Nearly 750,000 Nepalis went abroad for employment in the past year, and more than 100,000 left on student visas. Most of them were young Nepali men and women, and the number has been increasing every year. As with other sections of society, Nepal’s security agencies also face a recruitment crisis. Nepal Police opened recruitment for 64 inspectors in September, and received 2,239 applications, compared to 2,718 candidates last year. Police also invited candidates for 256 assistant sub-inspectors this year for which it received 17,756 applications – down from 19,932 last year. It is the same story in the Nepal Army, the number of applicants for the post of Officer Cadet (Second Lieutenant) went down from 6,144 for 400 open seats in 2019 to 4,390 in 2020. Meanwhile, applicants in the paramilitary Armed Police Force went down from 857 applications for 75 posts in 2021 to 536 applicants for 99 posts last year. While the number of applicants appears higher than the demand, the data shows a significant decrease in applications for vacancies in Nepal’s law enforcement agencies. Security personnel are recruited on the basis of rank and age in Nepal, and the age cutoff for entry into Nepal’s security agencies is typically 25 years. Sociologist and migration expert Ganesh Gurung says that the demographic of young, physically fit Nepalis emigrating abroad in search of better opportunities has impacted recruitment into law enforcement and the military here at home. “The returns from working in Nepal’s police and army are minimal, whereas overseas job opportunities are more attractive,” Gurung says. “The work may be physically demanding abroad, but the pay is a lot higher.”  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241116041148_a7e477e0ee2f56acf16c2559fdb24d8f0377f7bc1f9e56138bc40108fc4fa33f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241116041148_a7e477e0ee2f56acf16c2559fdb24d8f0377f7bc1f9e56138bc40108fc4fa33f" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="534" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal Police"><figcaption>Nepal Police</figcaption></figure>  Nepal Police spokesperson DIG Dan Bahadur Karki agrees that the physical and mental demands of a law enforcement job is incomparable to the income that security personnel earn. “A young Nepali who works in Dubai earns enough to build a home in the village within four years, while a Nepali with the same qualifications and physical ability in a security agency here barely makes enough to survive,” says Karki. “Obviously the youth prefer foreign employment.” Security agencies are now worried about the quality of inducted manpower. “There is a difference in work ethic between an applicant chosen from a competitive pool of 50 candidates versus one chosen from a pool of three candidates,” explains Gurung. “Unmotivated employees hamper the overall performance of the state apparatus.” Nepal Army spokesperson Brigadier General Gaurab Kumar KC says recruitment has not been hampered by outmigration: “We have still been getting more than three times the applicants than there are open posts, so we are not yet worried.” Even so, the passing rates of aspirants have gone down for security forces after the Public Service Commission began examinations for military recruitment in 2015. In fact, the Nepal Army complained about the Commission’s involvement in recruitment. Still, the number of vacant military posts tends to exceed the number of passing candidates. Nepal Army’s KC says that the military will not compromise on intake criteria even if there are fewer passing applicants. “Unqualified persons will not be admitted even if there are less-than-required passing candidates. We will re-advertise if that is the case.” But Nepal’s security forces now also have to worry about retention of existing personnel. About 900 Nepal Army, 600 Nepal Police, and 300 Armed police personnel resign every year before the completion of their tenure.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241116041148_b8cd62f70eea3aac7d3d3778615a5b70b1e20550c9bd76321f051f9c766fd2a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241116041148_b8cd62f70eea3aac7d3d3778615a5b70b1e20550c9bd76321f051f9c766fd2a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="378" loading="lazy" alt="Armed police forces"><figcaption>Armed Police Force</figcaption></figure>  In 2020, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa recalled almost 1,000 police personnel who had been deployed for the security of VIPs after long-standing criticism that security forces were being misused to cater to political and bureaucratic leadership. However, security personnel have continued to be assigned to high-ranking officials as glorified housekeepers. In December 2022, Rabi Lamichhane’s Home Ministry had instructed its offices to recall unauthorised security personnel assigned to high-ranking officials, following which 500 officers from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force were withdrawn from their details. But the Nepal Army does not have to follow such rules, and the practice of army personnel serving high-ranking active-duty and retired military personnel remains. Conditions here are dire enough that many active duty officers in Nepal’s military and police forces have chosen to leave their jobs to serve in the Russian Army to fight in the Ukraine war. The hierarchical culture and chain of command of politics, bureaucracy, law enforcement and military has also meant that abuse and mistreatment of subordinates is rife in Nepal’s security forces. “Feudalism is alive and well within our security institutions,” says Gurung. “When soldiers and security forces who swore to protect and serve the nation are made to be at the beck and call of politicians and bureaucrats, it is easy to understand why they are disillusioned with their jobs and why they choose to quit and find jobs abroad.”

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Job insecurity in security forces

