The Kathmandu PostThursday, September 7, 2006 5Opinion

By TIM RUTTEN

Espionage is probably the most sinis-ter charge that can be leveledagainst a journalist.

The superficial similarities betweenthe daily activities of a reporter or photo-journalist and those of a spy make themen and women who gather your newseasy targets for false allegations -- andforeign correspondents are more vulnera-ble than most.

That's what makes the case of ChicagoTribune reporter Paul Salopek, currentlybeing held by Sudanese authorities inDarfur, a matter of great urgency.

Securing Salopek's immediate releaseis an issue of consequence not only to hispaper and its readers but also to everyonewho believes that a free flow of accurateinformation never has been more impor-tant than it is now, when our understand-ing of the common good is as globalizedas everything else about our lives.

Salopek, who has won two PulitzerPrizes, was arrested by pro-governmentSudanese forces earlier in August. Hisdriver, Idriss Abdulraham Anu, and inter-preter, Suleiman Abakar Moussa -- bothcitizens of neighboring Chad -- also weretaken into custody.

On Saturday, during a 40-minutehearing in El Fasher, capital of Sudan'sNorth Darfur state, all three were chargedwith espionage, passing information ille-gally and writing “false news.” Inresponse to a motion by the trio's localdefense attorney, their trial was delayedfor two weeks.

The 44-year-old correspondent actu-ally was on leave from the Tribune,reporting a story on sub-Saharan Africafor National Geographic magazine.Though he and his companions werearrested three weeks ago, the paperreported Sunday that it “learned of thearrests Aug 18 Since that time, editors atthe Tribune and National Geographichave sought the release of the three men,working through political and diplomaticchannels in the US and overseas. TheTribune chose to report the arrests aftercharges were publicly filed Saturday incourt.” (The Tribune and the Los AngelesTimes are both owned by Tribune Co)

Ann Marie Lipinski, the paper's edi-tor, categorically denied the Sudaneseallegations. Salopek, she said, “is not aspy. Our fervent hope is that the authori-ties in Sudan will recognize his innocenceand quickly allow Paul to return home tohis wife, Linda, and to his colleagues.”

Chris Johns, editor in chief ofNational Geographic, told The Tribunethat Salopek “had no agenda other than tofairly and accurately report on the region”

and cited his “deep knowledge andrespect for the continent of Africa and itspeople.”

Illinois' senior senator, Democraticwhip Richard J Durbin, has been workingto secure the men's release and called thecharges lodged Saturday “preposterous.”Similarly, Rep Christopher Shays, R-Conn, who led a congressional delegationthat visited Salopek last week, saidSaturday that “this is a reporter doingwhat reporters do. They don't have anydesigns against the government. They'rejust reporting what they see.”

The writing “false news” charge lev-eled against Salopek suggests that some-one in the Sudanese legal system is appre-hensive that the reporter was doing justwhat Shays said he was: reporting whathe sees. The government in Khartoum isunder increasing international pressureto accept a larger UN peacekeeping forcein Darfur, where a dire humanitarian cri-sis is ongoing. In an attempt to suppress alocal insurgency, the Sudanese govern-ment has mobilized Arab paramilitaries,who have attacked local villages of mostlyblack farmers. An estimated 2 million ofthem have been made refugees and morethan 180,000 already have been killed ordied of hunger and disease.

The Sudanese government has con-tested a good bit of the Western media'sreporting on Darfur, but since Salopekhas yet to file a story, it's a little difficultto see how he could have given a falseaccount of what he saw there, as thecharges allege he has.

According to sources cited by TheTribune, the authorities regard his pos-session of two passports and satellitemaps of Darfur as evidence he wasengaged in espionage. It's true that spiesoften use multiple passports, but they doso under different names and nationali-ties. Salopek simply had a duplicate of hisown US passport, a perfectly legal andrather common practice among corre-spondents. His maps were downloadedfrom a Web site accessible to anybodywith a computer.

This is an unusually dangerous timefor enterprising reporters. The war inIraq has taken an unprecedented toll ofthe foreign and Iraqi journalists workingthere. Sunday, Steve Centanni and OlafWiig of Fox News were released afternearly two weeks of captivity at the handsof thugs in the Gaza Strip. (Since theircaptors were apparently a criminal fac-tion and not a government, Fox took alow-key approach to winning theirrelease, and the rest of the media -- ignor-ing abuse from various right-wing com-mentators -- sensibly followed the net-work's lead.)

