From the Editor

The year 2009 has been a difficult one politically for Nepal, as was indicated to the Society in the lecture given to us by HE Dr Andrew Hall earlier in the year. Changes in government will have distracted the Constituent Assembly from their task of producing the new constitution, with inevitable delays. One of the major sticking points has been the question surrounding the future of the Maoist ‘fighters’ now being held in UN monitored camps across the country. Negotiations to absorb some into the Nepalese Army have failed. The Chief of Army Staff refused to accept this proposition and, as a consequence, was dismissed by the Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, (aka ‘Prachanda’). His dismissal was then reversed by the President which resulted in the Prime Minister’s resignation and the withdrawal of the Maoist party from government. Mr Madhav Kumar Nepal is the current PM (as at December 2009). The Maoists then imposed a blockade on Parliament which has further delayed progress and means that it is practically certain that the May 2010 deadline for a new constitution will not be achieved. During early November it became apparent that unless Parliamentary business was resumed, the country would soon run out of government funds as the budget had not been passed. After considerable discussion the Maoists lifted their blockade for three days during which time the budget was approved. The blockade was then re-imposed. The current UN mandate will run out in January 2010. Since UNMIN has not yet fully achieved its purpose, it would seem that an extension is likely and negotiations are under way at the time of drafting. Climate change is of great importance to Nepal as everywhere else. To highlight the Copenhagen climate conference, the Maldives government held an under-sea cabinet meeting. Not to be out done, the Nepalese cabinet held a meeting on 4^th December at the Everest base camp, a somewhat costly and potentially dangerous exercise.

As ever Nepal has to face both India and China. There seems to be increasing Chinese involvement as they have indicated a greater willingness to help get food and goods to the remote northern border areas by routing traffic via their main east-west road to the north of the main Himalayan range, using feeder roads emanating southwards into Nepalese territory. The Nepalese are increasing border security at the northern passes and routes into the Tibet Autonomous Region. This will permit greater control over Tibetans wishing to enter Nepal en route to India and Dharamsala, the current home of the Dalai Lama. Both the former King Gyanendra and more recent political leaders have sought to woo Chinese support to strengthen legitimacy and to off set Indian influence to the south. The quid pro quo has been the tightening up over the Tibetan exiled community with the closure of the Dalai Lama’s representative’s office and the UN-funded Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office in 2005 by Gyanendra and the subsequent refusal by the Maoist government in 2008 to reopen these offices. Issues in respect of the Aranachal (former North East Frontier Agency)/ Chinese border are once again high on the Chinese agenda since they claim this as Chinese territory. India with her own Maoist problems, will wish to minimize problems coming out of Kathmandu. All these competing pressures have a strong influence on the direction of ‘Himalayan politics’.

Notwithstanding political life in Nepal, there is this autumn a high level of tourist activity. Hotels are recording high occupancy rates and tourists one meets all seem to have had enjoyable experiences. Looking ahead some problems would appear to be looming. Relatively little rain fell during the monsoon and already this is affecting electricity supplies with load shedding in place. Likewise drinking water will become scarcer. There are always threats of strikes and bhands by Maoist activists which could affect movement around the country, both road and air and hotel staff. Much will depend upon how the politicians resolve their differences over the coming months.

A Society as old as ours, approaching its golden jubilee, inevitably loses its founder and senior members as the years go by. This year is no exception. We were sad to learn that Jim Edwards, of Tiger Tops fame, a life member of the Society, had died in March. I had had the good fortune to meet him in Kathmandu in mid 1962, when we both arrived in Nepal at about the same time. The expat community in those days was very small so I was glad to get to know someone of my own age on my visits to Kathmandu from Dharan. Our paths crossed quite often over the succeeding years with our children attending the same prep school. Jim was initially famous for his work in making Tiger Tops an iconic location in for wildlife tourism in Nepal. With the late Colonel Jimmy Roberts he established the Tiger Mountain group of companies which set the standard for wildlife tourism, trekking and mountaineering in Nepal. This brought a large number of ‘high value’ tourists to Nepal, contributing greatly to Nepal’s economy over many years. Jim always sought to ensure that his work was sound environmentally and took great care of the needs of his local staff. Many Society members, their children and their friends will have experienced Jim’s generosity and hospitality in Nepal. He co-founded the World Elephant Polo Association. The annual championships, held on Meghauli airstrip in Chitwan, attracted much attention from the British press, highlighting Nepal as an important tourist destination. He was also the driving force behind the setting up of the International Trust for Nature Conservation (ITNC), a conservation organisation which has been able to concentrate on projects that did not necessarily fit the remit of the large global trusts. A full obituary, written by Marcus Cotton, a colleague and friend is elsewhere in the journal.

