<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209619c7e80680e0b553ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="890" height="500"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>After a prolonged deadlock over Parliament’s ratification of a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/to-be-or-not-to-be-on-the-mcc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$500 million US-backed infrastructure project</a>, Nepal’s ruling parties have found a formula to keep their coalition intact, and approve the scheme.The controversial project was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-risks-split-in-nepals-ruling-coalition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">threatening to break</a> up the five-party coalition because Prime Minister Deuba’s Nepali Congress (NC) was for it, while the Maoist Centre and the CPN Unified Socialists were against it.The row had become embroiled in geopolitics with both Washington and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/china-lobbying-against-mcc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Beijing piling on pressure</a> on politicians in Kathmandu to ratify and scrap it. US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu had called Nepal's top leaders last week to warn of damage to relations if the compact was not ratified by the 28 February deadline.The MCC row was also <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-deal-breaker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">complicating Nepal’s domestic politics</a> as the country faces local elections in May, with the Maoists and Unified Socialists wary of facing the ballot without an electoral alliance.On Sunday, 98 MPs belonging to the coalition filed an impeachment motion against <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-happening-to-nepals-supreme-court/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana</a>, who has himself been caught up in a months-long standoff with Nepal’s lawyers over allegations of corruption and political interference.The Nepal Bar Association had been lobbying with coalition leaders to file an impeachment motion against Rana since November, but the politicians had been reluctant to do so. Rana was said to have the support of Prime Minister Deuba.Rana is automatically in suspension now, but he is unlikely to be impeached because that would need a two-thirds majority of the House that the coalition does not command.Rana was to adjudicate two pending writ petitions involving <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-house-speaker-embroiled-in-mcc-row/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Parliament Speaker Agni Sapkota</a> of the Maoists on a war crimes charge, and on the suspension of 14 MPs that defected to the CPN Unified Socialists and whose the UML expelled.Rana was expected to rule against the Communist parties, while his successor, acting Chief Justice Deepak Karki is said to be more favourable to them.In a convoluted political way, suspending Rana opens the door to appease the Maoists and the Unified Socialists to allow the MCC project to be ratified when Parliament’s often postponed session sits on Wednesday.This is a win-win formula for the ruling coalition: Prime Minister Deuba gets to ratify the MCC, the Maoists save their Speaker, and Unified Socialists get to keep their 14 MPs. In addition Rana could have also ruled against former ministers who are now in the Unified Socialists in another case involving the Baluwatar real estate scam.However, the deal also exposes just how seriously the rule of law and separation of powers <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-lawyers-on-warpath-against-chief-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have become eroded in Nepal</a>, where political parties can use or discard Supreme Court justices to suit their interests.Even though the opposition UML was removed from power last year by Rana who annulled Prime Minister K P Oli’s dissolution of the House, it has been critical of the impeachment motion against him.The UML was hoping to break the coalition over its internal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/missing-links-in-nepals-mcc-debate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">disagreement over the MCC</a>, and gain an electoral advantage. It expected Rana to rule against Speaker Sapkota in a Supreme Court case to convict him for the killing of a UML supporter during the conflict. The UML was also hoping that Rana would expel the 14 UML rebels from House membership.The UML’s Subhas Nembang on Sunday criticised the impeachment motion as having been executed “guerrilla-style”, and its central secretariat held an emergency meeting on Sunday evening to plot future strategy.Despite the formula to save the coalition, Maoists and Unified Socialists have taken such a strong stance against <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-dont/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the MCC</a> that they will find it difficult to support it now when the House sits on Wednesday.They may stay away, leaving the NC and UML to pass it so they can brandish their own nationalist credentials for having stood up against American 'imperialism' at election time.

