I once asked <a href="https://chomsky.info/">Noam Chomsky</a> how he manages to remember so many facts and figures and hold audience attention. He replied that he did not convey any new information, that his talks are based on materials already in the public domain, he simply joins the dots.&nbsp;
Chomsky teaches us that it is not necessary to be loud and sensationalist in order to be heard. His clear and courageous moral compass over decades is a most valuable lesson.
On 17 June, some media reported that Chomsky, 95, had died after a stroke he suffered last year. He was in hospital in Brazil, and his wife has since said he is continuing treatment at home.&nbsp;
<a href="https://time.com/6987747/noam-chomsky-stroke-brazil/">Noam Chomsky</a> was already a legend when I first met him over two decades ago in December 2001 when he visited Pakistan for the inaugural Eqbal Ahmad Memorial lecture series.
Eqbal Ahmad had been an anti-Vietnam War activist in the US in the 1960s and later taught at Hampshire College and was among Chomsky's circle of friends, which included other legendary figures like Howard Zinn and Edward Said.
He had returned to Pakistan after the death of Gen Ziaul Haq in 1988 and was prominent in the peace and anti-nuclear weapons movements in the region. He died in May 1999, on the first anniversary of India's nuclear test, that Pakistan had followed.
In November 2001, Chomsky did a lecture series in India. Another fellow-traveller, the well-known physics professor and activist Pervez Hoodbhoy invited Chomsky to Pakistan for the Eqbal Ahmad Memorial lecture series. These events were organised months earlier, and Pervez was initially worried about whether there would be an audience.
The 11 September 2001 attacks had just taken place and Chomsky cut through America’s outrage to point out that the attacks were historic not for their scale but because of where they took place, mainland America, which had not been attacked before.
Also, this was not the first, but "the second 9/11". The earlier, <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1MjQxMTc1NDMsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiJjNjNkNDc0NGI5NzBjMTU3In0" target="_blank">“far more serious"</a> 9/11 was the one in 1973, he said, the violent coup against the elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile.
Many in America were uncomfortable with such statements, but in progressive circles here and around the world, his popularity soared.
I asked the organisers if I could follow Chomsky around Pakistan for a documentary. They agreed to let me tag along to his room at the Avari Hotel in Lahore. Noam Chomsky and his wife Carol had arrived in Pakistan to a celebrity welcome that discomfited them. Chomsky politely conveyed that we were welcome to film his public events but that he and Carol were uncomfortable being followed around by a camera.
We put our equipment away until he entered the venue where he was speaking. He walked through the packed hall to a standing ovation. A few days later, he addressed a larger audience at another packed venue, an indoor stadium in Islamabad. In both places, people listened in pin drop silence as he spoke, low key and without histrionics.&nbsp;
There was a shameful exception, when he spoke at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University when I was an international Fellow there in 2005-2006. In that intimate setting, another international fellow and her husband, both from Israel, kept interrupting Chomsky, despite being admonished by the moderator and other fellows.
Chomsky didn’t lose his cool, but I heard later that he vowed never to come back to Lippman House. I was glad to hear that the Nieman Fellows prevailed upon him to return in 2017 and that it went smoothly.
In September 2006, John ‘Jack’ Trumpbour, a Research Director at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy (CLJE) at Harvard Law School invited Chomsky as a featured speaker for the <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1MzA0MDkwMDAsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI2ZDhlOTE5YzNjZTdkOTFkIn0" target="_blank">launch of a collection of essays,</a> The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad (Columbia University Press), September 2006.&nbsp;
I was a speaker, along with Margaret Cerullo, Eqbal's colleague from Hampshire College and one of the book's editors. Stuart Schaar, Eqbal's college buddy from the 1950s at Princeton University was also a speaker. Like Chomsky, he has paid the price for his support of the Palestinian cause, sidelined in the mainstream academia as Eqbal himself was.
Another friend, the journalist David Barsamian, who runs Alternative Radio and speaks Urdu and Hindi, flew in from Colorado for the event. In his speech titled Confronting Empire: Eqbal Ahmad’s Legacy and the Contemporary Crisis, Chomsky talked about how Israeli attacks actually mean “Israeli and US attacks, since the USA supports Israel with weapons as well as diplomatic and ideological support”.
We were then witness to an “unusual historic event” — the destruction of a nation” as Israel punished the Palestinians for “a terrible crime they committed: in the last free election they voted in the wrong people”.
Chomsky commented that the real reason for the Israeli (US-Israeli) aggression is that the then Hezbollah provided the only meaningful support for Palestinian rights, and also because they wanted to eliminate Lebanese deterrents that stand in the way of an attack on Iran.
