Reflections 2015

 

Introduction:

Please find some thoughts expressed during 2015 which demonstrate the anguish and pain felt by the common man due to the present crisis. It may not represent the mind of every Nepali but I am sure most of the Christian community in the country and abroad will identify with most of the sorrow and have empathy with the suffering people. As we face the harshness of the situation in our daily lives, we anticipate God’s intervention and save us from further pain. Hope the readers are blessed while going through it. I have tried to include the crisis related posts only and have tried to arrange it by date. Readers’ feedback is appreciated (pppetersingh@outlook.com).

An open letter to the Honble. Prime Minister and political leaders of Nepal:

Honble. Prime Minister and the leaders in this country called Nepal.

I am a citizen of this country and am man with conscience. Since I have been closely watching your government’s activities and that of the different political parties for a long time now and as I could bear the pain of the people caused by your indecisiveness no more, I felt for my own conscience’s sake to speak out, perhaps you all might come to your senses and realize your lack of sensitivity for the people’s heart beat, the pain and suffering caused by your inaction. The first thing I would like to bring to your remembrance is that any of you are not the king of Nepal, entitled for Royal allowances, but you all are elected servants of the people, have received the mandate to write the constitution within a specified frame of time. The common man has been paying for your daily bread and all the benefits you all have been enjoying legally (and illegally). In return what you all have been doing? Fighting among yourselves on very trivial issues, showing expressly that you all are not interested in solving the nation’s problems by writing the constitution and bringing a rule of law. Every word and action has been openly demonstrating that the only thing you all are interested is power and money. You can go to any extreme to prolong in the office as long as you can. God tried to intervene the situation by this recent calamity, and it seemed you all have learnt the lesson and now are ready to complete your course of action. But by then recent news coming through the media, there is no sign of unity, no chance of forming the national government and no trace of constitution. My request is to all the leaders to please remember your mandate and remain true to your own conscience. Hope and trust the almighty God will grant you all heavenly wisdom to complete your course.

(June 1, 2015)

 

Call for special time of Prayer:

Dear sojourners in faith, in the world history there have been people who have sought destruction or harm of God’s people, people like Haman, Herod and Hitler. We have a God who is merciful but mighty in power at the same time.

In one of my earlier posts I have proclaimed only God is great! Many Kamal Thapas have come and gone, the church has endured forever. In the present context of new constitution may I call upon every individual Nepali believer living inside Nepal or the Diaspora world over, to hold on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in prayer and supplication with fasting, beseeching for freedom to profess and practice Christian faith and observe the commandments stated in the Word and be obedient to the great commission. May I also request to set apart a specific time 10 am to 10.15 am on Saturday 18 July local time? This will result in 24 hours chain prayer worldwide in every fellowship! May the Lord have His mercy in changing Nepal for better!

(July 14, 2015)

Call for Prayer for New Constitution:

To the Nepali speaking Church Worldwide and the friends praying for Nepal!

These few days are the most important time in the history of Nepal as well as for the church here. The constitution of Nepal is on the anvil and the whole nation is going through a time of tension as to the specific clauses in the new constitution, will it include a secular nation, will the people have the freedom to practice, promote and protect their faith and there are many more issues of interest to different people and groups. At this critical hour also may I draw your attention to the fact that our God reigns! He is mighty and sovereign God. So let us, as His people, come before the throne of grace and bring the situation at His feet and cry earnestly for a secular constitution ensuring freedom to practice, promote and protect our faith for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

(July 22, 2015)

People’s share of Development:

Yesterday we visited a very remote church in Makwanpur called Goth Danda village. After a drive of 40 kms we had to walk for 3 hours from Hattisude. Besides there were 3 rivers to cross without pants! After our visit and prayer we made it back at 5 pm! While walking the way I was wondering is it inside Nepal? How do the local people of the villages in the region survive and earn their living? Where is their part of development? Crossing the rivers barefoot was really very painful but I did not accept a sliper offer because I wanted to really taste the pain. May I challenge the authorities to fear the Lord and bear their responsibility justifiably? In the mean time let us uphold our brothers and sisters in the Lord who have been taking their hard life so easily, in prayer for His glory.