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

Chief Justice suspension linked to MCC ratification

<figure><img width="2400" height="1365" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d14489c7e80680e0a996djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Chiwan gears up for the 10th National General Convention of the CPN-UML on Friday. Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s governance is once more grinding to halt as the two major parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) that leads the ruling coalition, and the opposition UML gear up for their general conventions.Such is the relentless focus on heated contest for influential posts within these parties that even the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-real-story-in-nepals-supreme-court-debacle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mutiny within the Supreme Court</a> against the Chief Justice has dropped off the headlines.  The conventions, during which Deuba and Oli will once again vie for top leadership positions within their respective parties, will take place even as the three branches of government are all tangled up. The UML conclave is being held in Chitwan this weekend, and the NC is holding its in mid-December in Kathmandu.The row over Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana has not only spot-lit the transactional relationship between the judiciary and executive, but also how the state is being held hostage by the internal power struggles within the main political parties.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-happening-to-nepals-supreme-court/">What is happening to Nepal’s Supreme Court?</a>, Santa Gaha MagarNepal’s current political turmoil came to a boil in December 2020 when Prime Minister KP Oli <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/president-endorses-parliament-dissolution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dissolved the House</a> in response to a months-long <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-outraged-by-pm-oli-move/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">internal power struggle </a>between him and his Nepal Communist Party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The PM’s move was unsuccessful, as the Supreme Court restored the House in February 2021.This ultimately led to the Supreme Court deciding that the NCP unification was null and void, thus driving Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoists and UML dissenter Madhav Kumar Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-sets-elections-in-middle-of-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to ally with the opposition</a> led by the NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba.  Oli dissolved parliament for a second time in May and the Supreme Court once more deemed it unconstitutional, even ordering that Deuba replace Oli as prime minister.Deuba began his<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/deubas-long-and-winding-road/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> fifth term as prime minister</a> in July, leading a five-party coalition government by proroguing parliament and passing an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/old-wine-in-old-bottle-in-nepal-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ordinance to amend the Political Parties Act</a> that made it easier for political parties to split.This was directly intended to allow his ally Madhav Nepal to break away from the UML and form his own party, so making it possible for him to team up with the coalition government and seek cabinet positions. Many saw the prime minister's move (something he and his own coalition partners had accused Oli of committing) as an undermining of the parliamentary process.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-post-breakup-politics/">Nepal’s post-breakup politics</a>, Santa Gaha MagarBut Deuba outdid Oli: after the ordinance had served its purpose and begun to become a burden during his much-delayed cabinet expansion, he got President Bidya Devi Bhandari to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/political-expediency-trumps-nepal-constitution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repeal it</a>.  Deuba was bitterly criticised for running roughshod over the Constitution, but he was happy to form a full government. In the days leading up to the Cabinet expansion, news emerged that Chief Justice Rana wanted his nominees to also be given ministerships. The public, media and the legal fraternity was outraged by this blatant violation of the separation of powers.  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Among Deuba’s cabinet picks</a> was Gajendra Bahadur Hamal for Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, who just happened to be the brother-in-law of Chief Justice Rana and an NC member.Both Justice Rana, as well as Deuba’s camp, vehemently denied having negotiated for Cabinet positions, but the damage had been done. Hamal could not stand the heat and resigned three days later, leading many to conclude that there had indeed been a deal between the chief justice and the prime minister.As the judiciary erupted in protest, the Supreme Court stopped scheduled hearings. The Supreme Court Bar Association, the Nepal Bar Association, former Supreme Court justices <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-lawyers-on-warpath-against-chief-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">called for boycotts</a> demanding the resignation of Chief Justice Rana.Rana has refused to step down, saying he would rather face an impeachment motion in the House, knowing fully well that the politicians did not have the stomach for it because of their own pending cases. A compromise of sorts was reached this week under which cases in the Supreme Court will be decided by a tamper-proof lottery-based cause list.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/non-government-of-nepal/">Non-government of Nepal</a>, Sonia AwaleNow, as the two major parties hold their general conventions as required by law, there are doubts about whether they serve any purpose when power is so centralised at the top leadership of parties even with federal devolution.“The Nepali Congress and the UML were revolutionary political parties formed after the democratic movement 30 years ago, they were expected to bring about great socio-economic transformation,” says political science professor Krishna Khanal. “But they face a great crisis, they are in a trap of their own making.”Khanal notes that the greatest challenges for Nepal’s political parties are not constitutional matters or public opinion and discourse, but conflicting ambitions within individual parties that could make them implode, as parties have done in the past.“There is no internal democracy within Nepal’s political parties,” laments Radheshyam Adhikari himself an NC MP. “The  Constitution stipulates that political parties must hold internal elections every five years, which Nepal’s major political parties have failed to do. They have therefore lost their public legitimacy.”Khanal and Adhikari agree that political parties have just become a collective of selfish people seeking to grab power for their own self-interest. The current political climate also brings into question the leadership of Nepal’s ageing political figures, and the need for a younger generation to step up to the stage.“Nepal’s political parties are a stagnant swamp, not a constantly flowing river,” Khanal says. “The same leaders from three decades ago are still holding and vying for power instead of passing the baton to a new generation of leaders who came post-2006.”Meanwhile, Nepalis are now so disillusioned with the current state of politics that they do not just blame the politicians, but to flaws in the Constitution and even the very concept of a secular multi-party federal state.  However, former law minister and ambassador to India Nilamber Acharya says the current state is not due to the Constitution, but the flagrant violation of its principles.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-nepal-ties-must-move-beyond-1950-treaty/">“India-Nepal ties must move beyond 1950 treaty”</a>, Nepali Times“The current political disarray is not due to republicanism or federalism, but due to the inability of elected leaders to bring those concepts into practice,” Acharya says. “The responsibility of preserving the democratic process and strengthening the republic lies primarily with the Nepali Congress and the UML.”  He adds, “The flaw lies not in democracy, but in the fact that we do not have a functioning democratic process. The multi-party system is not responsible, the deep factionalism within the parties, and the inability of leaders to work together for the national interest.”

