<img width="644" height="372" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221207101216/639059ee9c7e80680e0ce213jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Ten days after Nepal held parliamentary and provincial polls, the last of the election results are trickling in.With ballots in 161 out of 165 constituencies now counted,  the NC leads in first past the post (FPTP) with 54 seats, the UML is second with 44, the Maoist Centre is a distant third with 17 seats, followed by Madhav Kumar Nepal’s CPN (Unified Socialists) who have won 10 seats. Meanwhile, the monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which won only 1 seat in 2017, has emerged with 7 wins this time. The Madhes-based Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) — which formed an electoral alliance with the UML at the last minute — has won seven seats overall, while the LSP — which sided with the coalition — has four seats.Rabi Lamichhane’s new Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has emerged with seven young MPs, while five independents have also bagged direct seats. Coalition partner Rastriya Janamorcha, former Madhes separatist CK Raut’s Janamat Party, and Nepal Majdur Kisan Party have obtained one seat each. Nagarik Unmukti has won three seats in the western Tarai.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-nepali-people-have-spoken/">The Nepali people have spoken</a>, Sonia AwaleNepal’s two biggest political collectives, the five-party coalition led by  the NC and opposition UML both fall short of the 138 out of 275 parliamentary seats they need for an outright majority. While NC leads in the direct elections, the opposition UML is ahead in the proportional representation (PR) ballot count with more than 2.7 million of the over 10 million votes counted. The NC is in second place with more than 2.5 million popular votes, followed by the Maoists with over 1.1million. Although these numbers may look like the big parties are still in control, the electorate has sent a clear message by elevating the independent RSP as a national party in Parliament with more than 1 million votes. With its 7 change-minded MPs, the RSP will have clout in the federal Parliament — a remarkable feat considering the party was only formed six months ago. Meanwhile, the JSP has little less than a million PR votes, and CK Raut’s Janamat Party has obtained more than 360,000.  Madhav Nepal’s Unified Socialists which split from K P Oli’s UML, has fared badly in the PR count, and is struggling to stay relevant with under 3% of the threshold required to have PR members in the House. It is clear from the results so far that neither the coalition, nor the UML-RPP-JSP alliance will have enough seats to form a majority on their own. This means they will have to explore partnerships with multiple fringe parties, making politics even more unstable. At the same time, individual parties also have to deal with internal power struggles between prime ministerial aspirants.  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-poll-results-signal-upset/">Nepal poll results signal upset</a>, Sonia Awale <h2>The Excluded</h2> <figure><img width="2048" height="1366" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221207101216/639059f09c7e80680e0ce214jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There were 225 women candidates standing for FPTP seats to the federal Parliament. Only 25 of them got tickets by Nepal’s mainstream parties: 11 from UML, seven from the Maoist Centre, five from NC, and only one each from the Rastriya Janamorcha and the Unified Socialists. And with results in 161 out of 165 constituencies now in, only nine women have been directly elected to Parliament — four from the UML,  two from the independent RSP, and one each from NC, Maoist Center, and Nagarik Unmukti. Young lawyer Sobita Gautam and doctor Toshima Karki were elected from Kathmandu-2 and Lalitpur-3 — both young RSP candidates who defeated established Maoist women Onsari Gharti Magar and Pampha Bhusal. In 2017, 90 women were voted to Parliament: six women through direct ballots and 84 by popular votes. So far, Bidya Bhattarai is the only female leader to be reelected even though four out of six women elected under the FPTP in 2017 were given tickets by their parties. Padma Kumari Aryal of the UML ran from Syangja-2, where vote counting is stalled. Nepal’s top leadership has historically denied female leaders