<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Inter-country-adpotion-and-child-trafficking-in-Nepal-NT.jpg" data-elementor-open-lightbox="yes"></a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101136/636b75119c7e80680e0623ccjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>A major discrepancy between Nepal government and foreign records of the number of Nepali children adopted in North America and Europe has exposed a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18609#.Xk4-EjIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trafficking ring</a> that involves various child welfare agencies in Kathmandu.The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens has records of only 64 children from Nepal sent for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13306#.Xk4-AzIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adoption</a> to ten western countries from 2010 to 2019. However, a list submitted to the <a href="https://www.hcch.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hague Conference on Private International Law</a> (HCCH) by the US Department of State and the nine other countries reveals that 242 Nepali children were taken for adoption in those nine years.The ten countries are the United States, Denmark, France, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Sweden. There are 178 more <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15217" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali children adopted internationally</a> than the government has records for. Why the discrepancy?“The data we have is authentic,” maintains Ministry spokesperson Gyanendra Paudel. “We have no idea how the details in other countries showed more numbers.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13306#.Xk4-AzIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baby bajar</a>, Anagha NeelakantanBut for Manju Khatiwada at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), this is a clear case of child trafficking. She says: “The traffickers produce fake documents and influence both the government officials and parents to smuggle the children abroad.”Official adoptions by foreign nationals have virtually stopped after reports of corruption and payoffs were publicised in the media ten years ago. But there is a high demand for adoption, especially in western countries, and a plentiful supply of poor Nepali parents <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16827#.Xk5BTTIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who cannot support their children</a>, and this differential drives trafficking. Some parents are also tricked by traffickers into giving up their children.Manju and Bhimsen Khadka from Sindhupalchok used to sell roasted corn by the roadside in Kathmandu. One day ten years ago, a neighbour named Sarita Shrestha and her husband took pity on their three boys, and offered to place two of them, Rajkumar and Balkrishna, aged 8 and 6, at a children’s shelter.The parents agreed because it would relieve the burden of feeding and educating them. But once the children were taken from them, the shelter’s management repeatedly refused to allow Manju and Bhimsen to visit them, and even started issuing threats.“I begged them to at least let me see my sons just once, but they said they would finish me off,” Manju Khadka recalls tearfully. The parents lodged a complaint at the NHRC, which started an investigation, and found that Rajkumar and Balkrishna had already been adopted in Italy.Says NHRC’s Khatiwada: “It is clear that the parents were tricked into thinking their sons would be educated, but they were instead stolen and sold by the shelter, which prepared original-looking fake documents at the Nepal Children’s Organisation in Naxal.”The NHRC notified the government, saying Bal Mandir had sent the children to Italy for adoption, and recommending that Nepal’s adoption laws and policies be amended to plug the loopholes. It also said a public awareness campaign was necessary to warn parents about child trafficking.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bal-mandir-rape-allegations,1495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Child predators</a>, Sunir Pandey<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16819#.Xk5BTDIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Looking for a home</a>, Mallika AryalAfter <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bal-mandir-rape-allegations,1495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malpractices were uncovered in the 2000s</a>, the Nepal government <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16819#.Xk5BTDIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tightened laws on adoption</a>. According to the ‘Terms and Conditions and Process Required for Approving Adoption of a Nepali Child by an Alien – 2008,’ prospective foreign parents cannot choose the child they want to adopt.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7490#.Xk4-FTIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Foreign couples wishing to adopt a Nepali child</a> must apply through a registered international agency or their embassies in Nepal, filling out forms offering details about the age, gender and other particulars that they seek in a child. A joint secretary-led ‘Family Matching Committee’ is then assigned to find the child from shelters. Clause 14 of the Terms and Conditions stipulates that these adoptions will take place on a first-come-first-serve basis.However, the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) documents make clear that many adoptions have skipped the whole process. The documents show that Denmark received 20 Nepali children through adoption from Nepal in the last nine years. But government records in Kathmandu show only two children had paperwork to leave for that country. The mismatch is even starker for France, for which government records here show only one adopted Nepali child, but the HCCH records 21 Nepali children adopted by French families.Numerically, the United States shows the biggest discrepancy. The State Department report reveals that 102 children were adopted from Nepal in the last nine years, but the government’s records here show only 11.According to the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the US Department of State, an American citizen wishing to adopt a child should be at least 25 years old, and in the case of couples both husband and wife should agree to adopt the child. Prospective parents should not have any criminal background and should meet the criteria of the country from which they seek to adopt. The fact that 91 Nepali children adopted by Americans have no records in Nepal prove that they were transported outside of legal channels. HCCH records show that Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Italy had similar inconsistency with Nepal government records.Only figures for Germany show the opposite: government records here show four children were adopted by German parents between 2010 and 2019, and HCCH data shows only two children were adopted in Germany.