As I am writing these lines, about 50 buses (one of them in the photo above) full of school children in uniform are being rushed toward the city center of Kathmandu. The students inside and at the top of the buses are screaming and, for me, the sound resembles to that of a woman being raped by a murderous gang. No wonder, these students are being taken to the inauguration ceremony of general convention of the Maoist student union: All Nepal National Independent Students Union (ANNISU). The scene is simply horrific and I fear possible death of the students falling from the top of the running bus. I am also deeply saddened by the fact that these students are being forced to leave their classes. Their parents sent them school in uniform hoping that they would learn something in classrooms and here they are: forced to take part in a conference of a political organization that, it seems, has very less to do with student welfare. “The main agenda of the convention is political,” I recall what the chairman of ANNISU Lekhnath Neupane said yesterday. Continue reading