tickets to contest direct elections, preferring to fulfil the 33% Constitutional quota by nominating women through the PR list. Women who became MPs through PR proportional complain that they are seen by their directly elected male colleagues as underqualified and less deserving. ‘Parties were reluctant to give tickets to women because they thought they would lose, yet youngsters like Sobita Gautam and Toshima Karki have proven that women win when they run for office,’ noted former Election Commissioner Ila Sharma.Meanwhile, Nepal’s excluded communities have been pushed out further in this election. Both the mainstream parties and the independent RSP fielded few candidates from marginalised and indigenous communities. Glaringly, no mainstream party fielded Dalit candidates for direct elections this time. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-power-to-have-a-say-in-her-story/">The power to have a say in her-story</a>, Shristi Karki <h2>Looking for Partners</h2> <img width="2000" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221207101216/639059f39c7e80680e0ce215jpeg.jpg" alt="">Even before final results are in, Nepal’s top political leaders are in talks to switch partners and explore new alliances to find a majority in Parliament. PM Deuba has met with Dahal and Madhav Nepal, Dahal and Oli have also sent feelers to each other. Before polls, Deuba and Dahal had agreed to rotate premiership, but that was before the poor showing by the Maoists. Pushpa Kamal Dahal wants to continue his Maoists' alliance with NC to fulfil his ambition to be prime minister for a third time. But other leaders within his party see more advantage in a left alliance with the UML.  Deuba also faces challengers to a sixth tenure as premier from within his own party: Ram Chandra Poudel and Gagan Thapa think it is time for him to step aside. Thapa says he is now preparing for Parliamentary Party elections and is supported by other NC leaders like Bishwa Prakash Sharma and young turk Pradip Poudel, who defeated established UML leader Ishwar Pokhrel from Kathmandu. A NC-Maoist-RPP partnership or an UML-RPP alliance  with the RSP are possibilities. However, an NC-UML alliance happened in 2013 and is also possible.  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/back-to-the-future/">Back to the future</a>, Santa Gaha Magar <h2>Depending on Independents</h2> <img width="1600" height="1066" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221207101216/639059f79c7e80680e0ce216jpeg.jpg" alt="">Rabi Lamichhane and six other RSP candidates have won direct elections to become MPs. Five other individual independents have also won the election. While having these fresh faces in the political arena is seen by many as positive, it remains to be seen how younger candidates will fare as kingmakers while they navigate coalition horse-trading in the coming days. Since neither the NC nor the UML will have enough seats to command a majority in the House, they will need support from the RPP, RSP as well as independent candidates. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dejected-voters-reject-polls/">Dejected voters reject polls</a>, Anita Bhetwal <h2>Big Leaders, Small Parties</h2> <img width="2000" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221207101216/639059fa9c7e80680e0ce217jpeg.jpg" alt="">While the election has been advantageous for up and coming parties like the RSP and the newly revived RPP, Nepal’s established leaders of smaller parties faced losses.The Maoist Centre, which enjoyed an advantage during the May local election through its alliance with the NC, has now shrunk from 36 parliament seats to 17. Madhav Kumar Nepal’s party cannot be sure if it will have enough PR votes to become a national party in Parliament. Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha, has been elected, but his party has negligible popular votes. Kamal Thapa of the breakaway RPP-Nepal was defeated by RPP candidate Deepak Bahadur Singh in Makwanpur-1 even though he ran under the UML banner. His party has fared similarly poorly in the PR votes.The LSP has already lost its national party status, although party leader Mahanta Thakur was elected. The JSP, meanwhile, will get PR seats, even though its leader Upendra Yadav was defeated by Janamat’s CK Raut in his Tarai constituency. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-urban-voters/">Nepal’s urban voters</a>, Tayama Rai