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15215#.Xk4-CzIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Abandoned</a>, Mallika AryalChapter 8 and Chapter 9 of the Civil Code 2017 have the provisions in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And there are a slew of policies and strict regulations governing inter-country adoption. For example, the Standards for Operation and Management of Residential Child Care Homes 2013 says it is the state’s responsibility to look after children who have lost both parents, or the children of invalid parents, provided their kin cannot take care of them. The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16819#.Xk4orjIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">priority is for in-country adoption, and international adoption is only a last resort</a>.All these legal provisions make inter-country child adoption so strict that it is inconceivable that such adoptions take place without the knowledge of several government agencies. The discrepancy of HCCH and Nepali records thus reveals that children are being trafficked abroad in the guise of adoption.An NHRC report on Trafficking in Persons 2019 points to a nexus between orphanages, child-care centres and foreigners wishing to adopt children. The report says there are 14,864 children in 533 children’s homes all over the country. Nearly 80% of children in such centres are not orphans, and have either one or both parents.The only government shelter for orphans is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bal-mandir-rapists-jailed,1861" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bal Mandir</a> and it is run by the Nepal Children’s Organisation (NCO), which provides care, nutrition and education to orphans all over the country. The NCO has been implicated in facilitating documents for illegal inter-country adoption.In August 2019, British national Dona Smith was arrested at Kathmandu airport with a newborn baby she claimed was her daughter. Smith was carrying a birth certificate from Lalitpur Metropolitan City and the baby’s passport, issued by the British Embassy, carried her name as Anna Bella Laxmi Shrestha Smith. Smith told suspicious immigration officials that the baby’s father was Nepali.An investigation later found out that the baby’s real mother was a rape victim who gave birth to her at Paropakar Maternity Hospital. Smith admitted to paying Bal Krishna Dangol, director of the NCO, Rs450,000 for the baby and another Rs2 million to procure the necessary documents to take her out of the country. Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati says <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/province-no-3/2019/08/15/head-of-bal-mandir-nation-s-oldest-non-profit-for-children-arrested-on-charges-of-child-trafficking" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dangol was found to be involved in a larger child-trafficking network</a>. Both Dangol and Smith are now in jail.Police figures show more than 1,000 children were trafficked in the past five years. DSP Silwal says the children are usually bought from willing poor parents but that some parents are tricked into sending them to shelters. The traffickers then sell them to adoption brokers who make contact with foreigners eager to adopt children.“The children who are trafficked are often from the poor and underprivileged families or are street children,” Silwal says, “Traffickers prefer them because it is easier to tempt their parents.”NHRC Commisioner Mohna Ansari says it difficult to curb such crimes unless there is public awareness. “In our poverty-ridden society with rampant illiteracy and scarcity, parents think sending children to shelters will at least give them a good education. They are easily tempted by strangers who promise to take care of them.”Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal<h2>“I want to see my sons again”</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101136/636b75149c7e80680e0623cdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="479" height="443"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101136/636b75169c7e80680e0623cejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="239" height="443">Ten years ago, two of Manju Khadka’s three sons, Ram Kumar, 8, and Bal Krishna, 6 (pictured, right) were taken to a children’s shelter by a neighbour who promised they would be educated and fed there. For three years, Khadka was repeatedly prevented from seeing them. Finally, she found out they had been adopted by a couple in Italy.“I gave birth to them. I did not send them as babies, they were grown up and going to school,” says a tearful Khadka (pictured, above). “They threatened to finish me off.”When she went to the police, they were rude and accused her of selling her children to the shelter. So Manju and her husband went to the National Human Rights Commission, but were unable to receive the help they needed to get their boys back. Ram Kumar and Bal Krishna are now 19 and 17 and living in Italy.<h2>How Naresh became Chanorang Kim</h2>Naresh Gharti, the youngest of his family, was born in east Rukum and was growing up in Pokhara. In 2018, South Korean tourist Nara Kim got to know the Gharti family and they agreed to let her adopt Naresh.Faced with strict rules about inter-country adoption, Nara Kim decided to take a short cut. According to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), Kim produced a document, certified by Pokhara Metropolitan City, showing that Naresh was her son. She got a fake birth certificate for Naresh from a hospital in Pokhara.The South Korean Embassy in Kathmandu provided Naresh with a Korean passport  (M 72504568) based on those documents. The passport changed Naresh’s name to Chanorang Kim. The last stop was to get a visa for Naresh at the Department of Immigration where officials got suspicious. Both Kim and Naresh were arrested at Kathmandu airport while trying to fly out in May 2019. Kim is in jail awaiting trial.

