As the well-known adage goes: you can choose your friends but not your neighbours. There is no alternative to learning to live together. Relations between neighbours in a housing estate or nation states is (or should be) dependent on long term bilateral interest, not instantaneous calculations. Nowhere is relations between nations become more of an everyday issue than in the borderlands. And how multidimensional relations between countries are managed and nurtured should be the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/learning-rubbish-memorising-gibberish">message in school textbooks</a>. Afterall, the foundations of knowledge and values are laid in school and in the books used to teach them. In most countries the content of textbooks is determined by the state, in fact it is an official document reflecting a country’s position on various facets of citizenship. Textbooks determine a person’s views on a cross border state.&nbsp; I have recently been leafing through the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/delay-dilute-deny"> Social Studies textbooks</a> for Grades 9 (pictured, below) and 10 published by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s Curriculum Development Board at Sano Thimi. Imagine my astonishment when in the Grade 9 chapter on ‘Nation and Nationalism’ was this sentence in the section titled Border Security (translated from Nepali): ‘An open border opens up the possibility of increased human trafficking and drug smuggling. In fact, an open border can poison relations between people and even lead to war.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240717080732_a0492a1be8aaa76b0a90985f0c8ebf85874f53fd9e328d09aef9b614aa29cb84.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240717080732_a0492a1be8aaa76b0a90985f0c8ebf85874f53fd9e328d09aef9b614aa29cb84" data-rendition-name="original" width="1074" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali textbook social studies NT"> <figcaption>Social Studies textbook for grade 9.</figcaption> </figure>  Similarly, a section titled ‘Nepal’s Friends and Agencies’ talks about Nepal being a landlocked country situated between India and China, &nbsp;without indicating that these two neighbours of Nepal are global economic heavyweights. Whatever the text book may say about the dangers of an open border, all <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/barbwire-borders">national frontiers should be as open as the one between India and Nepal</a>. Nepal has had a similar open border with Tibet for centuries.&nbsp; Officially, a country’s relation with its neighbour is marked by when diplomatic relations were established. But there is no such date with which we can pinpoint how long Nepal’s relations with India and Tibet (now an autonomous region of China) has existed. Nepal’s school textbooks fail to impart on students the importance of the country’s relations with these two vast and powerful neighbours. Instead of establishing a narrative that an open border is the ultimate symbol of strong and close ties between countries, Nepali textbooks give it an unhelpful negative connotation. By contract, Nepal’s trans-Himalayan border with China is limited and controlled. Citizens of both countries need passports and visas to enter the other. From time to time, some Tibetans do enter Nepal bypassing official checkpoints.&nbsp; The Nepal-India border on the other hand is open because of mutual agreement, friendship, good neighbourliness, religious and cultural diversity, social cohesion, family relations, and common geographical features on both sides.&nbsp; These economic, cultural, political and historical aspects of the open border should have been incorporated into Nepal’s text books. On the other hand, the books should also have explained the reason why the Nepal-China border has not been open since the annexation of Tibet 65 years ago. The content of the Social Studies text book reflects state neglect. A border is not the result of the wishes of a country on one side, it is the common meeting point of nations. Because the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/lessons-not-learnt-homework-not-done">examination system </a>requires students to memorise and regurgitate content of textbooks, a teacher cannot deviate from what it says even if it is incorrect. A secondary school teacher regards the textbook as the curriculum. A text book’s content therefore does not just impact the point of view of students, but also teachers. More than disinformation on social media, it is the half-truths and false notions in text books that are more dangerous. In fact, textbooks read like the declaration of the political party in power. This is a result of the curriculum drafters not being inclusive and representative of Nepal’s diversity.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-exceptional-buhari">The Exceptional Buhari</a>, Sudeshna Thapa This can bring about a tectonic shift in the thought process of young Nepalis, evoke a sense of animosity towards neighbours and ‘others’. In a country where political polarisation, ideological divide is already wide, such assertiveness by the dominant community can be sensitive.&nbsp; Textbooks cannot be propaganda, they cannot be a vehicle to establish a political narrative. They should heal and unite. Students need to learn and understand <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-love-triangle-with-china-and-india-impacts-investment">Nepal’s fragile geopolitical circumstance</a>, and not be exhorted to rock the boat. There is a common socio-cultural milieu that is transboundary because of our shared history and politics. Nepal’s youth need to have a moderate and balanced view of the history, geography and cultural links of the borderlands so they can contribute to cooperation and coexistence.&nbsp; Chandra Kishore is a Birganj-based media commentator and writes this monthly column Borderlines for Nepali Times. @kishore_chandra

Chandra Kishore

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Textbook case of bad textbooks

