Take action against guilty

REPUBLICA

What happened in Mahendra Bindeswori Campus on June 8 and the shameful developments over the next ten days is a stark reminder that rule of law is virtually absent in Nepal while the culture of impunity has permeated every aspect of our society.

In what looked like a grimmer replica of the incident that occurred in Tribhuvan University (TU), Kirtipur, in April, students of Mahendra Bindeswori Campus in Saptari district thrashed Campus Chief Devidatta Sah black and blue. However, the three student leaders – Ramchandra Yadav, Jaya Prakash Yadav and Santosh Yadav – arrested for involvement in the incident were released on Wednesday following intense pressure from 10 political parties including CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist) and MPRF.

That our political parties, who do not see eye to eye on any single issue of grave national importance, lost no time in joining hands to press for the trio’s release not only speak volumes about their moral bankruptcy but also makes it evident that such lowly incidents are impossible without political patronage. Emboldened by the presence of their mother party in government, students belonging to the Maoist-aligned All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) had smeared black soot on the faces of TU’s Vice-Chancellor Dr Madhav Sharma and Rector Professor Dr Surya Man Amatya on April 22. Had those students been punished, maybe we would never have seen what happened at Mahendra Bindeswori Campus. The combination of political patronage and impunity is indeed taking our country to the dogs.

The lure of the teaching sector is primarily the prestige associated with it but if the very foundation on which the profession rests is repeatedly trampled upon, there may come a time when we will be left with just a handful of people who would see teaching as a career option. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to imagine the telling repercussions that it will have on our society if we happen to reach such a situation.

Though a lot of damage has already been done, there is never a wrong time for course correction. As a first step in the direction, the student leaders involved in the incident must be immediately suspended from their party while allowing the law to take its course. The political parties must also immediately start taking steps to put a complete full stop to the culture of impunity and political patronage.


Published on 2009-06-21 08:01:03
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