live ammunition, including children, savage beatings, people pushed off buildings, beating and shooting at us while we were caring for the injured--defies words. And the secret arrest and detention of a German doctor, a Nepalese doctor and 6 Nepalese volunteers and myself at machine-gun point, denial of our right to consular assistance, and our being saved by my running from them to a UN team that happened to come along and subsequent deportation were unpleasant, but nothing compared with the suffering of so many others.

I have placed below an essay I sent to Kathmandu Post today.

Yours for peace and democracy,

Brian

Crime and Punishment: In Defense of Decency
By Prof. Dr. Brian Cobb

Many of us in the international community had hoped for a trilateral solution to the current crisis on pragmatic grounds; it seemed the least dangerous and quickest path to peace and democracy. However, such a solution requires willing parties, and the royalist, totalitarian government clearly will not compromise. Furthermore, the nationwide, immense and obviously royally approved atrocities, some of which I witnessed firsthand last week, make it clear that the country is controlled by what has now become a criminal syndicate with no legitimacy. A few royal platitudes and sham conciliatory words cannot erase the reign of terror and history of duplicity from the minds of the Nepalese people.

This government fails all tests of legitimacy. It has the consent of perhaps 5% of the people and has never been elected by anyone at any time. It routinely, flagrantly and systematically violates human rights. It scoffs at the courts and the constitution. It fails to provide basic services to its citizens. And it does not in fact control most of the nation.

Accordingly, international calls for reconciliation of "constitutional" or "democratic" forces make no sense. This government is neither. The only legitimate government is the one elected by the people in accordance with the constitution: the dissolved House. Since the King will clearly not reinstate it nor negotiate in good faith with the Maoists, there is only one path to peace and democracy.

The parties must reinstate the House in exile and persuade donor nations to withhold funds from the autocratic regime, directing them to the elected government. By starving the fascist cabal of funds, it can be brought to heel. The 12-point agreement can be re-negotiated and strengthened and the Maoists persuaded to lay down their arms. The real government can demand that citizens pay their taxes to it instead of submitting to extortion by either of the armed factions.

The few days I was able to spend in the trenches and my arrest and, I am certain, planned disappearance foiled only by the fortuitous appearance and courageous action of the UN Human Rights team have impressed me with the bravery and determination of the Nepali people and the viciousness of the band of opportunists, sycophants, thugs and dictators masquerading as the government of Nepal. My Nepali physician colleagues have labored heroically to treat the injured, often enduring police brutality for doing so. Lawyers, intellectuals, journalists, students and workers have risked imprisonment, torture and death to advocate for peace, democracy and rights.

Although I have been forced to leave Nepal physically, my friends there should know that I am with them in spirit and will do what I can to, in my small and inadequate way, help them in their struggle. I will provide education in Bangladesh for the bahadur young people who braved stones, lathis and bullets to care for the injured because I believe their lives are at risk from the Armed Police and CDO who abducted and threatened them. They can return later to the Republic of Nepal to contribute to the health of their brothers and sisters.

Last week I am sure I saw the protests evolve, under the heavy hand of the state, into revolution. I hope and pray that it will be a peaceful and successful one, using disciplined minds rather than strong arms to bring about change. I saw in Gongabu the royal declaration of war on the people and in Kirtipur beautiful, brave and peaceful protests. Let us appeal to the decency and lawful norms of Nepal's many friends abroad to recognize and support those who govern by right rather than by force and to not be accomplices, by their financial support and inadequate sanctions, to murder, torture, disappearance, false imprisonment and other crimes by gangsters who have become a plague upon the people and their masters rather than their servants.

Once the military dictatorship falls, the Parliament can call for constituent assembly elections and pass strict laws against corruption and brutality. No opportunity should remain for re-imposition of autocracy. A tribunal should be established to try and punish those who have abused their authority with impunity under the present regime. Unless justice is done the suffering of the victims will be devalued, the deterrent effect will be negated, and the confidence of the people will be forfeited. There can be no compromise with criminals and no substitute for true democracy; the mistakes of 1990 must not be repeated. The wonderful people of Nepal deserve a fair, free and progressive society no less than we westerners and should be content with no less.

--- Judi Pettigrew <> wrote:

> Dear Brian,

> > I am the Irish anthropologist you met yesaterday at > Chabil and who talked to > you by phone this am prior to your departure. This > is just a quick email to > check that you have managed to get out of Nepal > safely. Please confirm your > arirval.

> > More later on re the Gongabu incident.

> > With best wishes,

> > Judy Pettigrew (Dr)

I will definitely return to Nepal

- Dr Brian Cobb

The American doctor, who was misbehaved upon and deported by Nepali authorities last week, tells Nepalnews about the ordeal he had to undergo.

Dr Brian Cobb, an American citizen working as professor of emergency and critical care medicine in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was in the news after he treated hundreds of injured victims of the ongoing pro-democracy movement in Kathmandu. He was deported by the government on Thursday accusing that he was working illegally in Nepal. He replied to questions sent by Nepalnews over email from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Excerpts:

Under what circumstances were you deported from Nepal and for what reasons?

At 4 p.m. on 12 April, I was approached at Gongabu by an SSP and Inspector without name tags and told, "We want you to come to our office. Our IGP (Inspector General of Police) wants to talk to you." Our driver, Dr Hensel from Germany, a Nepalese doctor and 5 five Nepali student volunteers went along. We followed a large, gray police truck to the Armed Police headquarters.