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Nepal’s baby export

<figure><img width="4032" height="3016" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a34e89c7e80680e048280jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NAMRATA SHARMA</figcaption></figure> A Helsingin Sanomat <a href="https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/daily_modern-day_slavery_pervasive_in_nepalese_restaurants/10715495?fbclid=IwAR00MnqJ7bP6k2rj3IziE3b6Ln2VWwGgmJF9vqiHm76JGng3a5aEQ4zahpo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">follow-up series this week </a>of a human trafficking ring operated by some Nepali restaurant owners in Helsinki has created an uproar in Finland, recently named the happiest country in the world. The investigative story by Paavo Teittinen builds on an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepali-restaurateurs-fined-in-finland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expose published in this newspaper in January</a> in which a Nepali cook, who uses the pseudonym Maila, mustered the courage to report injustices he faced to Finnish Police.  Maila is named ‘Suman’ in the Helsingin Sanomat story since he still wants his identity concealed because of threats after the Nepali Times story came out. Finland’s largest-circulation newspaper has now revealed widespread exploitation of Nepalis by Nepali employers in Finland.  The story in this paper had named four Nepalis (Basanta Adhikari, Purna Adhikari, Srijana Ghimire and Ava Pokhrel) who were found guilty by the North Sawo District Court in Finland. They had €227,199 confiscated, were fined for tax fraud and fake accounts, and forced to pay compensation to Maila, and co-workers Kancha and Saila. The main accused got a conditional sentence of one year eight months.  Helsingin Sanomat has now gone deeper into the story and exposed how a closely-knit circle of employers brought desperate Nepalis to Finland, and violated Finnish <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nepal-not-reforming-labour-laws,2687" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labour laws</a> by under-paying them and evading taxes.  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepali-restaurateurs-fined-in-finland/" data-elementor-open-lightbox="" target="_blank"> <img width="640" height="547" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a34ec9c7e80680e048281jpeg.jpg" alt=""></a> After the Nepali Times story came out in January, Maila was threatened and this journalist was cautioned that powerful Nepalis named in the story could retaliate.  In fact, this reporter refrained from naming two others, Devi Sharma and Hemraj Sharma, who many Nepali workers had accused of being involved.   A Nepali woman brought to Finland as a maid was made to work 24 hours a day in the home and restaurants without proper salary. She complained to Finnish Police after being sexually abused. She had asked this reporter last year not to mention her case, fearing retaliation.   Now, Helsingin Sanomat has disclosed that after an investigating lasting two years Helsinki Police suspect the couple Devi and Manju Sharma of trafficking the woman.  Both are from Gulmi, and set up the first Nepali restaurants, of which there are now more than 70 all over Finland. Most of these are owned by a handful of Nepalis settled here, mainly from Gulmi.   The first Nepali restaurant, Himalaya, was established in Helsinki in 1993 by Devi Sharma who with his wife Manju now also own Lali Gurans, Gurkha and Yeti restaurants. Hemraj Sharma runs Mount Everest restaurant. Maila’s complaint to Police was against Purna Adhikary of another restaurant, Mount Sherpa.  During a visit to Helsinki in 2018, cooks and waiters told this reporter of exploitation, threats and slave-like working conditions. But they were afraid of being named  because the powerful restaurant owners could have them fired, or even deported. Despite meagre pay, they needed their jobs to pay back loans and send money home to families in Nepal. Many restaurant workers suffer depression, and some have attempted suicide. <figure><img width="640" height="479" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a34ee9c7e80680e048282jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>  Sources said up to 2,000 Nepalis have been brought to Finland on work visas in the past 20 years by restaurant owners. Besides flouting Finland’s labour laws, some Nepali restauranteurs are also involved in money laundering and tax evasion. Hemraj Sharma told this reporter during a visit to his Mount Everest restaurant in Helsinki in 2018 that Nepalis were doing well in Finland, and denied that they were involved in anything illegal.  However, the Helsingin Sanomat quotes the maid who used to work for Devi Sharma as telling police he under-reported earnings, evaded tax and stashed cash in his house which he regularly sent with Nepalis travelling to Kathmandu.  Juha Rekola, the International Ombudsman of the Union of Journalists in Finland, who has frequently visited Nepal to train journalists, says he often dined at the Nepali restaurants mentioned in the Helsingin Sanomat report, but did not notice signs of trafficking or tax evasion.   Said Rekola: “When I first read the piece in Nepali Times in January, I thought that it is good that the problem has been uncovered and brought to court. But when Helsingin Sanomat exposed just how widespread it was, I thought, oh no, it cannot be this bad, not in Finland. It hits you worse when you see it in your own language morning paper.” <img width="1500" height="1086" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a34f19c7e80680e048283jpeg.jpg" alt=""> Rekola considers himself a well-wisher of Nepal, and says the blame has to be shared with Finns who ignore warnings that a cheap meal is proof of a grey economy.  “Nepali lunches are much cheaper given their quality and size, but people still go there trusting that it is ok,” Rekola adds, “our government has not put enough safeguards in place, making tax evasion easy. Tightened immigration laws also put many people in a vulnerable position to such blackmail.”  As for Maila, he feels vindicated after Finland’s most prestigious newspaper printed the plight of workers like him. “The risk I took by reporting his case to the police has yielded results, and this will help me and other like me,” said Maila, who still has not received the compensation that the court ordered the restaurant owners to give him.  <img width="1241" height="1754" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a34f49c7e80680e048284jpeg.jpg" alt=""> The Helsingin Sanomat report has tarnished the image of Nepal, Nepalis and Nepali restaurants in Finland, and many Finns are said to be in a dilemma about whether to eat in Nepali-owned restaurants or not. On the one hand they want to help Nepal and do not want law-abiding Nepalis to suffer, and on the other they do not want to support traffickers. The Non-Resident Nepali Association of Finland has been accused on social media of protecting powerful restaurant owners, and not helping the exploited workers. In response, the Association’s National Coordination Council released a statement this week saying it had not protected anyone accused of wrong-doing.  Asked what is next, Rekola told Nepali Times: “I just hope the genuine Nepali restaurants do not suffer, and the customers return. There should also be closer contact between restaurant owners and their Finnish customers who love Nepal and Nepali food.”  Helsingin Sanomat will be putting up an English and Nepali translation of the series by Paavo Teittinen on its digital edition this weekend.   (The original text of this story was updated at 10:00 Nepal Time 3 April)

Finnish paper exposé on Nepali restaurants

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a239d9c7e80680e0417f8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/>Responding to a slew of reports in the international media about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/heli-rescue-fraud-tarnishes-nepals-image/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insurance fraud in the trekking industry</a>, the Nepal government says it is cracking down on perpetrators, while planning action against an insurance investigator said to be behind the sustained negative coverage.Reports this week in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/world/asia/nepal-everest-insurers-fraud.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/nepal-everest-helicopter-scams-evacuation-rescue-travel-insurance-a8745601.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Independent</a> quote a letter written to Minister of Tourism Rabindra Adhikari by Jonathan Bancroft, Managing Director of <a href="https://www.travellerassist.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Traveller Assist</a>, in which he has threatened to get his clients to cut coverage if Nepal does not press charges against 17 trekking agencies, helicopter companies and hospitals it says are involved in claiming insurance for fake rescues.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/heli-rescue-fraud-tarnishes-nepals-image/">Heli rescue fraud tarnishes Nepal's image</a>, Robert SkinnerBoth stories quote Danny Kaine of Traveller Assist, who is said to have personally delivered the letter to the ministry in which Bancroft bluntly writes: ‘To be clear, this is an ultimatum! If our clients stop issuing travel insurance policies in Nepal … (it) will have a devastating effect on the tourism industry in Nepal, and your country’s reputation.’ (See box below.)<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a23a19c7e80680e0417f9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="181" height="172">The government appears to be taking the damaging media coverage seriously, and called an emergency meeting in Singha Darbar on Tuesday with Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bureau of Investigation and others.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/choppers-to-abc-banned/">Choppers to ABC banned</a>, Yuvaraj ShresthaAdhikari told Nepali Times: “We are committed to cracking down on insurance fraud, and set up a Committee last year to investigate. After that, the number of cases of helicopter rescues, especially unnecessary ones, had actually started to drop. Which is why we are concerned by the continued leaks to the international press, and the threatening tone of this letter.”The Ministry of Tourism says its statistics show that there were only 186 helicopter rescues in the autumn trekking season last year, a sharp drop from the 1,532 between March and May of 2018. (See graph below.)In the letter to the minister, Bancroft says his company had issued the 15 February deadline since ‘not a single charge has been laid’ on the companies named in the ministry’s report, which it said were still in business.<a style="color: #989898!important; text-decoration: none!important;" href="https://infogram.com/f3a5c6ea-cddc-4183-b708-ea4f7e14ab05" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Helicopter rescues</a><a style="color: #989898!important; text-decoration: none!important;" href="https://infogram.