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Foreign parliamentarians join agitation
KATHMANDU, JAN 13 - Marianne Eriksson and Kalle Larsson are members of the European and Swedish parliaments respectively. The latest news is that they are here on what they bill as semi-official visit on the invitation of GEFONT, a leftist trade union organization, in connection with trade union activism, and are raring to join the five-party protest demonstration on Tuesday.
"Well, let me tell you we are joining the demonstration announced by the five-party alliance, which is scheduled for Tuesday," Larsson told reporters on Monday, insisting that the government here was handling the demonstration in a vile manner.
Kalle, who has been seen among demonstrators since quite some time, said that the problem is even innocent bystanders and reporters are facing the music on the streets for no faults of their own. He produced pictures to prove that the police have been brutal all along.
Speaking on a broader canvas, Larsson expressed the view that neither the police nor the Maoist rebels should dare to violate the human rights of the people. Moreover, commenting on the movement which is underway, he said the impression was the concerned people were handling the issue in a worst manner.
Both of them were strident in their views inasmuch as they said that the monarch was showing little interests in the lives and rights of the ordinary citizens, something which has gone into the deteriorating state of affairs.
So much so that Larsson said that he would be going back and reporting on the state of affairs unfolding in Nepal to the
Swedish parliament. In fact, he expressed his commitment to take up the issue vigorously with his government back home.
"I will insist that Sweden must come out with suitable policy on Nepal in the light of what is unfolding," Larsson emphasised.
Similarly, Eriksson vehemently said that she would be taking up the issue in the European Parliament and she will even see to it that Europe comes up with suitable policy vis-à-vis Nepal.
"In fact, I will be asking the European Commission authorities here as to what is happening concerning the compliance of the last European Parliament resolution of November 3 on Nepal," she assured, adding that "All this can culminate in yet another EU delegation to Nepal."
Eriksson, however, said that it would be a tough task to come up with yet another resolution on Nepal in the near future. She said that coming up with a resolution demands thorough debate among all the member nations of the European Parliament, "Something that demands following a
due process in all the
European Union nations and in Brussels.
Both of them insisted that isabout time the authorities started negotiations with all concerned to minimise the risk of more violence setting in.
"We support the democratic process and it should be the Nepalese people themselves who should be deciding what is good for them," said both of them in welcome chorus while referring to the growing demands for republican democracy among the demonstrators.Posted on: 2004-01-14 04:25
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