<figure><img width="1815" height="1017" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2849c7e80680e08f914jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KANAK MANI DIXIT/TWITTER</figcaption></figure>A mother who is on the 25th day of a hunger strike in Kathmandu <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Maoist-hungry-ghosts,3261">demanding justice</a> against the murderers of her son during the Maoist conflict is in critical condition, doctors and human rights activists say.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/hunger-for-justice/">Ganga Maya Adhikari</a> started her latest hunger strike on 21 December 2020 on the 7th floor ward of the Trauma Centre, and has not taken any food or water since. She is receiving intravenous fluids, and her condition has deteriorated.
Her son, Krishna Adhikari was kidnapped, tortured and killed in June 2004 by the Maoists in Chitwan who accused him of being a spy. Those allegedly behind the murder have been set free by the courts.
“Ganga Maya is on strike because she has abandoned any hope for justice from this government, which has insulted her struggle,” said human rights activist Charan Prasai, who was among artists, lawyers, and rights activists at a sit-in outside the hospital on Thursday.
Doctors at the Trauma Centre said Ganga Maya’s health was deteriorating fast, and she needed intensive care because it was now a question of life-or-death.    
After the Comprehensive Peace Accord, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ganga-mayas-endless-road-to-justice/">repeated attempts by Ganga Maya and her husband</a> Nanda Prasad to get justice failed, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/The-deadline/sad-saga-of-adhikari-family,367">the couple came to Kathmandu</a> to protest when former Maoist ideologue <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/The-deadline/sad-saga-of-adhikari-family,367">Baburam Bhattarai</a> was prime minister in 2012.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ganga-mayas-endless-road-to-justice/">Nanda Prasad died seven years ago</a> in Bir Hospital after a year-long fast, and his <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dead-and-dying,3955">body is still in the morgue</a> at the Teaching Hospital since Ganga Maya has refused to cremate him until the guilty are punished.
Krishna Adhikari had just finished his SLC exam when a group of Maoists put him in a sack and dragged him behind a motorcycle in Chitwan. After the conflict, the couple lodged a complaint with Chitwan police, naming 13 people who they said were involved.
The 13 were charged, but the Chitwan District Court ordered their release on bail. A year later, the appellate court in Hetauda upheld the bail decision. The Supreme Court then ruled on an appeal by Ganga Maya in 2015 to put Chhabilal Poudel, the main accused, in judicial custody, but when he did not surrender the couple went on another hunger strike until he was re-arrested. 
But in 2019, the Chitwan District Court acquitted all the accused except one. Ganga Maya appealed again, but no further hearings have been held.
Doctors attending to Ganga Maya said she had told them that she had no reason to live anymore because she had no hope left for justice, her husband was dead, and her elder son had been jailed on trumped up charges.

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Mother on 25th day of hunger strike