Across the world, borders are being increasingly fenced. The US-Mexico border wall is being elongated to 1,200km to keep migrants out. Israel has walled itself from Palestine. The floodlit India-Pakistan iron curtain can be seen from space at night. Bangladesh is almost completely fenced off from India.&nbsp;
Now, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that a barbed wire fence is going up along India’s 1,643km border with Burma. The announcement has raised fears that it will disrupt age-old cultural and family ties that predate British rule.
Ethnic violence in Manipur, as well as anti-government insurgencies on both sides have made the border a flashpoint. Even so, the barbed wire proposal has spread despair among residents of the Indian states of Arunachal, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram that border Burma.&nbsp;
Most of the India-Burma border is dense mountain forest, and the scene of epic battles between the Japanese and British forces in which many Nepali soldiers died. A barbed wire fence is not just difficult to build in this terrain, it will be hard and expensive to maintain.&nbsp;
New Delhi has security concerns, but here in the Burmese borderlands there is worry that families and communities will be torn apart. This boundary is similar to the Nepal-India border, where there are marriage ties, families own property on both sides.&nbsp;
There is some debate about the need for a border fence in India, but in Burma’s controlled society there is not even a murmur. A fence will likely block supply lines for rebels fighting the repression of the Burmese military junta.&nbsp;
Hard borders separate the territories of nation states, and in doing so they also divide people that were once one. Over time, borders tend to slowly erase these historical bonds and a collective cultural lived experience.
A national boundary is already an artificial construct, barbed wire makes it even more artificial. Politicians fanning populist nationalism are obsessed with border security, and want to build walls to barricade historical people-to-people ties.
Nations and their rulers, even if they are world powers, are ultra possessive about territory and take umbrage at maps that do not accurately represent their claim. There is something almost primordial about this mindset, like wild animals marking and defending the perimeters of their domain.&nbsp;
Ever since I <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/caste-vote">started writing this column from Birganj</a> in Nepali Times last year, I have been trying to find a Nepali word that describes the cultural, social, economic, ecological ties that bind the peoples of the borderlands.&nbsp;
The best word I have come up with is सीमांचल (Simanchal) which by coincidence is almost an exact translation of this column series: Borderlines. The word has the connotation of a political demarcation, it denotes citizenship, but it does not allude to any barbed wire fence, it means being able to crisscross a national boundary without any fear or hindrance.&nbsp;
Such a borderless world now exists between Schengen member countries, but then Fortress Europe is now building a dozen new ‘berlin Walls’ to keep outsiders out, while giving its own citizens complete, but one-sided, freedom of movement in and out.&nbsp;
There may be an international border running between them, but Nepalis and Indians of &nbsp;the सीमांचल speak the same language, observe the same festivals, and marry each other. Border people have an identity different from the centre. A border may have been defined by a treaty (usually after war) to separate people, but people of the borderlands keep transboundary ties strong.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds">Nepal-India trans-boundary bonds</a>, Chandra Kishore
A barbed wire fence arouses fear and suspicion, but the people of Simanchal spread hope and trust. The capital sees the border as the line where its jurisdiction ends, borderland people see it as the place where sovereignty begins. The Simanchal melds political and cultural identity into one.
When the nation state is weak, and the centre cannot hold, it is the periphery that defends the border. They are the true writers of history.
In 2018, India and Burma agreed on free movement for people living up to 16km on either side. This made it convenient for Burmese border dwellers to come to India for trade, education, medical service. But there was also inflated security concern about refugees, human traffickers, weapons, and drugs coming across.&nbsp;
Former Nepal-based Indian diplomat and expert on the Northeast, John S Shilshi who is himself from Manipur, told me recently: “As long as local sentiments are not addressed, this barb wire border fence will not work. It could also go against India’s own ‘Look East’ policy.”&nbsp;
Although the Nepal-India border is seen as a model for openness, there are new challenges. The Vajpayee government stationed SSB border police along the Nepal border, and now with elections approaching, another BJP government has further tightened security. Meanwhile, extremism and religious intolerance is seeping across. &nbsp;
Bilateral nation-to-nation ties between India and Nepal are always tangled, there is a move to build local initiatives. While we wait for Kathmandu and New Delhi to sort things out border cities on both sides are getting together on their own: Biratnagar-Jogbani, Birganj-Raxaul, Nepaganj-Rupedia, Bhairawa-Sonauli.
<a href="https://twitter.com/Kishore_chandra">Chandra Kishore</a> is a Birganj-based commentator who writes this monthly column Borderlines for Nepali Times.

Barbwire borders

https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCmfLUwnPKM?fbclid=IwAR3h1k_eTwFhVoE8SrMAO8kKO15azOH-_Kmr4uQSrfQ0WUpu3iDAPPajf0IA domesticated elephant used for safaris in Chitwan National Park which was being illegally transported to India in contravention of the <a href="https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/17/WorkingDocs/E-CoP17-57-01-A5.pdf">CITES</a> (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) is being tracked by Nepal police at the border. The 50-year-old female elephant belongs to Jungle World Resort, and is named ‘Ashakali’. A video of the truck showed its number to be: ना ४ ख २८२७.  Wildlife activists say more elephants have been sold to buyers in India for up to Rs9 million each since the pandemic began, and safari tourism in Nepal’s national parks collapsed. Jungle World Resort director Tokraj Khatiwada admitted he had rented Ashakali from India at Rs80,000 a month, and since there had been no tourists upkeep of the animals was difficult and he was sending her back. “You are now all raising the issue of elephant rights protection, but did any of you help feed these animals during the lockdown? The national park did not help either,” Khatiwada told us on the phone from Sauraha. He warned: “We were allowed to send back two rented elephants to India before this, so it is legal. If we are stopped, there will be an agitation here." <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/set-the-elephants-free/">Set the elephants free</a>, Michelle Szydlowski According to CITES, endangered wild elephants cannot be domesticated, and it cannot be traded across borders. Many of the 216 captive elephants used in Nepal’s tourism industry are imported from India in contravention of Indian law. It is an irony that some of these elephants are now being sold back to India.  Hari Acharya, spokesperson of the <a href="https://tmmnepal.com/package-details/department-of-national-parks-and-wildlife-conservation">Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation</a> says, “No one has filed for an application on transporting Ashakali, so the process is illegal. We have written to the authorities at the border to increase vigilance.” <img width="800" height="401" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8f49c7e80680e092e6fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>According to the convention, the CITES Management Authority in both countries have to give permission for the cross border transport for endangered species. For example, 16 captive elephants were brought from India in 1986, and 4 Nepali rhinos sent to India in exchange.CITES does not allow the export of captive elephants for commercial purposes. Sources said the elephants were being sold to a new zoo in Gujarat. Up to five elephants have been sent to India since the lockdown went into effect last March, sources said.“We think the collapse of tourism due to the pandemic has made it expensive for private owners of captive elephants to maintain them which is why they have an excuse to sell them to India,” said one conservationist at Chitwan National Park who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.After finding out about the illegal trade, the group Pro Public this week wrote to officials in India and Nepal, including the prime minister’s office in the two countries, embassies, and Interpol to stop the transport of captive elephants from Nepal to India.CITES rules say that captive elephants need to be registered, but the national park says very few of the domesticated <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/speaking-for-elephants/">elephants</a> in Nepal are registered. Nepal stopped capturing wild elephants to domesticate them 40 years ago. There are an estimated 200-227 wild elephants in Nepal.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/nepal-elephant-chitwan-national-park,762">Working elephants rise up, you have nothing to lose but chains</a>, Lucia De Vries <img width="326" height="496" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8f69c7e80680e092e70jpeg.jpg" alt="">Association Moey first posted information about the elephants being transported to India, which was later shared by Wildlife activist Shristi Singh Shrestha on her Facebook page one Thursday morning. She says safari lodges in Sauraha regard elephants only as profit generators, and she is working with other groups to let them roam in nature. Sanjeevani Yonjan of Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN) who has conducted sting operations to apprehend wildlife traffickers, says: “It is not just trans-border transport of elephants that is illegal, it is also illegal to domesticate wild elephants. Lodge owners cannot say they don’t want to follow the law.”Praveen Pokhrel of Rupendehi Police used to be head of Wildlife Crime Division of Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), and says that he had received information about the elephants being transported, and was acting on it. But deputy conservationist at Chitwan National Park Shiva Gaire says he only heard about captive elephants being transported to India on Thursday. “We warned lodge owners that it is illegal to do this, and told them that they may face action,” he added.Wildlife crime researcher Kumar Poudel says owners of captive elephants had been given one year to register their animals, but did not. He adds: “They are openly selling elephants across the border illegally, this has to be stopped immediately.”