The New York Times, on the other

hand, mounted a vigorous campaign onbehalf of one of its researchers charged bythe Chinese government with possessingstate secrets. A court in Beijing dismissedthose charges Friday but convicted ZhaoYan of an unrelated fraud charge and sen-tenced him to three years' imprisonment.Here in the United States, a variety ofconservative advocates have urged theBush administration to invoke theEspionage Act against investigativereporters who report classified informa-tion.

Spies gather information and so doreporters. Their purposes and methods,however, are utterly different, and con-flating their roles for any reason is per-ilously wrong. There are reasons to thinkthe Sudanese authorities may be commit-ting that mistake. The governor of NorthDarfur already has called Salopek a“criminal.” Two weeks ago, the judge inhis case sentenced Slovenian writer TomoKriznar to two years' imprisonment forspying and reporting false information --the same charges the American reporterand his two colleagues now face.

Saturday, a spokesman for HouseSpeaker J Dennis Hastert, R-Ill, calledthe charges against Salopek “trumpedup,” and there's an easy way for theSudanese authorities to see just how righthe is. Their embassy in Washingtonmaintains a handsome and media-savvyWeb site, but the one they ought to visittoday is www.pulitzer.org, where there'san online archive of prize-winning jour-nalism that includes Salopek's work.

The authorities can read it for them-selves, along with the Pulitzer board'sdescription of the stories that earned himthe 2001 prize for international reporting.That citation praises Salopek's “reportingon the political strife and disease epi-demics ravaging Africa, witnessed first-hand as he traveled, sometimes by canoe,through rebel-controlled regions of theCongo.” There is no shred of evidencethat his purpose in Darfur was anythingbut a similar act of witness whose princi-pal beneficiaries would be the Sudanesepeople. Spies trade in secrets to the profitof their patrons; journalists trade ininformation to the profit of us all -- andno one has gained more from Salopek'sreporting than the people of Africa, whosefrequently desperate plight demands tobe as widely known and understood aspossible. In the end, that may be the mostimportant of the many compelling rea-sons that the Sudanese government oughtto immediately release Paul Salopek, sohe can be restored to his wife, his col-leagues and a world that needs more --not less -- of his courageous brand ofjournalism.

LA Time

Between journalist & a spy

Nepal-i-ese solution My main point for Nepal-i-ese discus-sion on Sanjog Rai's write up (Aug 29)and his reply (Sept 2) is to indicatetowards distortions and misinterpre-tations of history and historiographyin this country. Of course, till this daythe only official language and linguafranca we are using is Khas Bhashanot "Nepali." In course of time, sever-al ethno-indigenous writers and popu-lace from different parts of India andNepal worked for the development ofthe Khas language until the Gurkhaconquest.

Therefore, the glossonym KhasBhasha should remain as it was inplace of "Nepali" and the name of thecountry itself should be renamed inother ethno-languages like that ofMyanmar from Burma suitably com-prising the whole countryside since"Nepal" for most of the countrymenmeans the Nepal valley only. Thisgives a better and justifiable solutionof 'Nepali vs. Nepalese' dichotomy.

Lal Rapacha Kathmandu

Don't speak HindiDr Shivendra Jha's suggestion tothe Pahades to speak in Nepali, notin Hindi, while conversing withMadhesi fellows needs to be takenseriously - "Don't speakHindi"(Sept 5). Hindi has undoubt-edly become the second or thirdmost understood language inNepal, due to the increasing influ-ence of Indian media. Yet, mostPahades who live in the Terai arealso fluent in the local language ofthe place.

Some perverted, even highly edu-cated Kathmanduites feel themselvessuperior calling the Madhesi vendors"O Bhaiya", "Bihari", "Dhoti"etc. Even

in universities and campuses somestudents call their teachers "DhotiSir." People should not forget that call-ing names could sometimes result in

severe identity crisis. It is such dis-criminatory behavior that provokes aNepali MP, whose mother tongue iseither Maithili or Bhojpuri, to speak

Hindi in the House. While all suchwords have nothing wrong in theiroriginal sense, the derogatory conno-tations have prevented the whole

Madhesi Community from feeling athome in their native soil.

Divas SharmaGanatantra Marga

Religious freedomDespite all the big talk about democra-cy and human rights, it appears ourpoliticians are still very medieval withregard to religious freedom. For exam-ple, check out the provision in theinterim constitution that does notallow a Nepali citizen to change hisreligion. It is a good reflection of theanachronistic and feudal attitude ofthe politicians who are supposedlygoing to lead the country into the mod-ern age. Somebody should tell theseprejudiced leaders that religion is apersonal thing, and that it is not thegovernment or anybody's business totell a person what faith he should follow.

