Life disrupted in the capital, call for bandh draws criticism
Normal life has been paralysed in Kathmandu Friday owing to the call for shutdown strike by the seven-party opposition alliance in protest of the new media law and government’s action against Kantipur FM.
While shops in interior parts of the city were open, shops in major thoroughfares remained closed for fear of violence. Most of the public and private vehicles kept off the road but some two wheelers and mini-vans could be seen plying around the streets. Armed security personnel have been patrolling the city.
Newpaper vendors supplied newspapers early in the morning while there was shortage of milk and fresh vegetables in the market. Most of the schools and colleges have declared off on Friday in view of the shutdown strike.
An emergency meeting of the seven party alliance on Wednesday decided to call the shutdown strike in the capital valley within hours of the 24-hour ultimatum issued by the government against Kantipur FM.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the government not to take any action against the Kantipur FM until Sunday (Oct. 30) when the court is to hear a number of writ petitions related to new media ordinance.
The `valley bandh’—called by the opposition alliance on the eve of ‘Tihar’ – a major festival, has also drawn heavy criticism. Critics said the opposition parties should have gone for other means of peaceful protests rather than call for `bandh.’ Interestingly, the opposition leaders had said in the past that they were against all type of shutdown strikes that added to the woes of ordinary people and crippled national economy.
People in Kathmandu had defied similar call for ‘bandh’ organised by the CPN (Maoist) in the past. The alliance had, called the strike at a time when its party leaders themselves admitted that they did not have the level of popular support they would like to in their on-going protests against the royal move of February 1, this year.
The opposition alliance mobilized hundreds of their party activists from early Friday to enforce the strike. Police detained general secretary of Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students Union, Basu Koirala, and Rup Narayan Shrestha, a former student leader affiliated to the CPN (UML), while leading a protest against the government at New Baneswore in Kathmandu this morning.
The opposition parties are to take out protest rally Friday afternoon from Basantapur.
Meanwhile, various travel-trade related organizations have called upon the opposition parties not to resort to ‘bandhs’ frequently and call off their Friday’s shutdown strike. Addressing a press meet in the capital on Thursday, president of Nepal Tour Operators Association (NATO) Basanta Raj Mishra said the country’s tourism industry had been providing direct employment to nearly 200,000 people and that frequent strikes would badly affect the already dwindling tourism industry.
President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), Narendra Bajracharya, said the call for strike right at the beginning of ‘tourist season’ will send negative message to the world market. CEO of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Tek Bahadur Dangi, said protest programmes like ‘bandh’ could erode tourists’ confidence in Nepal. He said the NTB had made arrangements for three buses to ferry tourists to and from the Tribhuvan International Airport.
Representatives of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN), Nepal Freight Forwarders Association and Nepal Association of Rafting Agents also urged the parties not to resort to programmes like ‘shutdown strike’ during their on-going protests. nepalnews.com by Oct 28 05
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