PHUNGLING, April 17: Businesses operators along the foot trail to the famed Pathibhara temple, situated atop a hill at an altitude of 3794 meters, are not worried of the frigid temperature in the unforgiving terrain. Nor are they distressed by the lack of water supply, especially during the harsh winter when water freezes. They have even grown accustomed to the disconnect to modern amenities at one of the remotest areas in the country.
What strikes terror into their hearts, ironically, is a national security agency: Armed Police Force (APF). The locals of the trail fearfully recount multiple instances of indiscriminate violence against them by APF personnel in the name of maintaining law and order, with one incident in particular pushing them to a point where none of them wished to reveal their identities fearing future persecution by the APF .
There are 21 households, all either relic shops or lodges, on the foot trail to Pathibhara from Kaflepati, who depend on pilgrims to make their living. All of the businesses currently face the threat of displacement with the construction of a cable car system connecting Kaflepati and Pathibhara.
However, the displacement may be sooner than anticipated as the promoters of the cable car company have filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court (SC) demanding the evacuation of the area claiming that the businesses have been set up in illegal settlement. While the SC issued a stay order on the cable car construction on March 30, locals claim that some of the construction works have pertained.
The locals allege that the APF personnel and the construction workers are involved in deforestation in the Mukkumlung area on the foot trail which is held sacred by the Yakthung indigenous group.
The incident
On January 25, Ganesh Rai (name changed), 39, a porter on the Pathibhara foot trail had just reached his shop in Balu danda after a tiring day’s work when a team of APF personnel hastily ascended the hill and started raining batons on the unsuspecting porters and local businesspeople.
“I was expecting to rest after multiple climbs to and fro between Pathibhara temple and Kafle pati,” Rai, who had nothing to do with the protest against the cable car, told Republica. “However, I was greeted by indiscriminate beating by the APF group.”
Rai carries pilgrims to and from the religious site as well as transports supplies to the high-altitude settlements and has hardly any time for protests.
However, the one-sided onslaught by the security personnel was reported as a clash between no cable car group and the state by most news media outlets. Rai claimed that the no cable car group was not even protesting in Balu danda on January 25. According to him, the APF personnel chased some protesters dispersed from Kaflepati to Balu danda – a hilltop area – and started indiscriminately beating everyone present there without a cause. During the onslaught, Mukkumlung protectors Yam Bahadur Limbu, Sagun Lawati, and Dharman Palungwa were injured in police firing in an area far from the protest site.
The APF personnel charged at Rai’s shop, firing at the protesters who were on the run, damaging the houses in the process. Multiple eyewitnesses reported that the APF personnel also looted energy drinks from the shops.
“I was also there when it happened, they [APF personnel] stole Rebull from the shops after damaging them,” remarked a shopkeeper in the Mukkumlung area.
Another shopkeeper recollected the sound of a gun fire he witnessed during the APF assault. “I heard the whistling sound of the bullet for the first time, it was like in the movies,” he said, “I could not move for some time as there seemed no way out.”
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Livelihoods
For the last decade, Purnima Limbu, 37, has been running a lodge at Mathilo phedi, the final stop before a 2.2 kilometers long 607 metres ascent to Pathibhara Temple begins.
She operates one of the 21 businesses on the trail to Pathibhara temple. Like most of the businesses on the trail, she mainly operates in two tourist seasons of the temple, revolving around Dashain and Ram Navami festivals.
Purnima’s two daughters Asha (name changed), 18, and Kiran (name changed), 16, both help her out at the lodge during the tourist season while her husband Madan rears cattle near the district headquarters throughout the year. Her youngest child, a four-year-old, also accompanies his mother and sisters at the alpine location.
Asha has joined a Bachelor's degree program while Kiran took the last Secondary Education Examinations (SEE). Both of them express contentment in getting the chance to help their mother.
Purnima believes that she could not have afforded to pay for her children’s education without running the business at Mathilo phedi.
“I don’t believe my husband’s income would have sustained their secondary education,” she said, “I am confident that my income will get my son through higher education too.”
