Recently, during a slow day at the office some excitement came through on the radio. Nepalgunj was hosting a Nepali Congress Democrats student conference. Thousands of student political leaders had come to support their party in Nepalgunj and set the student activist agenda. Apparently on the second day of this conference fighting within the Party led to clashes on the streets. According to the radio to prevent the brawl from turning into a riot the police had been called. Hearing the news while playing solitaire, Krishna slowly translated the bulletin for me. He seemed completely uninterested. His apparent lack of interest only lasted until he had lost his game of solitaire. Once he had accepted defeat, he suddenly sprang into action. Grabbing the office camera and his motorcycle helmet he declared that he was going to go into town and do some human rights observation. Police have recently been accused both of using excessive force and being too aloof during these types of incidents, so there does need to be some careful watching of the police.

Krishna walked out of the office after his declaration only to poke his head back in a moment later and say “Oh, Mark, did you want to come?” So I also grabbed my camera and jumped on the back of his motorbike. This type of party infighting is a troubling development in Nepal. It seems that everyday parties and groups are splintering and disagreeing, and they often become violent. Communists parties have multiplied exponentially it seems, some say making peace was too conservative and that the war should continue, some say the Maoists are too communist and need to be more socialist. The party having their conference in Nepalgunj was essentially a newer party that had split off from the Congress Party a few years ago. The end result is a fragmentation of political thought, parties and movements that makes compromise and cooperation that much more of a challenge.

Making our way through town we found the usual mess of rickshaws, minibuses and trucks waiting for us. As we got closer to the site of the party conference we found more students with Nepali Congress Democrat insignia, but they all seemed to be enjoying the event. Arriving at the site of the reported incident we found some students taking naps on the grass, a few people eating lunch and no one at all being violent. I guess this was a good thing, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I was ready for some action…some real human rights observation work.

Wanting to get the real story we flagged down one small group of students. Krishna explained what we had heard on the radio and asked what the real story was. As it turned out there had been a fistfight. One student had been flirting with the girlfriend of another student while waiting in line to get lunch. The boyfriend had reacted strongly and the two boys and a few of their friends had wrestled for a few minutes until being broken apart, and that was the end of the “riot”…so much for political fragmentation. The trip was not a complete loss as we had stopped to talk to the students next to the best momo (Tibetan dumplings) restaurant in town…and I do like momos.