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Infogram</a>The incidence of fraudulent rescues claiming insurance has risen in the past four years, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/heli-rescue-fraud-tarnishes-nepals-image/">as reported by this newspaper</a> and others. Some trekking companies, in collusion with helicopter charters and hospitals, entice trekkers to opt for medical evacuation at an inflated fee, and share the profits. There have even been rumours of guides deliberately spiking the food of trekkers so they fall sick.Stung by the flurry of reports, the Tourism Ministry set up an investigation committee which issued its report in August. The Ministry then drafted new rules governing search, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19077#.XFOgGM8zYnU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rescue</a>, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/going-to-great-heights-to-prevent-altitude-illness/">treatment of trekkers</a> to check fraud.However, Tourism Ministry officials themselves admit that the rules have not been enforced because of a lack of manpower. Says Secretary Krishna Devkota: “We are committed to investigate and take action against the guilty. These scams are having a negative impact on the industry ahead of Visit Nepal 2020.”A source at the Tourism Ministry disclosed that last August, after the investigation committee presented its report, a delegation led by Nabaraj Dahal of <a href="http://www.taan.org.np/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trekking Agents Association of Nepal</a> met the co-Chair of the ruling NCP Pushpa Kamal Dahal who then put pressure on Minister Adhikari to let those named off the hook.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a23a29c7e80680e0417fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480">Some of the unscrupulous companies involved in the scam enjoy high-level political protection because they are party donors, offer free helicopter rides during elections, or provide complimentary hospital treatment.Prakash C Lohani of <a href="http://www.alpine-rescue.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alpine Rescue Service</a> which represents half the foreign insurers says: “The rescue business needs to be better regulated. We need to punish the guilty, and stop maligning the whole trekking industry.”Those involved in fake rescues play on the grey zone in which even physicians are not able to tell if a patient suffering from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/going-to-great-heights-to-prevent-altitude-illness/">altitude sickness</a> or <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/trekkers-with-the-trots/">severe diarrhoea</a>  needs immediate evacuation or will get better by simply descending and taking medicine. Many trekkers themselves agree to be evacuated at the slightest sign of trouble.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/going-to-great-heights-to-prevent-altitude-illness/">Going to great heights to prevent altitude sickness</a>, Peter Hackett <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/trekkers-with-the-trots/">Trekkers with the trots</a>, David R ShlimRam Sapkota of <a href="https://www.hsj.com.np/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Himalayan Social Journeys</a> says the real problem is unnecessary rescues rather than fake rescues. “Some trekkers get seriously sick, others pretend to be more ill than they are. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2912#.XFOhDc8zYnV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Up in the mountains no one wants to take a risk</a>,” he adds.After the investigation and new rules, the Tourism Ministry says the number of unnecessary rescues have gone down. Strict enforcement of the guidelines, setting an upper limit for <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Insurance,361">helicopter rescues</a>, a fixed price for hospital treatment, and monitoring compliance would prevent price gouging.“All they have to do to control fraud rescues is to enforce existing rules,” says Rajendra Bahadur Singh of <a href="http://mtnhelicopters.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mountain Helicopters</a>, who knows of rescues in which charter companies evacuate more than one trekker, but bill them separately. There is also conflict of interest: some travel and trekking agencies represent insurance companies, and approve final compensation payments to themselves.Says mountaineer Kaji Sherpa: “This scandal has tarnished Nepal’s image, and that of the many upright companies here. There should not be a cover-up, we should correct ourselves and book the guilty.”<h2>What is Traveller Assist?</h2>This Ireland-based company works on behalf of international insurance underwriters in Nepal and other ‘difficult countries’ on medical assistance, insurance processing and ‘cost containment’ – a euphemism for investigating and reducing false claims.All stories in the international media in the past year exposing insurance fraud in Nepal’s trekking industry quote <a href="https://www.travellerassist.