That UCPN (Maoist), the largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) and a key ally in the present coalition government, had to form a three-member panel to “probe” charges on its leader and incumbent Minister for Information and Communications Agni Prasad Sapkota of smuggling red sandalwood to China is a glaring example of how Nepali politics and crime is increasingly becoming inseparable. The veracity of the allegations on Minister Sapkota and lawmaker Rajkumar Shrestha, both of whom represent Sindhupalchowk district, the hotbed of sandalwood smuggling, is yet to be established. However, the open exchange of recriminations between leaders belonging to Baburam Bhattarai and Pushpa Kamal Dahal factions over the racket supposedly engineered by Minister Sapkota are the telltale signs of Maoist party’s over or covert patronage of the trade.
The recent rise of sandalwood smuggling is, however, only a reenactment of the phenomenon that has found prominence since 2006. Back then, smuggling was much more rampant. Local goons, youths and students used to put up makeshift tents along the Araniko Highway and demand hefty ransom from the smugglers, which the latter would readily offer, before they allowed the containers to pass along.
What is so distressing is the blatant indifference of the state toward taking measures to stop the illegal trade. For five years since this trade began to make headlines, administrative agencies have shown no urgency in fighting it save for a few instances of confiscation of sandalwood-carrying trucks on “tip off.” Sandalwood-laden trucks enter Nepal from India and finally reach Tibet in China right past countless checkpoints and police posts.
The trade has been outlawed by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which aims to control international trade of rare and endangered species, and to which both Nepal and India are signatories. Turning blind eye to smuggling is not only an open breach of CITES regulations but also sends a negative image of Nepal to the outside world. The Nepali government must step forward and put an end to this illegal trade. If it needs to work in tandem with the Indian government in addressing the problem, it must. But in a society that is increasingly seeing the criminalization of politics and politicization of crime, fighting a business flourishing under the patronage of the high and mighty is easier said than done.