Peace, need of the hour

Immediately after taking his oath as the new Prime Minister, Surya Bahadur Thapa had said that his top priority would be establishing peace in the country and holding parliamentary elections. And now it seems that his two priorities will indeed materialise in the near future as the government has already declared that necessary preparations for the elections are underway. But the question here is — what about “peace” that he had promised to restore given that it is a prerequisite for holding polls? Why is the government only concentrating in holding elections and ignoring the major problem that the country is facing since last eight years? Experience has indicated that Maoist problem could not be solved by merely holding elections as the problem had surfaced at a time when there was already an elected

government. So it would be wise on the part of the government to take into consideration all the pros and cons before taking a decision. By holding elections at this critical period, government may shut the mouth of those who have been insisting for the restoration of the lower house for a long time, but this move would not help resolve the major problem that the country and the people are facing. The public would want the government to restore peace first. Ambika Pandey, Chitwan

Welcome UN

Why is the government not willing to bring the United Nations (UN) to mediate with the Maoists? The rebel leaders themselves have been calling for UN help. If by involving the UN some positive results would come, then the government must not delay.UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has already offered to assist. It is time we sought UN assistance to solve the problem that has already claimed many innocent lives.

Siddhartha Shakya, Chhauni

Punish

Dipankar Shrestha must be congratulated for writing about the latest malevolent act by the civil aviation authority in his letter titled “Stop taking advantage” published on March 30. It is not only a matter of taking undue advantage, but also an unpardonable crime against the country. In fact, any country can initiate regular flights to another country by just corresponding through normal channels. Later, it is regularised by signing some sort of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or bilateral Air Service Agreement (ASA). If the volume of potential traffic is huge and if normal diplomatic channels fail, a country has to enter into ASA or sign a MoU before commencing regular flights. But no such agreement exists in the case of Nepal and Croatia.It is well known that Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation’s regular scheduled flights to Kuala Lumpur was commenced long before signing an ASA with Malaysia. It is no surprise that these corrupt aviation officials have political blessings and can easily sojourn to the US and other countries in the name of signing ASA. Hence, the culprits should be punished.

R P Upadhya, Gairidhara

Well done

The Midway article titled “Great small pleasures” by Buddhi Gautam published on April 1 was very nice. Gautam does produce interesting write-ups and this one was no exception. I totally agree with his view that “the happiest people are perhaps those who derive pleasure from small things...” After all, happiness is what we all desire for. I wish him luck and hope he keeps on writing such good Midways.

Swagat Raj Pandey, via e-mail