Police track India-Nepal elephant trafficking

<figure><img width="760" height="428" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baefd9c7e80680e078027jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Nepali workers entering the border from India. Photo: MANORANJAN SHARMA</figcaption></figure>Compared to two months ago, there are no big crowds at the India-Nepal border these days. Although the border is supposed to be sealed, Nepalis still returning from India are not quarantined anymore, and this has raised fears that the mass spread of the virus in India could also affect Nepal.Here at the checkpoint at Behaliya there are no longer big crowds waiting to be tested and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-quarantines-hotspots-for-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">quarantine centres</a> on both sides of the border are empty. Returnees are allowed to enter freely, their temperature is checked, and if they show no symptoms they can travel directly to their home districts for a two-week quarantine.However, public health experts say that although the chaos at the border has been reduced, and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-still-stuck-in-no-mans-land/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flow of returnees is also not as big as before</a>, allowing people to travel to their home districts without tests risks the spread of the disease along the way.    “Earlier most of those who tested positive were asymptomatic, but in the past week the symptoms in patients tested in the border cities are all similar to those in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” says public health expert Rabindra Pandey.He adds that earlier most of those testing positive in Nepal were asymptomatic, and recovered quickly. But in the past fortnight, there are many with severe COVID-19 symptoms in the border cities.“This is proof that we have to be vigilant about the virus spreading to Nepal from people going back and forth across the border for trade or visits,” warns Pandey, “so far 95% of the confirmed cases in Nepal have a travel history of coming from India.”The fear is that the disease could easily spread to other parts of Nepal since <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">travel restrictions have been lifted</a> within the country, and long-distance buses will be plying from 30 July.A family of five was tested positive in Kathmandu Valley this week, and contact tracing showed that the daughter-in-law of the household had travelled from Sitamarhi in Bihar and spread it to her family. The border cities of Rajbiraj, Birganj, Inaruwa and parts of Biratnagar have been sealed off this week after an increase in patients with severe symptoms. <figure><img width="1509" height="1098" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baeff9c7e80680e078028jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>It's business as usual at the Behaliya checkpoint in Rupandeni district near Indian border. Photo: MUKESH POKHREL</figcaption></figure>Lockdowns have been re-imposed in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, but on Sunday there was busy movement of cargo trucks, traders and people crossing the checkpoint on foot. At present there are about 200 Nepalis entering the country daily from just the Behaliya checkpoint, a sharp drop from the thousands two months ago. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/indians-stuck-in-nepal-also-trying-to-get-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indian workers</a> are allowed to re-entering Nepal if they have papers from the Home Ministry obtained by their employers. Rupandehi CDO Mahadev Pantha says: “We record details of every Nepali entering, their temperature is taken, and the Nepal Army notifies their municipalities and they are driven to their home districts where they are supposed to isolate themselves for 14 days.”Although there is some regulation at the main checkpoints, the India-Nepal border is open, and there are many places through which people can just walk back and forth. The Armed Police Force (APF) says it has posts every 1km along the Indian border, and in the past weeks there have been frequent clashes in Nawalparasi, Rautahat and Siraha districts when they have tried to stop people crossing over.“There are lots of people sneaking in through rivers and fields coming across, there is no way we can control this unless we put up barbed wire,” says an AFP officer here. India is now has the third largest caseload and fatalities from COVID-19 after the United States and Brazil. More worryingly, the daily new cases and deaths have been rising, with 35,000 new cases every day, and 720 deaths from the disease reported on Sunday. Although the caseload per million population and fatality rates in India are still lower than other countries, experts say that there may be many more cases there that are not detected.The states bordering Nepal have seen a sharp rise in cases. By 26 July, Uttar Pradesh had 67,000 cases and 1,400 fatalities, Bihar had 36,400 cases and 232 deaths, and Uttarakhand showed 6,000 positive cases and 63 deaths. Cases have also been rising in the other state bordering Nepal, West Bengal, which by Monday had more than 60,000 confirmed cases and 1,372 deaths from COVID-19. <img width="527" height="349" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf019c7e80680e078029jpeg.jpg" alt="">Uttar Pradesh saw its highest daily rise with 3,620 new cases on Sunday. Sikkim, another Indian state bordering Nepal to the east has recorded 500 cases, and on Sunday saw its first COVID-19 death.The sharpest increase in new cases in the past week has been in Province 2, which has seven districts bordering Bihar in India. Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut announced over the weekend that border control would be made stricter, and he instructed all three security agencies to step up their vigilance.

Heightened COVID-19 risk at India-Nepal border

<figure><img width="760" height="428" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d469c7e80680e06b33ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Nepali workers entering the border from India on Saturday. Photos: MANORANJAN SHARMA</figcaption></figure>After being stuck for three weeks, on no-man’s land between India and Nepal some Nepalis are finally being allowed to go back to their home villages.Among them were 325 Nepali workers who had trekked across India to reach the border, only to find that their own country was not allowing them in. They had been quarantined in the Nautanwa district of India’s Uttar Pradesh state.Rupandehi District Police Office reported that another 100 had been allowed to come to Nepal from the Sunauli checkpoint on Friday, and others from the Belahiya border post.  <figure><img width="760" height="428" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d499c7e80680e06b33fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nepali families from the Arghakhanchi district stranded in India for 24 days being allowed into Nepal.</figcaption></figure>On hand to receive some of the Nepali workers were local government officials and mayors from their districts who had hired buses to ferry them home from the border. Chairman of Malarani municipality in Arghakhanchi district, Balkrishna Acharya, was among those who was at the border over the weekend to receive 102 from his village who had been working in India, and had lost their jobs because of the lockdown there.Those entering into the country through Belahiya are being checked for  coronavirus through Rapid Diagnostic Tests, and those tested positive will have to undergo a further PCR check.“If confirmed they will be quarantined in Rupandehi isolation centres,” said Kedarnath Shah, of the district health office. Member of the Rupandehi state assembly said he hopes to return all Nepalis quarantined across the border in India’s Nautanwa district by Monday. Meanwhile, there is concern that the quarantine facilities do not meet minimum living conditions, and people in isolation are being exposed to non-COVID-19 diseases while confined to their quarters.Some quarantined people have fallen sick due to mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue, and there is a fear that Nepal may have multiple epidemics in its hands as the summer season sets in.There are 14,731 people in mandatory quarantine in isolation centres in various parts of the country. Most are people who have entered from India, or those who have come in contact with them. Nearly all have so far tested negative.

