Democracy For Nepal: C K Raut's Arrest Is Illegal

Saturday, September 13, 2014

C K Raut's Arrest Is Illegal

I disagree with his idea of Madhesh as a separate country. I am for federalism in Nepal and a South Asian economic union. But he has a right to free speech and peaceful political organizing. This arrest is illegal and has to be condemned in the strongest terms. He has to be released immediately.

मधेश अलग्याउने अभियान चलाउने राउत पक्राउ

CK Raut has been engaged in peaceful politics. He has a right to free speech and peaceful assembly. Those are fundamental human rights. You do not have to agree with his agenda of Madhesh as a separate country. But you have no right to deny him his fundamental human rights. This arbitrary arrest of CK Raut is illegal and goes against all norms of basic democracy.

CK Raut does not have his rights because he is one of the most accomplished intellectuals in all of Madhesh and indeed all of Nepal. He is a computer scientist of world renown. But his global stature helps throw light on the ground reality of Madhesh from where one constantly hears the drumbeat of the excesses of the Nepal Police as if they were an occupying force in a colonized land.

This arrest is obviously the handiwork of the people in the topmost layers of the Nepal Government. It is a shame that political leaders and bureaucrats are engaging in this base behavior rather than engaging CK Raut in political dialogue.

The political dialogue will go on. The outcomes are uncertain. May the democratic process take its due course. But that CK Raut needs to be release immediately is urgent. And we demand that. This illegal arrest has to be undone at the earliest, and CK Raut has to be allowed to walk a free man. Nothing less is acceptable.

‘देश टुक्र्याउने माग राख्नेलाई’ रिहा गर्न अधिकारकर्मीहरुको माग -पदमरत्न, दमननाथ, खगेन्द्र संग्रौलासहित २५ जनाको माग
सीके राउतको भित्री योजना पर्दाफास: मधेस टुक्र्याउन सैनिक विद्रोह गर्ने -- राउतलाई भूमिगत सशस्त्र संगठनसमेतको सहयोग रहेको सुरक्षा स्रोतले दावी
देश टुक्रयाउने आरोप सहित पक्राउ परेका सिके राउतको बारे सदनमा जानकारी दिन माग
गान्धी, मण्डेला, मार्टिन, ओबामा र राउत–रोशनकुमार झा
राउतको अबिलम्ब रिहाई हुनुपर्ने , जितेन्द्र सोनल
सीके राउतलाई पक्रेर सरकारले गम्भीर गल्ती गरेको बाबुरामको आरोप
तराईमा सैनिक विद्रोहदेखि नाकाबन्दी योजना
Raut remanded to 6-day police custody

सि के राउतको विचारसंग हामी सहमत हुन सक्दैनौं तर उनलाई गिरफ्तार गरेर सरकारले गम्भीर गल्ती गरेको छ। उनलाई तुरुन्त रिहा गरियोस्!
— Baburam Bhattarai (@brb_laaldhwoj) September 14, 2014