(August 7, 2015)

The Agitation in Terai:

It’s very tragic what is going on in our country, the beautiful Nepal! The situation in the terai, from east to west has become so volatile; curfew order has been imposed at many cities and townships. Properties are damaged, lives are lost every day, commodities are getting scarce, no industry, no transport, no schools, nothing, and everything has come to stand still. At one side there are madhesies and tharu leaders as well as other tribal demanding for separate states, on the other hand are the leaders of the ruling parties! They are busy writing and re writing and modifying and revising the constitution, the 8 years waited for, for the well being of the nation! What a scenario! Is writing a constitution a child’s play? Are political leaders capable of doing so? I know among the leadership there are quite a few scholars, but are they sufficient? Writing constitution of any nation demands expertise, learning and some basic knowledge of different popular and effective constitutions, like that of England, USA and India. Next it requires unselfish devotion for national good. Writers must be able to think above party interests, devoid of any selfish ambitions. 8 years have already witnessed their attitude and out working. It is still not too late! If the ruling parties really have some sensitivity left, it’s imperative to constitute an expert committee to write the constitution which can reflect the countries’ best interests and provide a firm foundation for establishing a secular, republic Nepal where every language, group, tribe, tongue and religion may have the space to thrive and bring in prosperity to the nation!

(September 2, 2015)

Very Tragic Situation:

At the moment the situation in Birganj as well as in whole Nepal is very tragic. Now, when I say tragic, what do I mean? We are living under curfew; this makes it impossible to get outdoors, no shopping, nothing! For a common man no work, no income, nothing to buy and feed the family! For a student, no school, no classes, nothing to be engaged with, nowhere to go, no place to play, even cannot use the bicycles! For business people, no business, no buying and selling, no income, no profit, if in rented shop (which is mostly the case), the rent is there to pay as well! With all the industries on stand still, we can imagine the situation, the owners, the employees, the production, the sales etc. everything is at a loss. Added to all this, in spite of total standoff, we do not understand where the surplus electricity is going, because there is no change in load shedding schedule! So this and much more is meant by tragic situation! The pain and suffering included!

(September 2, 2015)

An Update on The Situation in Birganj

An update on the situation in Birganj and the plains as a whole: Today it’s the 50th day of the closure, meaning no schools, no colleges, no classes, no production, no work, no wages, no income, no transport, (bikes, rickshaws and horse carts running including a few electric three wheelers), no business, no coming and going. Curfew is lifted but shops do not open, not permitted to, the border is closed (we all suffer for that) and it has resulted in scarcity of every commodity. The govt rulers in Ktm and the Madhesy leaders both do not seem to have sensitivity to the sufferings of the common man. The question is how long? When both sides will come to terms, when the situation will change to normal? Shall we pray for the Lord’s intervention into the crisis and overrule the situation! Have mercy on us Lord Jesus!

(October 3, 2015)

Call for Empathy

Wish if you could identify with my heart beat and share my feelings! For the past few days the govt and the madhesies leaders had been having unofficial talks about the standoff and the demands. Yesterday however they started the official talk which continued today, but was abruptly put off as there was no agenda prepared from the govt side. We are counting each and every day, waking in the morning with a positive anticipation, perhaps it will end today, perhaps life will come to normal, sticking to the tv for latest news, but at the end it is the same, the talk ends without resolving anything. No feeling for the pain, suffering, scarcity, standoff, hunger, and the mental pressures. No sensitivity, nothing like care, love or provision for the people! Our only option is to wait upon the Lord and pray for His loving intervention into the situation. Hoping you all are standing with us, God bless!

