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With the upcoming Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIM­STEC) Summit in Kathmandu on August 30 and 31, regional coopera­tion will once again be at the center of our national discussion. Yet BIM­STEC, chiefly an economic initiative that links South Asia with South East Asia, is certainly not a forum that has so far brought any substantive gain to any of its members. In con­trast, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a much stronger institution with a clear vision for the region, at least on paper. Perhaps the new government will inject new energy in promotion of regional integration both with nearby countries as well as those in South East Asia, some of which are far more advanced than Nepal. What is missing right now is the political will to make it happen. But let us talk about SAARC here.

It is true that Indian Prime Minis­ter Narendra Modi at the start of his tenure tried to promote a new vision for South Asia. But the momen­tum was soon lost mainly due to the long-standing bilateral disputes between India and Pakistan. It is to be hoped that the soon-to-be-formed government of Imran Khan in Pakistan will help relaunch the stalled SAARC project.

Besides the obvious step of improving relations between India and Pakistan, two more things are essential if SAARC is to achieve its goal of shared prosperity and development in South Asia: capable leadership of SAARC Secre­tariat and grassroots ownership of regional integration.

By leadership, I am not only refer­ring to determination of national leaders to promote integration. Obviously if the heads of govern­ment of Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives make a concerted effort to reenergize the organiza­tion, perhaps Pakistan and India would have no option but to come on board. But the missing element at leadership level that I am talking about is the fact that SAARC has been run by career diplomats rather than current or former national leaders from the region. This bureaucra­cy-led leadership has many limita­tions irrespective of the goodwill, integrity and competences of the secretary generals in charge of day to day operations.

Imagine the unfolding dynamics if an unequivocally acclaimed pol­itician like Manmohan Singh with his impeccable integrity and proven track record of delivery were to assume leadership of SAARC Secre­tariat. One of secrets of the relative success of the European integration process is that the president of the European Commission, the power­ful executive body of the European Union, has always been a prominent politician of a member country; since 1995 all the presidents of the European Commission have been former prime ministers.

Having a former Head of State or Head of Executive as SAARC head would allow for more frequent inter­actions among regional leaders. Formal diplomatic channels, which are now bogging down SAARC, would be replaced by stronger per­sonal interactions, even of informal nature, among key stakeholders.

I remember a former diplomat of a European Union member country saying that when the prime minister of Italy wants to talk to the German Chancellor, he simply picks up the phone and connects directly with Berlin, without going through any of the formal diplomatic channels. The same could happen at South Asian level.

Having a prominent political leader at the helm of SAARC could inject a new dynamic in the process of regional integration: even more frequent phone calls among lead­ers under the auspices of a strong SAARC Secretary General would make a huge difference.

In relation to the second enabler, grassroots participation, I would focus on the role South Asian youths can play. We need stronger interactions among local youths and the SAARC Secretariat not only to promote short-term exchange programs but also longer-term cross boundaries interactions.

From a regional exchange pro­gram at undergraduate and grad­uate levels modeled around the famous Erasmus program being implemented by the European Union, to volunteering experiences in different countries of the region, there are many ways to involve and engage local youth. This way youths from member states will gain unique life exposures and understanding of the commonalities among South Asian citizens that are all too easily overlooked or forgotten.

The participating youths would turn themselves into ambassadors of a new South Asia, creating a new interest in the project of regional cooperation while also contributing to its strengthening. I guess only a strong political leadership at the SAARC Secretariat could envision and deliver on such symbolic and yet powerful initiatives.

More delicate issues that have stalled the process of regional inte­gration could be set aside and pave the way for novel ideas on develop­ing future generations. It is high time leaders of South Asia brainstormed about their common future and sketched out a new vision to be implemented with small, incremen­tal “win-win”. Giving the youth of the region a chance would be a great start.