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd9a9c7e80680e0a0bf4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Rajkumar Kathariya was arrested from the hospital where he was receiving treatment after being shot in police firing. His wife Sita gave birth to their son while he was seven months into custody. All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>On 25 August 2015, Ram Prasad Chaudhary was in a meeting with the principal of the school in Joshipur of which he was president when plainclothes policemen rushed in. He was handcuffed and blindfolded without being told of the charges against him.The beatings began in the police van. “From Tikapur to Dhangadi, they tortured me. I had no hope of coming out of there alive,” recalls Ram Prasad, who floated in and out of consciousness until they reached Dhangadi. More torture and humiliation would follow in prison.The previous day, Tharu activists demanding greater autonomy for their indigenous group in the new Constitution had confronted Akhanda Sudur Paschim supporters, and the police intervened as the clashes <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/08/24/kailali-carnage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">became violent</a>.As things escalated, eight policemen were butchered in Tikapur, and a two year-old toddler was shot dead. In the following weeks, as the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/01/22/tikapur-finding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">masterminds of the violence</a> and those known to have whipped up the agitation slipped away, police took revenge on innocent Tharus.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd9d9c7e80680e0a0bf5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1125" height="750"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Ram Prasad finally found out in jail that he had been arrested for the killings of the policemen in Tikapur on 24 August. He had been a constituency-level leader of the then Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Democratic), and had participated in the protest but was not involved in the killings.Sick in hospital, the court ordered that Ram Prasad receive treatment for his injuries. Doctors found that he had suffered blunt force trauma to the head, arms, and chest from incessant beatings. Six years later, Ram Prasad is still on medication for his injuries.This week ahead of the anniversary of the tragedy, Tharuhat Central Coordination Committee has started a sit-in in Kathmandu demanding the cases filed after the massacre to be withdrawn and the report of the government’s investigation into the incident to be made public.The Tikapur protest was not a sudden implosion, but the apotheosis of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/5-myths-about-the-tharu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tharu</a> movement, similar to movements by other ethnic communities across the country. The Tharuhat Struggle Committee (TSC) had rejected the seven-province federalism model that placed Kailali and Kanchanpur in Far-western Province, and had been agitating for a separate Tharuhat Province.Madhav Chaudhary, Kailali coordinator of the TSC, says that the situation deteriorated after proponents of the Akhanda Sudur Paschim movement staged a motorcycle rally from Dhangadi to Tikapur on 20 August to celebrate the passing of the new Constitution.Disgruntled Tharuhat cadre tried to stop the rally in retaliation for the disruption of a TSC meeting in Dhangadi. Akhanda Sudur Paschim activists then vandalised the Tharu Welfare Assembly office and other Tharu-owned buildings in Tikapur.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/displacement-and-defiance/">Displacement and defiance</a>, Tom RobertsonThe local administration imposed a lockdown in Tikapur, but TSC members gathered thousands of Tharus in Tikapur to replace ‘Nepal Government’ in signboards with ‘Autonomous Tharuhat Province’.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/03/12/from-tikapur-to-maleth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">police was overwhelmed</a> by the sheer numbers of protesters. By the end of the day, SSP Laxman Neupane, Inspectors Balram Bista and Keshav Bohara, Constable Shyam Bahadur Khadka, Police Constable Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Senior Constable Lalit Saud, Assistant Constable Ram Bihari Chaudhary, Constable Janak Negi, and the two-year-old son of one of the policemen, Tek Bahadur Saud, had been killed by protesters.Police filed cases against 58 suspects in the Kailali District Court, out of which two were Muslims, and the rest Tharu. Of them, only 27 suspects were arrested, and 31 are still on the run. Of the 27 arrested, 17 have since been released. All of them spoke to us of being tortured while in police custody.Five days after the Tikapur incident, police held discussions with locals under the premise of restoring communal harmony, but by then most TSC leaders had fled. That night, police went house-to-house arresting any TSC member they could find.Santa Kumar Chaudhary, who ran a liquor shop in Bhajani, was one of them. His wife Yamuna Devi Rasaili remembers the police buying alcohol, getting drunk and beating both husband and wife.The inebriated policemen led by Inspector Bharat Shah then kicked down the door to the home of Brijmohan Chaudhary, who lived nearby. He told us: “Around 12 drunk policemen broke in at 1AM and began beating me and took me to jail.”Kisan Lal Chaudhary remembers the torture in custody. “They used sticks and even their gun butts to beat us senseless,” says Kisan Lal, who still needs treatment. Vegetable vendor Rajesh Chaudhary was also arrested that night, and severely tortured. Santaram Chaudhary, a teacher from Bhajani, had to be taken to hospital after the torture shattered his right eardrum.Even before the 24 August 2015 killings, Rajkumar Kathariya and Sundarlal Kathariya of Janaki village were shot in police firing and had been hospitalised.But the police picked them anyway, accusing them of being involved in the killing of policemen. Rajkumar’s brother-in-law Ram Kumar Kathariya went to the hospital with clothes and money, and stayed there overnight. On 25 August, Rajkumar, Sundarlal and Ram Kumar were arrested at the hospital.“They asked us if we had gone to the protests and killed those policemen,” Rajkumar recalls. “I told them that was impossible because I had been shot by the police before the killings, and was in hospital. But they beat me up anyway.”Seven months into custody, Rajkumar’s wife Sita gave birth to their son. Sita would visit Rajkumar in prison with their infant son. Even as he was filled with joy, the first sight of his child, whom he couldn’t hold or even touch, broke his heart. “I wish I had been with Sita when she was pregnant,” says Rajkumar, holding his son at his doorstep last week, six years after that horror-filled day. “I suffered thinking about her going through it alone.”The Kailali District Court ruled that Rajkumar would serve a life sentence for the Tikapur killings. However, in December 2020, the Dipayal High Court reduced Rajkumar’s sentence to five years. By that time, however, he had already spent six months more than his term. Rajkumar’s brother-in-law Ram Kumar was initially sentenced to three years in prison, even though he had already spent three-and-a-half years in jail by that time.Sundarlal Kathariya suffered multiple tragedies during his five year incarceration. He lost his daughter to jaundice, and his son has been paralysed after an accident. “Had I not been in prison, I would have been able to get my children the treatment they needed,” says Sundarlal. “My family was destroyed.”Others, like Lahuram Chaudhary, spent six months more than his three-year sentence, while Rajesh Chaudhary and Brijmohan Chaudhary spent four more months than their five-year terms.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfda09c7e80680e0a0bf6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1125" height="750"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepal’s National Criminal Code stipulates that no one shall be subjected to torture, and those perpetrating it face stiff fines and jail terms. The code further states, ‘Any person who commits such an offence shall not be allowed to claim that they have committed the offence under orders from a superior officer, nor shall they be exempt from punishment.’But although the torture of the Tharus of Tikapur while in custody was recorded in court, there was no subsequent investigation by law enforcement. And no compensation.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfda39c7e80680e0a0bf7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1125" height="750"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Ram Naresh Chaudhary lived and worked as a mathematics teacher near his rented flat in Bardia, some 23 km from Tikapur. He was teaching his Grade 10 class on 25 August when two plainclothes policemen showed up and asked him to confirm his identity. He was then put on the back of a motorcycle and taken to Dhangadi. Ram Naresh was accused of involvement in the killings even though he had not been anywhere near Tikapur the previous day. He asked police to check his phone’s geolocation, but they put him behind bars anyway.Birbal Chaudhary, the principal of the school Ram Naresh taught at, went to the police station in Dhangadi with his colleague’s attendance record to prove his innocence. Birbal offered to pay bail, but was denied. “If you talk too much you will suffer the same fate,” the police told him.The district court in 2018 ruled that Ram Naresh was not involved in the killings, and in 2020, the high court upheld the district court's verdict. By that time, he had spent three and a half years in prison. “I spent three-and-a-half years in prison despite my innocence,” says Ram Naresh. “I lost my job, my family is in disarray. Where is justice?”Tikapur farmer Bishram Kushmi ran an agro-vet and nursery shop in Tikapur and had taken out a loan to rent a plot. His store had been vandalised and looted the day after the deadly protests, but police still came after him seven months later to arrest him. “Months after my store was vandalised, I was jailed,” Kushmi says, “my business was finished, and my debt kept stacking up. I lost everything.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfda69c7e80680e0a0bf8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Kushmi had not been named in any of the complaints following the Tikapur incident, and his phone’s location proved he had been nowhere near the protest site. But the government prosecutors still sought life imprisonment. On 6 March, after spending 3 years in prison, Kusmi was acquitted, but by that time the bank had started the process of auctioning his property.Although Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered that those who were falsely imprisoned be compensated, they have not received any amount from the state. Police haven’t had to answer for their arbitrary arrests and torture. The courts have not been held to account for wrong prosecutions.Santa Kumar Chaudhary is serving a life sentence for the Tikapur killings in Jhumka Prison, 500km away in Sunsari. But it appears he was mistaken for someone else with the same name.Wrongful imprisonment was not the only consequence that Tharus of Kailali faced after the Tikapur killings of police. There were revenge attacks on Tharu-owned houses and businesses in Tikapur, many were vandalised, looted, and set on fire. Nirmala Chaudhary, owner of Niru Traders, had brought her pregnant sister to Tikapur to care for her. Her shop was set on fire by Akhanda Sudur Paschim protestors. She and her sister escaped the fire from the third floor window.“My sister gave birth to her daughter that very night. Every year on that day, I struggle with joy and sorrow,” says Nirmala. “Should I celebrate my niece’s birthday, or mourn the loss of my house and shop?”Shiva Narayan Chaudhary sold electrical goods at Niru Traders with his wife Nirmala. It was looted and burned to the ground despite the curfew imposed after the Tikapur violence.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdab9c7e80680e0a0bf9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="924" height="617"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“Everything that was stocked up for the Dasain festival was looted and they had police protection,” says Shiva Narayan, who did receive some compensation. Indeed, while shops owned by Tharus were looted and torched, those owned by hill settlers were not. Businesses run by Tharu families in buildings owned by non-Tharu were vandalised, but not set on fire.“We filed a petition demanding action and sent it to the police,” Shiva Narayan says,“However, there has been no investigation into the vandalism and arson of our homes and shops.” Laxman Tharu, the national coordinator of the Tharuhat/Tharuwan Struggle Committee, says that the Tikapur violence set back the movement for Tharu autonomy.“Since the Tharuhat movement was gaining traction, the Tikapur incident was planned to disenfranchise us, as a result of which the movement has suffered great loss,” he says.There was dissatisfaction among many ethnic groups across the country seeking autonomy in the new Constitution. Although the demands of other ethnic groups were partially met, TSC coordinator for Kailali-3 Ram Prasad Chaudhary says: “The Tharu have been the only people who haven’t had any of their concerns addressed. The state has continued its historical oppression.”<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/atrocities-against-tharu-expressed-in-art/">Atrocities against Tharu expressed in art</a>, Sakina Abidi_________________<h2>Righting historical wrongs</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdad9c7e80680e0a0bfajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">In his book Madhes: Problems and Possibilities, researcher Arjun Guneratne writes about the Tharu and the Nepali state, tracing the historical discrimination and land-grabbing by settlers of the forests and farms of the Tarai where the Tharu lived.It all started with the practice of gifting birta land to soldiers and military officials to feed the Gorkha conquests of the 18-19th century. This process accelerated after malaria was eradicated in the 1960s, and the forests cleared to allow a state-sponsored trans-migration of hill people to the Tarai.The impact of such migration, Guneratne writes, was widespread in the Far West and Inner Tarai valleys like Chitwan and Dang. After losing their land, many Tharus of western Nepal joined the ranks of kamaiya indentured labourers.The anti-kamaiya movement in the 1990s for the first time made the Tharus politically aware. This is why the Maoists were able to recruit Tharus into their militia during the insurgency by promising them liberation with an autonomous Tharu state.According to a report on Nepal’s conflict by the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), it was the Tharu who suffered the most casualties and enforced disappearances in proportion to their population base.Fifteen years after the conflict, the Maoists are in power and have forgotten about their promises to the Tharu, and have still not been allowed into decision-making positions either in provincial or the federal government.Translated by Shristi Karki from the original in Himal monthly.