Nepalis stranded at India border return

The detection of the coronavirus in three Indian nationals on Sunday in the border city of Birganj has highlighted the India connection in Nepal’s efforts to control the spread of the infection within its borders.The three were among Nepali and Indian Muslims who had attended a religious gathering in Saptari district in February from where public health officials now suspect the virus could have spread to other parts of Nepal.This brings the total number of cases in Nepal to 12 of which six are returnee workers from India, four are Nepalis who returned from Europe and the Gulf, one woman in Dhangadi was a community transmission case, and the first person detected with the infection in January was a Nepali student from China who has since recovered.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8b6f9c7e80680e06b29bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="765" height="437"/><figcaption>Nepalis returning from India. Photo: DINESH KHABAR</figcaption></figure>The three found positive on Sunday are said to be middle-aged men from Uttar Pradesh who were in a group which had come to Nepal in early February to attend a gathering of the Jamati sect in Saptari. Since then they had travelled across the eastern Tarai, and had been brought to a mosque in Birganj last week from where the swab samples of all 20 had been collected last week.Three of the men who had the coronavirus infection are now in an isolation ward of a Birganj hospital. Nepal’s public health authorities said they are now trying to contact trace everyone that the infected people had been close to since they entered Nepal.The India-Nepal border has been sealed for three weeks now, although there numerous places through which people can travel back and forth, and the frontier is still porous. Thousands of Nepali workers have not been allowed into their country, and there are also Indians working in Nepal who have not been able to go back to India.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-and-india-stop-nationals-in-each-others-countries/">Nepal and India stop citizens from returning</a>, Deepak Kharel Interestingly, Indian media gave wide publicity on Friday to a <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/113042" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leaked intelligence report filed by the Indian SSB border police force that a Nepali Muslim politician in Parsa district</a>, Jalim Mukhia, was involved in a conspiracy to infiltrate from Nepal 40-50 coronavirus-infected individuals to spread the pandemic in India.The ‘top secret’ report said 200 Indian Muslims and 5-6 Pakistanis had ‘already entered Nepal’ and were staying in a madrasah in Parsa district waiting to enter India on 3 April and rest would be sent across in groups. It even alleged that they would take paracetamol to supress their fever. A senior Indian official discredited the report, saying it was sensational and in any case the border was sealed.Despite that, most Indian television networks gave wide play to the report. In Nepal, the media report was condemned in a firestorm of angry posts on social media, accusing the tv channels of trying to smear Nepal.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/returnees-may-be-taking-coronavirus-to-rural-nepal/">Returnees may be taking coronavirus to rural Nepal</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel and Sonia Awale<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8b719c7e80680e06b29cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1210" height="1416"><figcaption>A leaked letter from an SSB officer in Bihar alleging that a Nepali Muslim politician was conspiring to infiltrated Indian Muslims infected with coronavirus across the border from Nepal to India.</figcaption></figure>However, in a new twist, the Nepali media quoted Jalim Miya as admitting that he himself took 15 of the Nepali Muslims from his village to the mosque in Birganj on 1 April on instruction of Parsa police. They were later sent home after their tests came out negative.Jalim Mukhiya is a member of the ruling party, and is himself from the Jamati sect that had held a gathering in Saptari in February.In a conference call with seven provincial Chief Ministers on Saturday Prime Minister Oli warned that since the COVID-19 epidemic was spreading in India, the lockdown may have to be extended beyond 15 April. The government announced that Province 2 will get an additional 1,600 Armed Police Force personnel to patrol the border.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lockdown-limbo-in-no-mans-land/">Lockdown limbo in no man’s land</a>, Deepak KharelIndia has reported 827 new cases in the past 24 hours, with 31 additional fatalities. The total number of confirmed cases in India now stands at 8,356 and 268 have died so far. Of these 452 cases were in Uttar Pradesh with five dead, and Bihar saw a doubling of cases to 63 since Friday, with one death. The other Indian state bordering Nepal has 35 cases. Most of the infected in India have been in Maharastra, Punjab and Kerala.Compared to its huge population of 1.3 billion, the numbers are small, but public health experts fear that crowded living conditions could be an incubator for the disease. India’s nationwide lockdown has been credited with keeping numbers down, and the curfew which is in effect till Tuesday is probably going to be extended till the end of the month.If that happens, Nepal’s own lockdown is probably going to be extended by a similar period. Nepal has already extended the ban on international flights till at least 30 April.

The India connection in Nepal’s COVID-19 status

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131148/636a504f9c7e80680e04fd52jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="888"/><figcaption>Pic: ANEK PANDEY</figcaption></figure>When Nepal signed the Sugauli Treaty with British India in 1816, parts of the demarcated border  followed the courses of rivers. Since then, the sediment-heavy rivers flowing down from the mountains have changed course many times. The Kosi itself now flows 120km west of where it was in Bihar when the treaty was signed two centuries ago.Since 1994, India and Nepal have decided to follow the Fixed Boundary Doctrine, meaning the border line does not change even if the river alters course. Though survey teams from the two sides are supposed to work together to keep track of the border, it is a difficult task during the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/monsoon-2019-deluge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monsoon flood</a> season.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-must-keep-water-on-its-land/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal must keep water on its land</a>, Anil Chitrakar<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Flood of recrimination in the Nepal Tarai</a>, EditorialThis year has been no different. Many pillars along the 1,880km Indo-Nepal border have either been washed away or are submerged. Of the 8,554 border pillars, 2,105 are actually located within rivers, and more are along floodplains that are submerged in the monsoon. Among them, 452 pillars have either been removed or lost – half of them because of floods.The big flood of 13 July washed away many of the remaining pillars. Among them were four that were reinstalled just last year in Bijaynagar of Kapilvastu district (one of them, pictured above).Survey Department staff themselves admit that the design of pillars located on riverbeds must be changed from cement to steel structures bolted to concrete foundations to withstand floods.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Flood-on-the-border-Nepal-India,3915" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Border wall</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Tarai learns from past floods</a>, Sewa BhattaraiNepal has deployed 15,000 Armed Police along the Indian border, with outposts every 20-30 km. These bases are supposed to keep track of the state of the pillars and keep the Home Ministry updated on their condition.However, experts say that increased sedimentation in Tarai streams due to deforestation and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/crushing-tale-of-Chure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quarrying in the Chure Range</a>, as well as poorly-designed roads and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Flood-on-the-border-Nepal-India,3915" target="_blank" rel="noopener">embankments</a>, will <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make floods worse</a> in coming years.“The solution is for India and Nepal to work jointly not just to repair border pillars, but also to stop blaming each other for floods every monsoon and forget about it after the rains,” Birganj-based writer Chandra Kishore says. “Nationalism is not going to prevent future disasters.”Meanwhile, all along the India-Nepal border this rainy season the state of the border pillars are a stark reminder of the inability of the two countries to work together to reduce their mutual risk from floods.Ramu Sapkota with Gopal Bhandari in Kapilvastu