(October 6, 2015)

A Controversial PM:

We have a new Prime Minister, Mr K. P. Oli, the most controversial person! From the surface it looks as if all the problems are either solved or will be resolved soon, but in reality it’s not like that. Present cabinet has at least two controversial personalities, Mr Kamal Thapa, sworn in as Deputy PM and foreign minister is well known as pro King and demanding a Hindu constitution. The other person is Mr Vijay k Gachhedar also sworn in as yet another Deputy PM and minister for infrastructure and physical planning, until the voting day he had been leading the madhesies revolution and vocal against Mr Oli. All the members at district level of his party have now resigned to support the ongoing strikes at the border. The other Madhesy parties are continuing their strikes and closure. The sufferings and pain caused by scarcity of commodities in the valley and other parts of the hills and the total standoff in the plains are continuing now for the last two months. How our leaders can be so insensitive to the public, that they do not feel the pain? Have they become so selfish to grab the power that they have total ignorance for the people whom they are supposed to serve? Hope they have God’s grace and receive divine wisdom to resolve the standoff as soon as possible and establish peace in the peaceful country!

(October13, 2015)

 

The Agony Begins:

Yesterday’s talk between the govt. and the Madhesies could not come to a conclusion. Now it’s sure the strike will prolong and the blockade continue un necessarily! As a Nepali I feel hurt and disappointed by the thoughtless and provocative disposition of our leadership. At this point the words that come to my mind are lack of sensitivity, cruelty, selfish ambition, blunt, hardness of heart, indifference, intolerance, hypocritical patriotism, political interest, lacking sympathy and many more. Can we imagine where we are being pushed by our leaders? Our new constitution declares the sovereignty lies with the common man, but in reality it’s dependent on mercy of our leaders! Shall we cry before the Lord that this nation be declared free from the vice of cruelty and insensitivity! That this nation be spared from any and all mishaps! That our leaders may come to their senses to evaluate and resolve real issues! That our people may by God’s grace enjoy peace and prosperity!

November 2, 2015)

Our Dilemmas:

We are so fortunate to have the transformed assembly, the new pm, the first lady president, the first lady speaker, six deputy pms and many ministers. The country is speedily moving forward, on the way to progress! It is a different thing that no decisions are made in the parliament, it is entirely a different thing that the treasury is emptied every day and tax payers money is devoured, it makes no difference that the earth quake victims after more than six months of the tragedy are still suffering the winter in their tents or shades, it’s a different thing that reconstruction authority is yet to be formed and formulated, it does not matter the madhesh is under strike for 3 months and the border closed for about fifty days! It makes no difference if the people have no cooking gas and no fuel, it makes no difference for the educational institutions to remain closed this long, what if the young people are deprived of their education, what difference does it make even the Madhesy leaders if they join the parliament but the strike and the blockade continues! Why should they and the govt bother! The country is moving forward, on the way to progress! No time to think about the pain and the suffering we are enduring, forget about prosperity and well being of Nepal!

(November 9)

Tired of Strikes and Blockade:

We have stopped counting the days both of strike and the blockade. Until recently I used to watch tv news every day every hour so eagerly in hope of hearing of some short of agreement in the talks going on between the govt and Madhesy leaders. At the end it was the same old news, the talk concluded without coming to an agreement. So now we have left any hope of resuming talks and seeing a fruitful solution to strikes and the blockade. Lp gas is getting replaced by firewood and cow dung ‘guitha’, petroleum is available partly in the valley, outside is relying on black and bicycle. People are getting used to ‘nothing doing’, sheer idleness, becoming non productive. It is like a lifestyle similar to a prisoner. In fact we are, as people of Nepal are made prisoners! Prisoners of indecision, indifference, insensitivity cruelty! Where is the attitude of serving the people, where is the desire of love and care, where is the plan of progress, where are the tears for the suffering in pain? Who is out there to bring the relief, wipe the tears and bring peace and reconciliation to the people, who will close the widening divide and restore the sense of oneness?

(November 13, 2015)

 

Boldness for Change:

I would like very much to congratulate Mr Krishna Hari Pushkar, chief of Antii Corruption Commision for the way he expressed his concern for the general public in the recent meeting with the three CDOs and security chiefs of Ktm valley. He had raised some points which demand immediate and hard action from the govt. points like high profile corruption, sponsored black marketing and false scarcity! Is there some body to listen to these out cries, take firm action and bring the nation on track! Is there somebody who can listen to the conscience and take action against the day light robbery of treasury, purge the nation of corrupt and selfish politicians and high ranking officials who are blood suckers in reality? What about pseudo patriotism (which is selfishness in disguise), causing the nation to split! Where are the words like morality, honesty, sincerity, loyalty, truth, service, discipline, sacrifice, self denial and tolerance kept in hiding! May the Lord God Almighty have mercy on this nation and grant wisdom to see and do things that are meaningful!

