09) SOLIDARITY WITH NEPAL AGAINST INDIA’S BLOCKADE
PV Ontario Bureau
Mississauga, Ontario – On December 13, as part of International Human Rights Day, Concern Nepal Canada organized a conference and demonstration against India’s illegal and undeclared blockade of Nepal.
The event featured many guest speakers, including Govinda Siwakoti of Concern Nepal Canada, Shamshad Elahee Shams of the Indo Canadian Workers Association, Dave McKee of the Canadian Peace Congress, Fozia Tanveer of the Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians, former Conservative MP Bob Dechert and former Nepal government minister Kamal Prasad Chaulagain.
In May 2008, the Nepali people abolished the monarchy and established a federal democratic republic. Since then, Nepal has struggled to craft and adopt a new constitution. The process was completed on September 20, 2015, when the new constitution was announced, with 85% support in the Constituent Assembly.
Early on, though, there were already indications that the Nepali people were facing significant foreign interference in their internal and sovereign affairs. In particular, the government of India repeatedly voiced objections to some provisions in the new constitution and even submitted 7 amendments through official channels. This is quite astonishing – should any country accept having its constitution written by a foreign government?
Dave McKee of the Canadian Peace Congress noted that there are many good features of the constitution, some of which stand in stark and interesting contrast to the constitutions of both India and Canada.
* Rights of gender and sexual minorities are protected by the new constitution with provisions of special laws to protect, empower and develop minority groups as well as allowing them to get citizenship in their chosen gender.
* Recognizing the rights of women, the constitution of Nepal explicitly states that “women shall have equal ancestral right without any gender-based discrimination.” India has yet to introduce a similar right for women from all faiths. Moreover, ancestral property rights for women are not a fundamental right in India.
* Nepal has become the second country after Bhutan in South Asia to abolish the death penalty.
* Under the new constitution, victims of environmental pollution or degradation in Nepal now have the fundamental right to receive compensation from the polluter. In India the “right to a clean environment” is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution, but the Supreme Court has interpreted it be included under the right to life. However, unlike Nepal, the victims of environmental pollution or degradation in India are not entitled to any compensation as a fundamental right. The state may impose a penalty on polluters but this does not necessarily mean that the affected will be compensated.
The biggest issue for the reactionary, religious fundamentalist party of Indian PM Modi, as Shamshad Elahee Shams noted, is the Nepali constitution’s secular orientation. “Nepal is the first country to face suffocation by India’s sectarian policies,” said Shamshad, “but there are millions of Muslims and others within India who are facing this same problem.”
The government of India responded to the new constitution by imposing an undeclared blockade, which is having a profound effect. Nepal’s Central Bank estimates that the severe shortages will push nearly one million people into poverty. Conference speakers noted many other immediate and long-term effects, including:
- Pressure on vulnerable forest resources, as the fuel shortage increases the demand for firewood and illegal logging increases.
- Shortages of medicines, one of the worst-hit supplies. More than three million children under the age of five are at risk of death or disease due to the shortages.
- Severely weakened education system, as school buses take periodic holidays due to fuel shortages and textbooks cannot be printed.
- Stalled relief and rebuilding efforts from the April earthquake, which killed nearly 10,000 people and destroyed nearly 600,000 homes.
- Economic crisis, with trade declining by one-third during the months of the blockade and estimates that the blockade will inflict greater economic damage than the $7 billion losses caused by the earthquakes.
- Foreign incitement to division, polarization and even violence, as India’s actions essentially amount to aggressive outside support for a specific political group within Nepal.
Taken together, both the immediate and long term effects of the blockade are clear and direct attacks on Nepal’s sovereignty, on the right of the Nepali people to determine their own future. As Dave McKee stated, “These are calculated actions by the Indian government, whose self-described role as the “regional big brother” is currently guided by its own narrow, dangerous ideological orientation. The blockade and interference must end, and be replaced with international cooperation and solidarity.”
Govinda Siwakoti noted that international law guarantees landlocked countries the right of access to and from the sea. The blockade is in clear and intentional violation of this right. He encouraged participants to take action for justice for Nepal. He identified the World Trade Organization and the International Court of Justice as two institutions that need to be brought into action on the Nepal blockade.
Following the conference, participants held a peaceful demonstration calling for India to end the blockade, and for the Canadian government to speak out in support of Nepal’s sovereignty.
(The above article is from the February 1-14, 2016, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)