Borderline disorder

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/636903fc9c7e80680e037cf6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure><a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Birganj-mero-saharko-katha,2920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Birganj</a> at this time of the year is hot and humid, but there is so much more to this <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/birgunj-and-kodari-borders,630" target="_blank" rel="noopener">border town</a> through which 80% of Nepal’s trade passes.History buffs will know that the town was originally called Gahawa after the temple of the same name. The modern city gets its name from Prime Minister Bir SJB Rana who established it in 1897. The settlement expanded as trade between British India and Nepal grew, and later became the metropolis it is today.Birganj today is both Nepal’s <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3471#.W3zfymaB1TY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major industrial hub</a> and trade and transit point connecting Nepal to Calcutta port. The customs office here collects more revenue for the government than any other location in Nepal, mainly as tax on imports. The town is buzzing with economic activity, and rentals are scarce and expensive.The Birganj-Simara Corridor is Nepal’s industrial heartland. The highway is thick with trucks these days carrying goods up to Kathmandu and beyond, as well as imported steel rolls to be forged into pipes and exported back to India. Nepal has put its now stable electricity supply with good voltage to good use, and the value addition is done here.The roads and other infrastructure, like everywhere else in Nepal, are in a perpetual state of deconstruction. The snail pace at which the main highway between Raxaul and Kathmandu is being expanded is frustrating, but we have got used to such delays here. The side drains are clogged with gravel and aggregates, which blocks the drainage and turns the roads into ponds, which are ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes causing a major health hazard.The eastern suburb of Birgunj is a leafy quiet area called Vishuwa with its old trees, a wetland with lotus flowers and large statues of the Pancha Buddha. Monks, pilgrims and travelers who walked from Lumbini to Bodhgaya have used this spot as a rest place since ancient times. The word Vikshu over time became Vishuwa in Bhojpuri for the locals.In Vishuwais a dome-like hillock which is similar to the stupas of Patan. It is conceivable that it also contains ancient Buddhist relics from the time of Emperor Ashoka. The mound is protected by a boundary wall, and future excavations may well tell us about the history of not just Birganj but also its importance to Buddhism 2,500 years ago.Other tidbits: Nepal’s first motorable all-weather road was built in 1924 from here to Bhimphedi ropeway terminal that connected to Kathmandu. The ropeway could haul 8 tons of goods per hour to Teku in Kathmandu. Adrian Sever in his book, Nepal under the Ranas, says this was all done to make it easier for luxury goods the Ranas wanted to come in, but keep the people out.In 1927, a metre gauge railroad (again, Nepal’s first) was built connecting Raxaul in India to Amlekhganj.Nepal’s first police force was established here in 1904, and Birganj was one of the first three municipalities formed during the rule of Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher. Birganj was also one of the first towns to fall to democratic forces led by the Nepali Congress ‘liberation army’in 1950, that led to the downfall of the Ranas.Birganj’s economic importance to Nepal is also why it is the strategic point for successive <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/09/25/unofficial-blockade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indian blockades</a> of Nepal, including the last one in 2015. With federalism, Birganj is now not just important to Nepal but is also the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2018/01/18/protests-over-temporary-capitals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economic capital of Province 2</a>. It is striving to become a modern metropolis that is not only an industrial and trade hub, but also a business and tourist destination.Casinos and big new hotels are coming up, there are 6 flights daily from Kathmandu to Simara, and the planned <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new international airport in Nijgad</a> with the propose <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/elementor-3766/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Raxaul-Kathmandu railway</a> could give the city another boost.Anil Chitrakar is President of Siddharthinc

Anil Chitrakar

Birganj waits for the boom

National boundaries are usually not visible from the air. They are just lines on a map, and you can cross entire continents without knowing which country you are flying over.Exceptions are the bright halogen lamps on the tightly-guarded border fence in the desert between India and Pakistan which can be clearly seen from an airliner flying overhead at 11,000m. Even from the Space Shuttle, the Koreas appear in sharp contrast: bright on the south and completely dark north of the DMZ.  <figure><img width="1190" height="595" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/6365177a9c7e80680e02c27bjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Dark section is North Korea and the bright one is South Korea from space orbit.</figcaption></figure>However, the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Flood-on-the-border-Nepal-India,3915">Nepal-India border</a> is open and is not even noticeable from ground level. One side of a tea shop is in India, and on the other side is in Nepal, where you have to reset your watch 15 minutes ahead. Many visitors who have strayed into India and unknowingly taken pictures with their mobiles have been detained by Indian BSF.But there are some sections of the Nepal-India border that can be detected from the air, and one such is a straight line in Parsa district where a forested patch of the Balmiki Nature Reserve in India is separated from the rice fields of Nirmal Basti on the Nepal side (see pictures, above).Google Earth satellite images show the border visible even in 1984, and the steady <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/08/13/flood-of-recrimination/">deforestation</a> on the Nepal side by 2016. The frontier is visible from the left side of planes as they begin their descent into Kathmandu.The other section of the India-Nepal border that can also be seen on satellite image is in Dang, where the slopes of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19811#.WrzCiS5ubIU">Chure Range</a> north of the border are severely denuded. <figure><img width="1400" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/6365177c9c7e80680e02c27cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="800" height="1067" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517809c7e80680e02c27djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="750" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517839c7e80680e02c27ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="845" height="645" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517859c7e80680e02c27fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1400" height="902" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517889c7e80680e02c280jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img width="1400" height="919" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/6365178b9c7e80680e02c281jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1400" height="926" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/6365178e9c7e80680e02c282jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517919c7e80680e02c283jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/08/13/flood-of-recrimination/">Flood of recrimination</a> ,  Kunda Dixit<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19811#.WrzCiS5ubIU">Help save the Chure hills</a>,  Tirtha B Shrestha