The author is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE, an NGO partnering with youths living with disabilities sim­[email protected]

Romantic Drama

KAIRA

CAST: Aaryan Sigdel, Samragyee RL Shah

DIRECTION: Laxman Rijal

1 stars

‘Kaira’ curiously brings together Aaryan Sigdel, the once popular lead-man of Nepali romantic films, and Samragyee RL Shah, the busiest Nepali actress today, in two and half hours of unbearably bad tourism promotion video of the Philippines that only masquerades as a romantic drama. Director Laxman Rijal pilots a movie that takes off without a destination in mind, meanders without any narrative focus and finally crash lands towards the most unimaginative and tediously formulaic climax: the film tries to win sympathy points by abruptly revealing that one of the characters suffers from an untreatable mental disease.

Sigdel is Jay, a singer and bar-owner in the Philippines. He’s established in sweep­ing shots over rooftops, streets and parks, singing with his band. We soon find that he has cut his ties with Nepal and lives in the Philippines, all because he’s trying to get over a girl. So he parties hard and goes to bed with a different girl every night. Sigdel’s character feels heav­ily inspired by Karan Johar’s ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ where Ranbir Kapoor played a lovelorn musician. In fact there are many elements borrowed from the Bollywood movie, especially the circumstances that separate the leads and the climax that involves the aforementioned disease.

Samragyee RL Shah is the titular Kaira, the girl who broke Jay’s heart in Kath­mandu. One day she shows up in Jay’s bar, apologizes for whatever happened and suggests they start fresh. Jay is hesitant at first but later agrees and they spend the next few days sightseeing the locales of the Philippines, challenging each other to dance in public places and counting stars. Things get drowsy and dull from then on as the screenplay switches back and forth between the present and the events that happened back in Kathmandu.

Given the unremarkably soapy nature of the story, the only way ‘Kaira’ would’ve ever worked is through the easy chemistry between the leads. But Sigdel and Shah offer no spark. What they do is sputter along with their awkward acting. The corny conversation they have makes it hard for us to buy them as made for each other.

In one scene Kaira gazes at the sky and expresses her desire to count the stars. Jay finds this cute and encourages her to start counting. There are instances like this where we feel the middle-aged Sigdel is not romancing the young Shah but babysitting her. She giggles a lot and he looks at her sleepily. They talk to each other about living life to the fullest and following one’s dreams, as if in their free time all they do is read self-help books and memorize lines from ‘1001 Inspirational Quotes’.

The two lovers don’t feel human even for a moment; they are so wooden and mechanically brought together that their romantic crisis is never intriguing.

‘Kaira’ comes across as a long-long movie. There’s so much talking, walking, drinking, puking, crying, singing and danc­ing that you can’t stop fidgeting in your seats or flip out your phone and start scroll­ing Facebook. This film singlehandedly demonstrates what happens if you mistreat the cinematic medium only as a showcase for rich locations and good-looking actors at the expense of a compelling story.

Who should watch it?

I’m lost figuring who the intended audience of this soapy melodrama could be. If you’re an unabashed Aaryan Sigdel fan, I won’t stop you. But ‘Kaira’ has nothing special to offer. It’s a movie made from yesteryears’ cinematic sensibilities and easily forgettable.

In its essence, parliamentary hearing for key appointments is aimed at transparency and open government. But in Nepal successive hearing com­mittees have acted merely as rubber-stamps, defeating their very purpose. Perhaps mind­ful of that, lawmakers from Nepal Communist Party (NCP) were eager to buck the trend by not confirming Deepak Raj Joshi as chief Justice. Certainly that was the popular thing to do given the public opinion, yet in doing so they betrayed the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’. If key appoint­ments can be derailed by mere allegations, floodgates of similar allegations will be opened against all future nominees. The first issue in this saga is the failure of the hearing committees to use its power to investigate.On all allegations, the commit­tee has the power to summon testimony and documents. No doubt, this will delay the confir­mation process but, at the very least, it would do the right thing: prove or disprove the allegations. One of the things that seemed to upset NCP lawmakers was that chief justice nominee Joshi’s refusal to answer questions, and he had even called into ques­tion parliament’s competence. The committee could have com­pelled Joshi to testify, or it could have threatened to start the process of contempt of parlia­ment. (Article 103 (7) of the Con­stitution has clear provision for contempt citation.) Not under­standing the scope of one’s responsibility and power is big problem in Nepal. Of the many lawyer-turned politicians in the parliament no one seemed to be providing right counsel.