Tikapur’s protracted trauma

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2c79c7e80680e07bb02jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>All photos: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>The Machindranath festival is usually supposed to be in May to ensure that the rain gods bring a timely monsoon. The chariot was built during the lockdown, but police stopped it from being pulled on Thursday to enforce the extension of the lockdown in Kathmandu Valley.Police tried to reason with members of the guthi that handles the logistics, but some of them started pelting stones at a police van. They were then tear gased and police used water cannon to disperse the crowd. Although most of the pullers were wearing masks, there was a crowd of about 200 people.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2ca9c7e80680e07bb03jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2ce9c7e80680e07bb04jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Authorities have once again extended the lockdown in Kathmandu Valley by a week until 9 September to contain the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the community. All services are closed except for essentials and crowding is restricted.Roshan Dhungana of the Lalitpur Guthi Sansthan says they were unaware about the chariot procession. “It shouldn’t have happened during the lockdown, despite the government’s ban but we had no idea.”On Monday, 30 members of a prayer group that regularly chanted in front of the chariot every morning tested positive for the novel coronavirus.Neither the Guthi Sansthan or local groups were said to be aware about the chariot being pulled today, and it is not clear who authorised it. The devotees appeared to have moved the chariot since the coming month is regarded as inauspicious, and there were angry comments from a range of supporters who said the festival could not be stopped because it was a part of Patan's intangible cultural heritage.Indeed, the Machindranath chariot's circumambulation of Patan, and its travel to and from Bungamati every 12 years is a major part of the city's cultural calendar.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9D5rISZctI&amp;feature=emb_logoPolice fought pitched battles in Pulchok for a while against protesters angry at being prevented from pulling the chariot. Several policemen, including a traffic policeman, were hurt when stone-pelting protesters attacked them.The local government has tried to stop the chariot procession because of the fear that it would make the outbreak of Covid-19 in Kathmandu worse.On Thursday, Kathmandu Valley recorded 445 more people with the virus. Nepal saw its highest total testing positive with 1,288 in the past 24 hours taking the nationwide total to 42,877. So far 24 607 people have recovered.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2d19c7e80680e07bb05jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2d59c7e80680e07bb06jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="999"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2d89c7e80680e07bb07jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2dc9c7e80680e07bb08jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2df9c7e80680e07bb09jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2e39c7e80680e07bb0ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2e69c7e80680e07bb0bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2e99c7e80680e07bb0cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The red god resides in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/cultural-evolution">Machindranath temple in Bungamati,</a> except for six months in a year when it is drawn through the streets of Patan in a chariot. Usually, the god is ceremonially installed on the chariot in mid-May and devotees believe that the chariot pulling will appease the rain god before the monsoon. This year, the festival has been by five months due to the coronavirus crisis.The chariot festival is often linked to the fate of the nation, and in fact the years in which the Machindranath chariot has keeled over or caught fire have been closely followed by major political upheavals and natural calamities in Nepal.Many of the faithful at the chariot this year will be praying for a speedy end to the pandemic, and a return to normalcy for the country.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2ec9c7e80680e07bb0djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2ef9c7e80680e07bb0ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365">All photos: BIKRAM RAI