Kunda Dixit

Borderline

Heritage champion, exponent of women’s empowerment, philanthropist and founder of <a href="https://www.dwarikas.com/our-story/">Dwarika’s Hotel</a>, Ambica Shrestha, passed away in hospital on Thursday after a brief illness. She was 92.&nbsp; Of her many accomplishments, the Dwarika’s Hotel which was named after her late husband Dwarika Das Shrestha stood as a monument to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HM6kNBEbJg">cultural and architectural preservation</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071811078_4e670c49f82675e42c25ced2adb251f0b8d22e7ddfe024c396d98b23c283de54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024071811078_4e670c49f82675e42c25ced2adb251f0b8d22e7ddfe024c396d98b23c283de54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1094" height="1424" loading="lazy" alt="Ambica and Dwarika Das Shrestha"> <figcaption>Ambica and Dwarika Das Shrestha in 1972.</figcaption> </figure>  The unique multiple award-winning hotel in Kathmandu used carved wooden windows, columns, eaves and other priceless objects rescued from ancient buildings that were being torn down over the past decades to make way for modern structures. Many of the carved wooden architectural elements in Dwarika's Hotel are therefore museum pieces. The hotel served as a living <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/time-capsule-of-kathmandu">memorial to Kathmandu Valley civilisation</a>, and underlined the importance of heritage conservation among Nepalis. The construction of the hotel also revived Nepal’s ancient wood carving and construction techniques in building and maintaining the property.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240718110712_d83d18d655703d2cfb4b73697f7d73a8029db9dedb4e8962fa5ea874890befc0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240718110712_d83d18d655703d2cfb4b73697f7d73a8029db9dedb4e8962fa5ea874890befc0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="799" loading="lazy" alt="Dwarika's Hotel"> </figure>  Besides the hotel, Ambica Shrestha was the founder of Nepal Heritage Society, a strong proponent of gender empowerment and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/so-far-so-good/four-years-later-nepals-farmers-rise-from-the-rubble" target="_blank">women in business</a>, and led the <a href="https://www.bpwnepal.org.np/" target="_blank">Federation of Business and Professional Women of Nepal</a> (BPWN). She was the Honorary Consul General of Spain in Nepal, and was conferred the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/spain-award" target="_blank">The Order of Isabella</a> medal by the Spanish government in February this year. She also served as Chair since its inception in 1998 of Himalmedia, the company that publishes Nepali Times.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071811078_346a6328f28b8fc6258a08fa4153b25ef9c8cdd930ae7174ba59ab7fe028bee2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024071811078_346a6328f28b8fc6258a08fa4153b25ef9c8cdd930ae7174ba59ab7fe028bee2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1019" loading="lazy" alt="Ambica Shrestha"> </figure>  She and her husband founded Kathmandu Travels and Tours, and entered the tourism business in the 1970s during the coronation of King Birendra, and built Dwarika’s Hotel, expanding it in installments over the years. Today, the company also runs a resort in Dhulikhel. Ambica Shrestha’s family was from Sikkim and she moved to Kathmandu after getting married to Dwarika Das Shrestha in 1955, and had three children. She is survived by two daughters, grand- and great-grandchildren. <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DreZU7utOln0%26fbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1MZTUnnVTS8VLQPDO00hH_vDCWLBqJwKU_SdGi5R_69E6y9mx1_kDZUv4_aem_nxpD2cG4ruLKtHfqea0jLA&amp;h=AT2f1qT8yFYATI51q6lK-Q3jFOEgCSGNravpZsSZZgxCUxp8_3R1oOjUH33-O97BMVjh-tNpNvngrsWYxUoamkr-ga4e1WJ-EPeD5nx7QmfwlBCkMht3NL4p82CtX4cMajO9Ag">Ambica Shrestha</a> used to say: “There is no shortcut to success, it is a long struggle to preserve our past for the future. And it helps if you ensure that no one in society is left behind.” Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1181">Brick by brick by brick</a>, Aarti Basnyat Farewell and tributes from 8-11AM Saturday 20 July at Dwarika's Hotel.

Ambica Shrestha, 92

A Saurya Airlines aircraft crashed immediately after it took off from Kathmandu airport this morning at 11:11AM. 18 of the 19 people on board died, all of them Saurya Airlines engineers and staff. There was a Yemen national among the dead, as well as the wife and child of an employee of the Airlines.&nbsp; The flight, with call sign 9N-AME, was undergoing a C Check, which is a comprehensive test that a plane has to pass on a regular basis. The plane was headed to a hangar in the Pokhara International Airport for a part check-up.&nbsp; It is unclear why a test flight was carrying so many passengers.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_f2a35a9b1d7f37e675f9b9f0b70508fb5cdaff06cbcb02c6c7d9a776e11f9dbc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240724100712_f2a35a9b1d7f37e675f9b9f0b70508fb5cdaff06cbcb02c6c7d9a776e11f9dbc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1029" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_533614914a383fb4659fe1ae09e617a6301fcdb3e37b05ad40a04fb78508bac5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240724100712_533614914a383fb4659fe1ae09e617a6301fcdb3e37b05ad40a04fb78508bac5" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="1267" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>  Footage shows the plane making it about 30 metres high before violently veering right and crashing east of the runway. It plummeted into the ground and burst into flames, skidding ablaze into a container. The plane body was incinerated.&nbsp; According to a press release by Nepal Police, 18 bodies were recovered and taken to Teaching Hospital for post-mortem. Captain Manish Ratna Shakya is the only survivor of the crash. Shakya sustained injuries to his eye and will survive. He is being treated at Kathmandu Medical College in Sinamangal, near the airport.&nbsp; Prime Minister K P Oli got to the accident site for further investigation. Domestic and International flights have since resumed.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_f97a09e697a4a64f4b9ddbe27d40383125e9c567ff2f901cafa2adf5bee8c553.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240724100712_f97a09e697a4a64f4b9ddbe27d40383125e9c567ff2f901cafa2adf5bee8c553" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_b99f25e7685804697067edef6a70198e87db6d92854e963e166a43bc4b529754.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240724100712_b99f25e7685804697067edef6a70198e87db6d92854e963e166a43bc4b529754" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_0ac6451e92c640559eba138e8cb795da97c6b7cb6dab911d89427966d8801ddb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240724100712_0ac6451e92c640559eba138e8cb795da97c6b7cb6dab911d89427966d8801ddb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1728" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_fee5bb0729632e6a1559eb4ef4a01edf5b2fae8bc764b817a1f635d6a333aed0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240724100712_fee5bb0729632e6a1559eb4ef4a01edf5b2fae8bc764b817a1f635d6a333aed0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1728" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_736c2572364c614da34dea93efc076f003f43a353cf37177ca40c4221980605e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240724100712_736c2572364c614da34dea93efc076f003f43a353cf37177ca40c4221980605e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1728" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_e0115c81cd29196e6650360be19061a222a598883366b165d1ecc8f41967bbfe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240724100712_e0115c81cd29196e6650360be19061a222a598883366b165d1ecc8f41967bbfe" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100712_5813c761b37a734a84dda64b9212f39f2a6cf29e04f98575c0656ead300fb1df.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240724100712_5813c761b37a734a84dda64b9212f39f2a6cf29e04f98575c0656ead300fb1df" data-rendition-name="original" width="1728" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT 1"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724100752_c8e1494aa39d5b0df5c2620fbc1c341ee0e0202b4f1328ea3f644882e5119e73.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240724100752_c8e1494aa39d5b0df5c2620fbc1c341ee0e0202b4f1328ea3f644882e5119e73" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines Nepal crash NT "> </figure>  &nbsp;