Shristi Karki

1250x600

1084x550

Unconventional party conventions

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d121a9c7e80680e0a98bbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="890" height="500"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The current questions about the separation of powers surrounding Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the appointment</a> (and subsequent resignation) of Rana’s brother-in-law Gajendra Hamal as a minister in government has raised serious questions about the conduct of justices, as well as interference in the judiciary by Nepal’s political leadership.This seeming give-and-take between the PM and the CJ set off an outcry from within Nepal’s judicial community, political commentators and the mainstream media. The public also made its opinion known through charged discourse on social media.Rana, for his part, swiftly refuted allegations that he had proposed Hamal’s ministership, as did a spokesperson for the prime minister when the issue was raised during a House session ahead of the cabinet expansion. Meanwhile, those in the Nepali Congress (NC) blamed the opposition UML for being behind “baseless rumours”.But less than 48 hours since his appointment, Minister Hamal resigned, proving that the explanations of the PM and CJ did not hold water. Rana has subsequently faced growing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-lawyers-on-warpath-against-chief-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">calls for his resignation</a> from former chief justices, current justices of the court, as well as the Nepal Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association.Justices and lawyers have been boycotting full court hearings called by Rana, as well as cases in the Supreme Court and other courts across Nepal since, affecting the judicial process.The Nepal Bar Association issued an ultimatum to Chief Justice Rana to resign, and protests, as well as calls for his impeachment, have been escalating when he failed to meet the deadline set before the Tihar festival.The controversy has exposed the transactional relationship between Nepal’s executive and judicial branches. However, what has been is that the nexus between political leadership and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-happening-to-nepals-supreme-court/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Supreme Court</a> existed long before the current debacle.Political influence over the judiciary was seen when Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was appointed chairman of the council of ministers by the then CPN-Maoist government in March 2013, following the failure of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly to draft the Constitution after two term extensions.Since then, it has become commonplace for politicians to interfere with the courts and judges through the Judicial Council, hand out positions to those deemed favourable, block unfavourable judicial appointments in Parliament hearings, engage in ‘bench buying’ in the Supreme Court, and even attempt to impeach the Chief Justice for failing to cater to their demands.In fact, this is not the first time Deuba and Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal have tried to undermine the independence of the judiciary. In 2017, the NC-Maoist coalition government filed an impeachment motion against Chief Justice <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/a-woman-is-as-capable-sushila-karki,3375" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sushila Karki</a>, accusing her of interfering with executive decisions after she overturned the appointment of the Chief of Police.It was actually Justice Cholendra Rana who issued an order against <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/05/05/sc-stays-impeachment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the impeachment motion</a>, rejecting the interference over the judiciary by the executive branch. Rana also helped overturn K P Oli’s dissolution of Parliament in July which led to regime change and the five-party coalition under Deuba.The irony is that the same figure who was once hailed as the protector of the sanctity of the judicial process is now being held responsible for encroaching upon the dignity of the judiciary and tarnishing the reputation of the Supreme Court.By becoming an active collaborator in political and constitutional appointments, Chief Justice Rana has acted against judicial discipline, also contributing to eroding the principle of the separation of powers. The latest collusion between the PM and CJ has laid the precedent for unchecked political bargaining and the blurring of lines between the judicial and the executive branches.In August, Deuba ended the Parliament session in the midst of a budget debate to issue the ordinance to amend the Political Parties Act that allowed his ally Madhav Kumar Nepal to break away from the UML, form a new party and join his coalition. A little more than a month later, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/political-expediency-trumps-nepal-constitution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he repealed the ordinance</a> to make way for this cabinet expansion.Issuing such an ordinance by suspending Parliament to benefit a particular person or party, and then repealing it once it had served its purpose, is a deliberate and cynical attack on the rule of law.What happened with Gajendra Hamal is evidence that the current leadership is running the state like a private company to perpetuate its own power – not an institution that serves the Nepali people.Deuba’s coalition has crushed the very foundation of our Constitution under the pretext of defending it. Prime Minister Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have found willing and enthusiastic co-conspirators in each other, using the judiciary to fulfil their individual agendas and destroying our democracy in the process.It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the primary reasons why Deuba and Dahal have orchestrated this political theatre is to garner support from within the judiciary to avoid being held accountable for war crimes committed when both were leaders of opposing sides in the 1996-2006 insurgency.Furthermore, the leadership is seeking to silence the international community on the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/justice-delayed-justice-denied-transitional-justice,849" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">matters of transitional justice</a> by paving the way to clear their names of any involvement in further cases that might arise in court.Indeed, Maoist leader and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/speechless/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">House Speaker Agni Sapkota faces a war crime charge</a> in the Supreme Court. Both Sapkota and Rana are members of the Constitutional Council, and Sapkota stands to benefit in the courts through his association with the Chief Justice.In 2018, the Maoist government rejected the nomination of Deepak Raj Joshi as chief justice in retaliation against his imprisonment order on Maoist cadre Chhabilal Poudel for the abduction and murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari during the conflict in 2004. Adhikari, a resident of Fujel in Gorkha, had been accused by Maoists of spying on behalf of the state. Other judges involved in the case who ruled against the victim have all since been rewarded by the party.The Maoist war ended 15 years ago and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-runs-out-of-excuses-to-address-war-crimes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s transitional justice process is stalled</a>. Families of the 1,400 disappeared are waiting for the truth, victims of war crimes also want justice, and the thousands who were wounded, tortured, raped, or lost property during the conflict await compensation.And while the Supreme Court verdict seven years ago to amend the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act to prevent perpetrators of war crimes from being exempt from punishment has still not been carried out, the order to make Sher Bahadur Deuba the prime minister was implemented within 24 hours.Such is the failure of the judicial system to stand for transitional justice, and the two erstwhile enemies, Deuba and Dahal, are among the primary players stalling the process.Over the coming days, the Chief Justice may very well buckle under judicial and public pressure and resign. And while his exit is necessary to the preservation of the impartiality of the judiciary, the buck must not stop with him. The prime minister and other leaders of Nepal’s coalition are equally, if not more responsible for the dismantling of state mechanisms, and cannot be spared from consequences.In particular, the Nepali Congress, the party once synonymous with democracy now seems hell bent on demolishing it, and must be held accountable. The prime minister blatantly used the judiciary to fulfil partisan interests, and must have to answer for it.The judiciary is, without compromise, the foundation of a democratic system, and freedom, fairness and autonomy are its cornerstones. It is a source of great hope and is the last line of defense against the violation of individual freedoms and the constitutional rights of victims.The hopes and trust of millions of Nepalis rest upon the judicial system. As such, the sustainability of an independent judiciary depends upon the competence, empathy, and sincerity of the leadership within all institutions of the branches of government.The institution will crumble without public trust, and our democracy, achieved through the countless sacrifices by Nepali citizens over the years, will be reduced to just a showpiece on the mantle of Nepal’s history.Charan Prasai is a human rights activist and coordinator of Accountability Watch Committee.cprasai@gmail.com