<figure><img width="760" height="486" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5ae9c7e80680e0736dajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Govinda KC, Nepal’s crusading surgeon and health activist, plastering a patient's ankle at the Mugu District Hospital on Sunday. He saw 177 patients for free in five days before travelling on to Jumla on foot. Photos: ACHYUTRAJ BHANDARI</figcaption></figure>Health reform <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/risking-his-life-to-save-lives/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/risking-his-life-to-save-lives/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597224179931000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFQK2JWnimNdv8w4s23TLpC78KGKQ">activist Govinda KC</a>, who has been on 17 hunger strikes to pressure the government to make medical care more affordable, has been holding free clinics for patients in hospitals and COVID-19 isolation wards in western Nepal ever since the pandemic started.KC arrived in Gamgadi on 5 August after walking two days from Jumla, and immediately started free consultations with patients, performing emergency operations at the Mugu District Hospital. He has seen 177 patients since then, and performed three operations.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/One-To-Many/Truth-be-told%20,749" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/One-To-Many/Truth-be-told%2520,749&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597224179931000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFtSQBKZtB-vcam4Nsz2wAtqOnl4A">KC is himself an orthopaedic surgeon</a>, and has made it his life’s mission to make medical care free and accessible to the Nepalis who need it the most. His hunger strikes were protests against <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/page/5/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/page/5/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597224179931000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHY_jV_4K2jz-1PFUWl9VPIgc1DvA">government interference in the health sector</a>, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Kleptocracy-kills,3161" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Kleptocracy-kills,3161&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597224179931000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH9lmHQky6NGRYp5QvehHAAxtSGGQ">collusion between politicians and tycoons</a> involved in medical education that was driving up costs.  As word spread that KC had arrived at the Mugu District Hospital last week, patients from surrounding villages started pouring into Gamgadi to have relatives examined. He has also been training resident surgeons on surgical procedures.“For us, he is god,” said 17-year-old Gagan Bham from Rara, whom KC operated on for a fracture in his ankle. <img width="1050" height="635" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5b09c7e80680e0736dbjpeg.jpg" alt="">Also from Rara is 10-year-old Reshma Bham who had broken her hand while grazing livestock last year. KC operated on her, and straightened out her arm which is now plastered and in a sling.“We lived up in the mountains and did not have the money get her treated. We were afraid our daughter would be disabled for life, Dr KC was sent here by god,” said Reshma’s mother Danta, who added that she had heard about KC’s arrival by chance on the radio.After working without a break for 12 hours a day, on Monday KC returned on foot to Jumla.  KC has been on a tour of remote northwestern Nepal, where health care is neither accessible not affordable for a majority of people. The need for medical attention has gone up since quarantine centres and isolation wards have been set up for COVID-19 patients in the region, most of whom are returnees from India.KC has not been welcomed everywhere. Last month, a government health post in Rimi of Dolpo district refused to let the crusading doctor see patients there, saying he did not have government permission.  KC nevertheless saw some patients before travelling on to Bajura.One of KC’s hunger strikes was in Jumla two years ago where he demanded that medical colleges should be opened in every province in Nepal, and he wanted the Karnali Institute of Health Sciences to be the centre for Karnali Province. He broke his hunger strike after government assurances in 2018. But seeing no progress has been made to fulfil that demand, last month in Jumla he threatened to go on another hunger strike.

Govinda KC treats patients in remote Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf719c7e80680e07804fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>The power struggle within the ruling NCP has overshadowed the country’s COVID-19 emergency. The government has no time to listen to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/social-movement-through-social-media/">young activists</a> who have been staging their second hunger strike demanding immediate measures to control the pandemic.The ‘Enough Is Enough’ campaign is led by 26-year-old activist who calls himself Iih (pictured above) who has refused to be moved to hospital. On Thursday he was on the 13th day of his hunger strike under a tent at Kathmandu Darbar Square, and says his team members are “putting their lives at risk to save lives”.They accuse the Health Ministry of breaking its promise on 26 June, and have among their demands: 100% PCR testing, timely results, safer quarantine facilities, full protection for frontline health workers, transparency in medical procurements, increased ICU capacity.Iih and fellow-activist Pukar Bam are on IV fluid, and say they are willing to lay down their lives if need be to save the lives of Nepalis who could die from government incompetence in handling the pandemic. Another activist, Samariaa Shrestha was taken to hospital on Tuesday after 12 days of being without food and water.On Wednesday, police arrested five Enough Is Enough campaigners near the Home Ministry at Singha Darbar, where they had gone to file a Right to Information application demanding details of how money for the management of the pandemic, as well as procurement of medical supplies, are being spent.The five were briefly detained at the Mahendra Police Club, but they staged a sit in on the street outside after release, and there was another demonstration at the site on Thursday morning.This is the group’s second hunger strike. The first in Patan Darbar Square was called off after 12 days on 7 July after the Ministry of Health <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/12-point-deal-after-12-days-of-hunger-strike/">agreed to fulfill all demands</a>.Nepal’s daily case detection is going up again after the government announced <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/">the lifting of the lockdown on 21 July</a>. While most of the case so far have been found in people travelling overland from India, in the past week there are growing numbers of positive cases among those with no travel history.The government has also started surveillance testing in some Tarai cities, and taking sample swabs from people entering Kathmandu Valley’s four entry points. The Ministry of Health still says Nepal is in the ‘cluster spread’ phase and has not yet entered the ‘community spread’.With hotels and restaurants allowed to open from 30 July, and long-distance buses and limited domestic and international flights from 17 August, public health experts fear a further surge in cases.