18 dead in Nepal aircraft crash

It would be a mistake to see this as simply a demand for more jobs. The quota movement, justified as it is, is simply the tip of the iceberg. A rampant government running roughshod over its people for so very long has led to extreme discontent.&nbsp; The quota issue has merely lit the fuse to this tinderbox. As citizens counted the dead and the injured, the prime minister fiddled, advising attendees at an aquaculture and seafood conference on tourism prospects in Cox’s Bazar. The original quota had been designed, shortly after independence in 1972, to be an interim arrangement to acknowledge the contribution of freedom fighters who constituted less than 0.25% of the population.&nbsp; Since a government known to be incredibly corrupt is responsible for creating the list of freedom fighters, over 50 years later the 120-fold allocation through a 30% quota has become an easy back door for party cadres to much sought-after government employment.&nbsp; Confirmation came through senior Awami Leaguers saying, ‘just get through the initial screening and we’ll get you through in the viva’ and more tellingly, ‘government jobs will only go to party people’. The resentment had resulted in protests in 2008 and 2013, but it was in 2018 that it gathered steam. When repressive measures failed to quell that unrest, the prime minister in a moment of rage, overstepped her authority and cancelled the entire system.&nbsp; This had never been a demand of the protesters, who recognised the need for positive discrimination for disadvantaged communities. There are plenty of other reasons for the unrest. The price of essential goods has skyrocketed over the years and people have their backs against the wall.&nbsp; Meanwhile, the Prime Minister herself publicly announces that her peon has amassed $40 million and only travels by helicopter. The peon is not the only one to travel by helicopter. Choppers were sent yesterday to rescue police trapped on a rooftop by angry protesters. 15th July 2024. It was reminiscent of 2018. The police van with water cannons and the long line of policemen standing at the Nilkhet corner on Monday made it abundantly clear that they were prepared. What were they prepared for?&nbsp; Certainly not the defence of unarmed students, or the general public. They failed to lift a finger when the students were being attacked. The armed goons of the Chhatra League (CL, ruling party’s student organisation) had been bussed in the previous night along with, apparently, youth gangs and leaders for hire. Their leaders had openly threatened the protesting students. CL was clearly the ones the police were on standby to defend.&nbsp; It was CL that the quota back doors were designed to favour. As it turned out there was little the unarmed students could do against the helmeted armed pro-government goons who had been left loose and the police were content to let the mayhem continue, stepping in only when the ferocity of people power took the goons aback.&nbsp; We walked past the blood and the strewn sandals in the streets. People stopped us to say the injured had been taken to Dhaka Medical College Emergency Ward. CL goons took positions around the ward where some of the injured were being treated while others marched around the wards, weapons in hand, the police conveniently stayed away. They continued to look away when CL goons went inside the ward to beat up injured students.&nbsp; There was no need to intervene. CL was not in danger. The nation was, democracy was, common decency was, the public was in grave danger, but that was not their concern. The fact that the protection of the public was their primary task, had never been part of the equation. Several were killed all over the country that day. “Justice will take its own course” is a common refrain of the law minister. The separation of the judiciary and the executive has never existed in Bangladesh. With this government, it has merged into one.&nbsp; It is used whenever the government wants to play good cop bad cop. The court enacts government directives. Credit is taken by the government. Blame goes to the court. The quota drama is no exception. Torture cells in public universities. Suppression of all forms of dissent. Jailing of opposition activists. The extra judicial killings, the disappearances. Huge concessions given to India, who have in return, helped prop up this illegal regime are all causes of anger.&nbsp; Abrar Fahad, the bright BUET student who had critiqued Indian hegemony in social media, was bludgeoned to death on campus by party cadres. The same cadres the quotas would provide back doors for. An entire generation of Bangladeshis is growing up hating India and the Boycott India campaign is gaining steam. Hasina is becoming a liability, even for our ‘friendly’ neighbour.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024072104078_3b92c0b66992ac238232667c7b3b83b4795e872e251d5eb03b42d669656d8c6d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024072104078_3b92c0b66992ac238232667c7b3b83b4795e872e251d5eb03b42d669656d8c6d" data-rendition-name="original" width="2226" height="1484" loading="lazy" alt="Bangladesh unrest"> </figure>  16 July 2024&nbsp; In a recent Facebook status, Abu Sayeed the unarmed student of Begum Rokeya University whom police had pumped four rubber bullets into, had written an ode to his favourite teacher Shamsuzzoha, a chemistry teacher at Rajshahi University, who had died in the hands of the Pakistani army in 1971 while trying to save the lives of his students. “Yes, you too will die, but while you are alive don’t be spineless. Support just causes. Come out to the streets. Be a shield for the students. It is then that you’ll be respected and honoured. Don’t fade away in the annals of time, through your death. Stay alive forever. Stay Shamsuzzoha.”&nbsp; No chopper had arrived, or indeed any attempt made at rescuing the hapless student. He became Shamsuzzoha. The televised murder is an indictment of a rogue government that has long lost its right to rule. The defiant outstretched arms of the young man, a televised murder that will remain etched in public memory. His body shudders after the first bullet, yet defiant he stands, then another bullet, and another and yet another. All from close range. The body crouches, then crumples and folds. His outstretched arms as he had faced the police will become the Tiananmen Square moment in Bangladesh’s history. 17 July 2024&nbsp; Border guards of Bangladesh, inept at protecting its citizens from becoming victims of the regular target practiced by Indian Border Security Forces, seem happy to turn their own guns towards unarmed students instead. The police were clearly lying when they claimed they had fired grenades to try and control unruly students.&nbsp; There were only four students at Raju Bhashkorjo. The only ones who had been able to get past the CL and police cordon. They wanted to hold a funeral for Abu Sayeed and other slain friends. When the police started shoving them away, they lay down on the ground in protest. They were surrounded by journalists. The police hurled a sound grenade which sent both the journalists and students scurrying. They then hurled further grenades at the journalists and bystanders left standing. That was when my colleague got hurt.&nbsp; The police were the only ones being violent. The entire space was encircled by hundreds of armed police. There were armoured vehicles. Water cannon trucks and even a prison van. I wonder which country has supplied our police with the 48 mm sound grenades (NF24. NENF24BP. MFG: 2022. Bangladesh Police/BP). The grenade was hurled directly at her. It was the first time she had joined a protest. At least she got to see how brave our police force is. 18 July 2024 A group of feminists who had planned to gather at Shahbag to express solidarity with the quota protesters, should not have posed a major threat. Police and government goons didn't allow them to gather, so they regrouped outside the Naripokkho office in Dhanmondi. They were attacked too. Safia Azim was injured, but did not require hospitalisation.&nbsp; The law minister, known for lying through his teeth, said earlier on BBC, that it was the protesters who instigated the violence. Meanwhile, the state-run &nbsp;BTV, the National Television Station, had been set on fire. Mobile data was blocked. Things were escalating. That night the Internet went down completely.&nbsp; Rumours spread about the military moving in. Fuelled partially by sightings of a convoy of APCs in the streets. Other sightings of 15 helicopters taking off from the Prime Minister’s official residence gave fuel to the rumours that the Prime Minister was trying to make a getaway. The sound of shelling and gunfire rang throughout the night. 19 July 2024 The Net had been down as had BTV the national television station. Over 50 have allegedly been killed. Pro government news outlets describe the protesting students as ‘miscreants’. A throwback to the term used by the Pakistani Army in 1971.&nbsp; There are other similarities. A flailing tyrant is lashing out to survive against an enraged public which has shaken free of its fear of a repressive regime. The attempt to disrupt the morning protest outside the Parliament Building in memory of Abu Sayeed, failed. Far too many protesters had gathered.&nbsp; The Net had been partially restored, but not BTV. That’s when news of attacks all across the country started pouring in. The left leader Zonayed Saki and other party members, had been badly beaten in Purana Paltan. The police backed vigilantes were desperately trying to quell the increasingly angry protesters. The desperate government offered a deal.&nbsp; The court would convene on Sunday, and they were prepared to engage in dialogue. ‘Not over spilled blood’ the students had replied. Fresh rumours of the military having been given magisterial powers and asked to intervene ‘In aid to civil power’, seems ironic. The people have spoken. The end is nigh. Shahidul Alam is an internationally-renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist and founder of Drik Picture Library and Pathshala photography training institute in Dhaka.&nbsp;