We waited idly for an hour and a half, at which time I told them that we would like to reschedule the appointment because we had works to do. It seemed the IG was busy. Immediately one Inspector Tamang, a short bald man, came out and told us that we were under investigation as criminal suspects. I asked if we were under arrest but he said no. I then walked outside to the vehicle with him and several other police, some with batons and some with submachine guns, who told us to get into vehicle. We complied, but when two policemen with SMGs pushed their way into the vehicle and told our driver to do as he was told and called my team filthy things in Nepali, I got out and walked over to a UNOHCHCR team that had just left the building.

Inspector Jagat Koirala appeared arrogantly, refused my request for consular assistance and told me, "This is my country. You have no right here. If they [consular officers] come, we won't let them in."

They denied my three requests to contact the US and German Consulates or Yubaraj Sangroula, Dean of the Kathmandu School of Law through whom I wanted to file a Habeas Corpus petition. They sent message to our Consuls. Inspector Jagat Koirala appeared arrogantly, refused my request for consular assistance and told me, "This is my country. You have no right here. If they [consular officers] come, we won't let them in." The others got out of the vehicle to join me but were surrounded by 8 to 10 police, most with SMGs.

The Inspectors went in. There was a meeting organised. We could see people pointing to us from time to time from the meeting room in first floor and hear the murmur of discussion. It was about 7 p.m. The UN team told me that the US Consul was coming. At about 7:30 the two Inspectors came and told us to enter our vehicle, which we refused.

Shortly after this Inspectors Koirala, Tamang and several other SPs approached us and told us that the Chief District Officer (CDO) wanted to meet us. I told them I decline the invitation because we had already been lied to and intimidated, and that our continued detention despite repeated denials that we were under arrest, while being told we were not free to leave, was unlawful. Then, with the UN team at our sides, Dr Hensel and I were roughly handcuffed. We were under arrest. We were forced at gunpoint into a large gray police van.

With the Nepalis and some police in our vehicle following and the UN team behind them, we were taken to the CDO's office. My right hand, now uncuffed, was bleeding onto his chair so he allowed one of my volunteers to bandage it. He seemed nervous and had an obviously forced laugh. He told us this was just a routine visa check. However, he said he was under orders but refused to say whose. The US Consul spoke with him on the phone for about 10 minutes, after which he told us that if I left my driving license we could go and return the following day, but that the Nepalis would be sent to jail. He threatened them in Nepali. I told the CDO that if the Nepalis went to jail, I would go with them. He then talked privately with the UN team and agreed to release them with us.

At around 10 p.m. we went to our hotel. The following morning I went, as instructed, to the immigration office with Alyce Spensley, the US Vice Consul. Dr Hensel arrived with two German consular officials. We met immigration officials, who told us we were illegally working. They showed us the regulations in English, from which it was clear that giving first aid as individuals was not illegal. Nonetheless, we were offered the choice of voluntary departure or official deportation with no right of return. We obviously chose the former. My driving license was returned and we signed statements saying we were voluntarily leaving and aware that it is illegal to work in Nepal with a tourist visa.

With the Nepalis and some police in our vehicle following and the UN team behind them, we were taken to the CDO's office. My right hand, now uncuffed, was bleeding onto his chair so he allowed one of my volunteers to bandage it.

Ms Spensley had me fill out an affidavit regarding the incident and took down some more details herself. I went in the US consular vehicle with Ms Spensley and an immigration officer to the airport where I boarded Biman flight 702 to Dhaka. My flight had been advanced by a Nepali friend from a travel agency that morning.

Why did you decide to come to Nepal to treat pro-democracy victims?

I have visited Nepal a number of times and came to love the Nepalis as many foreigners do. It's natural for a friend to do what he can in times of need. I expected a lot of bloodshed and knew that my Nepali colleagues, who laboured heroically despite police abuses, could use my help giving emergency care to the injured victim on the spot.

Is status of emergency medical facilities during violence enough in Nepal?

Of course, not to the extent what it ought to be. Any health care system, even in a developed country, can be entangled when hundreds or thousands of casualties occur within a short span of time. The medical care in Nepal is progressing, but trauma care is not so well developed at this time.. Nonetheless, the doctors and nurses did a commendable job under the current trying circumstances.

There is need of postgraduate training for doctors and nurses in emergency and critical care and upgraded facilities; perhaps the Nepali authority will invest in training of health professionals instead of investing in military helicopters.

How important is on-the-spot treatment of injured people? How can you describe the police atrocities?

Experience in both military and civilian trauma settings demonstrates that immediate, on-scene skilled care is lifesaving. Sadly, this is not available at present in Nepal. My team and I were trying to bring this into practice, but my arrest and forced departure preclude continuing our service to the people of Nepal.

Peaceful crowds were provoked — deliberately, in my view — to throw stones in order to justify heinous, violent repression as threatened by Home Minister Kamal Thapa.

Will you return to Nepal for further services?

I will definitely return to Nepal. I care deeply for its people and support their struggle for peace, freedom and development. My ancestors fought to defend innocent people from aggression in several wars, and my generation is called to do the same. I have been forced to leave physically, but my support is strengthened by the courage, kindness and determination of the Nepalis people. I hope someday to return to teach future generations of Nepali health professionals and thus leaving a legacy of humanitarianism and compassion. nepalnews.com Indra Adhikari Apr 17 06