The real story in Nepal’s Supreme Court debacle

<img width="800" height="506" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d1a0e9c7e80680e0ac851jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Even though Nepal’s political parties do not seem very keen for the moment to impeach controversial Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana, the mutiny against him is spreading among justices and lawyers.Chief Justice Rana’s alleged pressure on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to make his brother-in-law a minister earlier this month and other purported misdemeanours have halted proceedings in the Supreme Court as judges and lawyers go on the warpath.Things have got so volatile that on Friday lawyers for and against Rana had a fistfight outside the Nepal Bar Association as it was announcing an intensified agitation against the chief justice. A video clip of the scuffle went viral on Nepal’s social media.<blockquote>नेपाल बार अगाडि वकिलबीच कुटाकुट प्रधानन्यायाधीश चोलेन्द्र शमशेर जबराका समर्थक र विरोधी वकिलबीच शुक्रबार नेपाल बारभित्रै कुटाकुट भएको हो। <a href="https://t.co/lCX8qdJBNJ">pic.twitter.com/lCX8qdJBNJ</a>— Setopati (@setopati) <a href="https://twitter.com/setopati/status/1453995371030454272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2021</a></blockquote> Video: SETOPATI/TWITTER<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-happening-to-nepals-supreme-court/">What is happening to Nepal's Supreme Court?</a>, Santa Gaha MagarThe row over the chief justice has cast a spotlight on the transactional relationship between Nepal’s executive and judicial branches, and deliberate and blatant attempts by the political leadership and the chief justice to violate the principle of<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/supreme-court-puts-nepal-politics-back-on-track/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> separation of powers</a>.Public and judicial outcry ensued after news emerged that the Chief Justice had <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-delaying-nepal-cabinet-expansion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">demanded ministerial appointments</a> for two of his people as the coalition government was deliberating a much-delayed Cabinet expansion earlier this month.Deuba agreed to one cabinet position, appointing Rana’s brother-in-law Gajendra Hamal as the Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister. Deuba and Rana both refuted allegations of bargaining, but not very convincingly. Even Deuba’s own party members said appointing Hamal was wrong.As the outrage spread, Hamal resigned less than 48 hours into his ministership, but this only added fuel to the fire as many saw it as an admission of the chief justice and the prime minister <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/quid-pro-quo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scratching each others’ backs</a>.To be sure, other members of the ruling five-party coalition have not shown much interest in registering an impeachment motion in Parliament against Rana. In fact, Parliament was conveniently prorogued on Friday, citing the opposition UML’s disruptions of proceedings. The UML’s K P Oli, who had to step down as prime minister after the Supreme Court ruled in July that his <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-supreme-court-restores-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dissolution of the House</a> was unconstitutional, is also opposed to impeachment — saying that five other judges who passed that verdict should also resign.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/old-wine-in-old-bottle-in-nepal-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Old wine in old bottle in Nepal's politics</a>, Shristi KarkiFor the past week, justices and lawyers have been boycotting full court meetings called by Rana, as well as cases in the Supreme Court and other courts across Nepal, bringing the judicial process to a standstill. As it is, only the Chief Justice-led single bench has been conducting hearings at Nepal’s top court.On Friday, the Nepal Bar Association issued an ultimatum to Chief Justice Rana to resign by 3 November, otherwise, it would undertake escalating protests including further boycotts of hearings, preventing Rana from entering the Supreme Court premises and even street rallies.On Thursday, Rana repeated in an interview with BBC Nepali that he would not step down just because some justices were calling for it. “I was appointed through a constitutional process, and I can only be removed through a constitutional process,” said Rana, possible convinced that the political parties would not move to impeach him.However, second-tier leaders of the Nepali Congress on Friday issued a statement calling on their party to protect judicial independence, the rule of law and separation of powers. ‘The Nepali Congress cannot remain silent in the controversy involving the chief justice when there is so much opposition to him from within the Supreme Court and the legal system,’ the statement by 12 NC members including Gagan Thapa, Sarita Prasai, and Dhanaraj Gurung said.And as Chief Justices, current justices on the court, as well as the Nepal Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association called on the Chief Justice to step down, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deuba and his coalition partners</a> have stayed silent on the matter, privately hoping that Rana will resign and take the decision out of their hands.Rana, who was appointed Nepal’s top judge by the KP Oli government in 2019, has remained steadfast in his refusal to resign unless the four other justices of the five-member bench that reinstated the parliament dissolved by Oli and appointed Deuba Prime Minister resigned along with him. The four other justices are Deepak Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwor Khatiwada, and Ananda Mohan Bhattarai.Instead, Rana has said that he is ready to face the constitutional process, daring the coalition to file an impeachment motion.Every politician and party has a reason not to anger Chief Justice Rana at present. A hearing against Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai for their alleged involvement in the Lalita Niwas land ownership case is due on 1 November.Similarly, K P Oli has also filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against Speaker Agni Sapkota over his refusal to expel then-UML lawmakers as well as against the Election Commission over Madhav Kumar Nepal’s registration of his new party. Sapkota, who is a Maoist, himself also has a war crime case against him pending in court.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-post-breakup-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal's post-breakup politics</a>, Santa Gaha MagarMany see Nepal’s recent political and judicial developments as the beginning of the end of the separation of powers within Nepal’s branches of government.In March 2013, following its failure to draft the Constitution after two-term extensions, Nepal’s Constitutional Assembly was dissolved. Subsequently, Nepal’s political parties, seeking a ‘neutral party’ to oversee the next CA elections, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2013/03/14/regmi-sworn-in-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">appointed Khil Raj Regmi</a>,  who was then Nepal’s Chief Justice, as the chairman of the council of ministers. Regmi led a caretaker government and presided over the 2013 elections, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/02/11/khil-raj-regmi-resigns-as-cj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">resigned after the elections in February 2014</a>.In hindsight, this was a watershed moment for the erosion of the separation of powers within Nepal’s executive and judicial branches.In 2017, an<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/05/01/lady-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> impeachment motion </a>was filed against <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/a-woman-is-as-capable-sushila-karki,3375" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chief Justice Sushila Karki</a> by the coalition government of the NC and the Maoists, who accused her of interfering with executive decisions after Justice Karki overturned the government’s choice for Nepal’s Chief of Police.Expert and public consensus at the time was that the impeachment served to intimidate the judiciary and Karki, who was noted for her integrity, independence and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/I-will-not-spare-the-corrupt,3156" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">aggressive stance on corruption</a>.Karki was reinstated after the single bench of Justice Rana issued an order against the impeachment motion.Rana’s tenure has not been without controversy, with the Chief Justice having come under scrutiny for reducing sentences of convicted murderers, acquitting individuals charged with corruption and manipulating favourable benches as favours to businessmen and politicians.Indeed, the controversy has also brought to light the practice of ‘bench buying’ in the Supreme Court, which Rana has been accused of facilitating. The decision on which cases have which benches assigned is so rife with corruption that bench-selection has become a money-making scam.An independent judiciary is the foundation of a functioning democracy and ensures that the branches of government operate within a system of checks and balances. But the controversy surrounding the Chief Justice, much more blatant than previous misgivings from within Nepal’s judiciary, has exposed the long-standing quid pro quo relationship between Nepal’s executive and judicial branches.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/non-government-of-nepal/">Non-government of Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale

Nepal’s lawyers on warpath against Chief Justice

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19aa9c7e80680e0ac831jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="699"/><figcaption>Illustration: Bhanu Bhattarai/Nepali Times Archive</figcaption></figure>Even though Nepal’s executive, legislative and bureaucratic arms suffer from over-politicisation, the judiciary and military have been relatively less affected. The current crisis in the Supreme Court has politicised the justice system and also dragged it into dysfunction.The Supreme Court has not held scheduled hearings, and courts across the country have been shut for three days after justices of the Supreme Court and the Nepal Bar Association called for boycotts demanding the resignation of Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana.Rana has more than a year left in his tenure, but has been embroiled in controversy after he allegedly lobbied for ministerial posts for a relative and crony in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/">coalition Cabinet of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba</a>.It was the Supreme Court’s verdict overturning the dissolution of the Lower House by previous prime minister K P Oli that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-court-orders-deuba-to-succeed-oli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">put Deuba in office</a> on 14 July, heading a five-party coalition. Deuba himself is also implicated in the scandal after he agreed to make Rana’s brother-in-law Gajendra Hamal a minister earlier this month. Hamal resigned three days later.Even though party leaders have in the past two decades often bent Nepal’s Supreme Court to suit their interests, by pressuring the prime minister to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/100-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accept his own relative as minister</a>, Rana is seen to have crossed the red line and violated the doctrine of the separation of powers.Rana summoned other justices and lawyers on Tuesday and said that under no circumstances was he going to step down, and that he would rather face an impeachment motion in the House.However, there has been an intriguing silence from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/who-wants-early-elections-and-why/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">top leadership</a> of the main parties about the fate of Chief Justice Rana. They seem to wish the problem will just go away, or Rana voluntarily resigns, so they do not have to take a stand.They do not want to annoy Rana because of the need to bargain over their own pending cases in the Supreme Court, but there is now intense pressure from the legal fraternity and the public to impeach him.Prime Minister Deuba of the Nepali Congress (NC) has not spoken in favour of impeachment, but is under pressure to do so from a rival faction within his own party. And even though it was Rana’s Supreme Court verdict that removed him from power in July, the UML’s K P Oli is against impeachment — saying that if Rana were to step down, five other justices who ruled against him should also resign.Others like Madhav Kumar Nepal of the United Socialists and Baburam Bhattarai of the Janata Samajbadi Party have cases pending in the Supreme Court in a real estate scam, and the Maoist Centre (MC) parliament speaker Agni Sapkota also has a war crime case against him.However, some have argued that the real issue here is separation of powers and stopping <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/fusion-of-powers,3760" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">political interference in the judiciary</a>, and the Supreme Court having to step in to resolve political deadlocks in the executive and legislative branches.By taking their disputes to the Supreme Court as arbiter of last resort, Nepal’s leaders have handed over crucial political decisions to the Chief Justice and his benches. So much so that the apex court has been deciding who forms a government and who doesn’t — an issue that should be resolved by party strength in Parliament.The only way to remove Rana would be if he is forced to resign, or if 25% of the House move an impeachment motion against him, although it will take a two-thirds majority to actually indict him.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/non-government-of-nepal/">Non-government of Nepal</a>, Sonia AwaleWith so much politics, corruption and vested interested tied up with the political appointment of justices, there are some who question whether just removing Chief Justice Rana will solve the problem, because the rot goes much deeper.Even if Rana is forced to resign or is impeached, he will be replaced by Dipak Kumar Karki. Those who would benefit from Karki’s elevation to Chief Justice can be seen to be pulling strings from behind the scenes, and suspicions have fallen on the Maoist Centre’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal who is said to be close to Karki. Dahal appears to be trying to do with Karki what he tried to do to with appointing Kul Bahadur Khadka as army chief in 2009.The irony is that the same NC, MC, and dissident UML members that praised Chief Justice Rana for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/supreme-court-puts-nepal-politics-back-on-track/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">saving democracy twice this year</a> by his constitutional bench verdicts to restore the dissolved House, are now labelling Rana a villain. Oli’s UML criticised the Supreme Court heavily for that.The Maoists also vehemently opposed a Supreme Court decision in February to nullify the unity of the UML and Maoists to form the NCP, that Oli had welcomed.What all this shows is that politicians and their parties are wont to praise to high heavens justices when there is a decision in their favour, but berate the Supreme Court when it goes against their interest. That is what appears to be happening again: some parties want Rana to remain, while others want him to go.The only difference this time is that the anti-Rana forces in the judiciary, Bar and the government feel he went too far by allegedly lobbying for relatives and cronies to be included in the Cabinet. Even if he did talk the prime minister into agreeing to make his brother-in-law a minister, Deuba should have rejected it outright as interference.Instead, Deuba and Dahal both clarified that Hamal had been made minister from the NC quota and did not say anything about pressure from the chief justice. Why were Deuba and his coalition partners so eager to make Hamal a minister?  Was it because they wanted to keep Chief Just Rana in the good books to extract their pounds of flesh in future verdicts in cases involving them?Cholendra SJB Rana is Nepal’s 29th chief justice, but not the first to be embroiled in controversy. Even Sushila Karki, known for her firebrand independence, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/05/01/lady-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">faced an impeachment motion </a>by a NC-Maoist coalition government in 2017 because she did not agree to pass verdicts that favoured them on the appointment of a police chief.In fact it was Rana who trashed  that impeachment motion against Karki, saying it went against the spirit of the Constitution to file a the motion against the chief justice on such partisan grounds.There is a lot of politics tied up with whether Rana remains chief justice or is forced to step down. On 1 November, the Supreme Court is due to hear a case against Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai on the Baluwatar real estate scandal. Some see the magnified criticism of Rana as a way to put pressure on him to rule in their favour.It is clear that Rana’s departure will not be enough to herald a golden age of justice in Nepal. The same forces in the executive and judiciary that were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/quid-pro-quo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scratching each others’ backs</a> will still be up to their old tricks. Rana is not coming out of this smelling like roses, but neither are many of the other justices who want him to resign, nor the politicians who benefited from their appointments.It is now important that the political parties and justices who are at the root of this crisis vow not to violate the constitutionally-enshrined <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">separation of powers</a>. This should not be about using Chief Justice Rana as a bargaining chip, but an opportunity to conduct far-reaching reforms within the judiciary.The boycott by lawyers and judges on Thursday affected hearings across the country and delayed justice being served. Urgent cases like those of habeas corpus have been left in limbo.Says ex-justice Prakash Wasti: “The ball is in the court of the Nepal’s politicians, whether to make the courts a place where justice is served, or where they serve themselves.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/political-expediency-trumps-nepal-constitution/">Political expediency trumps Nepal Constitution,</a> Santa Gaha Magar

What is happening to Nepal’s Supreme Court?