The aggression has two consequences, he said. First, it deters negotiations. Second, it makes the dissidents and reformers more vulnerable, as regimes under attack tend to become harsher.
In April 2011 the <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1Mzc3NDkwMzQsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI3ODZjNjVlYjMzZDZkOTViIn0" target="_blank">American Friends Service Committee</a> invited Chomsky to <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NDA4OTQ3NjMsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI2ZGQ4OGQ4ZWI5NzFmNjBjIn0" target="_blank">address a seminar</a> at Boston University titled ‘Days of Hope and Challenge’, where I was the other speaker.
I felt privileged to have been invited to contribute towards a compilation for his 90th birthday in December 2018. In my note, I shared some of my memories and thanked him for his vision, courage and consistency over the years, and his principled moral stand that have given strength and courage to so many of us over the years.
Despite his legendary status, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/opinion/noam-chomsky-chatgpt-ai.html">Chomsky</a> was always humble and accessible. He always replied personally to emails as long as he could, even if it was a one-line response to a question asking him to confirm whether a Twitter account in his name was genuine (‘The twitter account from what I’ve heard is honest and accurate but I have nothing to do with it’).
He was unfailingly generous in lending his name in support of the causes I and others reached out to him for, endorsing resolutions ranging from human rights and democracy to peace between India and Pakistan. In 2018 he joined many public intellectuals in urging Bangladesh to <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NDQwNDA0OTIsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI0NGJhNGUxMzRkZjYxOWJmIn0" target="_blank">release the photojournalist Shahidul Alam</a>. He was also among the public intellectuals including Amartya Sen who <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NDcxODYyMjEsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiJjNzg1NTFiZDVmMmNmM2I3In0" target="_blank">endorsed a letter</a> calling on Pakistan to release the jailed publisher-editor of the Jang Group Shakilur Rahman, in 2020.
My last interaction with him was in September 2021 when I had invited him to address an online seminar hosted by the <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NTAzMzE5NTAsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiIwZTFjOWIzZDNkYWJjNDM0In0" target="_blank">Southasia Peace Action Network</a> (Sapan) that over 80 of us had launched in March that year to build a narrative for a Southasian Union along the lines of the European Union, or at the very least, regional dialogue and collaboration between all the countries of the Subcontinent.&nbsp;
But by then Chomsky had moved to Arizona. He agreed to join but didn't show up, which was not like him. The meeting ended. We stopped the recording and were chatting among ourselves, when Noam Chomsky appeared. We asked him to speak and began recording again.
As always, Chomsky <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NTU1NzQ4MzIsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiJmMDU0YjI1MzExYTE1ZjgzIn0" target="_blank">put the issue into perspective</a>, arguing for the need to put people first. This would mean engaging with the governing authorities to mitigate and overcome human rights violations, while working with Afghans on the ground especially in rural areas rather than focusing on Kabul.
He advocated pressuring Afghans to shift the economy from opium cultivation to mineral resources, encouraging trade, development, and their integration into the region — “these moves can’t be made through sanctions”.
Uppermost should be the fate of the Afghan people, he said, but engagement “does not mean overlooking the abuses”.
The best way we can pay tribute to Noam Chomsky is by following his example: Stand firm, keep calm, keep speaking out, put information in context, and keep doing our work.