(November 30, 2015)

Funds for the Quake Victims:

We have gone through the two massive and disastrous earthquakes and the nation including Ktm valley has suffered loss, many lives and big property were lost. It is eight months now and still the people who suffered loss of buildings are compelled to live in tents, during the monsoon and now in winter. The most tragic situation is that the govt has not been able to get the reconstruction bill approved and hence no commission for reconstruction has been formed. The reason for this is that the political parties have not come to an agreement to hold the number of posts, the chairmanship and the membership of the commission being ‘hot cake’! How an elected political party could could be so selfish, covetous, greedy and insensitive to the sufferings and pain of the people who have voted them to power! Billions of rupees are lying idle, which were donated for reconstruction by international donors. The donors now are threatening the govt to withdraw their help if not utilized! It is yet to be seen what the parties decides, to constitute the commission and utilize the funds or delay and divide the funds among the party workers!

(December 1, 2015)

Lingering Strike:

I have been thinking of the lingering present standoff in the nation. The reasons behind the situation are very clear and could easily be understood. The first and foremost cause of the situation not being resolved even after 110 days is selfishness of the parties, the govt and the Madhesy leaders. They call every talk to be decisive but it’s ended without even entering the agenda! The second cause is their insensitivity to the ongoing pain and suffering of the people. They are so much deeply possessed by their selfish attitude that their senses have lost all feelings and have become so blunt, they cannot feel the public pain. The third cause is their mind has become corrupt. So much black marketing is going on, there has been false scarcity of every commodity, prices have tripled but everybody in the govt have shut up their eyes and ears. I wonder if they have any vision for the nation’s growth and development! Why they have come to power? Is it to serve the nation and bring prosperity to common man or is it for fulfilling their own selfish ambitions! Should we hope for a positive outcome from the talks as soon as possible or continue in anguish?

(December 3, 2015)

The Leader with a Vision:

Future of Nepal is going to depend upon the leaders with a clear vision. In the Bible it says, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish.’ For centuries the country has been suffering from lack of vision. It was not that we did not have leaders! We had plenty of them even during the monarchy but they all lacked vision! The people have been hoping overnight change with progress with the initiation of democracy but this has ruined all the pleasant dreams the people have been dreaming, let alone changing into Singapore! The root cause is the same, no vision. So what is a vision? Vision is seeing the positive change and brings it to realization. We have all the resources available for centuries; the only need is to utilize them in building infrastructure to help develop the country. Development is not building roads, bridges or schools and hospitals, but development is to generate money and use it raise the living standard of the common man. It is far from the present day robbery of the treasury, it involves sincerity and honesty. The urgent need is adopt morally sound policy, plan for maximum utilization of natural resources including all the major rivers, forests and mountains. All the major rivers may be used for navigation, power plants and water sports. Forest products may be utilized in mass production of timber and furniture. Mountains may be studied and used for different sports and tracking. There are so many lakes which need proper attention to be provided with transportation and hotels to promote tourism. The country needs a lot of research and exploration projects to find and tap other resources, fuels, metals and minerals still untapped. But all such efforts require vision, determination and moral strength to take up the challenge and fulfill it in the country’s interest!

(December 3, 2015)

Rejoice or Cry!