On Tuesday, leader of the monarchist RPP once again gathered on Kathmandu’s streets to deliver fiery speeches, but this time there was no arson and looting and no need for riot police to fire live rounds or tear gas.
RPP leaders demanded the release of their members including vice-president Rabindra Mishra and MP Dhawal Shamsher Rana were arrested during the violent <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">28 March protests at Tinkune </a>which left two dead. 
They denounced the current leadership of the main parties, demanding the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-party-reincarnating-hindu-monarchy">restitution of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom</a>. They also said the government was responsible for the fatalities on 28 March because it provoked its rally with a tear gas attack even before it started.
It has now been revealed that the police fired at least 100 live rounds from high powered assault rifles at the crowd. Twenty-one of the 120 injured received bullet wounds, and most of them were bystanders and people trying to reach home. 
Tuesday protest on the Ring Road in Balkhu was much more subdued, and comparatively fewer RPP supporters showed up. The arson and vandalism in the previous protest appears to have cost some support for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal">former king Gyanendra </a>especially for the anointment of medical tycoon and bank defaulter <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/street-politics">Durga Prasai </a>as ‘commander’ of the Tinkune rally.
Some monarchists acknowledge Gyanendra’s mistakes when was king 2001-2008, but say he has had a lot of time to reflect on his shortcomings and seems more disciplined and committed. His supporters have tried to build on nostalgia among some Nepalis for<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/why-invest-in-nepal"> domestic stability </a>and international respect that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">the monarchy</a> commanded. 
“Nepalis were promised better service delivery, opportunities for the underserved, as well as better, more honest use of state resources, but the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16992">people in leadership </a>have not been able to deliver on their commitments,” says RPP leader Prakash Chandra Lohani. “The gap between their rhetoric and reality has widened, the people feel betrayed, and the respect Nepali people had previously had for them has changed to revulsion.” 
Indeed, many commentators have warned the three main parties and their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/politics-as-usual">serial prime ministers</a> who have ruled Nepal for much of the past 30 years should address rising public anger with them, and see the writing on the wall.
‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-government-changes-again">The UML, NC and Maoists</a> must introspect about their conduct,” warns Gunaraj Luitel, editor of Nagarik, in an op-ed this week. ‘These leaders for life may save themselves from simmering public anger, but they will not be able to save the system. The monarchist wave can only be dispelled when citizens are assured of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people">better governance</a> through <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/real-world-training-for-youth-leaders">younger leaders</a>, and reforms.’ 
Rifts between radical royals who are gunning for a return to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mob-movement-and-mayhem">Panchayat-style absolutism </a>and moderate monarchists who favour a constitutional king have also weakened the movement somewhat. The split between the RPP and RPP-Nepal cost the royalists numbers in Parliament in 2022, and both parties denounced the violence last month, albeit shifting the blame on the government.
The irony is that the same royalists who want to scrap the republican Constitution had formed electoral alliances with the UML during the 2022 elections. RPP-Nepal chair Kamal Thapa contested the 2022 election with the UML. Thapa has not taken part in the last two rallies, saying he will only be a part of a movement under a national flag, and not a RPP party banner.
For his part, the RPP’s Rajendra Lingden is said to be hesitant to censure some of his party’s more radical royalists for fear of fissure within his ranks, despite his aversion to Durga Prasai’s role. 
Analysts have questioned why <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/old-is-still-gold-in-nepali-politics">supporters of the monarchy </a>have decided to reestablish an institution that would not ultimately have executive decision-making power. There are doubts about whether authoritarian-minded Gyanendra will be satisfied being a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13957">ceremonial king</a>. 
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-deja-vu-on-black-friday">Nepal’s déjà vu on Black Friday</a>, Sonia Awale
"The Nepali people will not accept <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-woman-who-sheltered-communist-activists">an absolute monarchy </a>at this point of time, and both the public as well as <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">king Gyanendra</a> are fully aware that there is no other possibility beyond a constitutional monarchy," asserts the RPP’s Lohani. “The traditional monarchy’s institutional capacity might have been enough to meet the needs of feudal Nepal, but an absolute monarchy is impossible both in concept and practice in the context of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Economic-Class/waiting-for-an-industrial-revolution,784">modern day Nepal</a>.”

New year revolutions

Besides multiple <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">street demonstrations </a>that gridlocked Kathmandu’s traffic for the past weeks, public discourse in Nepal has also been dominated by dangerously <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking">high air pollution levels</a>. Caused mostly by hundreds of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/wildfire-season-starts-early-in-nepal">forest fires </a>raging across the country, the smoke contains suspended soot particles that harms <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/playing-with-poison">human health</a>. Thursday’s rain have cleared the air somewhat, and many people will soon forget how bad the air quality was. But the time to address the roots of next summer’s fire season is now.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250411060440_d1a119716a9031aadfdd611d299348d436842d376a03e664b8d773957a237524.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250411060440_d1a119716a9031aadfdd611d299348d436842d376a03e664b8d773957a237524" data-rendition-name="original" width="502" height="540" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfires"> <figcaption>EXTINGUISHED: Forest fires raging all over Nepal in the week after 3 March (above) reduced air quality, creating a public health hazard in Kathmandu and across the country. Each red dot is a fire detected by infrared sensors on the NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) satellite. But the rain on Thursday doused most of the fires (below) with more rain forecast over the weekend.</figcaption> </figure>  The reason everyone was talking about air pollution was because the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke"> smoke from wildfires</a> was visible. But much more toxic are the invisible and odourless <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint">gases from vehicular and industrial emissions </a>which have always been there. The theme of World Health Day on 7 April this week was ‘Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures’ dedicated to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-more-mothers-and-babies">preventing maternal and newborn deaths</a>. It is estimated that in Nepal, 30% of neonatal mortality can be blamed on air pollution. But that is only part of the story. Harmful as fine particulate matter is to human health, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone and other gases in vehicular emissions are more hazardous to health. While the concentration of suspended particulate matter tinier than 1.5 microns (PM2.5) is closely monitored, these toxic gases are invisible, not measured much, and the public is not aware about the dangers they pose. Surface ozone is produced by the interaction of various gases found when <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fossil-fuels-poison-air">burning fossil fuels</a>. Besides being poisonous, ground level ozone contributes up to 0.23°C to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">global warming</a> because it is also a greenhouse gas. A new policy brief by the Clean Air Fund titled The Case for Action on Tropospheric Ozone blames surface ozone for a half a million premature deaths every year, 54.8% of which are in South Asia. Ozone also stunts plant growth and reduces crop yields by 26% globally, and 11% loss in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/economic-benefits-of-saving-the-ecology">forest productivity</a>, the report adds.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250411060456_aa02a923f8b27544ae54d0220162678f5bbb5eeb8fc3c466173c22c49b3e9a85.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250411060456_aa02a923f8b27544ae54d0220162678f5bbb5eeb8fc3c466173c22c49b3e9a85" data-rendition-name="original" width="998" height="724" loading="lazy" alt="Gas Chambers"> </figure>  Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bad-air-and-polluted-politics">Bad air and polluted politics</a>, Sonia Awale Ground-level ozone is not emitted directly into the air like other gases, but is formed when oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from automobile tailpipes or industry smokestacks react chemically with each other in the presence of sunlight. The main source of carbon monoxide in Kathmandu Valley are its 1.2 million two-wheelers. “Usually the concentration of carbon monoxide is 200-500 parts per billion (ppb), this has increased up to 3,000 in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, ground-level ozone has gone from 70-80 ppb to 150 ppb,” says Ravi Sahu, regional air quality specialist with the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).&nbsp; Sahu says <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-smoke-without-fire-p7vb9dcj">rampant forest fires of the past weeks</a> have also added to carbon monoxide and ozone in the air, not just the fine particles that make up the visible smoke. He adds, “There isn’t much awareness about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/poisoning-the-air-we-breathe">ground-level ozone and carbon monoxide</a>, we need to urgently look into it.” A distinction must be made between good and bad ozone. Stratospheric ozone protects living beings from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.&nbsp; Tropospheric ozone can again be separated into two types: ozone in the free atmosphere which is a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide, and ground-level ozone which has adverse impacts on health and agriculture. ‘Cutting tropospheric ozone presents a unique challenge as it requires smart and fast action across multiple greenhouse gases and air pollutants, as well as multiple economic sectors,’ notes the Clean Air Fund's policy briefing. ‘It is a growing and neglected problem that needs an integrated approach on both a local and global level to tackle climate change and air pollution together.’ Dying young There was a time when Nepal made it to international news bulletins only if there were fatalities on Mt Everest. Now, Kathmandu’s bad air frequently makes headlines all over the world. This past week, the concentration of PM2.5 that harms human health was up to 40 times the WHO recommended guideline — adding to the poisonous gases already present from vehicle emissions. The Department of Environment says 40% of the pollution in the past weeks was from wildfires sparked by nearly 6 months without substantial rain over central Nepal. Most of the rest is from vehicular and industrial emissions from Kathmandu itself and across the southern border. NASA’s Fire Information and Resource Management System (FIRMS) which issues daily maps of fires, showed hundreds of blazes raging across Nepal on Wednesday, mainly in Chitwan, Parsa and along the East-West Highway.&nbsp; “If we look at the figures for the last few years, it is clear that wildfires have become the biggest source of air pollution, they are seasonal but have overtaken vehicular emissions,” says urban planner and environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar. “Forest fires, stubble burning, and open burning of garbage are the bigger problems now. Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are at risk every year, we shouldn’t further delay in finding solutions,” warned air quality expert Bhupendra Das during an event on air pollution organised on 7 March by the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ).&nbsp; Indeed, studies have shown that in winter 60% of the air pollution over Kathmandu is transboundary from the south, and in November it is compounded by smoke from crop residue burning by farmers in India and Pakistan blown in by prevailing winds. Forest fires are a regular pre-monsoon occurrence in Nepal, often intentionally set by farmers and herders to stimulate new grass growth for livestock. Winter rains have failed for eight of the past ten years, and this means the fires often spread out of control. The other reason for the increase in wildfires is the doubling of forest fires to 46% of the country’s area in the past 25 years. But this has happened simultaneously with outmigration, with some mountain districts losing 30% of their population between 2011-2021. With less pressure on forests for fodder and firewood, the undergrowth of community forests is loaded with dry fuel just waiting for a spark. The bowl-shaped topography of Kathmandu, Pokhara and other valleys further concentrates pollutants as they are trapped by surrounding mountains. But a year with a high number of wildfires is usually followed by a year or two with fewer incidents. For example: there were 6,537 fires in 2021 but the following year the number was down to 1,528. There were 5,216 fires last year, this year the number has already reached 1,800, and the trend is likely to be broken. Heavy rains forecast for the coming days are expected to douse some of the fires and clean up the air. But the damage has been done: Kathmandu residents of all age groups this week crowded clinics and hospitals with burning eyes, itchy throats, difficulty breathing, headaches, and dizziness. But in the longer term, soot particles that are tiny enough to jump the blood-air divide in lung capillaries do not just cause Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma, but also cancers, heart attacks, strokes, birth defects and other chronic diseases. The latest Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report by the University of Chicago shows that the annual concentration of PM2.5 in Kathmandu’s air rose from 17.87µg/m3 in 1998 to 31.33µg/m3 in 2022. Air pollution has got worse by 75% in Kathmandu in 25 years. During this time, air pollution has reduced the average life expectancy of Kathmandu’s residents by 3.5 years. According to the Health Effects Institute in Boston, dirty air is among the biggest public health concerns in Nepal killing over 42,100 a year. The adverse impact of high levels of air pollution is not limited to public health, it is seriously affecting tourism. Operators in Pokhara this week said that there were many negative online posts by visitors unable to see the famous panorama of Machapuchre and the Annapurnas even from Sarangkot. Aviation is also affected, as planes have to circle sometimes for hours burning a lot of fuel because of runway visibility being below minima at Kathmandu airport. The higher fuel cost is just passed down to customers, making air tickets in and out of Kathmandu some of the highest in the world. Kathmandu, with a population of four million, has not implemented a concrete policy to curb toxic air despite having formulated various action plans and repeated commitments by the government to protect the environment and control air pollution. The Department of Environment’s 2017 Air Quality Management Action Plan for Kathmandu put forward a policy to reduce air pollution caused by vehicles which was approved by the Cabinet, but has yet to be put to practice. The action included the immediate implementation of the Euro 5 emission standard to reduce pollution emitted by vehicles. However, Nepal has not even been able to implement Euro 4 standards so far. India, meanwhile, has already moved forward with the implementation of the Euro 6 standards. Says Ravi Sahu: “Air pollution in Nepal is not just about air pollution, it has ties to tourism, aviation, the economy so we must be prepared for annual conditions like forest fires, and this requires urgent interdisciplinary collaboration.” &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250411050452_821d09e283d8a590f1369bfb71b9b7fc6d950726e0651ea86c6488d04deb1742.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250411050452_821d09e283d8a590f1369bfb71b9b7fc6d950726e0651ea86c6488d04deb1742" data-rendition-name="original" width="839" height="784" loading="lazy" alt="Silent Killers"> </figure>  &nbsp;

What is invisible is more dangerous

82 in २०८२

Here in the mountains of far-western Nepal, the biggest threat to life and limb is gravity. Women collecting fodder fall from trees, boys grazing goats fall off cliffs, heavily loaded tractors plunge from dirt roads carved out of steep slopes. There is nothing to be done about those who die on the spot. But for the severely wounded there is only one hospital: Bayalpata. And it is there that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJzWlnYd0ZM&amp;t=8s" target="_blank">orthopaedic surgeon Mandeep Pathak</a> is the last hope for many wounded people. Pathak, 42, is too modest to tell us how many lives he has saved over the past 10 years he has worked at Bayalpata. But hospital records show he has performed more than 4,000 operations in the past decade, many of them so patients did not suffer permanent physical disabilities. Pathak also did 800 major life-saving surgeries in that time. “I treat patients with injuries, but I wish I could also treat poverty,” Pathak says, emerging from Bayalpata’s surgical theatre one recent afternoon. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CJzWlnYd0ZM?si=s_rkbU4YDaw87gqH" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Sudurpaschim Province in Nepal’s far-west is far away from everything: from Kathmandu, from adequate medical care, from food security, and far from the reach of government services. It has suffered state neglect for centuries, its men mainly migrating to India for seasonal work to families who depend on subsistence agriculture. Pathak remembers the searing sadness he felt when a patient once told him, “Doctor, I sold the last of my rice to pay to come here, please give me a medicine that I can take on an empty stomach.” Pathak was born in Kathmandu, and after getting his MBBS from Kathmandu University, he got an MD from The Philippines. At a time when many Nepali doctors and staff nurses were emigrating, Pathak did not just return to Kathmandu but decided to go to one of the remotest districts in Nepal to serve those most in need. The hospital was established in 2009 in the village of Bayalpata, and has been managed by the non-profit <a href="https://www.nyayahealthnepal.org/" target="_blank">Nyaya Health Nepal (NHN)</a> as a public-private partnership treating 100,000 patients a year for no fees at all. NHN is now preparing to hand over the running of the hospital to the Sudurpaschim provincial government so its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health" target="_blank">model of hospital management</a> can be replicated.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250414130456_b59dabd4604a24426a55fe91c0e5866b5029858bdb4c4028c331557aeb5408ae.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250414130456_b59dabd4604a24426a55fe91c0e5866b5029858bdb4c4028c331557aeb5408ae" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata hospital"> <figcaption>Bayalpata hospital in Achham.</figcaption> </figure>  People from not just Achham but surrounding districts, and from as far away as Humla, bring patients to Bayalpata, sometimes walking for days. Some with complicated pregnancies are brought in stretchers, young children with broken arms walk into the emergency, and sometimes there are mass casualties when a tractor or bus falls off a road. And Pathak is always there with his team performing triage, and doing orthopaedic surgeries that would be difficult even in Kathmandu. Recently, his team did a hip replacement at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/state-of-the-art-rural-hospital" target="_blank">Bayalpata Hospital</a>. Mild mannered, modest, soft-spoken, hard-working, professional are the words families of patients who have been treated at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-rural-lifeline" target="_blank">Bayalpata Hospital </a>use to describe Mandeep Pathak. But the surgeon is too busy to let all this get to this head.&nbsp; Asked why he does not emigrate like his peers or get a lucrative position at a private hospital in Kathmandu, Pathak answers simply, without a trace of self-importance, “I do not think I could get the satisfaction or sense of fulfilment anywhere else.” When travelling to attend medical congresses overseas or visit family in Kathmandu, Bayalpata has other doctors to take care of patients, but many wait patiently till Pathak returns for their consultation or surgery.&nbsp; When he returns from seminars abroad after learning the latest skills, Pathak’s suitcases are not full of clothes or presents, but titanium bone implants, external fixation rods, or intramedullary nails to be used in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/altruistic-healthcare-models-in-nepal" target="_blank">surgeries at Bayalpata</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025041414040_5356278472c1eb2b9e4af1d593d6234cc8dc5e5161a8c614197c01abefadbd80.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2025041414040_5356278472c1eb2b9e4af1d593d6234cc8dc5e5161a8c614197c01abefadbd80" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1368" loading="lazy" alt="surgery"> </figure>  Before Bayalpata Hospital was established, most people suffering broken bones had to travel down to Dhangadi or Nepalganj for treatment. No more. Although Pathak’s specialisation is orthopaedic oncology, he is mostly treating fractures and rejoining broken bones.&nbsp; Now as Bayalpata’s Hospital Director, Pathak also has administrative and fundraising duties. He has to take the 10-hour ride down to Dhangadi often to meet various Sudurpaschim ministries to release the hospital’s budget — that is sometimes more difficult than the most complicated surgery. Recently, he had to cancel an appointment with the Chief Minister to rush back to Bayalpata because there was a patient who needed emergency surgery. “I told myself, let me save this patient first, then I will try to save the hospital,” he recalls.&nbsp; Once, when he had to be away for a month on emergency surgery training in the US, the family of a 90-year-old woman who had dislocated her hip after falling from a staircase was waiting for him to return. Her son told Pathak: “Doctor, either put her out of her suffering, or cure her.” Pathak told him it was too dangerous to operate at her age, but the son said his mother was in so much pain it was worth the risk. The operation was touch-and-go, but it was successful. The woman who had been brought in on a stretcher, walked out of the hospital three days after the operation.&nbsp; A few months later, a 27-year-old woman was brought into the ER bleeding profusely from an arm mangled by a thresher machine. Even in that state, she was breastfeeding her baby. Pathak welled up seeing this display of selfless motherhood, as he wheeled her into surgery. She needed three operations, but now has full use of her hand. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xJdxLD0hBqo?si=mOpM2R_DsYL88Lfg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> It is the sense of achievement from such recovery that keeps Mandeep Pathak here in this isolated village in the middle of nowhere. Bayalpata Hospital has not just saved lives, it also saves families from poverty because they do not have to take sick relatives to expensive city hospitals.&nbsp; In January, a woman was brought to Bayalpata with both hands broken. She said she had taken a fall, but Pathak did not believe her. When alone in the surgery, she finally admitted that her husband had beaten her.&nbsp; It was her husband who had brought her to hospital for treatment, but she refused to file a police report. Pathak quietly put both her arms in casts, thinking about the poverty, patriarchy and injustice in society that he is unable to treat.

chief-justice-cholendra-sjb-rana