Lumley greeted as 'daughter of Nepal'

A wonderful story from BBC News in Nepal, by Joanna Jolly, 25 July 2009:
Lumley greeted as 'daughter of Nepal'

A high profile campaign led by the actress Joanna Lumley in May won many Gurkha veterans the right to settle in the UK.

The case was followed keenly by their families in Nepal as the BBC found out when the actress arrived in Kathmandu.

Joanna Lumley's visit to Nepal was originally intended to be a private affair.

But such was the level of gratitude towards the former model and actress, her imminent arrival in Kathmandu fast became the main event in town.

"We're so excited to meet her, she's been so good to us," said Sorala Thapa, 42, wife of a former Gurkha soldier who was one of hundreds of Nepalis travelling to Kathmandu's airport to welcome Joanna Lumley.

Sorala arrived with forty other Gurkha wives, all wearing traditional green saris bearing the Gurkha emblem of two crossed Khukuri knives.

As they waited for Ms Lumley's plane to touch down, they handed out placards bearing the slogans "daughter of Nepal", "goddess" and "thank you".

Prem Rai, chairman of the United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen Association Nepal, said: "Gurkha wives and Gurkha widows are especially grateful to Joanna.

"They can now qualify for British settlement visas."

But Mr Rai said all Nepalese people were thankful for what she has done for the Gurkhas.

"We are very pleased to welcome her in Nepal," he said.

Many of those who turned up were elderly. As monsoon rain showers swept across the airport car park, they waited patiently, placards and flags in hand.

Finally Ms Lumley emerged from the terminal building. Flanked by Peter Carroll, the Liberal Democrat councillor who began the Gurkha Justice Campaign, she looked delighted to see the crowds waiting to meet her.

Leaders of the Gurkha ex-servicemen organizations draped orange garlands and traditional white khata scarves - usually given as a token of love - around her shoulders.

But, as Ms Lumley moved slowly past lines of well-wishers, the Nepalese press pack broke through the barriers and surrounded her.

'Absolutely thrilled'

The result was chaos as local police pushed back cameramen and photographers as everyone tried to get a shot of the actress.

"I'm absolutely thrilled, it's extremely sweet and warm," said Ms Lumley as her minders pushed her through the mob.

"Quite close contact," she added with a smile.

Undeterred by the scrum surrounding Ms Lumley, small and elderly former Gurkhas attempted to break through the crowd to reach her.

Despite their size and their age, they did surprisingly well - many of them managing to get close enough to drape more scarves around her neck.

Using a car doorway as a platform, Ms Lumley was finally able to stand above the mob and deliver an impromptu speech.

"I want to thank you so much for your warm welcome," she said.

"I want to say the time-honoured cry, Ayo Gorkhali!"

On Monday the actress is scheduled to meet the Nepalese president and prime minister before addressing a crowd of former Gurkhas at Kathmandu's city hall.

"Everybody will be there to meet her," said 53-year-old Gyanendra Rai, a Falklands veteran who will be one the first to benefit from Ms Lumley's campaign to secure UK settlement rights for Gurkha ex-servicemen.

"We don't have any word to describe her, because she's like an original goddess for the Gurkhas. So we'll heartily welcome her to Kathmandu.

"It is a homecoming for her," he said.

Great job, well done Ms Lumley. Ayo Gorkhali!

Keep Nepal Free

Linda's (one year old but new to me) specialist blog Keep Nepal Free is now in my feed, thanks to Curzon at the Coming Anarchy blog. Early last year, I followed Linda's main blog but somehow lost contact when I started reading blogs through a newsfeed. On Linda's blog, Keep Nepal Free, Curzon writes this:

It's been quite a while since I first wrote about the appalling state of affairs in Nepal. The situation remains grim. The King continues his brutal crackdown on dissent, opposition parties have gone so far as to meet with the Maoist guerillas to plan joint protests against the king, relations with the US and India remain sour (leading to closer ties with China and North Korea), and there appears to be no easy end to the current mess.

How do I keep track of all this? Beside Google News, there's a great source of information for those of you opposed to a bloody Maoist takeover of the Himalayan kingdom: Keep Nepal Free. Author Linda is based in Nebraska but nonetheless keeps close tabs on Nepal-related news with regular updates. Next week is the site's one-year anniversary -- congrats on a unique blog Linda, and keep up the great work.

Please visit Curzon's post for the link to his original post on the appalling state of affairs in Nepal. This blog Nepal Watch is only used to file news on Nepal that I find while tracking news on the Sudan.

Zayd's Dad: Why was a church burned in Nepal?

Joel at Zayd's Dad blog asks Why was a church burned in Nepal? and writes:

"While I was in Nepal last week, I heard a story of a church that was burned down by the Maoists in the western part of the nation. They Maoists later told the church leaders, "We have to burn your building down to stop you from spreading your message of love, peace, non-violence, and forgivess. If everyone listens to your message, then no one will follow our cause and kill for us." Despite the Maoists attacks on Christians, the church is growing."