Police stop Patan chariot pulling citing Covid-19

<h2>14 years and 11 prime ministers later</h2> Text and photographs by Bikkil SthapitMany of the over 1,300 people still listed as missing after the Maoist war in Nepal left behind material objects. These are the only memories that remain, connecting the families to the loved ones who were disappeared. These memorabilia from the decade-long war are the only substantial things that the family members have protected – 14 years after the conflict ended. They occupy a special place in the family homes and work places, preserving their presence. The objects also keep faint hopes alive that by some miracle, the family member will suddenly reappear one day. More than 17,000 Nepalis were killed during the insurgency, there were brutal human rights violations and war crimes, including summary executions, disappearances, torture, rape, solitary confinement. Since the end of the conflict in 2006, limited support has been provided to survivors and their families of the disappeared. However, there are no answers to questions like whether they are alive or dead, who killed them, why, where, when? The Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was signed on 21 November 2006 between the government of Nepal and the Maoist party. It brought ‘peace’ to a country weary of war, and propelled the former guerrillas to power. However, 14 years and 11 prime ministers later, there have been no efforts to trace the missing, and tell families the truth, or give them justice. Two commissions were formed to investigate gross human rights violations and charge perpetrators, but neither have done much. The discourse around transitional justice in Nepal has approached memory, truth and justice in legalistic terms so that the experience of acute loss of families is often lost. Missing are the personal accounts of survivors and families of victims. <figure><img width="1500" height="1019" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7fd9c7e80680e0737b7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba8009c7e80680e0737b8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="1401" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba8039c7e80680e0737b9jpeg.jpg" alt="">When my brother, Ajaya Shahi, earned his first salary he bought this shirt. He was  disappeared by the Army on 19 July, 2004. I have safely kept my brothers’ shirt in a separate box.Bijaya ShahiKirtipur <img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba8069c7e80680e0737bajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="897" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba8099c7e80680e0737bbjpeg.jpg" alt="">My father used to make bronze Buddhas. Why is the army still not telling us what happened to him? Will this bring the peace to the country?Nagma MaliDaughter of Nanda Gopal MaliThecho, Lalitpur <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba80c9c7e80680e0737bcjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba80f9c7e80680e0737bdjpeg.jpg" alt="">My husband used to carry this sickle all the time in the rice field. It has been lying here ever since he was disappeared, and it is rusted. I have been keeping it safely as his last memento.Ramkali Devi TharuWife of Guru Prasad KathariyaRajapur, Bardia <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8139c7e80680e0737bejpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8169c7e80680e0737bfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8199c7e80680e0737c0jpeg.jpg" alt="">My son used to recite from this Bible at church where we went together. I have kept this Bible thinking he will return some day. When that happens I will hand it over to him.Ratna Kumari MaliMother of Baburaja MaliGodavari, Lalitpur. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba81c9c7e80680e0737c1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>My son used the this plough whenever we went to the fields together. Today, we only have the plough. I cannot use it, and my son cannot use it.Surjan TharuBardia <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba81f9c7e80680e0737c2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8229c7e80680e0737c3jpeg.jpg" alt="">He started to work for a pharmacy to manage the household expenses after his father died. This wall clock is the first thing he bought from his salary.I keep looking at it to pass the time till my son returns home. Mohan Maya MaliMother of Rajendra MaliGodavari, Lalitpur.During his 14-month-long jail time, my brother used to send us letters by hiding them inside biscuits and noodle packets. That's how we received this letter too. Butter Cracker and Wai Wai noodles still remind me of him. Even today, whenever I see biscuit and noodles, I anxiously think there might be a letter in it from him.He was in touch with our family until 22 November, 2003. The last letter that we received was written from Sundhara Central Jail.Sapana SuwarnakarSister of the disappeared Ashok AkelaBorlang-5, Gorkha <img width="1131" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8269c7e80680e0737c4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8299c7e80680e0737c5jpeg.jpg" alt="">I was taken to Bhairabnath Batallion on 12 December, 2004. I was wearing this sweater when the army freed me and dropped me off at Banasthali Chok on February 17, 2005. Swatantra Chaulagain of Bhote Chaur, Sindhupalchok, had given me this sweater while we were in the army camp together. “Please register my name at Amnesty. Don’t quit the party if you return safely,” he had told me.Swatantra Chaulagain is still missing.Ujjwal Acharya (name changed)KavreBikkil Sthapit is a rights activist and a photographer who has been documenting the issue of enforced disappearances in Nepal. He also runs the oral history initiative SunaMeroKatha.com These profiles were prepared during the Memory, Truth &amp; Justice project of VOW Media.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <h2>“We went everywhere, but we got no answers” </h2> Text and photographs by Sabrina Dangol <figure><img width="1500" height="1002" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba82c9c7e80680e0737c6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The doorway to Ram Maya’s rented room.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1002" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba82f9c7e80680e0737c7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Ram Maya Nakarmi’s husband Padma Narayan's picture on the wall.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1001" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8339c7e80680e0737c8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>A collection of old pictures of Ram Maya’s husband and relatives.</figcaption></figure>Ram Maya Nakarmi, 44, is packing up all her belongings as she prepares to move her residence again. She has been renting a one-bedroom flat with her only daughter, Lumana Nakarmi.It will be the fourth time she moves homes in the last five years, after the 2015 earthquake destroyed her old house, the same one where her husband, Padam Narayan Nakarmi, was forcefully taken away in 2003.Padam Narayan used to work as an ironmonger in a small grill shop in Bungmati. They had been married for five years, and Ram Maya knew that he had been in touch with the Maoist party off and on."Deep down I knew it was coming," she says, remembering that eight of his friends had got arrested a few days earlier.When they came for him, it all happened so fast that she only remembers pleading with the security personnel to let her accompany him to the police station. They refused, but assured her he would return the next day. It has been 17 years, and she never saw her husband again."When they came for Padam, they climbed into our room through a ladder. They didn't even knock or give us a time to decide anything,” Ram Maya recalls. “If I had known back then, I would have locked all the doors and windows shut."<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8379c7e80680e0737c9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="999">Ram Maya retrieving her husband’s picture from her purse.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba83a9c7e80680e0737cajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1482" height="988">Ram Maya’s reflection caught in the mirror. <figure><img width="640" height="928" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba83e9c7e80680e0737cbjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Portrait of Ram Maya Nakarmi in her rented home in Bungamati.</figcaption></figure>In the months following her husband’s arrest, Ram Maya went to police stations almost every day, walking up to 10km into town and back. Buses were scarce and the fare was expensive. Some of his friends were freed and told her that they had all been together in Bhairabnath Battalion base in Maharajganj for months.Later, Padam Narayan had been separated and taken somewhere else. So, Ram Maya visited Bhairabnath and the army base in Lagankhel regularly for two years.Her daughter Lumana, who was four years old, kept asking for her father. So she took her small child with her to Maharajganj and pleaded with the authorities to at least let her daughter see her father, but they did not allow her.Ram Maya was told to go to the Royal Nepal Army headquarters, and she kept going there, but no one wanted to tell her anything."I am not literate. I don't have people skills, nor can I present an argument properly. My brother-in-law helped me and accompanied me everywhere, but it was of no use. We got no answers," she recalls. <figure><img width="1500" height="999" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8419c7e80680e0737ccjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Ram Maya’s daughter Lumana Nakarmi working in her laptop.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1002" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141116/636ba8439c7e80680e0737cdjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Ram Maya Nakarmi looking out of the window from her rented room in Bungamati.</figcaption></figure>Ram Maya's in-laws supported her for the first two years of her search, but they also lost hope. Her daughter also stopped asking about her father, and stopped even mentioning him.She got a factory job in Bungamati and focused on raising her daughter, who is now 20, studying and working at the same time. Neither mother nor daughter likes to remember those dark days any more. Ram Maya says, "We somehow survived amidst all the chaos and grief, but it feels like a part of both of our lives have been lost. I say that I have given up, but deep down I still hope for his return.”More on series of features for the International Day of Disappeared:<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-empty-chairs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The empty chairs</a>, Guligo Jia<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/disappearance-of-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Disapperance of justice</a>, Sabrina Dangol

