Controversy over Ban's proposed visit to Lumbini

UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon remains mired in a controversy not only in Sri Lanka but also in Nepal-- this time over a visit next month to Lumbini, the birth place of Gautama the Buddha. But the proposed visit has generated strong protest led by UNICEF'S former deputy executive director Kul Gautam, a native of Nepal.

Gautam says that under normal circumstances, the personal commitment of the UN'S second Asian SecretaryGeneral, and his desire to visit Lumbini to promote its development would be welcomed whole- heartedly, not only by Nepalese but the world's one billion Buddhists. But these are not normal circumstances in Nepal.

It is now struggling to come out of a decade- long violent civil war which ended six years ago, but genuine peace has not yet dawned. Some 15,000 Nepalese, most of them civilians, were killed during the decade- long insurgency, and horrendous human rights violations were committed, some amounting to crimes against humanity, says Gautam. But no- one has been prosecuted for war-time atrocities, and many known perpetrators of heinous crimes are occupying high positions in government institutions.

Ban Ki-moon's host and counterpart, Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', is the Chairman of the ruling Maoist Party, who was recently appointed as Chairman of a national committee for the development of Lumbini by the incumbent Maoist-led Government of Nepal. Dahal led a violent armed insurgency resulting in the death and disappearance of tens of thousands, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

If Ban Ki-moon is to co- chair a high profile meeting with Dahal, he must insist that Dahal's party should officially renounce the use of violence in politics in the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations, says the former UNICEF official. Otherwise, the Secretary- General cochairing a conference with a leader who refuses to renounce violence would be contrary to the UN Charter, and to do so at a holy religious site would be sacrilege, insulting not just peace-loving Nepalese but millions of Buddhists around the world.