Bhai Kaji Bhaju Nhulan Tol

Inadequate homeworkHigh level talks between the SevenParty Alliance and the Maoist leadersis expected to take place soon. Thesummit level talk may focus upon anumber of things to accelerate thepeace process. On June 2, similar talks held inBaluatar culminated in the 8 pointhistoric agreement, however, it drewmany criticisms due to the lack ofenough homework, especially amongthe seven parties and parties' internalcommittees. At this juncture, the seven partyalliance and the Maoist leaders shouldbe highly responsible and work as perthe interest of people. Also, the forma-tion of an independent constituentassembly that would conduct a freeand fair election deserves top priority.For this, confidence building is thefirst step, which should be followed byironing out the differences betweenthe parties and working according tothe interest of people.

Bishnu Hari MarasiniHanspur 8, Arghakhanchi

LETTER TO THE EDITORKantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd. Kantipur Complex, Subidhanagar P. B. No. 8559, Kathmandu; Nepal Phone: 4480100,

Fax: 977-1-4466320, e-mail: kpost@kantipur.com.np

Still dirtyMy article "Politics is dirty game" have generated awave of responses that have basically painted meas the staunch supporter of the atrocities commit-ted by NA. However, what I had taken turned outto be another thing. I feel the readers have beenmisinterpreting my article.

I have todefend myselfas the veryessence and theseriousness ofmy article hasbeen subjectedas 'empty asbubble'. 'Still adirty game' ismy answer tothose criticswho failed tosee the meaning

of my article which just warned of the hazardouseffects that politicizing any institution in Nepalwould have unto them.

Salik ShahKathmandu

Bravo Salik !This is in response to the article 'Politics is dirtygame' (Sept 3) by Salik Shah. I want to thank himfor bringing out the plight of those students whoactually want to study and not do 'politics'. Istrongly agree with him when he seeks 'politics-free' educational institutions.

However, I want to suggest Rabindra Poudel to

read the article again. There is enough logic andconcrete facts in Salik's article to supplement histheme -- politicizing any institution would not bedesirable in our context. Feudal or 'not-feudal' NAis not so important, but he scores when he prefersto have liberal NA which would be neutral andunited to serve us and not politically indoctrinatedas PLA. The article does justice to Kathmandutieswho have become worried by the recent develop-ments (?) in Nepali politics. The editorial 'Aprilthesis' also suggests the fact that with arms PLAwould be just like 'one organized criminal organi-zation', extorting innocent civilians who try to raisetheir voice against PLA's injustice and violence.

I want to thank the young writer who belongsto the 'plus two' generation of our country. His crit-ics fail to see his logic because words such as 'glibtalkers' and 'opportunists' have hurt their 'bubble-reputation', in Shakespeare's own words. If he'dnot written those words, then perhaps, they couldsee enough logic on his part. If you can't proveyourself with 'actions' and run after logic and 'glibtalking', then I suggest you to join politics.

The author needs encouragement and loudapplauds for his thoughtful and bold confessions.Our political history shows that we Nepalis wouldalways find scapegoats to save our dirty faces. Inthis regard, Salik's critics have committed a heavymistake by making him their scapegoat.

I will suggest them to read the title, and thenread the whole article thoughtfully. They will comeacross lines that have the power to photograph thevery sentiment of the coming generation. Bravo!Salik, keep on writing.

Rohan Muni BajracharyaPulchok Engineering Campus

Pokhara

Who isn't a glib-talker?I would like to congratulate Rabindra Poudel“Politics is dirty game” (Sept 4 ) for happilyaccepting the tag of 'glib-talker' that some peo-ple wish to put onto you if you dare to disagree.

I would not mind Shalik Shah calling myselfor anybody else glib-talker if he would notbegrudge one the right of glib-talking as IshaRai was trying when she was pleading the TKPeditorial team to deny Abhisek Basnet and SBShrestha the little space in "Letter to theEditor'' column which mostly passes over thereaders' eyes -- "Why can not you come back?"(Aug 31)After all who is not a glib-talker? Noone can represent himself or can claim to speakfor others without being glib talkers in one wayor the other.

All the political leaders and forces exist onthe strength of glib-talking. One should notundermine the performative power of glib-talk-ing. However, it is unfortunate that the largestpopulace of Nepali society is oblivious aboutthis because they are not capable of glib-talkingthemselves.

If somebody tries to raise the subdued voic-es in the public forum, he/she should be appre-ciated. We find our space in our opposition orin unison with what Shalik Shah calls glib-talk-ing.

And finally, I hope TKP will not be swayedby Isha Rai's call, which smacks of the authori-tarian desire to rule by gagging.