Only memories remain

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6339c7e80680e073709jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"/><figcaption>All photos: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>A total of 620 police across the country have been infected with Covid-19, two Deputy Inspector General working in the Nepal Police Hospital being the latest. Yet, police are on the frontlines along the country’s highways and at entry-points to Kathmandu to enforce traffic restrictions.Earlier this month, the Traffic Police Headquarter in Singha Darbar, Metropolitan Police Office in Ratna Park and Nepal Police Headquarters in Naxal were all sealed off following the detection of SARS-CoV-2 among police officers. Nepal Police Headquarters alone reported 155 positive cases. So far 240 police officials have recovered with 380 undergoing treatment.Although the lockdown was partially lifted on 21 July, Nepal’s health authorities have re-imposed restrictions on long-distance buses, inter-district travel, sealed off cities in the Tarai, and districts in the mid-mountains, and closed restaurants again.Kathmandu Valley has become a hotspot with 172 new cases detected on Sunday, taking the total active cases to 1894. Across Nepal, 641 new cases were reported taking the total to 26,660 with 104 fatalities form Covid-19.The total deaths from the virus has doubled in the past 15 days, and rose from 38 on 15 July to 104 on 16 August.Following this surge of coronavirus in the capital city, the government last week sealed off Kathmandu Valley — no one can drive in or out. It further restricted movement of public and private vehicles from 9PM-5AM, and enforced an odd-even rule for all vehicles in the city.Pictured here are traffic police officers checking vehicles at Koteswor and Satdobato intersections on Sunday night just before the 9PM curfew went into effect.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6369c7e80680e07370ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6399c7e80680e07370bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba63c9c7e80680e07370cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba63f9c7e80680e07370djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6429c7e80680e07370ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6459c7e80680e07370fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6489c7e80680e073710jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Photos by Bikram Rai.

