Scary smudges

Of late, there has been a rise in acts of violence and crime in the Terai districts. People in Parsa, Bara and Rautahat are very much terrified as such horrendous activities have been occurring without any let up. These crimes have been carried out by armed outfits some with political motives while others groups consist of criminals. The victims have been ordinary people such as businessmen and also government officials. Fear has led to members of the business community moving elsewhere to safer places, thereby impacting on the economy of the country itself. These attacks have disrupted normal life and denied the people the right to live in peace. Unidentified groups have killed numerous people. Just the other day an attempt was made to murder the assistant CDO in Parsa during which his police escort was killed. Activists of various political parties have also been killed, and there have been revenge killings and the cycle of violence continues unabated. The armed groups are on a rampage, and they have been carrying out murders, kidnappings and extortions. Many of the victims hesitate to report these deeds to the authorities fearing reprisal and have been doling out hefty ransom amounts as demanded by the criminals as they lack confidence on the security arrangements.

Although the government has been holding talks with many of the armed political groups to end the violence, they have made little headway in trying to get these outfits to give it up and to settle all their demands and grievances through talks. So far the dialogues have proved to be ineffective in halting the violence, so the concerned stakeholders should be serious about settling all issues so that the ordinary people are spared from the violence that have been going on for a long time, seemingly without any end in sight. Meanwhile, the criminal gangs should not be spared, and the law should come down heavily on them so that they are deterred from carrying out their nefarious activities. Some of the criminals are said to be carrying out these crimes from across the border, so the authorities should work in tandem with their neighboring counterparts to nab the criminals to curb the violent activities.

In order to deal with the worsening law and

order situation, the government had come up

with the Special Security Plan. Although the government has claimed success in certain areas, we see that violence is escalating in various places and not only the Terai. Spurts in the crime graph have been reported from several parts of the country, and the capital city too has not been spared. As a matter of fact, although the authorities say that they have succeeded in controlling violent activities, there are those who question this after the recent incidents in which many have been attacked and some died in the process. However, those implementing the security plans say they have taken effective action. In any case, there is a lot to be done to improve the overall law and order situation, while impunity and political meddling in such grievous matters must be done away with so that the trust and cooperation of the apprehensive people can be restored.

Dark patch

As the mercury drops sharply all around the country, the life of the people has become all the more difficult. The foremost tragic news has been of over two scores of deaths because of the cold spell in the Terai. It is supposed to be mid-winter but the sharp edge that the cold had in the past is too towering considering the temperatures that is prevalent these days. Compared to the past few weeks, the chill has definitely increased. However, what more can we except during the height of winter? A little cold is perhaps going according to the cycle of seasons. But, the feel of global warming leading to climate change has been evident with shorter extreme cold spells. This turn of climate change is foreboding enough. The Copenhagen meet did raise the awareness that we are in for trouble due to global warming though only a superficial remedial touch came up as action plan.

If the winter news of shrinking snow cover of the Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and other ranges are to be believed then it is not a welcome one at that. It also points to the rising temperature that is putting the whole eco-system at risk and the process is quite alarming—the very survival of the living creatures on a global level is threatened.