Hunger strike on 13th day

<figure><img width="1280" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141132/636bac879c7e80680e077f39jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Enough Is Enough activists meet the press after ending their 12-day hunger strike on Tuesday afternoon.</figcaption></figure>The 12th day of a hunger strike by youth protesters demanding better government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic ended with a 12-point agreement on Tuesday. Loosely grouped activists organised under the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/social-movement-through-social-media/">‘Enough Is Enough’</a> banner took it as a victory.
The two young activists, Iih and Pukar Bam, who had been on hunger strike at Patan Darbar Square and moved to hospital on Friday, broke their fast unto death after the agreement was reached.
The Ministry of Health has agreed to demands to amend its directives for the management and control of COVID-19 by ensuring adequate RT-PCR testing, providing personal protective equipment for frontline health workers, as well as the proper management of quarantine facilities and contact tracing.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-interface-of-politics-and-science/" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" rel="noopener noreferrer">The interface of politics and science</a>, Anil Chitrakar<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/social-movement-through-social-media/" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Social movement through social media</a>, Diya Rijal
‘This agreement has set a precedent for a youth-led movement not affiliated to any political party to bring about policy change through peaceful protest,’ as press statement by the Enough Is Enough group said on Tuesday. ‘However, we will remain vigilant and will monitor the government’s compliance to the agreement because failure to do so could have serious public health implications.’
The movement was launched last month with street demonstrations outside the prime minister’s residence and at Mandala, which the police broke up with baton charges and water cannons. The group then decided to take the satyagraha route, and after 12 days without food and water, hunger strikers got the government to agree to most of their demands.
Besides the immediate focus on the government’s ineffective response to COVID-19, the Enough Is Enough campaign has highlighted growing disaffection of the younger generation of urban Nepalis to politicians, political parties and failed governance of the past.
The educated and often privileged youth mainly from Kathmandu spontaneously organised themselves through social media, but have been surprisingly cohesive in putting out their central message. The street action is the latest in a series that began with Nepal Unites (2010-2015), <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2012/12/31/occupy-baluwater-day-4/">Occupy Baluwatar (2012),</a> <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/justice-delayed-and-denied/">Justice for Nirmala Panta (2018)</a> where young Nepalis protested everything from corruption in high places to impunity and gender-based violence.
Most of Nepal’s political agitations in the past have been student-led, mainly by unions affiliated to political parties. During the Panchayat era, underground political parties carried out their activities through their student wings like the Nepal Student Union affiliated to the Nepali Congress, All Nepal National Free Students Union affiliated to the Communist Party of Nepal. 
However, unlike those student protests, Enough Is Enough is not affiliated to any mainstream political party, does not involve aggressive sloganeering, stone throwing, vandalism of government property or forced shutdowns. The campaign asked participants to take precautions like wearing masks and maintain physical separation.
Bhawana Raut, one of the organisers of the Enough Is Enough campaign says social media provides the group with the ability to network, develop ideas and communicate even though most participants did not know each other, and were only brought together by a common cause. Enough Is Enough now has more than 200,000 members on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/enoughnepal/posts/127773202309420?__tn__=K-R">Facebook group</a>, making it possible to have nearly 100 solidarity protests to take place all over the country.
Nepal’s youth activists seem to have been influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. Says Raut: “It sparked protests all over the world, and could have raised awareness to question the authority in Nepal too.”
Globalisation and social media have also seemed to have influenced an evolution from protests that are violent outbursts to more creative ways to express dissatisfaction and demand action. Internet and mobile connectivity has magnified the impact of the protest far beyond the street or square where they were happening.
Social entrepreneur Raj Gyawali says the protests are “a breath of fresh air” because of the imaginative ways in which the youth voices have been raised. The unique aspect of the protest is that while it is deliberately not affiliated to any political party, it is still deeply political in its demand for change.   
“Politics is embedded in everything, even if you are not affiliated to any specific political party,” says journalist Kanak Mani Dixit. “The new generation of activists may lack an in-depth knowledge of history and the current political landscape of Nepal, and just depending on social media can be the cause of this.”
Indeed, even though the movement itself may not have been political, some individual members of the groups had political affiliation especially with the alternative parties like Bibneksheel or Sajha.  
Tripti Giri, a young volunteer with Enough Is Enough says, “Urban youth have always stayed away from protests and national issues because they think politics is just a dirty game. But this is different. It is not affiliated to parties, we don’t want everything to be politicised.” 
Many were young Nepalis who have returned to Nepal from studies abroad because of the pandemic. Giri is one of them. She says: “I had never been involved in any protests before because I was always outside the country studying or working.”
While many say it is a positive development that young Nepali men and women who have returned want to have a say in the way the country is run, some wonder if the movement can have long-term impact.
If the youth took this opportunity to understand as well as critically analyse politics in Nepal, it can be a force for change. More informed and critical youth casting their votes in the next election could be a platform for political reform.  
The great achievement of the Enough Is Enough hunger strike this time is that it forced the government to sit up and take notice. Even Prime Minister K P Oli visited the hunger strikers at the HAMS hospital last week.   
Says Ujwal Thapa, the former president of Bibeksheel party:  “The new generation of activists are not only changing the country but they are also transforming themselves. Finding unique ways to express disapproval, even being part of the movement has really shown the will to change in all shapes and forms.”

12-point deal after 12 days of hunger strike

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/636902a69c7e80680e037c77jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Krishna Paudel</figcaption></figure>Even if it has a comfortable majority in Parliament, no one should envy the current Communist rulers of Nepal. Prime Minister K P Oli, for all his bluster and swagger, confronts a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/that-sinking-feeling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mountain of mounting troubles</a>.Some of them, to be sure, are inherited from failed previous regimes. Oli was partly right in blaming his predecessors for the state of the streets of the capital this monsoon which look like they are pocked with calderas. But it is also true that he was one of his own predecessors, and the mayors belonging to his party have done zilch to fix the roads in the year since they assumed office.The dreadful state of Kathmandu’s thoroughfares today are emblematic of the state of the nation.However, there have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/two-thirds-empty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">signs the PM is beginning to see the writing on the wall</a>. His teams managed to convince to call off the hunger strikes of two activists in the nick of time before the tragedy of their deaths triggered a larger national emergency.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=10582&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muddling along</a>, Rameshwor Bohara<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/gangamaya-breaks-fast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gangamaya Adhikari put off her fast</a> after the government agreed to demands that her son’s murderers be brought to trial. This set a precedent for all other <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rocky-transition-to-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transitional justice</a> cases for families of war victims still awaiting closure.After bungling its response to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/starving-for-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Govinda KC’s hunger strike</a> by its initial unwillingness to address his demand for reforms in medical education, the government began negotiating in earnest only after the fast was about to enter its fourth week, and the doctor was in danger of suffering multiple organ failure.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/two-thirds-empty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Two-thirds empty</a> , EditorialThe question arises why, if such a bold intervention by the Prime Minister was possible, did the government take the risk of waiting so long to even negotiate? Why did the police dupe KC? The brinkmanship cost the NCP, and Oli personally, much public support. It convinced many (even those who voted Communist) that the leaders had lost their way. A government that said it was here for the next five years squandered most of its trust in just five months.There have been many other issues which the government has mishandled, botched, or been recklessly cavalier about. There has been an all-around squeeze on open society. Few disagreed that the activities of outside agencies in relief and development needed better monitoring, but the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-crow-and-the-scarecrow/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">government’s draft code of conduct for INGOs and donors</a> appeared to have been designed less to regulate, and more for control.Widespread criticism of the move seems to have rattled officials. A minister told representatives of the donor and diplomatic community that the guidelines were just a draft, and merely suggestions. But some other ministers have lashed out at critics in xenophobic tones, calling them ‘dollar farmers’. The Prime Minister himself assured members of a party-affiliated media club of handsome rewards if they wrote in support of the government, and his Information Minister this week scolded editors who dared express solidarity with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/risking-his-life-to-save-lives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Govinda KC</a>.