webmaster
29th September 2008, 04:56 AM
Thamel is really not as bad as this says.
Agencies Kathmandu, Sept 28: Nepal 's new Maoist government has declared war on sleaze in the capital Kathmandu , saying the increasing numbers of massage parlours and nude dance bars are driving up crime and immorality.
The ultra-leftists pledged radical change in the impoverished nation after they won landmark polls in April which placed their former warlord leader as prime minister of the world's newest republic.
For Bamdev Gautam, Nepal's new home minister, that means battling Kathmandu 's mushrooming adult entertainment sector, which he describes as a "breeding ground for depravity" and "at the heart" of an urban crime problem.
"This is a movement against social evils. We've seen the growth of vicious immorality among Nepali youth because of these late-night restaurants and dance bars," home ministry spokesman Modraj Dottel explained.
During the civil war, when government troops were battling the Maoists, there was a heavy security presence in urban areas and many residents felt safer.
But urban areas in Nepal have now been hit by a slew of kidnappings, muggings and knife attacks since the end of the Maoist insurgency in 2006, with gangs exploiting political instability and a lack of policing.
The rise in sex-related businesses has also created more human trafficking, sexual exploitation of young girls and a rise in HIV infections, activists say.
Parts of the capital, like Thamel, the main tourist area, have turned into red light districts -- bad news for the Maoists, who promote themselves as champions of the poor and exploited.
Thamel is falling under the "control of gangsters and petty criminals whose sole purpose is to promote prostitution, vulgarity and dupe tourists and locals," said a notice by a Thamel residents' group placed in local papers recently.
Agencies Kathmandu, Sept 28: Nepal 's new Maoist government has declared war on sleaze in the capital Kathmandu , saying the increasing numbers of massage parlours and nude dance bars are driving up crime and immorality.
The ultra-leftists pledged radical change in the impoverished nation after they won landmark polls in April which placed their former warlord leader as prime minister of the world's newest republic.
For Bamdev Gautam, Nepal's new home minister, that means battling Kathmandu 's mushrooming adult entertainment sector, which he describes as a "breeding ground for depravity" and "at the heart" of an urban crime problem.
"This is a movement against social evils. We've seen the growth of vicious immorality among Nepali youth because of these late-night restaurants and dance bars," home ministry spokesman Modraj Dottel explained.
During the civil war, when government troops were battling the Maoists, there was a heavy security presence in urban areas and many residents felt safer.
But urban areas in Nepal have now been hit by a slew of kidnappings, muggings and knife attacks since the end of the Maoist insurgency in 2006, with gangs exploiting political instability and a lack of policing.
The rise in sex-related businesses has also created more human trafficking, sexual exploitation of young girls and a rise in HIV infections, activists say.
Parts of the capital, like Thamel, the main tourist area, have turned into red light districts -- bad news for the Maoists, who promote themselves as champions of the poor and exploited.
Thamel is falling under the "control of gangsters and petty criminals whose sole purpose is to promote prostitution, vulgarity and dupe tourists and locals," said a notice by a Thamel residents' group placed in local papers recently.