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Traveller Assist</a>’s Danny Kaine, an ex-soldier and a frequent Nepal visitor. This week, Kaine is said to have delivered a letter from Traveller Assist Managing Director Jonathan Bancroft addressed to the Minister of Tourism Rabindra Adhikari in which he has threatened to get his clients to stop issuing coverage for Nepal after 15 February unless those guilty of fraudulent rescues are charged. The letter was leaked to international media and got wide coverage.Ministry officials say they are now strictly monitoring unnecessary rescue flights, and claim that the numbers have come down. “We are surprised by these damaging leaks to the international press at a time when we were cleaning up the industry,” said a Ministry official. “We have taken note of the threatening tone of the letter. Who are they to be giving an ultimatum to the Government of Nepal on behalf of their clients?”Indeed, reputable agencies and hospitals in Nepal, while admitting there are dodgy companies involved in insurance scams, accuse Kaine of writing them emails soliciting all insurance business for himself. Ministry officials also refuted Kaine’s claim that he has an agreement with the government to uncover rescue fraud. The Police Central Investigation Bureau is reportedly probing Kaine’s activities in Nepal, and confirmed that he flew out this week.Many media reports quote Traveller Assist’s statistics on the fraudulent rate for the 3,200 helicopter rescues in 2018. Doctors specialising in high altitude medicine interviewed by Nepali Times say that even if a company had access to so many medical records of rescues, it would still be difficult to determine the exact condition of the patient, and whether a rescue was necessary or not in cases of Acute Mountain Sickness.In an interview in Kathmandu last week, Kaine denied writing emails to trekking agencies and hospitals, and demanded to see them. He added: “I don’t have any personal interest in this, but Nepali companies are cheating American, British and Australian insurance firms as reported in the international media. If the guilty are not charged, we will increase international attention on this issue.”In a separate note to Nepali Times on 29 January, Kaine said the emails about him were ‘fabricated … by one of the companies named in the fraudulent investigation’. He went on to accuse this paper of ‘acting on behalf of the companies accused of fraud … a very dangerous precedent to set for a journalist from a respected news agency in Nepal’.Earlier, in answer to a simple email query about whether Kaine really worked for Traveller Assist, Jonathan Bancroft was needlessly abrasive, and accused this reporter of trying to play him off against Kaine. Bancroft went on to add: ‘Mr Sharad, after asking some questions in the industry in Nepal about you … (it) _gives me the inclination to no longer communicate with you or your organization…’.

Nepal trekking industry in damage control mode

<figure><img width="1400" height="894" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121148/6368f07a9c7e80680e0359d7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>SOFT TARGET: Malaysia-bound migrant workers at a Kathmandu-based GSG facility, where their passports and fingerprints are scanned for Immigration and Security Clearance.</figcaption></figure>A deeply-rooted nexus of politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats in Nepal and Malaysia have looted more than Rs5 billion over the past five years from vulnerable <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nepali-migrants-hounded-out-Malaysia-,3036" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali migrant workers desperate to seek work</a> in Malaysia.Nepal’s Labour Minister Gokarna Bista is trying to dismantle those involved in the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/undocumented-Nepali-migrant-workers-in-Malaysia,3958" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exploitation</a> by cracking down on several Kathmandu-based companies set up to extort fees from overseas contract workers. In Malaysia itself, the newly-elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad has also launched an investigation into the previous government’s involvement in profiting from migrant workers.The scam involved powerful Malaysian businesses with close links to ministers and officials in the Barisan Nasional coalition of former Prime Minister Najib Razak and implemented by their agents in Kathmandu who had contacts with influential politicians and bureaucrats in Nepal.Also read: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nepali-migrants-too-young-to-die,2811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Killed in the line of duty</a> , Om Astha Rai<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korea-treating-Nepali-migrant-workers-right,2813" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doing it the right way</a>, Seulki Lee  <figure><img width="1400" height="896" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121148/6368f07d9c7e80680e0359d8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It all started five years ago when Malaysia’s Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi outsourced a private company (Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd) which required <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/disproportionate-number-of-deaths-of-Nepali-workers-in-Malaysia,2812" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali migrant</a> workers to apply for work visas through a Kathmandu-based affiliate, Malaysia VLN Nepal. The agency charged Rs3,200 from every Malaysia-bound Nepali worker, and collected Rs 1.95 billion from more than 600,000 workers between September 2013 and April 2018.Then in July 2015, Malaysia made it mandatory for all <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/doubts-on-zero-cost-migration-deal-coming-into-force,2157" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali migrants</a> to undergo a biometric test. The Malaysian government hired Bestinet Sdn Bhd, a tech firm run by Malaysian Home Minister Hamidi’s brother-in-law Amin Bin Abdul Nor, for biometric health screening. Minister