Shopkeepers in the area have started getting irritated over Porter Ganesh Rai’s repeated expression of elation over his eldest son’s recent confirmation of foreign employment in Japan. “He mentions his son’s employment whenever possible,” one shopkeeper in Balu danda said.
Rai said that his twelve years of porter work on the temple trail helped him accumulate the funding to finance his son’s education and the consequent foreign employment.
His achievement has inspired others to start working as porters on the trail. Minmar Sherpa (name changed), 16, is one of many youths who have swarmed to the trail in the last few years. Having only completed primary education, Sherpa believes that working as a porter on the Pathibhara trail will help him accomplish his aim of building a house in the district headquarters.
Fear-fueled anonymity
None of the locals on the temple trail opted to be named in the story fearing physical action from the APF personnel. Since the January 25 incident at Balu danda, the locals have grown to understand that the security agency is more concerned about protecting the cable car construction site than protecting the locals.
“Why would we want to disclose our identity when we might face persecution for our experience and expression?” Purnima questioned.
Another business operator Bishnu Bhattarai (name changed) claimed that whoever speaks out against the state mechanism is under threat of APF. “If you tell our story and mention our name and if the APF notices and takes action against us, the capital is two days away from here, the story of what happened to us might never reach there,” he said, “Even if it does, either it would be too late, or it would be fabricated, narrating a different story.”
APF has constructed a number of living quarters and a security check-point in Kaflepati where the lower station of the cable car is supposed to be constructed. The security force has struck such a fear among the locals that vehicle operators and shopkeepers alike prefer not to venture on the one-kilometer stretch of road from Kaflepati to the cable car station.
When this scribe reached the construction site and attempted to take some pictures of the site, the security personnel on duty forced us to delete the pictures.
Upon being questioned why they are protecting the site, the heavily armed personnel on duty said that the smooth operation of the cable car is their topmost priority.
‘I am thinking of closing my shop’
Bhattarai, 42, has been operating his lodge and shop at Mathilo phedi for the past two decades. Like Limbu, he has financed the education of his children and looked after his family through the income generated from his shop.
He has observed the number of pilgrims to the temple grow significantly over the years as the facilities have increased on the final stop to the religious site. “We struggled to manage water and there was no power supply in the beginning,” he said, “Now, we have hot water, a steady supply of power and even receive good telecommunication signals from a nearby tower.”
According to Santosh Purkuti, information technology coordinator of Pathibhara Area Development Committee, 5,575 visitors visited the temple on Saturday alone. The total number of pilgrims who reached the temple in the recent Ram Navami festival was recorded at 38,848. A total of 106,623 visitors visited the temple from mid-July to mid-December.
As the number of pilgrims increases, the donation collection at the temple too has observed a significant rise. Purkuti told Republica that the temple collected more than Rs 13 million in donations in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
Bhattarai told Republica that such a number is significantly higher than the few hundreds that visited the temple a decade ago. He added that business on the foot trail has flourished with the increase in number of pilgrims.
However, he is planning to close his shop soon due to the fear of the APF.
“We pay Rs 30,000 annually for the use of land, water and power supply, and even help the porters by providing free lodging,” he said, “However, we are not safe from the state itself.”
He added that his decision to close the shop, which has been operated by four generations of his family, is a difficult one, but he has no other alternative.
“Regardless of whether the cable car is constructed, I cannot live in the constant fear of the APF,” he said, “I would rather close the shop than lose my life.”
‘We are under the instruction of the state’
The official line of the APF is that the business operators on the trail have been driven by their personal interest in impeding development by obstructing the construction of the cable car.
According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of APF Kumar Neupane, the locals are mainly concerned that they will not be able to continue their business after the cable car system is constructed in the area.
“We understand that the locals are concerned about their livelihoods but they should not be obstructing development work due to their personal interest,” DIG Neupane told Republica.
When asked why the APF is protecting the cable car station and not the people, DIG Neupane said that they are just working as per the instruction of the state.
“We have no organizational interest in the construction,” he said, “We are under the instruction of the state.”
A high-ranking APF official said that the APF has been stationed at the location because the current government has a vested interest in the cable car construction.
“It is clear that the government has an interest in the cable car,” the official said, “The personnel were not just deployed to protect the construction site but also to strike fear in the locals.”