Tejen BhattaraiCDE, TU

tejens@hotmail.com

By DR SHREEDHAR GAUTAM

That the government has rolled back thepetro-prices recently has disseminated astrong message that people's genuine

protests can no longer be ignored as in the past.The SPA government had hoped the people'sprotest would fizzle out and it would succeed inits game of brinkmanship. However, the com-mon people showed their resilience so vigorouslythat the SPA government kneeled down to theirdemands.

Now it is the responsibility of people andpolitical parties to exert pressure on the govern-ment to deter it from going astray. The govern-ment has unfolded its dubious character that itcan be coerced to abide by the minimum politicalmorality only if it is grilled and cornered by thepeople. With regard to the recent hiking in fuelprice, it should have bridged the deficit, if any, ofNepal Oil Corporation without burdening thecommon man, by seeking alternative measures,as done by representative governments in othercountries.

The success of the pressure politics should beemulated for other purposes as well, includingfor safeguarding the achievement gained in theaftermath of April movement. If the people donot show constant vigilance, the government willnot implement the decisions taken by the parlia-ment to curtail the king's privileges and powers.Only through the mass pressure, the governmentcan be forced to announce the date for con-stituent assembly election that can ultimatelyestablish a republic.

In advanced countries, people feel assuredthat their government will not enter any agree-ment with other countries at the cost of nationalinterest. In our case, the government remains soinactive that it needs people's pressure even forpreventing encroachments along the borders, letalone for taking proper measures to alleviatenational problems like poverty and employment.

Having seen the weaknesses and irresponsi-ble behavior of the present government, regres-sive forces are still attempting to bring back thepast absolutism. Like the anti-democratic ele-ments, some external elements are also busy inexploiting present fragile political situation tofulfill their own agenda on the pretext of extend-ing helping hand. Both forces can be defeatedonly with the people's power in the form ofdemonstration, non cooperation and peacefulagitation. Moreover, yesterday's royalists are nottotally marginalized, nor should they be ignoredby the politicians or common people. It is unfor-tunate that both the government and the Maoistsare not sensitive to this, as unfolded by their fre-quent immature statements.It is our nationaltragedy that the people are forced to play a dualrole of exposing their own governments' anti-people design and pre-empting any foreignpower guided conspiracy against the country.

The action of the SPA and the Maoists overthe months either in the case of inviting the UN

or in regard to their consent to dissolve theHouse prematurely is childish. It is bankruptcy oftheir vision to agree to kill the revived parliamentthat has somehow checkmated the royalist forcesfrom bouncing back upon democratic forces.They are neither adequately sensitive to the for-eign intervention, nor to the dictatorial elementsat home. In such a precarious situation, any pas-sivity or slackness in the street power will onlyinvite dire consequences, pushing the countryeither into foreign hands or the home grownregressive forces. Instead of asking for the disso-lution of the House, pressure should be exertedon the government to announce the date for con-stituent assembly election.

Lingering on some pretext, including theinterim constitution, will embolden the undemo-cratic groups to instigate and divide people onsectarian line, or in the name of separate statesfor different ethnic minorities. Nepal cannotafford to go the former Soviet Union way thatsaw bloody internecine war soon after MikhailGorvachov's advocacy of Perestroika andGlassnote. Moreover, Nepal's geographical,demographical and ethnic structures do not drawany analogy with the former Soviet Union.

The government and the Maoists should real-ize the ground realities, if they have any concernfor people's plight, and should reconcile their dif-ferences realistically without demanding undueshare before forming an interim government toexpedite the process of constituent assemblyelections. Any political incorrect move oradamant stance from either side will plunge thecountry into perpetual quagmire, letting the alienforces take benefit from the internal disarray.Both parties should come up with their transpar-ent and real agenda, not putting anything uptheir sleeves.

They have unnecessarily aggravated the situ-ation by complicating the major issues and goingagainst the declared objective of the people'smovement. All controversial issues, including thefate of monarchy, can be determined permanent-ly either through the referendum or the con-stituent assembly, if the government and theMaoists cannot reach an agreement on the spacefor monarchy right now. The UN has alreadybeen invited, but they can still save the countryfrom possible foreign intervention in internalmatter if they become responsible and assesstheir own power and position.

The street power is relevant only because ofgovernment and the Maoist party's vulnerabilityand opportunistic stance, focusing more onsharing power rather than transferring it to thepeople. Only way to save Nepal is now to activatethe people's power to warn both the parties to beresponsible and thwart any nefarious design ofboth internal and external forces. People are get-ting restive to see the concrete outcome of theApril uprising. The people is not going to shieldeither the SPA or the Maoists if they continuewrangling over power-sharing, neglecting thepeople's rights to chose the system suitable tothis country.

Strength of street power

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