Beena Sarwar is a journalist from Pakistan currently based in Boston. She is the founder and editor of Sapan News. This tribute is <a href="https://beenasarwar.com/2024/06/21/what-ive-learned-from-noam-chomsky/">excerpted from her column</a>, Personal Political.&nbsp;
<a href="mailto:beena@sapannews.com" target="_blank">beena@sapannews.com</a>

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Keep calm, keep speaking out

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d036a9c7e80680e0a36d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1666" height="1018"/><figcaption>Noam Chomsky at the webinar 20 Years After 9/11: Impact on South Asia and South Asians organised by Sapan this week.</figcaption></figure>Prominent American author and activist Noam Chomsky has urged the United States and India to engage with the Taliban, work towards overcoming differences with other regional powers, and help the Afghan people.Rather than blocking “the best of the options that are available”, Chomsky said Washington and Delhi should play a role in getting the Afghan Taliban to mitigate and overcome human rights violations, especially in rural areas.Chomsky advocated pressuring Afghans to shift the economy from opium cultivation to mineral resources, encouraging trade, development, and their integration into the region. “These moves can’t be made through sanctions,” he told a webinar 20 Years After 9/11: Impact on South Asia and South Asians, organised by the <a href="http://www.southasiapeace.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.southasiapeace.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH30gINJiXOjznQxlrNow95l6uXcQ">South Asia Peace Action Network</a>, Sapan.Chomsky was among the thought leaders and activists from across South Asia and the diaspora who gathered virtually to discuss the impact of 9/11 on the region and its people.Journalist Raza Rumi moderated the panel discussion including human rights advocate Radhika Coomaraswamy, Chair of <a href="https://www.southasianrights.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.southasianrights.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG-UXkJk-7KBptaQQyLMoLDQS8okw">South Asia for Human Rights</a>, Afghanistan’s Former Minister of Women’s Affairs Sima Samar, peace activist Rais Bhuiyan, Khushi Kabir of the rights organisation Nijeri Kori in Dhaka, Arsalan Iftikhar, human rights lawyer and author of the recently published book<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Muslim-Planet-Global-Islamophobia/dp/151076187X/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Muslim-Planet-Global-Islamophobia/dp/151076187X/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJRSS3ViPA2OZ1ha0umGcLV7sk7Q"> Fear of a Muslim Planet: Global Islamophobia in the New World Order</a>. and others.“It is not about being optimistic. It is about finding the best of the options available,: Chomsky told the webinar. “Uppermost should be the fate of the Afghan people. Engagement “does not mean overlooking the abuses.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d036d9c7e80680e0a36d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1110" height="602"><figcaption>Participants at the weibnar.</figcaption></figure>Earlier, journalist Beena Sarwar played a clip from her documentary<a href="https://vimeo.com/614161820" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://vimeo.com/614161820&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHBtBN6tBKj-mKtCcm6ZshuKrKL6Q"> Chomsky in Pakistan</a>, broadcast on VPRO Dutch television, documenting Chomsky’s November 2001 visit to the country for the third Eqbal Ahmad Memorial Lecture series in honour of his old friend.Rumi is himself survivor of an assassination attempt that killed his driver, one of many events in the spiral of violence unleashed in the aftermath of 9/11.The 9/11 attacks led to a “seismic and epistemic shift” in global consciousness, said Radhika Coomaraswamy. She added: “The first impact of 9/11 was fear – fear that would be manipulated, assuaged by appealing to national security, and the most draconian laws would be passed. We need to de-programme the system of criminal justice.”She said 9/11 spawned endless wars, endless hate, and a military-industrial complex of armies, defence contractors, private contractors, and mercenaries for whom war has become a way of life.Former Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan Sima Samar also paid tribute to victims of the 9/11 attacks and subsequent war in her country which has received the brunt of the pressure.The ongoing repercussions are visible not only in other South Asian countries but around the world, with a visible change being harassment and extra screening for travellers. But more dangerous are the laws and regulations made in the name of the counter-terrorism activities which are violating fundamental human rights, she noted.A former Air Force pilot in Bangladesh Rais Bhuiyan moved to the United States shortly before 9/11. He shared how his race and ethnicity made him a target after 2001. The man who shot him in the face ten days later had already killed an Indian and a Pakistani.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d03709c7e80680e0a36d3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="980" height="504"><figcaption>Former Bangladesh Air Force pilot Rais Bhuiyan who was shot in a reprisal attack 10 days after 9/11 in the United States, where he had settled.</figcaption></figure>Bhuiyan made a promise to himself that if he survived, he would spend his life to support peace and humanity. It has been a struggle. He lost sight in one eye, his home, job, fiancé, and sense of security. With no medical insurance, he paid $60,000 in medical bills. “I felt discarded and dehumanised,” he added.But from this pain emerged his non-profit <a href="https://worldwithouthate.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://worldwithouthate.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGT6AjaWDVPDERVlojZMsbn1Tdt-g">World Without Hate</a>, with the hope that together we can build a world without fear, without violence, without victims. He not only forgave Mark Stroman, his attacker but also campaigned to overturn his death sentence.The effort moved Stroman, who was<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-stroman-execution-texas_n_905579" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-stroman-execution-texas_n_905579&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEMu2NPQCQ1FaAUtxThP3MQxsCJTg"> executed in 2011</a>, to call for hate to stop, saying that “hate causes a lifetime of pain”.The power of forgiveness also came across strongly in remarks by Mejindarpal Kaur, who remembered Balbir Singh Sodhi, one of the first victims of the post-9/11 hate crimes.For Sikhs, the world changed forever, with their articles of faith being equated with “terror” as they were mistaken for Muslims. The Sikh community has taken a stand with Muslims instead of disassociating themselves.It is an ongoing struggle, said Kaur, and we can’t give up. Those perpetuating evil are not going to look for answers about how to stop the hate.Khushi Kabir from Dhaka said 9/11 led to South Asian states using ‘anti-terror’ laws to curb democracy and free speech. Highlighting the rise in bigotry and othering of minorities.People’s Union of Civil Liberties activist Kavita Srivastava in Jaipur noted that India is reeling from hate crimes and criminalisation of Muslims. Given India’s massive population, she said its actions reverberated in the region.Facebook Live is at <a href="https://fb.watch/8ghBojsp7R/">this link</a>.The section with <a href="https://fb.watch/8gsSLP0ZJD/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://fb.watch/8gsSLP0ZJD/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNErnnCVG5abneOvDS_5rOG8tXK1Nw">Chomsky is at this link</a>.