Another erstwhile member from the early 1960s, Tom Spring-Smyth also died in mid year. The late fifties and early sixties in Nepal were what I term the ‘Han Su Yin’ or ‘post Han Su Yin period’ (See footnote.). It was the age of pioneering there, at least for westerners. It was the age of Boris Lissanevitch at the Royal Hotel, Father Marshall Moran at St Xaviers School and Toni Hagen, the Swiss geologist and explorer. Tom, a retired military engineer, was working for the UN on the early feasibility work for the Karnali hydro-electric project. Tom was a keen horticulturist and travelled widely looking for plants. Members will recall the outing in 2000 to the Hillier Arboretum hosted by Tom to see the Gurkha Memorial Garden that he master-minded. A full obituary, written with the aid of Tony Schilling, is also elsewhere in the journal.

Sadly too Sir Anthony Hurrell died in the spring. He was ambassador in Kathmandu 1983-86. His route to becoming ambassador did not follow the usual path, not having started his career in the Foreign Service. He was also a very keen ornithologist and bird ringer.

As the Secretary reports, one of our strongest supporters, former chairman and vice president, Peter Leggatt, very sadly died just a few days before the Society’s AGM.

I am grateful as always to the Journal’s contributors. Philip Holmes has provided an update of the Esther Benjamin’s Trust’s continuing operations to return Nepalese girls who were working in Indian circuses in appalling conditions. With permission from the editor of The Kukri, journal of the Brigade of Gurkhas, I have included a story written by Lt Col John Cross, in his own inimitable style that comes from his journeying around Nepal to meet ex-servicemen and their families. Major Kelvin Kent has written about the Jersey connection with one of the nineteenth century ‘Great Game’ characters. Although not strictly about Nepal, it was at least peripheral to that area of operations. It was the Nepalese consul in Lhasa that helped Sir Francis Younghusband in his initial approaches to the Tibetan authorities in 1903/04. A ‘game’ is still being played out in Central Asia and one should perhaps remember Lord Curzon’s words at the 1908 annual dinner of the then Central Asian Society, “fifty or a hundred years hence, Afghanistan will be as vital and important a question as it is now.” Darjeeling is very much part of the Nepalese diaspora and is well known to senior members of the Society. Thanks to the late Mr Peter Leggatt, a director of Camellia PLC, I am pleased to include a short article from the Camellia Journal, house magazine of Camellia PLC, which sketches out a brief history of the development of the tea industry in the Darjeeling district. Nepalese were encouraged to take up work in the developing tea gardens in the late nineteenth century. Over the succeeding years with both an expanding population and increased development, there has been a movement of Nepalese north and east into Bhutan’s lowland region, to Assam and the surrounding states. Nepali is a very useful language for travel within north east India. There is a twenty year, outstanding dispute with Bhutan over the question of the Nepalese ethnic group, known as the Lhotshampas that established itself there. Some 90,000 refugees were put in camps in east Nepal that have been in existence since the early 1990s and although the question is still not settled, some 60,000 are being offered the chance to move to the USA.

Thanks to the efforts of John Cross, Mr John Pemble has had his original work on the 1814 -16 Anglo-Nepal war republished. The book has been thoroughly reviewed under the new title of Britain’s Gurkha War. The Society was privileged to receive a lecture from Pemble, the text of which has been published in Asian Affairs, the journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (formerly the Royal Central Asian Society). There is quite a literary tradition in the Society as the ‘Short Review’ section demonstrates. I congratulate the authors involved. Harish Karki has written about his early life in Nepal and the army before coming to UK and becoming a successful restauranteur. Brigadier Christopher Bullock has written the definitive history of the Brigade of Gurkhas and John Cross is continuing his series of historical novels. There are here plenty of ideas for members or indeed their spouses for suitable presents.

The frontispiece photograph shows the pavilion in the recently restored section of the garden of Kaiser Mahal. This has been tastefully done and is a haven of quiet amongst the noise and bustle of Kathmandu. There is a good restaurant and coffee bar run by the Dwarika Hotel. It is an excellent place to sit and write or just relax. The famous library put together by the late Field Marshal ‘Kaiser’ Shumsher Rana (1892-1964) with its pictures provides a reading area for students and visitors and houses the Ministry of Education.

(Foot note: Han Su Yin wrote a novel set in Kathmandu in the late 1950s entitled The Mountain is Young.
Her characters are based on real people there at that time and her description of life in the Valley is very evocative. Ed.)

Archive: