Some sigh of relief finally. That drama has ended for now. The Nepali choir could well have gone missing. Or they could have deliberately slipped away to catch a glimpse of the big wedding spectacle. In the end, the artistes returned to duty. They did not abscond. But, hey, that does not mean Nepalis do not abscond, or that they have never absconded. When it comes to foreign visits, the Nepali track-record is not very good.
´SELLE-BRITIES´
The bitter truth is this: A lot of times, many Nepali ‘celebrities’ have vanished abroad. Remember the athletes who disappeared from Olympics or Asiad in Seoul and Hiroshima around 20 years ago? The high-profile escapes may be gradually fading from the Nepali memories. Yet the tendency has not stopped, or died down. There are many examples of Nepali known faces not returning from conferences, expos and festivals abroad. And there are fresh examples of ‘selle- brity’ politicians being hand-in-globe with criminals and corrupts and “selling away” diplomatic or the Red passports.
And human traffickers are on a prowl.
The Cornwall drama is just a refresher--a grim reminder of Nepali ‘selle-brities’ vanishing in the ´First World´. In recent years, a lot of well-educated and well-skilled Nepalis have migrated to Australia, Europe and the Americas, propelling the continuing Nepali brain drain trend. A few sought political asylum, but most of them immigrated legally—and with ´dignity´; there’s no doubt about that. They did not get trafficked either.
Five years after the peace deal, many Nepalis continue to leave, looking for greener pastures abroad. And human traffickers continue to fish in the troubled waters, making a mockery of the Nepali governance.
Just scan the list of US Green Card Diversity Visa winners from Nepal. As fresh applications of Green Card-seekers grow, several Who’s Who of pre-2000 Nepal including former ministers, politicians, top government officials, popular actors, media-(wo)men and academics have started calling USA their home. In the summer of 2003, when this writer worked at the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, the US news agency Associated Press (AP) ran a story about Nepali folk singer Premraja Mahat, who, at the time, lived in Baltimore, Maryland.
The AP likened Mahat to US country singer Bruce Springsteen and said, “Nepali Bruce Springsteen, Mahat, fled the Maoist insurgency in Nepal … and came to USA ...” It may not have been Mahat’s fault but the AP narrative about his living in the US did not send a very good message about Nepal or the Nepali people to Americans. In the preceding years, following in Mahat’s footsteps, many Nepali ‘celebrities’ moved to Baltimore, Maryland. A few of them—like Karishma Manandhar and Rajaram Paudel--have returned. But many—like Saroj Khanal and Karna Das--continue to struggle for their existence in the ‘Land of Opportunities.’
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
For many, Nepal remains ‘Land of No Opportunities.’ And thanks to continued degeneration of Nepali geo-socio-politico-sphere, the overseas immigration trend continues unabated. What’s even worse? The drain of rural Nepali men--and now women--continues, too. Every day, 1,000 Nepalis leave home seeking better opportunities and pay. Conflict-torn Nepal may not need them just yet, but the emerging markets of the West and East need them. As foreign employment booms, Nepal’s mostly poor people have been reduced to numero uno export stuff.
We have absolutely no problem with lawful foreign employment that generates billions of rupees in remittances. For a conflict-wracked economy, remittances sent by over three million Nepalis abroad have been a boon. But the matter of grave concern—if not national shame--is this: In guise of foreign employment, vices such as human trafficking have thrived. Recent reports have made it clear that there are tens of thousands of Nepali ‘illegals’ in Afghanistan; tens of thousands of ´illegals´ in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries; and thousands in war-torn Iraq! If they were taken thereillegally, were they not trafficked?
Many Nepali female maids have been forced into slavery-like conditions in Kuwait. Let alone the Nepali women trafficked into prostitution in neighboring India. Nepal witnessed quite high-sounding and allegedly “ground-breaking” political changes in recent years, yet they have not had any direct impact on the positive socio-economic development of Nepal and its diverse nationalities – the so-called high caste Bahuns and Chhetris included.
The changed have not purged the Nepali society.
They have not rid the society of her ills. Most of them stem from her continued underdevelopment. Human trafficking is just one example. As their potential preys multiply in Nepal--in the face of conflict, instability and resultant poverty—both seasoned and unseasoned human traffickers are busy making hay. As the Nepali political insanity compels opportunities to shrink--in the face of massive downturn in whatever little industrial capacity Nepal boasts--human trafficking, alongside foreign employment, study, or immigration, refuses to die down.
´PEOPLE POWER´
Sample it. Passports are being sold; passports are being tampered with; fake visas are being stamped; dreams are being sold; and unsuspecting people are being sent abroad. Soon after the victims land abroad, they find their dreams shattered, promises broken. The freshest reported example is that of a group of Nepali blokes who dreamt of making it big in a Thai shipping company. But as the Thai police chased them, they realized they got swindled. Yes each day, many Nepalis are being swindled. Still nothing is being done to stop human trafficking.
Five years after the Maoist insurgency ended, the flights of the nation’s human capital continues unabated, uninterrupted. Each day, an estimated 1,000 nimble-footed Nepalis—amongst them vulnerable women and girls--are going abroad for work. Five years after the ´Spring of Hope´ saw Nepal´s monarchy bowing before the ´people power,’ why does people power seem so weak?
Why are people still bent on fleeing their homeland and landing in some foreign land? On the eve of yet another May 28 deadline, it´s time for every Nepali to ponder over the collective Nepali plight: Of conflict, and of the resultant misery, poverty and daily flights. Can Nepal, too, not be the ´Land of Opportunities´? If we the people take the right step, at the right time—which is NOW--it very well can.
Writer is a BBC Correspondent
nepal.surendra@gmail.com
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