Hamidi’s brother Abdul Hakim Hamidi and ex-Malaysian Environment Minister Ajmi Khalid also reportedly owned shares in Bestinet.Bestinet partnered with Nepal Health Professional Federation (NHPF) to carry out biometric screening through 39 medical centres which charged Rs4,500 from each migrant worker for biometrics. Bestinet and NHPF have already collected over Rs1 billion from over 200,000 Nepali workers.Previously, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/death-of-nepali-migrant-workers-in-qatar,1592" target="_blank" rel="noopener">migrant workers</a> could have applied for visas independently or through any <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/manpower-agencies-of-Nepal-are-the-ones-against-zero-cost-migration-policy,2402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manpower agency</a> . They could get a visa for just Rs700. They could get medical tests from any of 200 government-approved health facilities. But after Malaysia required private companies for visa processing and biometric screening, workers were forced to pay much more.The real scam involved the lack of transparency in Malaysia and in Nepal on the choice of the private companies hired to facilitate this process, which ended up fleecing workers.While in Malaysia the companies were partly-owned by relatives of politicians, in Nepal bureaucrats and politicians benefited from kickbacks for sanctioning the new system. Fees were added on arbitrarily, and all involved in the syndicate in the two countries divided up the profits.For example, the Rs3,200 visa processing fee did not cover all visa-related costs of a migrant worker. In May 2016, Malaysia hired another private company, One Stop Centre (OSC) to collect visa forms and passports and drop them at its embassy in Kathmandu. The OSC chose the same Malaysia VLN Nepal for this job, which added an extra fee of Rs2,800 from each applicant.Bestinet has also been allowed to charge each migrant worker Rs3,200 just for scanning passports, fingerprinting and an additional Rs3,500 to upload the data online. Bestinet’s Kathmandu-based agent, GSG Nepal, scans passports and fingerprints for all Malaysia-bound migrant workers. Bestinet in turn collaborated with labour recruitment agencies in Kathmandu and has so far collected over Rs1.3 billion in fees for passport and fingerprints scanning, and online data entry. <figure><img width="1400" height="1012" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121148/6368f0809c7e80680e0359d9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Tallied together, the Malaysia government and companies backed by powerful Malay politicians have, in total, taken more than Rs5 billion (US$ 450 million) from over 600,000 Nepali workers between September 2013 and April 2018. Nepali politicians, bureaucrats and businesses were directly colluding with their Malaysian counterparts in cheating the workers. There are over 600,000 Nepali workers in Malaysia, and their remittances help sustain Nepal’s economy.The arrangements have been put into place on an ad hoc basis, without transparency and in the absence of any bilateral agreements between the governments of Nepal and Malaysia. Some of the companies managing migration in Nepal do not even have government approval.Nepal’s Labour Ministry was initially reluctant to accept Malaysia’s proposal to introduce biometric systems, arguing it would allow certain medical centres to overcharge migrant workers. But those lobbying for biometrics were so powerful that the ministry had to approve the system as a ‘pilot project’ for six months.But long after the six months were over, Bestinet and the NHPF continued with biometric system with no interference from the government.In January 2015, Parliament’s International Relations and Labour Committee instructed the government to terminate the biometric system. It also directed the government to ask Malaysia to first make biometric test mandatory for migrant workers from all 14 countries that supply labour to Malaysia. It also ordered that biometric tests should be less expensive by ending the monopoly of a handful of selected medical centres. <img width="752" height="519" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121148/6368f0849c7e80680e0359dajpeg.jpg" alt="">The Parliament committee, however, reversed its decision after its Maoist Chair Prabhu Sah went on a junket to Australia paid for by the Nepal Health Professional Federation in which he was accompanied by NHPF’s Kailash Khadka.In June 2016, a committee led by Joint Secretary Govinda Mani Bhurtel recommended that the government prevent private firms from overcharging Nepali migrants. But Labour Minister Deepak Bohara trashed the report and himself flew to Kuala Lumpur to ‘study the problem’ the following month. He met Malaysian Home Minister Hamidi’s brother Abdul Hakim at the Hotel Oriental Mandarin in Kuala Lumpur. On his return, Bohara took no action against Bestinet.In Malaysia itself, Prime Minister Najib Razak and Home Minister Hamidi were slammed for hiring private companies to do what the Immigration Department should have done. Najib’s party lost the elections in May mainly because of allegations of massive corruption.