While Nepal has made efforts to adopt some of best features of other systems of govern­ment, it is unfortunate that same level of energy wasn’t put in implementing these ideas in our context. The 15-member joint Hearing Committee (12 members from House of Rep­resentatives and three from the National Assembly) clearly had the mandate to investigate mat­ters. Article 17 of Parliamentary Hearing Committee Working Pro­cedure, 2075 clearly says so. To carry out investigation the com­mittee can seek assistance of any government entity.

It can also invite experts to give their opinion on the mat­ters under discussion. There is no legal restriction that bars the committee from going even fur­ther than that. Even NCP leader­ship seemed willing to give the Hearing Committee a long leash; that’s unprecedented in a nascent democracy where party bosses don’t take kindly to subordinates not toeing the line. So this was the perfect opportunity to raise the bar and set a new precedent for ending business as usual.

If the Hearing Committee and other thematic committees are to be effective, the parliament needs to seriously expand its own capac­ity. There should be a separate research department within the secretariat to support the pro­fessional needs of members of parliament and committees.

Flawed vetting

The blame also goes to Judicial Council, Constitutional Council and the government for not insti­tuting a vetting system for key appointments. If someone is so controversial, why nominate him and initiate a process that would embarrass the government and erode public trust in institutions? This clearly calls for a vetting pro­cess for all key appointments. Instead of ministers producing names from back pockets at the last minute, it should be part of advance planning put through a vetting process. With the ruling parties having such strong num­bers in parliament, there is no longer an excuse for not putting a system in place.

Not confirming an appointment without fully investigating the allegations is as dangerous as confirming someone despite the allegations.

They called him mad. They called him a scapegoat. They said it was irrational to go on a hunger strike when there was a people-elected government. He had learnt his lesson; he did not want to be fooled again. He was a pro­tagonist, a nonconformist, and a headstrong doctor to bring reforms in the medical sector—which is why he earned different names and received unlikely comments. Former Prime Minister and chair of the party that led the 10-year-armed struggle, Prachanda, said Dr KC’s work was to just be on hunger strikes. He, who had chosen the armed battle, did not realize that Dr KC was on a mission just like him. But he chose to carry arms and take lives while Dr KC hurt himself to save the lives of others.

He suggested that Dr KC had been used as a scapegoat by Nepali Con­gress, unfortunately forgetting that in the armed struggle he led, thou­sands of people were forced to give up their lives and families, for the cause he thought was right. Did Prachanda or anyone involved in the armed struggle or KP Oli for that matter—who said the protests were done at leisure times—evert go on a hunger strike of this intensity?

Those who said there were legal ways to address the problem forgot that the Second People’s Movement that made Nepal a republic was also against the then constitution. Still people came together, irrespective of their differing political ideologies. Much the same way, people came out on streets to support Dr KC. This comparison was hardly made. It was forgotten that doctors had revolted then as well, although halting medical services isn’t right either. However, supporting Dr KC were not just fellow doctors but people from all walks of life, making it a people’s movement.

Social media was abuzz with hashtags like #IamwithDrKC, #saveDrKC, #BackOffMedicalEdu­cationBill, #saveIOM; about a dozen Facebook pages like Solidarity for Prof Govinda KC (followed by more than 30k people), Save IOM, Save Dr Govinda KC (17k followers); and online petitions. Protests were spontaneous and took place in all major cities. Surely not liking these movements, the government gave directives to use force and medical officers were beaten in Karnali while several others from different fields were injured or arrested in Kath­mandu. These made national and international headlines.

The protesters, just like in 2006, dreamt of a better Nepal—this time through reforms in medical edu­cation and health care that would bring cheap and reliable health­care to all Nepalis. After pressure mounted on the government, it had to address the demands.

Apart from restricting new pri­vate medical colleges in Kathmandu for 10 years, the nine-point agree­ment will allow talented students to become doctors. Mammoth fees still make it a distant dream for them. Those who study with full scholarship will need to serve in rural areas. This could mean that the remotest parts of the country, which often do not have doctors, would get medical facilities. If all the province had at least one good medical college, as has been agreed, there wouldn’t be the need to spend extra money to avail the services in Kathmandu. One man’s peaceful madness could bring better days for the entire nation.