South Asia after US exit from Afghanistan

This is the first instalment in a new limited series in Nepali Times on the historic transportation infrastructures of Nepal. Nepal’s Forest Railways As<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-border-trains-that-connected-nepal"> India’s railway network </a>expanded in the 1890s and 1900s, the demand for wooden railway sleepers, called ‘ties’ in America, likewise increased. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751">Rana regime</a> realised that western Nepal’s dense forests, from which sal trees could be extracted and sold, represented a valuable source of revenue. There was a problem of accessing large tracts of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">Tarai forests</a>. However, once Indian railway lines are extended to Nepal’s border in several places, this issue could be resolved by constructing logging railways, also known as ‘tramways’ or ‘light railways’. The Nepal Government awarded a contract to Punjabi timber contractors to supply 15,000 sal sleepers to Chandan Chauki station of India’s Oudh &amp; Rohilkhand State Railway in 1908. The contractors also received a concession to construct a steam tramway to run 48km into <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/reviving-nepals-community-forestry-success-story">Nepal’s forests</a> for cutting and transporting trees. The author found no records, however, indicating that such an ambitious tramway was built in 1908. The hewn logs were probably carried into India by bullock carts or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elephants-become-white-elephants">elephants</a>. The earliest known forest railway in Nepal was built in 1914 in the southwestern corner of the present-day Parsa district. A British engineer went to the Indian border town of Bikna Thori to plan a 4-mile portable light railway for the transport of timber from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/on-the-tri-junction-of-wildlife-conservation-conflict-and-co-existence">the forest of Chitwan </a>to the Thori depot on the Bengal &amp; Northwestern Railway. This short line was laid upon wooden sleepers, and its rails could be taken up and repositioned when logging in one section of the forest was completed. This forest railway was in operation at least through 1917.&nbsp; A few year down the line in 1923, J V Collier of the Indian Forest Service built a narrow-gauge railway in Kailali district also to export of timber to India. This line, the Nepal Government Forest Railway, departed Chandan Chauki in Uttar Pradesh and ran 48km northwest into Nepal.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150820_84ddef57433c2f847b2c7e56c2d9c924084b6e6a504bbca905d2c593fac8eabd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250824150820_84ddef57433c2f847b2c7e56c2d9c924084b6e6a504bbca905d2c593fac8eabd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1130" height="689" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's little railways"> <figcaption>A Nepal Government Forest train in Kailali District hauling sal sleepers in 1925. Photo: DAVID CHURCHILL </figcaption> </figure>  It was a 2-foot railway supported by 11kg rails. The line was ‘temporary’ in that as sal trees were thinned out in one area, railway tracks were shifted to uncut areas of the forest. The railway crossed seven small <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">rivers</a>, but the bridges were taken down during the summer and monsoon. Trains ran only from November to April. This forest railway purchased four 4-6-0T ‘tank’ engines built in Leeds, England. Each bogie could carry 100 broad-gauge sleepers, and two engines were needed to haul a 21-car train loaded with 2,100 sleepers. This huge commercial forest operation once employed about 14,000 men, most of them Indians. During one season, nearly 800,000 broad and metre-gauge sleepers were exported to India. When India suffered a depression in 1930, large scale operations came to an end. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rust-in-peace?fbclid=IwAR1_eg88TCOS6RGRW1af7WvaWx5mzh_rY8-vT1MnJxSs41QtCpaA988oXk8">Rust in peace</a>, Daniel W Edwards  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150828_13a0b894b9ea0c478904d358028f0c976d84f284432ee25106787366598d38e5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250824150828_13a0b894b9ea0c478904d358028f0c976d84f284432ee25106787366598d38e5" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>Rails extended north from this spot into the virgin sal forests of Bardia in western Nepal 100 years ago.  DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  A third railway was built in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-big-bulls-of-bardia">Bardia </a>where some scattered rails and signs of an old roadbed were seen in the 1960s. It ran from Nishangada in India to Khairbhatti in Nepal. From there, stations heading south were Ranipur, Karmak, Taratal and Madhuwan. Collier likely <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-train-project-struggles-to-stay-on-track">built this railway </a>as well in the 1920s. An elderly man in Bardia in 2022, whose father had worked on this forest railway, was interviewed for this account. Kathmandu Valley’s Motor (Trolley) Railway Merchants importing goods from India via the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/ropeways-connecting-nepal,1749"> ropeway</a> Chandra Shamsher built in 1927 had to go to the ropeway’s terminus at Matatirtha near Thankot to claim their goods and then haul them 6km to the customs house Bhansar Adda at Teku for clearance and payment of customs duties. The Motor Railway was built to carry goods from the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16839"> ropeway station </a>directly to the customs office, making it cheaper and more convenient for merchants to receive their shipments. In December 1931, Prime Minister Bhim Shamsher issued an order (sanad) putting Lt Gen Singha Shamsher Rana in charge of building this rail line to Teku and on to ‘Nabalak Khana’ in Tripureswar, a distance of 10km. The project was subdivided into four sections or ‘phant’, and for each, budgets and timelines were established. There was bato phant (constructing the roadbed), lik sleeper and jordne phant (laying sleepers and joining the rails), culvert phant (installing culverts) and pul phant (building bridges). Colonel Kishore Narsingh Rana was put in charge of the sleeper and rail section, while Colonel Dilli Jung Thapa, an engineer at Ghar Kaj Adda, also was involved. The Motor Railway was completed by the end of 1933. In the beginning, the railway’s small wagons may have been pulled and pushed by men and bullocks. However, in 1938 a British railway manufacturer sent Nepal a four-wheel, 5½ ton, 2-foot narrow-gauge diesel-powered locomotive with mechanical transmission, hence the name motor railway. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-railways-janakpur-test-drive?fb_comment_id=3554227181262227_4263866616964943">Nepal Railways Janakpur test drive</a> Leaving Matatirtha, the trains passed Satungal, Naikap, the Bishnudevi Temple, crossed an iron bridge over Balkhu Khola, then to Ghattepakha, Sunagau, through what is now a section of Kuleshwor (‘Lik Marg’) to the Customs Office at Teku.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020852_033f0cee9775d7dadde7811132f84da876f614c386e3677e560ba7aed79909d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250825020852_033f0cee9775d7dadde7811132f84da876f614c386e3677e560ba7aed79909d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Lik Marg in Kuleswor, the former route of the Motor Trolley Railway. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  In 1945, Motor Trolley had four engines, but spare parts was badly needed. The charge for transporting one maund (about 40kg) of cargo from Matatirtha to Teku was 50 paisa. Even though the trains ran slowly and only for a short distance, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fatalism-and-fatalities">accidents were not unknown</a>. A train loaded with rice, salt and cotton derailed on a curve in July 1946, and two railway employees were crushed under the cars and killed, five others were injured. Besides the driver and a brakeman, guards rode the trains to prevent theft of goods.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150836_63a327d4db3b067a23dd5c6cf17a31ffe811ffd4a8429bc31011d62298a90060.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250824150836_63a327d4db3b067a23dd5c6cf17a31ffe811ffd4a8429bc31011d62298a90060" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>The author by the remains of the Balkhu Khola bridge built in 1932 with American steel. Photo: JEEVAN NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  By 1953, government budget estimates indicated the Motor Railway would break even with an income of Rs70,000 against Rs71,000 in expenditure. It appears the railway stopped service around 1957 with the opening of the Raj Path and the extension of the ropeway from Matatirtha to Bhansar Adda. Bent steel beams of the bridge across Balkhu Khola and two plaques recovered from the river a few years ago are the only remains of this railway today. Photos of the Motor Trolley Railway in operation are hard to come by.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020848_3a7cd17d0ffc36bbf5fdad404f5f6e91c7aa0e4f4ed729ed2c7e9c186f32ca9b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_18" data-image-id="20250825020848_3a7cd17d0ffc36bbf5fdad404f5f6e91c7aa0e4f4ed729ed2c7e9c186f32ca9b" data-rendition-name="original" width="5189" height="1979" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Steel plaque commemorating the construction of a Motor Trolley bridge across the Balkhu Khola. