Poor and paltry, illiterate and ignorant, dwindling, dark, desolate and deficient — mere depressing words are used to sum up the socio-economic situation of our district Humla, which is not true. The truth is that the district always has been neglected by the government, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change in the future. Kathmanduites may go mad if Simikot’s market prices were to be applied there. Everything in Simikot costs three times what it costs in Kathmandu. The Lehmi Valley, for example, lost its grazing land to China because the government neglected to raise the issue when China took over Tibet in 1959. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of yaks, horses, sheep and goats from more than 5,000 individuals to less than 500 in the three villages in Lehmi — Til, Waltse and Jhang.
Consider a recent story: A Jhang villager had to buy a new horse because his only horse “trespassed” on the Chinese border in Lhabtsa Shar. Anyone caught trespassing on China’s border is jailed.
Freedom costs a fine of 5,000 yuan (equivalent to Rs. 55,000). A horse costs no more than Rs 30,000, so the Jhang villager thought it better to buy a new one than pay the fine. This is a common, bitter story of the Lehmi people.
Yultsa, Simikot, Nepalgunj and Kathmandu are the four main haunts of Humli people. In Yultsa, a Nepali will understand how weak Nepal is. Chinese border patrols trespass on Nepali territory at will, whereas Nepalis carrying passports are at their mercy. The ill-fated ones fall prey to torture of the most appalling and inhumane kind one could imagine (for example, forcing a beer bottle inside a woman’s private parts).
In Simikot, government agencies show how unashamed they are. They swallow the government budget through bribes or corruption, and then bask in the sun all day to digest it. See the misery of the people of Karnali struggling madly for months for a plane ticket as they run out of money in the hotels of Nepalgunj. These common tales are told in tears, but the government leaders remain blind and deaf to them. Currently, there’s no motorway in Simikot. A plane ticket costs Rs. 6,000 plus Rs. 170 airport tax. The free baggage allowance is just 15 kg. Meanwhile in Kathmandu, the players of Nepali politics are busy practicing their games in parliament and on the streets.
We have no hope of our government making Karnali a new, prosperous and peaceful region. We urge the Constituent Assembly members to change the names of places back to their original forms. For example, Barkhang is the original name of the so-called Baragaon. Baragaon VDC should be called Nhinyul VDC because the VDC actually consists of the Nhinyul villages — Barkhang, Nhindrang, Todpa, Hurik, Gonpa and Dunglungpa.
The government should call the local places by their original names and not distort them as this seriously affects the culture of the local residents. The government might also consider changing the name Humla, as people often make fun of it. Humla-Jumla has become synonymous with poverty, hunger and backwardness. We have developed a kind of allergy to this word Humla. I would recommend that all those interested in uncovering the truth about our land and our people read the ethnographic book Dynamics of Polyandry by anthropologist Nancy E. Levine. This will help to get beneath the surface images and erase common misperceptions that surround this system.
Think tanks and scholars determine that although the Tarai is connected by motor roads, the people are still backward and poor, so the same should apply to the Simikot-Tibet motor road. But this may not be the correct calculation. They might have read about our land and life style, but we live our land and life. The Himalaya is not the Tarai, and the Tarai is not the Himalaya. As in other parts of the Himalaya, money grows on our mountains in the form of valuable herbs and other non-timber forest products, but we lack a motor road to access markets. Undoubtedly, our agro-products await the huge potential of markets in the bordering dry regions of West Tibet and Shinjang. It’s a bitter truth that motor roads import and increase many evils like human trafficking, prostitution, pollution and so forth. In order to tackle them, we hope that the government and I/NGOs will work to spread awareness among the people so that these evils may be controlled. However, the positive economic potentials weigh a little more. Perhaps it’s an indelible fact that there is nothing in this world with only positive aspects, nevertheless there’s still a need for a motor road.
Had all of us remained illiterate as during the time of our great grandfathers, illiterate people wouldn’t have such a tough time dealing with literate people. So, the universal right to quality education for illiterate people will be possible only after the construction of a motor road. Due to the low quality of education in the government schools in the villages, students lose interest in acquiring higher education in Kathmandu’s colleges as the English language is a headache for them. Moreover, students of Simikot require no less than Rs. 20,000 for merely getting to Kathmandu by the only way currently possible, flying. Not to mention the stories of hardship to obtain tickets while students of Biratnagar and Birgunj can travel by bus for just Rs. 200.
Like water flowing down the Peacock River (commonly known as the Karnali River), tons of money have been wasted on building a road through Nara Pass (which means Hell Mountain), which is a mountain of pebbles. Every year, avalanches of pebbles bury the road so that one can’t see it at all. The money that has been wasted must surely be enough to pour a cement solution over the pebble mountain by helicopter so that the stones remain fixed and not slide down the slope.
Another possible road to connect Simikot with Tibet is through Lhabtsa Shar in Lehmi where an annual trade fair used to be held with Tibetans until 1959. Although much shorter and free of pebble mountains, it’s less cared for as people stick to the point that the Nara Road passes through many villages, whereas the Lhabtsa Shar Road passes through none. But a road passing through villages might pollute their culture, tradition and environment. The Lhabtsa Shar Road too poses a threat to the pure paradise-like environment of Lehmi. Pollution can already be seen on the Nara Pass as it is a much frequented trail. Therefore, these options demand equal attention and budget allocation. At the rate construction is progressing, it doesn’t look like the motor road will be built even after 20 years. Amid this despair, however, a spark of hope survives that a truck from Tibet might surprise us all in Simikot some day.
Phuntsok Dorjee Lama