Nepal Police at the frontlines against coronavirus

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141140/636bae749c7e80680e077ff4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="900"/>Last September, contractor Sujan Poudel filed a complaint at the Commission for the Investigation for the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against police deputy superintendent Shyam Kumar Rai, accusing him of soliciting a bribe. The CIAA decided to catch Rai red-handed in a sting operation.A month later, Poudel went to Rai’s office and surreptitiously planted Rs140,000 in cash in the police officer’s drawer. Immediately after, officials from the CIAA who were hiding outside barged into the office and arrested Rai.The media ran the news: ‘DSP Rai arrested with Rs140,000 bribe money’. The CIAA took Rai under custody and filed a corruption case at the Special Court. In his statement, Rai accused Poudel of framing him because he had taken action against the contractor for illegal sand mining and quarrying.As evidence, the CIAA had submitted a video footage of the cash in Rai’s drawer. But when police examined the video, they found that the CIAA team seemed to know exactly where to look for the cash. “Take out money from the drawer,” a member of the CIAA team is overheard saying.The Special Court analysed the video, and ruled that Rai had indeed been framed by Poudel. The justices said in their judgement: “It seems the CIAA has worked at the behest of special interest groups unhappy with a strict ban on illegal sand extraction,” said one of the judges of the fast-track court established to deal with corruption cases.Pralhad Dhital, an assistant forest officer of the Kavre District Forest Office, was attending a training organised in Kathmandu last month when Jagatlal Tamang, an entrepreneur of Kavre, repeatedly telephoned him asking for a meeting. Tamang came to Kathmandu and the two went out to a cafe. At the table, Tamang abruptly put Rs20,000 in Dhital’s hand, and suddenly CIAA officials lurking nearby pounced on Dhital.The media reported: ‘Kavre Forest Official Caught Red-handed accepting Bribe’.Tamang later confessed that he had indeed decided to frame Dhital after he refused permission to fell 56 pine trees in a private property. He added that CIAA officials helped him write his application and showed him how to carry out the sting operation. As with many other cases, Tamang framed Dhital with the active collusion of the agency mandated to fight corruption. Dhital was suspended from his job.Not only does this show that media headlines about corruption may be misleading, it has also exposed questionable practices at the CIAA. Records show that the anti-corruption agency is regularly using sting techniques in petty offences to catch small-time criminals. Last November the agency arrested traffic policeman Nabin Kumar Jha of Dhanusha, while receiving a Rs1,000 bribe. Jha was arrested shortly after receiving ‘bribe’ planted on him by a CIAA driver.In Kaski the CIAA’s Pokhara Regional Office acting on a complaint, planned a sting operation against land revenue officer Dipak Subedi by getting an official posing as someone needing a job done. Subedi was caught while accepting a Rs3,000 bribe from an undercover CIAA official, and agency filed a case against him.The CIAA has even conducted a sting operation to arrest a messenger at the Land Reform Office in Itahari. In a clear case of entrapment, it offered Arjun Mandal Rs2,000 for a service, which he accepted. He was arrested and charged.Instead of going after officials and politicians who embezzle billions with impunity, critics say, the CIAA is targetting corruption. They say the agency is carrying out these operations so it can boast about the number of corruption cases it has cracked. Indeed, the CIAA’s annual report for 2018-2019 cites ‘a record number of corruption cases’.At a press conference in January, CIAA spokesperson Pradeep Kumar Koirala patted himself on the back by saying that the agency had performed “a great achievement” by busting so many corruption cases. Out of 351 graft cases filed by the CIAA last year, 147 were bribery and of these in 40% the accused was apprehended using sting tactics. This year, the number of sting operations has shot up to 181 cases – of which half were cases involving less than Rs25,000 in bribes. Of the total 277 arrested 69 were junior civil servants and 16 were messengers and peons.“Previously, cases of fake academic credential used to top other corruption cases,” said Gauri Bahadur Karki, former chair of the Special Court, ‘these days, they have been replaced by sting operations.”Details of the CIAA’s own annual report reveal that the powerful constitutional body that is entrusted with controlling graft and malfeasance in government and ensure good governance is busy with petty bribes, and arresting junior-most government employees.The CIAA is obviously taking the easy way out to fulfil its case quota, while trying not to ruffle any feathers. It is not going after powerful officials involved in tax evasion, investigating ill-gotten wealth, or following the money trail in corruption involving senior officials. It is enticing low-level officials who put their hands in the honey pot.“CIAA has not followed the instructions of parliamentary committees to go after big fish in high-profile cases like the Airbus deal, Ncell tax and Yeti Holdings. None of those scams were investigated, but it is targeting petty corruption just to show that it is meeting targets,” said Karki.The sting operation has raised ethical issues of whether entrapment is an acceptable way to nab public officials. Should the CIAA even be tempting junior bureaucrats by using a bribe as a trap. Is it even legal?As per Article 239 of the Constitution the CIAA can investigate wrongdoings of any public position holder and file corruption case against them if charges are established. Section 30 of the regulation states that the CIAA can provide money to informers if any public position holder seeks bribe. But there is no provision of legal action against bribe receivers and providers.The CIAA has been using this Section to conduct sting operations whereas Section 3 of Corruption Prevention Act-2002 clearly states that both bribe receivers and providers should be punished for bribery. Ironically, this may actually make the CIAA also liable for corruption.“CIAA can file corruption case if someone is caught taking a bribe,” said constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya, “but a constitutionally empowered body’s involvement in using cash to trap someone is not really acceptable matter in any civilised society, and it goes against the rule of law.”Another advocate Bishnu Prasad Ghimire argues that the CIAA’s sting operation is guided with the intent of improving its success rate in controlling corruption by trapping citizens.  “State agencies should not be involved in such activity, and the use of state coffers to entrap citizens is not acceptable,” said Ghimire.Ghimire says sting operations by a state agency is actually illegal and objectionable. As per Nepal’s criminal law, only Parliament can determine which act is a crime and which is not.Acharya recalls that sting operations have been used in the United States and India, but the courts there have set a precedent by annulling the provision of providing money to trap criminals. He says as democracy with the rule of law, Nepal should follow that practice.The US Supreme Court in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/503/540/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/503/540/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595658441786000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH07kw3Z3XtVIHIDEfMKSIkPMbtAg">an order issued on April 1992 states</a>: ‘In their zeal to enforce the law, government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person's mind the disposition to commit a criminal act, and then induce commission of the crime so that the government may prosecute.’In a ruling, India’s Supreme Court has also raised moral questions about sting operations with the <a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/120178732/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/120178732/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595658441787000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFD_9ZxQf78QImt73MtvIr34R_USg">order</a>: ‘Being essentially a deceptive operation, though designed to nab a criminal, a sting operation raises certain moral and ethical questions. The victim, who is otherwise innocent, is lured into committing a crime on the assurance of absolute secrecy and confidentiality of the circumstances raising the potential question as to how such a victim can be held responsible for the crime which he would not have committed but for the enticement.’ ,” states theIn Nepal, too, a case has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the CIAA’s use of stings. However, Pradeep Koirala at the CIAA defends the practice saying the agency provides money to victims of corruption to break the chain of bribery. “We facilitate it only when service seekers do not have the money for the bribe and approach us with an application,” he added.Even former police chief Hemanta Malla who has worked at the CIAA says the agency’s use of stings goes against the basic principle of ‘secret action’. He admits that sting operations can be used to expose serious crimes like match fixing, human trafficking and drug trafficking, but says the use of sting operations against petty crime is ‘overkill’.“The target of secret action should be to break organised crime networks, but the CIAA’s operation seems just focused on arresting junior-ranking officials. This should be stopped because the sting tool can be misused,” Malla added.Advocate Bhimarjun Acharya is clear about how to complain about corruption in Nepal: “There are so many ways citizens can lodge complaints against bribery, but entrapping someone as part of an investigation is not the way in a civilised society.”<a href="https://cijnepal.org.np/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cijnepal.org.np/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595658441787000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFNx-tiTfqcQt1OnemJShWk6Bp_yQ">Center for Investigative Journalism-Nepal</a>