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  The Kosi Project Railway (KPR) As early as 1941, India and Nepal considered building a dam on<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kosi-s-sorrow-and-scope"> the Kosi River</a> to prevent destructive floods caused by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">monsoon rains</a>. Floods in 1950 inundated 500 villages in Bihar and left 500,000 people homeless. The two governments signed an agreement in 1954 to build a barrage on the Kosi, and King Mahendra and Prime Minister Nehru laid the foundation stone in April 1959. To transport stones from a quarry near Dharan to use in mixing concrete at the construction site, the Indian government, in charge of building the barrage, made plans to build a narrow-gauge railway linking Bihar and its border town of Bhimnagar with Nepal’s settlements at Chakraghatti, Chatra and Ghopa, the outskirts of Dharan.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150816_fc5e13b01022c63c64f1e83589da0015eee7ecd002bdd3d97b88c98c1f3d45b7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="20250824150816_fc5e13b01022c63c64f1e83589da0015eee7ecd002bdd3d97b88c98c1f3d45b7" data-rendition-name="original" width="4011" height="2645" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>Steel plaque commemorating the construction of a Motor Trolley bridge across the Balkhu Khola. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  The section of the KPR in Nepal totaled 66km — the country’s longest railway to date. The stations south of Chakraghatti were Rajabas, Maduhuwan, Kushaha, Haripur and Bhantabari. The line built, operated and owned by the Indian Government, was opened in 1958 and known locally as Dhunge (stone) Rail. Procuring locomotives, wagons and other materials was a challenge. India’s Railway Board searched the country for old 41 lb rails, and located steam engines, most built around 1910, in poor condition, and stored in ‘retirement’. These decrepit locomotives were later cannibalised for parts to keep the remaining engines running, and six newer locomotives built in Yugoslavia were sent to the KPR in 1960 to prevent the railway from shutting down and halting construction of the barrage.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150832_fd644f9e2674c5047a531de5dfeb2c8860b0f93dddc7a2df3db867bf31b2c94b.bmp" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250824150832_fd644f9e2674c5047a531de5dfeb2c8860b0f93dddc7a2df3db867bf31b2c94b" data-rendition-name="original" width="3171" height="2069" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>KPR locomotives, water tank and staff at Chakraghatti in Nepal. Photo: JOHN BENSON</figcaption> </figure>  Used bogie-wagons (gondolas) came from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-nepal-rail-diplomacy">Indian railways</a> that had been converted to metre-gauge, others were manufactured in Muzaffarpur without couplers due to the non-availability of steel. A hundred new wagons arrived from Japan, but only half could be put in service, as couplers from the other 50 were removed and attached to the Muzaffarpur wagons. This smorgasbord of equipment kept shop mechanics and work crews busy, but now-abandoned railways in Nepal always operated under less-than-ideal conditions. Although the purpose of the KPR was to transport gravel, stones and boulders to the site of the barrage, photographs show people riding in loaded wagons. Excluding Dharan, there was no bus service through the wild animal infested jungle between Dharan and Chakraghatti or along the dusty paths linking other small villages on the KPR, so patient locals sat in wagons at Dharan, waiting perhaps for hours for trains to depart.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020852_7d011dcc8e9b8cb0fe745b352486ebc4a84dac99419eadb35875333db20837c6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_24" data-image-id="20250825020852_7d011dcc8e9b8cb0fe745b352486ebc4a84dac99419eadb35875333db20837c6" data-rendition-name="original" width="3965" height="2659" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Ticketless riders on a train of gravel and stones in the forest between Dharan and Chakragatti in 1966. Photo: JOHN BENSON</figcaption> </figure>  Sons of former railway workers in Chakraghatti say that there were no fixed schedules, three or four trains ran both ways daily in the early 1960s. Southbound trains carried gravel, stones and boulders, while northbound trains would carry coal, cement and provisions, including sacks of coins to pay the workers. Trains even ran at night, and the crews worked long hours. Workers received free housing in project-built tenements but had to buy food supplies and items for personal use. The Babu Saheb or the superintendent lived at Chakraghatti, and at one time supervised more than 1,000 employees, nearly all of them from India. The barrage was completed in 1964, but by 1970, the Kosi Project Railway had passed into history. Daniel W Edwards was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1966 and is the author of several books on Nepal.