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fears of a drift towards authoritarianism</a>, especially, appears to have hit a raw nerve. Ministers who should be reassuring the public, have gone around banning programs critical of them, or issuing open threats, duly amplified by the Facebook faithful. The lesson we should learn from the doublespeak in totalitarian states is to take what officials assert most emphatically with a pinch of salt because that is what is farthest from the truth.The Nepali people had collectively thought that by giving the NCP such a thumping majority, that would end the incessant squabbling and the instability that had become the norm in the coalition governments in the past decades. The people trusted that the NCP would use its majority wisely to address some of the country’s structural problems and deliver better living standards.However, the government has been kept so busy firefighting from day-to-day (much of it caused by its own actions. it must be said) that it has had little time to pay attention to the other looming crises.The government needs all the allies it can get in confronting the challenges ahead: delivering affordable quality health and education, fixing crumbling infrastructure, curbing inflation, extortion and corruption, and the biggest hurdle of all: finding jobs for the 700,000 young Nepalis who enter the job market every year.The federal government is dilly-dallying in providing the constitutionally stipulated legal framework for provincial and local governments, which has brought the centre in direct confrontation with the periphery. The blame for some of the outlandish decisions by provincial governments, like the new tax on bicycles announced by one of them, is therefore being heaped on Kathmandu.The few correct decisions taken in the past weeks (<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/when-our-son-was-killed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gangamaya</a>, Govinda KC) happened because Prime Minister Oli responded to public opinion. That should serve as an important template for the future.<h2>10 years ago this week</h2>The Nepali Times Editorial from ten years ago this week (#411, 1-7 August 2008) was titled ‘A Million mutinies’ and drew attention to the country sliding into ethnicity-based politics. Excerpt:‘This past week of tyre-burning proved, if proof is still needed, just how volatile and unstable the political situation still is. The spark of the vice-president’s ill-advised decision to take his oath in the official language of a neighbouring country lit the brush fire. The lingering political deadlock fanned it.It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The entire point about the political transition of the past two years was to install stability so that the constitution-making process could go ahead without pressure groups rampaging in the streets. Any grandstanding on sensitive topics such as ethnicity-based federalism was supposed to happen on the floor of the house, not on the asphalt outside.’<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/636902a99c7e80680e037c78jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="1013">

DOUBLESPEAK

<img class=" wp-image-9593 alignright" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368f0039c7e80680e0359afjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="360" height="270"/>Gangamaya Adhikari, the mother of a 17-year-old boy who was allegedly killed by Maoists in 2004, has finally agreed to end her 44-day long hunger strike after the government gave a written commitment to arrest the shooter.Law Minister Sher Bahadur Tamang and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chair Anup Raj Sharma reached Bir Hospital on Friday evening to hand over a commitment letter to Adhikari.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/that-sinking-feeling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">That sinking feeling</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/when-our-son-was-killed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When our son was killed, Gangamaya Adhikari</a>In the letter, the government promises to implement the five-point deal, which was signed with Adhikari following her husband's death after a 11-month long hunger strike during PM Sushil Koirala's tenure in 2011.But the successive governments did not honour the deal, and Adhikari was forced to go on a fresh hunger strike when top leaders were celebrating the Republic Day in May.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-8661" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368f0069c7e80680e0359b0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933">Adhikari had refused to break her fast even after the alleged mastermind of her son's murder, Chhabi Lal Poudel, surrendered himself to police last week. She was determined to go on her hunger strike unless the government got the actual shooter Rudra Acharya extradited from Northern Ireland.Interpol has already issued a red-corner notice against Acharya, and the UK government is believed to be ready to arrest and extradite him to Nepal. But the UK government is seeking assurance from the Nepal government that he will not face torture and death penalty in Nepal.

Gangamaya breaks fast

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

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