Is Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence dead in Nepal

Abstract

The massacre of the Nepalese King Birendra and other royal family members on June 1, 2001 shook the world. This incident will change the image of Nepal from a country of tranquillity to a country of human- generated disaster. The Nepali people have been thought politically peaceful with little internal or external conflict, and the harsh natural characteristics of the land on which they live are seen as the main source of turmoil. With its rugged and steep topography, Nepal has been thought of as a country prone to natural disaster. Disasters caused by water have been the most common, but most difficult to control. This scenario, however, has been changing since Feb 13, 1996, when the so called Maoists' People War started throughout Nepal.1Maharjan PN The Maoist insurgency and crisis of governability in Nepal.in: Kumar D Domestic conflict and crisis of governability in Nepal. Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Kathmandu2000: 163-196Google Scholar We compared the number of deaths caused by the Maoist insurgency with those caused by natural disasters such as flood, landslides, fires, windstorms, hailstorms, earthquakes, and avalanches in the past 5 years. The Maoist related data was taken from the Nepal Human Rights Yearbook 2001.2Upadhyaya KP Kattel M Poudel U Nepal human rights yearbook, 2001. informal sector service centre (INSEC), Kathmandu2001: 82Google Scholar The Maoist-related deaths included those caused by police or the Maoists. For natural disasters, we used numbers taken from the Disaster Review made by the Ministry of Water Resources of Nepal and Water Induced Disaster Prevention Technical Centre.3Bhattarai D Disaster review 1998 and 1999. His Majesty's Government, Ministry of Water Resources, Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention, Lalitpur2000Google Scholar Although epidemics of infectious disease are classified as natural disasters,4Noji EK The public health consequences of disasters. Oxford University Press, New York1997: 7-9Google Scholar they were excluded from the comparison, since epidemics in Nepal are due to a health-service system whose failings involve natural and human factors. As is shown in the table, the number of deaths caused by the Maoist insurgency was fewer than 100 in the 1st and 2nd years of their campaign. However, the toll increased rapidly in 1998 and reached a plateau with 400 or more deaths per year since this time. By contrast, the number of deaths related to natural disasters mentioned above has not been increased and has stayed lower than 400. Although the data are not shown in the table, this number has not changed strikingly in the past decade, except for 1993, when flood disaster resulted in 1336 deaths.3Bhattarai D Disaster review 1998 and 1999. His Majesty's Government, Ministry of Water Resources, Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention, Lalitpur2000Google ScholarTableMaoist-related compared with natural-disaster deaths in Nepal 1996–2000Maoist-related deathsNatural-disaster deaths199681406199748176199840935019994692822000397Data not yet available Open table in a new tab These results suggest that Nepal has become a country of human- generated disaster since 1998. During the democracy movement in 1990, Nepalese health professionals played an active part.5Adams V Doctors for democracy:health professionals in the Nepal revolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge1998: 3-4Google Scholar With this trend of increasing human-generated disasters in Nepal, what messages can health professionals both in Nepal and the rest of the world send to the politicians and the people?