At the end of 2015 and 2016 at the door I have been wondering how to say good bye to one and welcome to the other! The country first suffered from the two massive earthquakes which took thousands of lives and much damage done to physical properties in many districts. Then came the new constitution bringing first the strikes and then the blockade. Although there was rejoicing over the constitution in the hills, it brought sorrow, pain and problems with it. The country got new govt. including a lady president, a lady speaker and a fresher prime minister. Everybody had very high expectations from the new administrative team, with high hopes of the situation being resolved sooner, but it happened just the opposite! Now after more than four months of strike and about three months of blockade any solution is not seen coming along. The scarcity of any and all commodities including fuels and lp gas is every day anguish, the earthquake victims were first compelled to live through the monsoon in tents or temporary shelters and now must continue the same way during winter. In the meantime there are reports of misusing the funds for either personal benefit or party benefit! The govt is also accused of providing luxurious benefits to the ex officials! It makes one wonder where the govt. and what for is! Should the people continue in anguish and pain indefinitely! Is somebody out there to have empathy with the masses pain and come forward with a soothing balm of peace and reconciliation! Should we wait for a healing comfort and be able to forget the deep scars of 2015 and welcome 2016 with hope and anticipation that our nation will change, that joyful songs may still be heard in every corner and that our country would move forward towards over all development!

(December 20, 2015)

What is moral strength and how is it attained!

Moral strength is the inner virtue by which a person confronts, struggles, fights and succeeds during adverse situations, false accusations and immoral circumstances. A person with moral strength has learned in practical life to pay any price to remain uncorrupt, away from falsehood and any charm and attraction of money and the fleshly lust. It is the moral strength of a person which enables him or her to keep themselves from any kind of greed or selfish ambitions. This virtue expresses itself in sacrificial living, practical demonstration of love and care for the destitute and fills the heart to move forward with loving kindness. A person in power thinks of others’ well being and dreams for the betterment of the nation. The vision such a person has is how to devote the resources for the general progress and development which is totally opposite of grabbing the treasury and using it for self or party’s or relations benefit! It is capable to inspire the person with godly living and think in terms of others’ betterment all the time. It is simply living above the self interests, in favor of others’ benefit. Almost every successful world leaders in history have been people of moral strength, whether Gandhi, Ambedkar, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King or any other leader. Moral strength enables the person to gain access to the people’s hearts and the followers follow due to the inner respect, not by compulsion. It is a relationship based on mutual respect and concern which is far reaching than momentary gain of power.

How one can attain moral strength? It depends firstly on what one thinks and desires. The lust for worldly riches and fleshly desires are the primary obstructions. All such things are with every person by birth as a human being. One needs to desire a life of sacrifices and be able to pay all the prices required for a godly living. It starts with repentance from one’s sins and faith in Jesus, which results in change of heart. Change of heart is the secret of all Christian service done worldwide. Change of heart also opens the inner eyes which enable a person to see and evaluate the futility of this world and focus on the world to come. Change of heart is the spring where godly love flows from, helping a person to stretch his hands in helping others and live sacrificially. It has nothing to do with a religion but everything to do with personal faith in Jesus resulting in change of heart. It arouses the feelings and helps the person to be sensitive for others’ needs rather than indulge in self exaltation.

Our leaders lack this virtue and the country is going through unbearable anguish and pain and nobody seems to care about it. Shall we continue in the same situation? Who cares! The people going through rains, let them go, through unbearable winter- let them go, no fuel- let them starve, no power- let the die, no gas – its India!

(December 21, 2015)

The Significance of Christmas:

There are only a few days left and 2015 will be gone! The world has just celebrated Christmas as usual! In most places and most cases it is limited to feasting and in some cases even misused to the extreme! Record shows in some countries maximum accidents take place during Christmas festivities taking a lot of death tolls. In real sense of the word, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus, who was born as God’s anointed one, the Christ or Messiah, to bear on Himself the sins of man. But the world neither values His Words nor His person (in terms of having personal faith in Him and receive the forgiveness of sins!). Rather prefers to celebrate His birth in traditional festivity! In my earlier post I mentioned that Jesus’ birth initiated a new age in world history, the ‘church age’ or the age of graceful! Man’s ego dictates to earn salvation, but salvation in God’s plan and purpose I’d by faith in Jesus only. There are so many religions in the world and countless gurus, Jesus has neither started yet another religion nor has established Himself as a guru. He came to fulfill manifold requirements of God for man to become like Him. With Jesus’ death on the cross all the requirements for man’s salvation were met and now by believing in Jesus man can receive forgiveness of sins and with the help of indwelling Holy Spirit can achieve God’s likeness! This fulfills God’s plan for every human being!