Nepal’s five little railways

The cost of preserving Nepal’s past

Turkish Airlines is official airline partner for the second edition of the Vatsalya Everest Women’s Volleyball League (EWV). The league, scheduled for 5-13 September, will take place in Pokhara and feature 18 international players alongside elite Nepali volleyball talent. The agreement was signed by Turkish General Manager Serkan Başar, and EWV CEO Snevy Chapagain. “Turkish Airlines’ support ensures a seamless journey and adds immense prestige to the league’s goal of women’s empowerment through sports as well as the agenda of sports tourism,” said Chapagain. “We are thrilled to partner with Vatsalya Everest Women’s Volleyball League as the official airline. With this association, we aim to support women role models in sports. We believe this association will connect countries to Nepali volleyball,” remarked Basar.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825030844_36df66612152abbea71f15579358a2bb0fe797f21cbe7e7c7f28e3fe91655ae4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250825030844_36df66612152abbea71f15579358a2bb0fe797f21cbe7e7c7f28e3fe91655ae4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Turkish"> </figure>

Turkish to sponsor women’s volleyball league

India and China have a long-standing border dispute along their Himalayan border which has erupted in violent skirmishes. But Indian and Chinese officials last week agreed to ignore Nepal’s own border dispute with India to facilitate trade. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs this week flatly rubbished <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Nepal’s territorial claims</a> to the Lipulek Pass and the Kalapani Region, including Limpiyadhura, which Nepal considers as the source of the Mahakali River that forms Nepal’s western border with India. The latest episode in this dispute has come as Sino-Indian relations have thawed after US President Donald Trump slapped <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-and-the-us-india-tariff-tiff">sanctions on Indian exports</a>. The joint communiqué in Beijing said India and China had agreed to resume their border trade through the Nathu La, Sipki La and Lipulek during Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi. Lipulek is a pass 10 km north-east of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/there-is-precedent-to-settling-kalapani">Kalapani</a> which has been disputed ever since the Survey of India published its 1879 map, where the source of the Mahakali was suddenly shifted from Limpiyadhura to Lipulek.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250826060824_4e68dd5964e0995b91148de9978a1de52b19691e1b01f52a405924fd130c22bd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250826060824_4e68dd5964e0995b91148de9978a1de52b19691e1b01f52a405924fd130c22bd" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="2083" loading="lazy" alt="Lipulek dispute explainer"> </figure>  This tributary of the Mahakali was called the Kali on this map, and is a fordable tributary and not the main channel of the border river. The main Kali River was renamed Kuti Yangdi, and this happened while the British were still in India presumably to gain access to the Lipulek in contravention of the 1816 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/borderline-disorder">Sugauli Treaty</a>.&nbsp; This subterfuge continued even after India gained independence in 1947. Nepal has maintained that the main channel of the Kali is the border as per the 1816 treaty, when Nepal lost a third of its territory to British India. It is all well and good that India and China are now friendly enough to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19447">open border trade</a> routes, but it should not be in violation of Nepal’s territorial integrity. Nepal should be called for diplomatic and political negotiations regarding the Lipulek pass and the Kalapani region comprising Limpiyadhura.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/when-xi-meets-modi-and-oli">When Xi meets Modi and Oli</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit China and India, but especially the latter, should invite Nepal to discuss these issues and iron out the disputes based on facts and evidence and maps. Nepal had sent seven diplomatic notes to India and three to China so far regarding the Lipulek and Kalapani. India has not responded to any of them. China replied once saying that Nepal and India should sort out their border disputes first before voicing their opinions. Nepal welcomes the recent talks between India and China that it hopes will positively impact on settling border disputes that are mostly stalled since the 1962 Sino-Indian war, the 73-day military standoff over the disputed Doklam region between China and Bhutan, and the 2020 Galwan clash in Ladakh. Nepal’s two large neighbours seem to have come to their senses and realised that it is in their interest to collaborate rather than confront each other when President <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/trump-s-first-month">Trump is acting erratically</a> with threats of sanctions and tariffs.&nbsp; Prime Minister K P Oli should bring up Nepal’s grave concerns about the Lipulek during his state visit to India next month when he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bodh Gaya. The two are also expected to meet next week at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin when Chinese President Xi Jinping will also be present. But even before that Nepal should send diplomatic notes to both the Indian and the Chinese governments regarding their agreement to resume border trade through the Lipulek.&nbsp; Here is a timeline of the developments regarding the Lipulek: Sino-Indian Agreement of 1954 This 8-year Agreement on Trade and Exchange between Tibet and India was signed in Peking on 29 April, 1954 by the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Chang Han Fu and the Indian Ambassador Nedyam Raghavan.