Praiseworthy? Certainly not

It is no secret that the capital city is not immune to traffic pell-mell. And to lessen chaos, traffic police are deployed in different parts of the Valley. However, some of them lack minimum etiquette towards the drivers, especially those of public vehicles. Almost anyone can see police officers freely venting their ire on these drivers. For example, I was inside a microbus yesterday when the driver was handed over a fine-ticket despite stopping at a parking area. Moreover, he shouted a flurry of invectives to the driver.

While returning home in the evening, public vehicles were not allowed to ply towards Ratnapark from Pulchowk. The passengers requested the driver of the tempo in which I was travelling to use an alternative route. When the tempo reached Kopundol, a traffic policeman came and abruptly assaulted the driver. Besides shouting obscenities, he punched the driver on the face. All the passengers were astonished at the irresponsible behaviour of the officer.

No one can undermine the effort and contribution of the traffic police in the busy streets. However, the guardians of the law should not take the law unto their own hands. Though they have immense work pressure, they should be wise enough to deal with certain amount of decorum in the public. If someone breaches the rules, the wrong-doer should be

punished in a legal way, not by punching him or her on the spot. A few isolated incidents like the one mentioned above contribute to tarnish the image of the police department. Such incidents are an indication of existing loopholes in their training. Thus, I urge the authorities concerned to look into these loopholes so that they become responsible and decent officers prior to taking charge of the beats.

Ishwor Manandhar, Thahity Tole

Publish results

The result of the final examination of Master of Business Study (MBS) under Tribhuvan University, which was held seven months back, has not been published yet. Because of such a delay in publication of the results students are facing problems. The university, however, seems to be indifferent to the issue. I request the TU examination section to expedite the announcement of the results at the earliest.

Raj, via e-mail

Jingoism

The use of jingoistic clichés is very much in vogue these days. Verbose patriotic-sounding slogans such as “Nepal ko laagi, desh ko laagi” are heard at the every other corner. “Mero desh, mero Nepal” is one such slogan designed to inspire and be proud of the Nepali heritage. However, given the way some of them are using them these days, it would not be wrong to say that they have been reduced to a mere means of playing with the people’s sentiments. And similar slogans are increasingly being inducted into the commercial circuits.

But the truth is all such rhetoric is worthless. A sizeable number of people is still forced to spend their lives as lesser humans, thanks to poverty, exploitation and the caste system. For anyone living under extremely difficult situations, pride for Nepal and Nepalis does not make any sense. Such slogans may make sense only to the privileged class. It is unlikely that the condition of the poor, downtrodden and the untouchables will in any way be improved by reciting such slogans. A down-to-earth but practical approach of mitigating their problems will only lift them from the pitiful state they are in. That is when “praja phailiyos pukarun jaya prema le” will come true.

Om Kami, via e-mail