CIAA traps small fish, lets big ones go

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8dca9c7e80680e06b368jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="372" height="535"/><figcaption>A policeman with a crowd control device. Photo: MANISH PAUDEL</figcaption></figure>When the COVID-19 pandemic sent Nepal into a nation-wide <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/confusion-persists-about-lockdown-rules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/confusion-persists-about-lockdown-rules/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1588259296491000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE0OUJhL1zjjDOUq4Y_YSofH1GmIg">lockdown</a>, Nepali Police found itself in the difficult position of enforcing it.How to enforce discipline and stop people from moving around? Also, how to apprehend offenders while maintaining physical distance?As the lockdown began, Inspector General of Police Thakur Prasad Gyawali, and Chief of Valley Police Bishwaraj Pokhrel, scratched their heads for crowd control devices on their arsenal.After the first day of the lockdown, complaints began pouring from law enforcers on the streets that they were facing difficulties carrying out the order without physically touching people violating the lockdown orders.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8dcb9c7e80680e06b369jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="806" height="556"><figcaption>Photo: MANISH PAUDEL</figcaption></figure>“The security of our policemen came first, but we had never faced a situation like this,” recalls DIG Pokhrel, “and that is when someone remembered that we had a piece of equipment that would be the perfect solution of apprehending people without physical contact”.Known by its unwieldy acronym MFRAD (Multi-functional Rescue and Arrest Device) 16 units of the device was finally located in a store at Bhrikuti Mandap.Often, and more appropriately, referred to as ‘social distancing pliers’, the mechanism began gaining attention from the media after videos of Police using them to snare people on the streets made the rounds on Facebook and YouTube.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8dce9c7e80680e06b36ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="973" height="624"><figcaption>Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121124/636b8dd09c7e80680e06b36bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="517" height="342"><figcaption>Photo RSS</figcaption></figure>The device, along with its lock system, makes it possible for the policemen to trap and detain pedestrians while maintaining a three-meter distance. This helps ensure the safety of the men and women on duty, while effectively demobilising the people targetted.The device had been purchased by now retired AIG Rajendra Singh Bhandari, who was in search of nonviolent crowd-control devices when he happened to find them on a trip to China.At that time Nepal Police had earned a reputation for being trigger-happy, and Bhandari felt the Chinese-made MFRAD were ideal. The irony is that the devices were never used, until now to control the spread of a virus that originated also in China.

Clamping down on the country

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101136/636b74909c7e80680e0623a0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1040"/><figcaption>Photo : BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Rama married Raju of Lalitpur, after which Raju moved to Sydney to pursue higher education. The couple talked regularly over the internet, exchanging sexually suggestive messages and intimate pictures. Rama was blindsided when she found out months later that those pictures and conversations had been sent to her relatives’ phones from fake accounts on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/facebook-nation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> and as links to pornographic websites.Asmita, a 12-grader from Lalitpur, had been talking to Facebook user Sanjiv. The two had never met face to face. At Sanjiv’s request, she had sent him a nude picture of herself, but one picture did not suffice. He began blackmailing Asmita for videos, threatening to leak her picture unless she complied. Her picture ended up on porn sites, which put her under extreme mental stress.Thirteen-year-old Rabina from Dhankuta was sent a nude picture with her face morphed onto it by someone she had been talking to on Facebook. She was then coerced into sending back similar pictures of herself. Afraid, she did as she was instructed, after which more nude pictures were demanded of her every day.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Online-violence-against-women,2915" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Online violence against women</a>,  Sahina Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/love-in-the-time-of-facebook,2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Love in the time of Facebook</a>, Anjana RajbhandaryRekha of Sitapaila had responded to a job offer in Canada via Facebook when she was asked to strip naked for an online medical exam, something she found strange, but that she thought might be routine in Canada. She was asked also to show her genitals to the camera. Later, she was told that nude pictures of her would be made public if she did not pay $5,000.All four women went to the Nepal Police, who tracked down Raju’s address in Sydney, and in Asmita's, Rabina’s and Rekha's cases traced the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the offending Facebook users to Bangladesh, India and Canada respectively. In all four cases the police contacted law enforcement and perpetrators, but failed to get a response. The suspects were never caught.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/swipe-right-for-extortion-online-safety,4133" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Extortion,</a> blackmail and illegal sharing of private images and videos on social media as well as the sale of such visual content to porn sites have become more prevalent as the number of Facebook users in Nepal approaches 9 million. The lack of media literacy in the population means most young people are unfamiliar with privacy settings, and naive about sharing personal images. This leaves them vulnerable to sexual predators not just from their immediate environments but from all over the world.Experts say Nepal’s cybersecurity policies and laws like the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/page/99/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electronic Transaction Act 2007</a> are not applicable in the context of cyberspace at present. However, Rishiram Tiwari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Information, claims that the draft Information and Technology Bill addresses cyber-related concerns that the Electronic Transaction Act failed to.For its part, the National Cyber Security Policy 2007 does not clearly define laws or have set guidelines for investigating transnational crimes. According to the Metropolitan Crime Division, almost 20% of cybercrime complaints are transnational, and countries like Nepal are hotbeds for extortion, blackmail and breach of privacy.“Social Media Operators and Internet Service Providers who are not based in Nepal are not legally obliged to provide the police with any information,’’ says cyberlaw expert Baburam Aryal. “Because the authorities cannot access important details about the crime, they cannot build an ironclad case.”Police spokesperson DIG Sailesh Thapa Chhetri points out the difficulty of investigating cybercrimes that occur beyond our borders: “The challenge is that we have not been able to coordinate with Interpol due to time constraints and lack of personnel.”Through such coordination, parties involved in transnational crimes are usually brought under investigation through an international letter of request. But the success of this exercise depends on the diplomatic relationship between countries involved. It is possible to seek the extradition of criminals who operate across borders, but this requires bilateral extradition agreements.Advocate Aryal says developed countries use international diplomatic networks to address cross-border cybercrime. In response to the transnational nature of crimes involving cyberspace, the Council of Europe agreed on the Budapest Convention in 2001. The treaty aims to combat cyber-related crime through cooperation while recognising the different legal and technological landscapes across countries. The treaty has been ratified by 64 countries, but Japan and Sri Lanka are the only two countries from Asia to have done so.Advocate Sanjiv Ghimire states that treaties like these will make <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4937#.XkUZcjIzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cyber laws</a> less complex and help the international community follow a common legal policy regarding cybercrime. He says: “It is time for Nepal to take the initiative to either make treaties like these or ratify ones that already exist to protect our citizens.”(Some names have been changed.)