The Bangladesh tinderbox

Another deadly air crash in Nepal has once more made headlines around the world, further corroding the country’s poor aviation safety track record, and prompting questions about why these tragedies keep happening. A Saurya Airlines Bombardier CRJ200 on a maintenance ferry flight to Pokhara crashed on takeoff at Kathmandu airport shortly before noon on 24 July, killing 18 of the 19 people on board.&nbsp; The tragedy raised immediate questions about why a plane on a routine C Check ferry flight was carrying staff, including some with families.&nbsp; Initial reports, including videos of the crash show the plane bank steeply to the right after takeoff from runway 02, descend rapidly and just starting to level off before impact on an open space east of the runway.&nbsp; The captain Manish Shakya appears to have survived because the plane broke in two throwing the front of the plane away from the main cabin which exploded in a fireball. The actual reason why the plane spun out of control immediately after takeoff will only be known once Capt Shakya gives his account, and after an investigation.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724150756_f97a09e697a4a64f4b9ddbe27d40383125e9c567ff2f901cafa2adf5bee8c553.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240724150756_f97a09e697a4a64f4b9ddbe27d40383125e9c567ff2f901cafa2adf5bee8c553" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Saurya Airlines plane crash"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Aviation experts say that despite the horrendous loss of life, Wednesday’s crash could have been much worse had the plane veered to the left instead, and hit the international terminal building or the apron which was full of big jets preparing for departure.&nbsp; It was also fortuitous that the plane fell within the airport perimeter in an area where the ground is being levelled for a new international terminal building, and not in the densely populated suburb of Thapagaun east of the runway. The Canadian-built Bombardier CRJ200 of Saurya Airlines with call sign 9N-AME was 21 years old, and the only one flying in the domestic carrier’s fleet. The carrier mainly served trunk routes to Biratnagar and Bhadrapur in eastern Nepal. Among the dead in Wednesday’s crash were most of Saurya’s senior management, and its technical crew, including a Yemeni national. The Saurya Air crash is an outlier in Nepal’s air crash history where most disasters have been blamed on CFIT (Controlled flight Into Terrain, in which a plane hits a mountain hidden in cloud) or pilot error. Nepal’s high terrain, extreme weather and basic navigation facilities make it a challenging place to fly. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/60-years-of-living-dangerously" target="_blank">An analysis by Nepali Times</a> of 74 fatal crashes in Nepal in the past 60 years with data from various sources shows that a total of 960 have been killed. Some domestic carriers have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-to-make-nepals-skies-safer" target="_blank">lost most of their fleet</a> of aircraft.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240724150756_e3ffc6d8cc2d1e2b3c87fccd95ab06bb0573419e88ecfa3d1fc22362e1a37dff.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240724150756_e3ffc6d8cc2d1e2b3c87fccd95ab06bb0573419e88ecfa3d1fc22362e1a37dff" data-rendition-name="original" width="2778" height="1708" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal aviation accidents map NT"> </figure>  The crash was similar to a Bangladesh airliner that crashed near the runway at Kathmandu airport in 2018, killing 49 and injuring 22. An investigation concluded that the captain of the US Bangla Bombardier Q400 was having an emotional breakdown.&nbsp; A Sita Air Dornier 225 flight to Lukla also crashed soon after takeoff from Kathmandu in 2013, killing 23 mainly foreign trekkers. A probe into that crash showed that one of the causes was that the plane was overloaded. The deadliest international crashes involved Thai and PIA Airbuses on approach to Kathmandu airport within two months of each other in 1992, killing a total of 280 people. <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2F78ZbecJ8BCE%3Fsi%3DEn14tig8xSaohj9C&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> Records show that 201 people have been killed in crashes in Nepal since 2016, 79 of them in three crashes in just the past two years, the most serious being the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-bound-flight-crashes-in-nepal" target="_blank">Yeti Airlines disaster on 15 January 2022</a> at Pokhara airport which had been inaugurated just two weeks previously. The Saurya jet was flying to Pokhara for routine check after leasing the hangar there. Saurya used to maintain its aircraft at Buddha Air’s facilities in Kathmandu, but its hangar was not free. The last fatal accident in Nepal was a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/chopper-hits-mountain-near-everest" target="_blank">Manang Air helicopter</a> that went down near Lukla last year which killed six. Nepal’s domestic air travel has seen a boom in the past two years because of the poor state of highways. Most roads have been blocked by landslides and floods during the current monsoon, and there have been a spate of bad highway crashes including a debris flow that swept two intercity buses into the swollen Trisuli River on the Mugling highway on the night of 12 July carrying 65 passengers. The buses have not yet been found.&nbsp;

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