Madheshis and Mandarins by CK Raut

Madheshis’ relation to their southern neighbour need not be told and to the northern one is rarely told. But their relation to the Chinese predates even the introduction of Buddhism in China in the first century CE. Ancient scriptures, Mahabharata and Manusmriti, have references to Chinese silk (cinamsuka) being given as presents. Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a treatise on economics and politics, written in the fourth century BCE, mentions silk trade from China. Earlier literature also mentions the contact of the people of Madhyadesh (Videha and Magadha) with Yunnan, China, which went by the name of Purvavideha.......... In the first millennium CE, hundreds of Chinese monks visited Madhesh. They translated many works of Buddhism and propagated it throughout China. Martial art is also believed to be brought to China by Madheshi Buddhist monks. In the 5th century AD, Faxian, a Buddhist monk and scholar from the Jin Dynasty of China, visited Kapilvastu and Lumbini. He had high praises for people, places, culture and erudition of Madhyadesh and he described several aspects of its lifestyle including the facility of ‘hospitals’. ....... One of the Chinese monks accompanying Faxian, Daozheng, was so impressed by Madhyadesh that he decided not to return to China. In the sixth century, Li Daoyuan described “Madhyadesh” based on Faxian’s Fo Guo Ji: A Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms: “Its people are rich. The inhabitants of Madhyadesh dress and eat like people in China.” Similarly, in the seventh century, Xuan-Zang, who authored The Records of the Western Regions Visited During the Great Tang Dynasty, and Yi Jing visited Lumbini. Xuan-Zang (Hiuen Tsang) brought back 657 Buddhist texts to China. ...... Emperor Harshavardhan of Madhyadesh in the same century had formal diplomatic relations with the Tang dynasty of China. After Harsha’s death, his minister Arjun wanted to forfeit a part of his empire to the Chinese. Yashovarman, a ruler in the eight century, too had diplomatic relations with China. ........ When Madheshi King Harisinghdev was dethroned from Simraungarh by Tughlaks in 1320s, he fled to Nepal (valley) and established his reign there. He ruled there for 28 years, followed by his successors Matisinghdev, Shaktisinghdev and Shyamsinghdev. It should be noted that these Madheshi kings of the Nepal valley had good relationship with China. According to the Annals of the Ming, in 1384, Chinese Emperor Hong-won had sent a bronze, a royal seal, to the Madheshi king conferring him the official investiture. In return, the Madheshi king had sent an ambassador to China with gold pagodas, books on Buddhism, horses and the productions of the country. The ambassador reached the Chinese capital in 1387. The Madheshi king at that time was “Ma-ta-na lo-mo” (Matisinghdev). Such exchanges took place in 1390 and 1399 too. ........ The relationship continued during the reign of Young-lo, the successor of Hong-wou. In 1413, the Chinese Emperor sent presents to “Cha-ko-sin-ti” (Shaktisinghdev). The emperor conferred the title of the ‘King of Nepal’ to the Madheshi king Shaktisinghdev and handed over a diploma conferring him this investiture and also a royal seal in gold and silver. In 1418, there were further new exchanges. Similarly, in 1427, the Emperor Hieun-te also attempted to keep this relationship alive. Though there were other petty kings in Nepal (valley) between 1387 and 1418, the Chinese did not recognize any other kings of Nepal but solely the descendants of the Madheshi King, Harisimhadev. .......... The modern diplomatic relations between Nepal and China started in 1955. In 1956, Nepal and China signed a treaty and China emerged as a major donor to Nepal’s development. But any effort to involve China in Madhesh is often perceived as playing a China card and put under a great pressure by India and the West. In 1960s, King Mahendra agreed to retract China’s development plans of building highways in the Tarai region upon the pressure from the then Indian ambassador Shriman Narayan. In return, India suppressed opposition political activities on the borders, including arrests and killings of several leaders of the Nepali Congress and the Tarai Liberation Front. ........ Such is the restriction and paranoia that in 1988 when Nepal decided to import a small quantity of arms from China, India imposed a crippling blockade on Nepal the following year and the Madheshis suffered the most. They were even deprived of basic commodities like salt and kerosene. That has not changed much in “new” Nepal too, as seen from the fate of Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF)’s ambitious plan to build ‘special development zone’ in Lumbini, and many other petty projects of Chinese in Madhesh. ......... But positive developments have also happened. Ever increasing numbers of Madheshis are flocking to China for higher studies. There has also been growing interest for learning Mandarin among Madheshis for they have realised that it is better to be foreigners than unknowns. Though Pushyamitra and Shankaracharya destroyed much of the heritage of Madhesh, it still survives at unusual places in China. The Thousand Buddha Cave and the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, the Buddhism-inspired architectural art in Xinjiang, the Longmen Buddhist caves comprising of 100,000 statues, some 40 pagodas and 3600 tablets near Luoyang city in Henan province, the tens of thousands of Buddhist rock carvings in Dazu, about 1,000 grottoes and some 100,000 Buddhist statues of Datong in Shanxi province, the Wuta Si temple of Beijing with Sanskrit inscriptions styled as the Bodhgaya temple, the White Horse Temple (Baima Si) of Luoyang, the Big Goose Pagoda of Xi’an in Shaanxi province and Famen Si of Fufeng believed to house the finger bones of Buddha himself are just a few of the remarkable places in China that still preserve and promote the dignity and heritage of Madheshis. Ironically, it is no more the spiritual India’s Bihar but the communist China’s Tibet where the pride of Madheshis still fly high in the sky, everywhere, as prayer flags.

राउतलाई सार्वजनिक अपराधको मुद्दा --- बाबुराम भन्छन्, 'पक्रेर सरकारले गल्ती गर्‍यो'
The chauvinistic circle

In such a stultifying environment, what option does someone as brilliant as Dr CK Raut have to vent his frustrations? Madheshi parties were co-opted, defamed, defanged and then dumped. There is no Madhesh media worth the name. The military is intrinsically inimical to Madheshi aspirations. Interests of the corporate Hindu mendicants are closely tied with the establishment. The international community in strategically located countries is wary of upsetting the applecart of status quo. So Dr Raut goes around the countryside canvassing support for his vision of independent Madhesh. ....... Dr Raut has reportedly been charged with indulging in suspicious activities. Yes, suspicious activities are culpable in a republic that has no bananas to call itself one. The triad seems to be getting tired of democracy, human rights and governance. Rituals such as a political roundtable in Kathmandu or a speech at UN in New York are good shows worthy of a ceremonial government. But someone someday will have to stand up and own absurdities of this ‘nationalist-communist-democrat’ coalition.