The District Attorney's Office (DAO), Kathmandu on Sunday filed a case of forgery of government documents at the Kathmandu District Court against 289 individuals in connection with the Baluwatar land grab scam. Another 21 persons who are now deceased have also been made defendants. Although the police had earlier arrested many of them under the anti-forgery and organised crime charges, the DAO has dropped the latter charge, sparing them up to five years' imprisonment if convicted. The defendants are accused of falsifying government documents to transfer 143 ropanis of government-owned land into private ownership over a span of 30 years. Those indicted include a former deputy prime minister, four former ministers, six former secretaries, an incumbent secretary and a joint-secretary along with dozens of government employees, middle-men, land mafia and businessmen. However, no case has been filed against the prime minister duo Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai, even though it was the four Cabinet decisions they took on the proposals of the ministers from April 2010 to October 2012 that paved the way for the transfer of the Lalita Niwas land into private property. Were it not for the August 6 order of the Supreme Court to also bring into the probe all the higher ups, namely Cabinet decision makers as well as those implementing the decisions, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) might not have even quizzed the former prime ministers. Their statements were recorded and have been presented as mere evidence and witnesses to the crime.

As with all scandals in the past, the Lalita land grab scam might end up with only a handful of lower-ranking government employees and businessmen being convicted of the crime. By sparing the two former prime ministers - Nepal and Bhattarai, who now lead the CPN (Unified Socialist) and Nepal Samajwadi Party, respectively - it is doing injustice to others who have been accused in the land grab scam. It is clear why the coalition government of Pushpa Kamal Dahal has gone all out to protect the two former prime ministers. Their parties' support is crucial for Dahal's survival as the prime minister whose party has just 32 seats in the House of Representatives. Also, the PM fears he could be dragged into a number of scams, not the least being the embezzlement of funds worth billions of rupees meant for the Maoist cantonments.

By not indicting the two former prime ministers, the Lalita Niwas land grab case has been politicized. What if former deputy prime minister Bijaya Gacchadhar and four other former ministers had been in Dahal's government? Would they have been prosecuted or spared like Nepal and Bhattarai? Also, it must be noted that Lalita Niwas's land began to be sold to the land mafia after the appellate court in 2000 passed a verdict in favor of the tenants who had demanded half their share as provided by law. Thus, the government must first invalidate the court verdict that ruled Lalita Niwas's land was individual property. Let us hope the Lalita Niwas land grab scam does not fizzle out over time. The government must do all it can to get back all the government land that has now been passed on to individuals.

Reopen the border

The closure of the Tiptala transit in Taplejung's Olangchungola for the last four years has affected the local people from doing business across the Nepal-China border. The Tiptala border was closed at the Chinese government's request following the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in 2019. More than five villages in Nepali side are entirely dependent on the Chinese market for daily essentials as the district headquarters of Taplejung, Phungling, is not accessible due to flooding and landslides during the rainy season. Following the closure of the border for such a long time, trade with China has been halted, and the locals have not been able even to buy salt in Tibetan market.

Since COVID-19 has been brought under full control in both Nepal and China, there should be no reason to close the border indefinitely. Officials from both sides must hold a dialogue to reopen the border so that people from both sides can restart their trade. At the same time, the Nepal government should also open the road to connect the district headquarters with the northern part of the country. Livestock business and animal products are the main items that are traded with the bordering towns of Tibet. Reopening the border will benefit both the sides.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 29, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.