MEDIA FAST FOR MOJTABA

Excerpt from a post at Committee to Protect Bloggers Thursday, May 19, 2005:

The CPB is asking bloggers and other concerned people to observe next Thursday, May 26 as a Media Fast for Mojtaba.

Mojtaba Saminejad, a blogger from Iran, has declared a hunger strike. He is being held at Tehran's Gohar Dashat prison, which has a reputation for mistreatment of detainees. He is being held in the general population, the overwhelming majority of which are common criminals.

Mojtaba was arrested for reporting the earlier arrest of three of his fellow Iranian bloggers. (Iran has arrested over 20 bloggers over the last year.) Iranian bloggers who have been released have reported being the victims of torture.

Read full story at Committee to Protect Bloggers: MEDIA FAST FOR MOJTABA.

[via Curt with thanks] Tags: Tehran Iran Mojtaba Blog Bloggers Committee+to+Protect+Bloggers

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC RADIO IN THE AGE OF PODCASTING: Anybody can create their own public radio online

Note Rebecca MacKinnon's post linking to a live webcast from Harvard's Berkman Center today, May 17, 2005.

Jake Shapiro of the Public Radio Exchange will talk about the future of public radio in the age of podcasting, which enables anybody to create their own public radio online.

This is history in the making. Keep it for your archives.
- - -

Open Source. It'll be a radio show. May 30, 2005

Here is a don't miss, must-do: listen to Open Source's pilot on podcasting and bloggers without borders. Hear phone interviews and discussions with Rebecca and Ethan of Global Voices, and several other bloggers, hosted by smooth (and thankfully not-so-fast) talking American Christopher Lydon at Harvad's Berkman.

See Ethan's follow-up post "On hold with Chris Lydon".

Note also GlobalCoordinate.com Geo-Community. Click on the map to zoom in. You can add your own comments, stories, or photos at any location.

Tags: Podcasting Radio Audioblogging MacKinnon Shapiro Berkman Harvard

UN seeks action on Nepal refugees

Copy of April 18, 2005 report by Charles Haviland, BBC News, Kathmandu.


BBC Photo: Maoist rebels have been fighting the government since 1996.

A senior United Nations official visiting Nepal has called for pre-emptive action to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the country.

Dennis McNamara says the kingdom is a source of major concern over the plight of its internally displaced people.

He wants to push the country up the UN agenda, mentioning it in the same breath as Sudan, Colombia or Somalia.

He spoke as more details emerged of the apparent killing of 10 villagers by Maoist rebels.

Mr McNamara, who advises the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, specialises in internally displaced people, or IDPs, driven from their homes by conflict.

He says there are between 100,000 and 200,000 IDPs in Nepal - hundreds of thousands more are refugees who have crossed the open border into India.

They are not in camps, but millions are affected, he says.

He adds that concerned governments and humanitarian agencies must mobilise to protect them now, while the Nepalese authorities must help the IDPs.

In southern Nepal, the state's conflict with Maoist rebels is spiralling into a vicious cycle of revenge, uprooting ever more people.

Nepalese human rights groups have been visiting a village where Maoists reportedly dragged nine men and a 14-year-old boy from their houses and shot them late on Friday.

Local accounts said the 10 had nothing to do with anti-Maoist vigilante groups, as the rebels had alleged.

The conflict in this region pits Maoists who have long brutalised villagers against vigilantes, whom the government has been openly encouraging - mob violence met with more of the same, and innocent victims on both sides.

Nepal journalists urge free press

Via BBC NEWS online, March 29, 2005:

Hundreds of journalists in Nepal have held demonstrations across the country demanding the restoration of press freedom in the country.

King Gyanendra imposed sweeping curbs on the media as part of emergency rule introduced last month.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says that about half of Nepal's newspapers had ceased to publish since the king seized power.

A number of journalists have also been detained on charges of showing dissent.

About 300 journalists joined by human rights activists participated in a protest rally in the capital, Kathmandu.

"We are going to fight until all press freedoms are restored in the country," Taranath Dahal, president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) told the Associated Press.

He said the Nepalese journalists were facing one of the worst crises in the country's press history.

Security situation

The FNJ says 10 journalists are in police custody for expressing opposition to the royal takeover.

The authorities say that the restrictions on media are aimed at helping efforts to fight the Maoist rebels and restore peace.

They have insisted that the curbs would be lifted as soon as the security situation improves.

The IFJ says that at least 600 journalists have lost their jobs since the royal takeover and a further 1,000 could be out of work if press censorship remains in place.

So far King Gyanendra has ignored repeated calls from the international community to restore democracy.

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