&nbsp; There was no explicit mention on the border settlements either on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or on Ladakh, although trade and pilgrimage through Lipulek and other 5 passes (Sipki La, Mana Pass, Niti Pass, Kungri Bingri Pass and Dharma Pass) were agreed upon.&nbsp; Trade between Uttar Pradesh state and the Tibet Autonomous Region was through ‘border &nbsp;point of the agreement states: ‘With a view to facilitating the visits of persons engaged in border trade and the exchange of commodities and means of transportation, (India and China) have decided that Lipulek (Qiangla) be the border pass for the entrance and exit of the said persons, commodities and means of transportation from the two sides.’ The agreement expired on 6 June 1962 during the Sino-Indian war, and the two sides did not renew it. Bilateral ties started to normalise only in the 1990s with the Indian decision in 1988 to abandon its policy of settling ‘territorial issue’ for ‘normalisation of relations’. India There was no reaction from Nepal to the 1954 agreement since Nepal did not have diplomatic relations with China yet at the time. Sino-Indian Agreement of 2005 The Political Parameters and the Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the Sino-Indian Boundary Question is detailed in 11 Articles, which outline the steps to be taken for a Peaceful and Tranquil Border. The agreement was a direct outcome of the Special Representatives mechanism that had been set up through a 2003 agreement. It also incorporated the Confidence Building Measures in Military Field along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sino-Indian Border Areas signed in 1996.&nbsp; A protocol on Modalities for the Implementation of Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas signed during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s India visit, which stated in Clause 2 of Article 5: ‘Both sides agree to extend in principle to expand the mechanism of border meeting points to include Kibithu Dhamal in the Eastern Sector and Lipulek Pass (Qing La) in the Middle Sector. The precise locations of these border meeting points will be decided upon mutual consultations.’ Nepal’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement in 2005 stating that Nepal had asked China about the issue and the Chinese Embassy clarified that the agreement had nothing to do with Kalapani. This was perhaps the first time that Nepal had objected to the Sino-Indian agreement on Lipulek. King Gyanendra had staged a coup d’état on 1 February 2005, just two months prior to this agreement. The Nepali press voiced criticism of China in particular for disregarding the country’s sentiment.&nbsp; Sino-Indian Agreement of 2015 India and China signed several documents during the state visit of Chinese President XI Jinping to India on 18 September 2011. Number one on the list was: ’Opening a New Route for Indian Pilgrimage (Kailash Mansarovar Yatra) to the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China’.&nbsp; The Indian foreign ministry stated: ‘The MoU provides for conducting the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Nathula Pass in Sikkim in addition to the existing Lipulek Pass in Uttarakhand’. On May 15, 2015, China and India issued a Joint Statement during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China. Point 28 under the ‘Trans-border Cooperation’, states that the two sides agreed to ‘hold negotiation on augmenting the list of trades commodities, and expand border trade at Nathu La, Quingla/Lipulek Pass and Sipki La Pass’. Nepal’s objection to the 2015 agreement was stronger than in 2005. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala called up Narendra Modi to express Nepal’s displeasure It was not until 2020 that Nepal’s Foreign Minister disclosed that ‘Nepal had expressed its disagreement in 2015 through separate diplomatic notes addressed to the governments of both India and China … including Lipulek Pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250826060824_d4497e2620bba81211d27e427393974877e09006abc26e13055508996e5b29ea.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250826060824_d4497e2620bba81211d27e427393974877e09006abc26e13055508996e5b29ea" data-rendition-name="original" width="1108" height="1550" loading="lazy" alt="Lipulek dispute explainer"> </figure>  The new political map of India published by the Survey of India in November 2019 that incorporated areas east of the Kali River including Kalapani as Indian territory sparked renewed public, and political, attention to the Mahakali dispute. The Nepal government then countered by formally approving the publication of the new Political and Administrative Map of Nepal including all territories lying to the east of the Mahakali River on May 18, 2020. In June, the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed the second amendment to the Constitution of Nepal to update the country’s new political map in the national emblem. Sino-Indian Consensus of 2024 A 6-point Consensus on Peace and Tranquility on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was agreed on December 18, 2024 between the Special Representative of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi, and the Special Representative of the Republic of India, Ajit Doval.&nbsp; India has not denied that this is a consensus, while China made it clear that this was not a Joint Statement. This Consensus is in line with the 2005 agreement, and was agreed during the 23rd round of the Special Representatives talks held after a gap of five years aimed at restoring bilateral ties frozen because of the military standoff in Ladakh. The agreement included: cross-border communication and cooperation, promoting the resumption of pilgrimages by Indians to Xizang, cooperation on crossborder rivers, and trade at the Nathu La Pass. Nepal made no reaction to the statement despite Lipulek being the pilgrimage route for Mansarovar and Kailash.&nbsp; Prabhakar Sharma is a construction engineer and an international border expert who has worked as a survey engineer for the Cameroon-Nigeria border demarcation by the United Nations.