<a href="http://cijnepal.org.np/0002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centre for Investigative Journalism</a>Also read: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/homes-away-from-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Homes away from home</a>, Upasana Khadka<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-workers-football/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The workers' football</a>, Upasana Khadka<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/best-years-of-their-lives-migrant-workers,3722" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Best years of their lives</a>, Kunda Dixit <h2>Duped and dumped</h2> Before Malaysia-bound Nepali migrant workers were forced to undergo expensive biometric tests from July 2015, they used to go to for normal health check-ups at any of the 200 health facilities accredited by the Nepal government.But a significant number of workers who got a clean chit of health from Nepali medical centres were found to be ‘unfit’ in tests in Malaysia and immediately deported. Medical centres in Nepal licensed to examine the health of migrant workers were seen to not meet international standards.This was the excuse used to push the biometric system. Those who lobbied for the biometric system had promised Nepali migrant workers that they would not have to undergo another test in Kuala Lumpur if they were declared ‘fit’ in a biometric test in Kathmandu.However, the 100,000 Nepali workers who go to Malaysia every year also have to undergo a separate expensive test conducted by the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (FOMEMA).More importantly, the percentage of Nepali migrant workers who pass health tests in Nepal but fail them in Malaysia has also not decreased.Last year, more than 9,000 Nepali migrants were declared ‘unhealthy and unfit’ by the FOMEMA, and were sent home. Saroj Sarki of Chitwan is one of them. He spent more than Rs120,000 to go to Malaysia, passed the health test in Nepal, failed it in Malaysia, and was immediately deported.Sarki filed a complaint against the Nepali recruiting agency, but has not got his money back. The Labour Ministry has received more than 200 complaints filed by those who passed the health test in Nepal but failed the FOMEMA test in Malaysia. No action has been taken against some of the 39 private medical centres chosen by the NHPF which were responsible.Also read: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/As-It-Happens/Nepali-migrants-illegal-Malaysia-,718" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illegal, ill treated</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/stay-home-Nepal-Malaysia-migrants,3037" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Staying home</a>, Sonia Awale <h2>Hundi men</h2> In May, police arrested 40 businessmen, including Malaysia VLN Nepal Chief Ram Prasad Shrestha, for illegally charging Nepali migrant workers for visa processing, biometric and online data entry.Shrestha, who was later released along with 39 others on bail, told police that he was just an agent responsible for sending fee money collected from migrant workers to Malaysian companies in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. He also informed police that his Kathmandu-based company would get a cut of Rs168 of every Rs3,200 visa processing fee and another Rs420 of every Rs2,800 passport collection fee.Shrestha claimed his company had sought permission from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to transfer the money to Malaysia and Hong Kong. Police wrote a letter to the NRB to verify Shrestha’s claim. Bhisma Raj Dhungana, Executive Director of the NRB’s Foreign Currency Exchange Department, says: “A company that does not have a permission from the government to collect money cannot exchange currency and transfer it out of Nepal.”There is evidence that the companies used unofficial hundi channels to transfer cash to Malaysian parent companies. Malaysia’s Migrants Management System (MIGRAM) collected more than Rs720 million through Nepali manpower agencies between May 2016 and April 2018 through the illegal hundi system.The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has revealed that ex-Malaysian PM Najib Razak’s brother owns an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands which was used to stash ill-gotten wealth. The speculation in Kuala Lumpur is that it includes fees collected from impoverished and desperate Nepali migrant workers, that were illegally sent to Kuala Lumpur.Follow Ups<a href="https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/436743" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali workers' scam: The whos and hows behind it</a><a href="https://newmalaysiatimes.com/2018/07/30/more-companies-behind-nepal-foreign-workers-scandal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More companies behind Nepal Foreign Workers Scandal</a><a href="https://www.malaymail.com/s/1654729/report-implicates-malaysian-nepali-officials-in-migrant-worker-registration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report implicates Malaysian, Nepali officials in migrant worker registration 'scam'</a><a href="https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/07/393582/bestinet-denies-nepali-times-article-company-milking-nepalis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bestinet denies Nepali Times article on the company 'milking Nepalis'</a><a href="http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/07/22/report-tells-of-rm185-mil-scam-over-nepali-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report tells of RM185 mil scam over Nepali workers </a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/malaysia-wants-ban-lifted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Malaysia wants ban lifted</a>

Kleptocrats of Kathmandu and Kuala Lumpur

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

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

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

investigation