The world has its own values and systems, opposite of God’s purposes. They function in the natural realm and are related to the things seen only. But the truth is the seen realm is temporal, have an end. The things that are unseen are eternal! But does not want to consider whatever is not seen! But these things exist for ever. One needs to have faith to comprehend unseen realm, the eternal things, where God dwells, heavens are and all unseen hosts! How one can take the eyes from the glittering gold which is tangible to salvation and related peace and joy which is unseen and intangible! Then there are other things in the world which satisfies the lust, are attractive and sensual! Heavenly things are the truth but not sensual, not lust ful, not attractive, not appealing to the natural man!

So, why should the world bother to repent, believe and receive forgiveness of sins! It is safe and comfortable to celebrate Christmas and reject Jesus, who is the only Savior. If only the world could realize God’s love which compelled Jesus to come and die! If only the world could see and comprehend the eternal truth, plan and purpose of God for man who want everybody to have eternal life to be like Him and rule with Him, to live with Him forever and enjoy the fellowship with Him, even beyond death, into eternity!

(December 27, 2015)

Bye Bye 2015

It’s time we said bye bye to 2015! What an year! Making new records in every sphere of life! We may call it the year of ‘Records’! First, the country was shaken very badly twice, experiencing the most devastating earthquakes and losing thousands of lives with so much loss of property. Soon after that monsoon arrived, making the lives of victims more miserable. Then came the winter with low temperatures which made the tent life worse with leaking tents! Now the people, especially the old and young have started falling sick and dying.

The earth quake did one thing very good, it shook the leaders in the constituent assembly to the core and realizing the life’s uncertainty they were inspired somehow to write the constitution and within a few months the country got her new constitution, although eight years had already elapsed!

With the constitution we got the new govt. and in the govt. six deputy PMs! The PM has demonstrated his disloyalty to the people and constitution by adding new ministries and ministers, making a record in itself!

Yet another record making is the Madhesy agitation and blockade! Many months have gone by and many more may come, the govt. is committed to resolve the issues but nobody knows when! There has been record scarcity of fuel, lpg and other commodities, record price hike, record black marketing, record corruption, record insensitivity, record indifference, record lawlessness!

During 2015 we have learned some new idioms, ‘Oli ko boil’, ‘Oli ko Goli’, ‘safe landing of the agitation’, etc.

The misuse of taxpayers’ funds also will disturb our memories for very long, how the national treasury has been officially and unofficially robbed in the name of treatment, party workers benefits and other purposes!

There are many more things the year 2015 will be remembered for, but we remain where we are left standing, destined to starve, confinement, sicknesses, no work, and no hope!

But I do not want to leave the readers without hope! There is someone who cares! Let us hope against hope that our Father in heaven will extend His hands of help, will definitely intervene in the situation and it will change, change for good! Looking forward with expectancy into 2016, let us welcome the New Year with fresh anticipation! May God’s blessings rest on each and every one of us! Amen!

(December 28, 2015)

Welcoming 2016!

What for? Is the pain and suffering not enough yet? Have we not suffered enough with scarcity of every commodity including fuel and added pain during monsoon and winter for the quake victims? The strike is almost 5 months long and the blockade minus 40 days. With such an indifferent and insensitive govt in power and the striking parties, our survival is a miracle! So let us hope our God and Father of miracles is going to bring comfort, joy, peace and prosperity to the nation in spite of the apparent adversity! He is loving and caring to the people, and He is not done with the world yet. His plan of salvation is in progress which must come to completion. There is hope for each and every one of us during 2016 and beyond. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He reigns above every power and principalities, He is above all. Let us welcome 2016 in hope and anticipation of all good things destined to come our way and embrace it as from His hands. Everything that He has planned, every promise that He has made, every blessing that He has bestowed, all prosperity and good health, all the prophecies prophesied for us, they are commanded to come our way! He says I’ll never leave you, nor forsake you. He is always faithful! So let us welcome the New Year 2016 by faith, focusing on Jesus Christ our Lord and savior!

By Dr. Peter Kamaleshwar