Shristi Karki

original

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

The past is foretold in Nepal poll results

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221207101212/639059739c7e80680e0ce1edjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>For elections to reflect the national mood, they need to be free and fair. Candidates should not win based on caste, ethnic or religious vote banks. Money and lavish feasts should not determine the outcome.Last week’s elections for members of the federal and provincial assemblies could have been freer and fairer, but by Nepali standards they were clean with only sporadic incidents of violence. Most candidates and media adhered to the Election Commission (EC) guidelines.This is the reason that the results declared so far have shown that many of the 10 million or so voters have been able to register their disappointment with the political parties and leaders who have ruled the roost since 1992.Those parties and their leaders led the people astray, made outlandish promises they never kept, and yet they were re-elected time and time again. Not this time. They could not fool all the people all the time.Nepal’s voters said enough is enough. And they have used their adult franchise to give many leaders the boot, handing over the reigns to young and independent candidates a chance to set things right.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-poll-results-signal-upset/">Nepal poll results upset</a>, Sonia AwaleAs of now, independent and Rastriya Swatantra Party candidates had won 7 seats, and were leading in 1 more. Popular rebel candidates who had been refused tickets by their parties managed to oust those who had.To be sure, the governing NC and the opposition UML have still come out on top — repeating the scenario of much of the 1990s. The Maoists have been punished for bad behaviour, corruption, and incompetence, especially as part of the 5-party coalition since last year.Candidates advocating a return to monarchy and those espousing an anti-secular stance have been mostly rejected by voters. The Madhes-based JSP and LSP have been penalised by Tarai voters for squandering the gains of the Madhes Movement and becoming offshoots of made-in-Kathmandu parties.All this gives us hope that despite shortcomings, Nepal’s federal democracy is on track. Nepalis have once more endorsed the ballot over the bullet, they have given fresh new candidates the chance, but most of all, they have punished non-performing, inept and corrupt leaders.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lower-than-usual-turnout-in-nepal-polls/">Lower than usual turnout in Nepal polls</a>, Sonia AwaleBut this elections also exposed the need for urgent reforms that need to be planned way in advance of the next polls five years from now.Although voters are now much more savvy and are aware of their rights and choices, political parties still get away with manipulation, creating confusion among voters. Forming a coalition to share seats is a form of rigging. Coalitions are supposed to be formed after elections, not before.The high proportion of invalid votes is proof that voter education needs improvement. It should be an ongoing process in the years between elections.Nearly 5 million Nepalis are working, studying or living abroad. The Supreme Court ruled that they should be allowed to vote, but successive governments have dragged their feet because they fear those abroad are anti-incumbent — which they probably are.Absentee balloting should be allowed. A quarter of voters are disenfranchisaed because they are abroad or cannot travel to home districts to vote.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/caste-vote/">Caste vote</a>, Chandra KishoreIn this day and age it should be a simple matter to allow voting by mail. Early voting should also be allowed, and public transport made to ply to make it easier on election day to get to voting booths. The whole country does not need to come to a standstill on E-Day.This election showed that candidates and parties do not have to spend a whole lot of money to get votes. Those whose campaign spending was less than even the threshold stipulated by the EC have beaten those who spent tens of millions to buy votes. The quality of representation cannot depend on cash, and the time has come for political parties to be funded by public money.The root of corruption in Nepal is campaign funding of candidates by big business. We have now got to the point where Nepal’s richest men are themselves standing in elections, further blurring the lines between business and politics.The infusion of new blood in this election does not guarantee that the stranglehold of discredited big parties in the country will be broken any time soon. Coalition politics is not necessarily bad, but horse-trading and pre-paid positions that it comes with may mean that not much will change.The young independents will need a steep learning curve to adapt to parliamentary politics, being accountable and transparent and ensuring that all boats rise with the tide.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/voters-cynical-about-electoral-alliances/">Voters cynical about electoral alliances</a>, Namrata Sharma