Crossborder cybercrime and punishment

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70369c7e80680e060067jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A customer buys a bottle of pesticide over a counter in Kathmandu. Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Of the 25,308 <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/down-and-out,3158" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suicides</a> recorded by the police in Nepal in the past five years, poisoning was the method of choice of 6,213 and pesticides were the most common form of poison used. Suicide by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17916#.XhbkaVUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pesticides</a> is the easiest, cheapest and the quickest way to kill oneself in Nepal.A <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4542-y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015 study in Chitwan</a> showed that 90% of all poisoning cases resulted from deliberate ingestion of pesticides. Hospital and forensic data over the years reveal that pesticide self-poisoning kills at least 1,000 people in Nepal annually.“Pesticides are in fact a far greater threat than what police records show. There are many people who make the attempt and survive due to insufficient dose or medical treatment,” says Ravi Shakya, a mental health specialist at Patan Hospital. “If we also count attempted suicides, pesticide is the most preferred method of suicide in Nepal.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-suicide-rate-vastly-underestimated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal's suicide rate vastly underestimated, </a>Sewa BhattaraiShailesh Thapa Chhetri of Nepal Police agrees: “Previously, hanging used to be the most common method of suicide, as people had the easiest access to ropes. Now, access to pesticides is even easier. Almost every household has pesticides, whether to kill cockroaches or to spray in the farms.”Do not shy away from seeking help. If you, or anyone you know, would like to speak to a trained mental health professional, please contact:TUTH Suicide Hotline: 9840021600Transcultural Psychosocial Organization-Nepal Crisis Hotline: 1660 0102005Mental Health Helpline Nepal: 1660 0133666And as the import of pesticides increases, the hazardous chemicals will only be more accessible for self-harm. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development claims that Nepal’s pesticide consumption is 396g per hectare but research by the Netherlands-based Wageningen University shows it to be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/banned-pesticides-are-widely-used-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.9kg per hectare in vegetable patches</a>. “Pesticides that kill people are readily available in the market, they do not need prescriptions and anyone can buy it,” says Dilli Ram Sharma, former Director General of the Department of Agriculture. “To make matters worse, farmers <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/pesticide-laced-vegetables-continue-to-poison,1555" target="_blank" rel="noopener">always go for the most toxic ones</a> that kill all pests at once.”Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/suicide-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Suicide watch</a> <figure><img width="1500" height="844" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70399c7e80680e060068jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A <a href="http://www.forensic.gov.np/assets/upload/images/pdf/Trends-of-clinical-toxicology-cases-in-Nepal.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2014 National Forensic Science Laboratory study</a> that looked at the trends of clinical toxicology cases in Nepal from 2002-2012 showed that of the total poisoning cases due to insecticides, 71% were by ingesting the organophosphorus compounds Metacid (Methyl parathion) and Nuvan (Dichlorovos). Pyrethroid, carbamate and organochlorine were also used. Some of these pesticides are actually banned in Nepal, but available over the counter. A Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory study conducted over the past three years shows organophosphorus compounds and aluminium phosphide as the most common active ingredients in poisoning cases. Data from seven tertiary hospitals across Nepal found Celphos (aluminium phosphide used to kill rodents) as the most common pesticide in those admitted for poisoning. The <a href="https://www.centrepsp.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention</a> in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Nepal Public Health Foundation is collecting three years worth of hospital and forensic data to analyse self-poisoning. Prof Michael Eddleston of the University of Edinburgh is the principal investigator and was recently in Nepal. “I don’t think it’s ever possible to use pesticide safely. You have to make pesticides non-toxic to humans, animals and the environment. We are trying to identify the problematic pesticides that are killing people here and provide that information to the concerned authorities so that they are banned and replaced with safer pesticides,” Eddleston told Nepali Times.The Nepal Public Health Foundation is also organising a two-day national conference (9-10 January) focussed on <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415" target="_blank" rel="noopener">healthy farming</a> and reducing pesticide use.Indeed Bangladesh, Korea and Sri Lanka have shown that removing highly hazardous pesticides from <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/heavy-pesticide-use-and-low-consumer-awareness-affecting-public-health,1394" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agricultural practice</a> is key to preventing suicide deaths without affecting agricultural output. The good news is that some of the most toxic pesticides are being banned in Nepal. In 2019, when the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention pinpointed Dichlorvos and 3g tablets of aluminium phosphide as the most common causes of pesticide suicide in Nepal, the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre placed a ban on both the pesticides, to be enforced after a grace period of two years for the chemicals already on the market.  Similarly, before Metacid (Methyl parathion) was prohibited in 2006, up to 68% of Nepalis killing themselves were using the chemical. After the ban, this figure came down to 8%.“Prevention is better than cure and that is exactly what pesticide ban does. And this has a double benefit: it reduces suicide death while also bringing down the rampant use of pesticides in agriculture, leading to a decline in pesticide residue,” adds Sharma, who retired after banning the two pesticides.Despite the ban, however, the smuggling of pesticides across the open border with India remains a challenge, and experts call for crossborder cooperation to fight it.  Says Rakesh Ghimire of Teaching Hospital: “Control of pesticides especially in agricultural areas is important, but as important is pesticide information centres and treatment when the poisoning happens.”

Sonia Awale

Suicide by pesticide in Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67459c7e80680e0599ccjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000"/><figcaption>All photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>The 122 Chinese nationals detained by Nepal Police using information provided by China have been presented to the Kathmandu District Court before they are deported.The 116 men and 8 women were accused of cyber crimes, financial fraud, including hacking into ATMs, and wildlife trafficking. The arrests come four months after five Chinese men were arrested for stealing millions of rupees from ATMs across Kathmandu.The accused were arrested simultaneously in coordinated police raids on private rented apartments in Manamaiju, Bansbari and Buddhanilkantha neighbourhoods of Kathmandu. All the suspects had reportedly entered Nepal in tourist and students visas.The Chinese Embassy has supported the detentions, and Nepal has arrested the Chinese nationals despite Prime Minister Oli not being prepared to sign an extradition treaty as desired by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Nepal in October.Photographs of the detained Chinese nationals being taken to the Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday.By Monika Deupala<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67489c7e80680e0599cdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a674c9c7e80680e0599cejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a674f9c7e80680e0599cfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67539c7e80680e0599d0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67569c7e80680e0599d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67599c7e80680e0599d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a675c9c7e80680e0599d3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67609c7e80680e0599d4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67639c7e80680e0599d5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67679c7e80680e0599d6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000">Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-xi-jinpings-big-surprise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is Xi Jinping's 'Big Surprise'?</a>, Saindra Rai and Irtika Bajracharya

China gets Nepal to detain its citizens in Kathmandu

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.

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