674x448

610x380

500x500

1250x600

1084x550

Vox Populi

<img width="800" height="565" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218ec9c7e80680e0baa6fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Although Nepal’s established parties battled it out among themselves in local elections, independent candidates won the mayor races in critical cities — Kathmandu, Dharan, Janakpur and Dhangadi.
This represented a seismic shift signified disillusionment with cynical coalition politics that fielded common candidates and a rejection of traditional parties who have failed to deliver better living conditions.
Independent candidate Balen Shah, 32, and UML candidate Sunita Dangol, 29, secured enough of a lead to be elected mayor and deputy mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. 
Voters in the two cities made it loud and clear by electing youthful leaders that they reject Nepal's archaic establishment parties and their ageing political leadership. Given the choice, other cities municipalities may also have voted for younger candidates and independents.
Indeed, this political shift should not be a surprise to those who followed the results of the 2017 elections where the alternative parties, Sajha and Bibeksheel, would have won if they had been united. 
Just like them, the support for rapper and engineer Balen Shah not just in Kathmandu but from all over Nepal was a protest vote. Indeed, independent candidates were also elected in three other sub-metropolitan cities— Harka Raj Rai in Dharan, Manoj Kumar Shah Sudi in Janakpur, and Gopal Hamal in Dhangadi. 
“This election has shown that Nepal now has a critical mass of  middle-class, especially in the cities,  and that this collective is beginning to reject conventional politics,” explains political analyst Punranjan Acharya. 
There were 145,010 candidates in local elections held nationwide on 13 May, and 64% out of 17,733, 733 registered voters cast their ballots — lower than previous elections.
In the Nepali Congress stronghold of Bharatpur, the party’s voters helped Renu Dahal of its coalition partner the Maoists to her second victory. There was much bad blood between district Congress leaders and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba about giving the city to the Maoists in a platter.
Similarly in Pokhara, Dhanaraj Acharya of the CPN (Unified Socialists), who ran on a coalition ticket against a rebel Nepali Congress and UML candidates, was elected mayor. 
Vote counting has been delayed by archaic procedures, but with most votes now counted, the Nepali Congress has won 327 chair and 300 deputy positions in municipalities. Out of 753 units, NC contested independently in 415 units, out of which it won 202 local government seats. The party formed an alliance for the remaining 338 units, out of which it has won 124 top positions.
Acharya notes that while the NC won in numbers, the results proved that the electoral alliance among members of the governing coalition was not really necessary for the party. Instead, it had to sacrifice sure wins for its mayoral and deputy candidates in Bharatpur, Pokhara and other important cities. 
However, it did give the Maoists much-needed political space which stand it in good stead for provincial and federal elections in November. It also legitimised Madhav Nepal's newly-minted Unified Socialists with its wins in Pokhara and Hetauda, although it did not fare well elsewhere.
But the coalition has worked to the detriment of the JSP and the newly formed Loktantrik Samajwadi Parti, which lost key cities like Janakpur and Birgunj in Madhes Province.
The opposition UML, which swept the 2017 local elections in an electoral alliance with the Maoists, won 204 chief positions and 237 deputy positions despite having to battle five other parties single-handedly.
“The UML scored a respectable performance, and has largely maintained its popular vote,” notes Acharya.
Meanwhile, the Maoists benefited significantly from their alliance with the NC. Out of its 121 candidates who won mayoral and chief positions, 80 contested the election with support from the coalition, many of them in units with a significant NC voter base. 
Among other parties in the election coalition, Janata Samajwadi Party won 30 top local level seats, Madhav Nepal’s Unified Socialists won 20, and Rastriya Janamorcha Party won in 4 units.
"All coalition parties benefited from the electoral alliance," political analyst Indra Adhikari. “Madhes-based parties have expanded to the hills. Unified Socialists who do not even have a meaningful party structure were able to perform noticeably because of the alliance.” 
Analysts say Prime Minister Deuba feared that his NC party would lose to the UML, and Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal capitalised on that to persuade him to form an alliance by using the prime ministership as a bargaining chip. 
The poor performance of the Bibeksheel Sajha Party has shown that voters punished it for moving away from its social-liberal platform to a pro-monarchy, anti-federal one—for the wrong reasons. 
Party Chair Rabindra Mishra resigned on Wednesday "on moral grounds” and taking “full responsibility” for his party’s debacle. 
Across Nepal’s  6 metropolitan and 11 sub-metropolitan cities, four independent candidates have been elected, including Harka Raj Rai in Dharan,  Manoj Kumar Shah Sudi in Janakpur, Balen Shah in Kathmandu, and Gopal Hamal in Dhangadi. 12 independent candidates have emerged victorious in 2022, twice than that of the last election. 
But the biggest losers in these local elections have been women. The three biggest parties combined nominated 128 women for mayors and village chairpersons, but only 25 women — 13 mayors and 12 municipalities — have been elected.
More glaring: the number of women elected as deputy chiefs this year has gone down from 700 in 2017. Nepal's Local Level Election Act requires every party to nominate one male and one female to the position of chiefs and deputy chiefs.
But election alliances are not bound by the same rules. This provided a loophole for the NC and the Maoists to nominate fewer female candidates. 
“The fact that the electoral alliance gave an excuse for fewer women to be nominated to office is against the Constitution,” Acharya points out. 
But as the local election cycle comes to an end, there are some things to be optimistic about. 
Rukum West’s Chaurajhari Municipality elected Pushpa Badi as municipality chief, making him the first mayor from Nepal’s Badi community.
In Jumla’s Kanaka Sundari Rural Municipality’s ward number 8, a panel of leaders from the Dalit community ran as independents — out of which Dhan Bahadur Kami was elected ward chief, while Gol Damai, Kar Jit Sarki, and Chanaki Kulala were elected ward members. 
“We have found that the new generation of voters and candidates are not concerned with the system or with ideology, but with governance and delivery,” Acharya says. “The victory of young candidates has been a peaceful revolution conducted entirely at the polls.”
Despite the wins of independent candidates, Adhikari does not see this as a positive trend. She says: “Independent candidates running on activist platforms will not be able to  tackle problems from outside the political system.” 
The local election results will bolster the need for coalition partners to keep their alliance intact for November’s federal and provincial polls.  
Acharya warts that we should not read too much into local election results as a win for one party or the other. He says, ”Local elections are not meant to be politicised, they are meant to develop social capital.”
He also differentiates between two types of independent candidates: those like Balen Shah are from outside and cashed in on frustration with established. Then there are the independents in Janakpur and Dhangadi who are rebels from within established parties who did not get tickets.

Nepal's local polls a rehearsal for federal elections

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum