<figure><img width="1122" height="810" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710124/6390574c9c7e80680e0ce14ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>World leaders, including from Nepal, will gather again at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt this month to assess the climate emergency, and agree on urgent measures to avert irreversible damage to the ecosphere. The Climate Summit is burdened with unnecessarily unwieldy nomenclature and acronyms which make its deliberations unnecessarily esoteric to politicians and ordinary people. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129947">UNFCCC</a>) will be having its 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to take stock of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II Sixth Assessment Report (<a href="https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_CrossChapterPaper5.pdf">IPCC WG II AR 6</a>). We need to first to de-jargonise the above, and translate targets and commitments into everyday language so that people the world over understand the urgency of the emergency. Plain words would also expose the hypocrisy, grandstanding, victim-playing and victim-blaming that occurs every year at these summits.This conference is called COP27. This means governments have met every year 27 times since 1994 to find ways to ‘stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to prevent dangerous interference from human activity on the climate system’. The atmosphere would be a lot warmer if nothing had been done, but it would have been a lot cooler if more had been done.The summit in Egypt from 6-8 November 2022 takes place in a year during which the world suffered unprecedented back-to-back climate-induced disasters like record-breaking heat waves, forest fires, storms, glacial retreat and floods. Scientists say the intensity and frequency of these calamities are happening decades earlier than forecast. If COP27 just meets earlier commitments from governments to pay $100 billion a year for mitigation and adaptation it will have served its purpose. But given the current global economic crisis due to the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict, that does not look likely. Which is why climate justice demands by some countries, including Nepal, for ‘loss and damage’ is probably dead in the water. The argument is that the impact of the climate crisis is causing so much loss of life, livelihoods and property that just adapting to the change is no longer adequate.Given the severity of the floods in Pakistan this year, the prolonged heat waves in India and China, landslides and floods in Nepal, it is clear that developing countries are unjustly and disproportionately paying for a crisis not of their making.  Even so, we in Nepal have to recognise that the climate crisis is just tip of the pyramid of problems that pre-date climate change. Structural factors like state neglect, governance failure, corruption and exclusion was already putting much of the population at risk. Politicians in Kathmandu cannot blame the chronic food insecurity in western Nepal on climate change. They have done little in the past half-century to provide hill-irrigation to lessen farmers’ dependence on rain-fed subsistence agriculture. They cannot blame the migration every year of 80,000 Nepalis for overseas employment on the climate crisis. For centuries, Nepalis have been migrating because of the lack of jobs, opportunities, poverty, indebtedness and discrimination. A jumbo Nepali delegation is flying to Sharm El-Sheikh with a new Forest Minister who knows next to nothing about climate, is intent on logging 4,000 hectares of forest to build a new international airport, and allow cronies to build safari hotels inside national parks.He will be demanding ‘loss and damage’ compensation for the Melamchi water project that suffered costly damage in last year’s flood. But the real loss in the Melamchi was caused by chronic corruption, mismanagement, political interference and incompetence spanning decades.  The destruction of farms and homes by landslides due to rampant, corruption-driven road building by rogue politicians is far more serious than the damage caused by global climate change.  No doubt, extreme weather events will be more frequent right across the Himalaya in coming years. There may be catastrophic co-seismic multiple glacial lake outburst floods. We have to prepare for those calamities by clever fund-raising, not go COP-hopping with a begging bowl.At COP26 in Glasgow last year, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba pledged three things: increase forest cover to 45% by 2030, ensure climate resilience for all vulnerable Nepalis by 2030, and start reducing emissions to become carbon negative after 2045. Nepal already has 44.74% forest cover, we just have to make sure we do not destroy what is left. The second commitment is so unmeasurable as to make it meaningless. And we do not see any new far-reaching tax incentives for battery vehicles or household electricity use to make use of surplus hydropower to reach net-zero in the next two decades.Nepal’s ‘enhanced’ Nationally Determined Contribution presented to the UN aimed to hit net-zero by 2050. At the rate petroleum imports are rising, the country will be bankrupt by then. A dramatic switch to renewables for transport and household energy could allow Nepal to be carbon neutral even by 2030. But for that we need competence, commitment and political will.   Nepal has to reduce fossil fuel use not so much to save the planet, but to slash our petroleum import bill and improve urban air quality. Climate change gets a tangential mention in the manifestos of the major political parties preparing for this month’s polls. It does not even merit an empty election slogan. Nepal has to stop playing victim all the time and invoke climate change for ‘loss and damage’ compensation. We should instead put our minds (and money) to implementing domestic low-carbon policies.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/climate-change-only-one-factor-in-pakistan-flood/"> Climate change only one factor in Pakistan flood</a>, Nepali Times

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<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722ff89c7e80680e0c2541jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>With federal and provincial elections barely three months away, Nepal’s leaders are flirting with regional powers, and exhibiting political promiscuity by switching sides and forming new alliances.Maoist Centre leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal has made no secret of his intention to succeed Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister after November, and has been trying to ensure that his project has the green light from Beijing and New Delhi.Just days after he met the visiting head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Liu Jianchao in Kathmandu, the Maoist chair jetted off on a previously unannounced visit three-day visit to India at the invitation of India’s ruling BJP.Dahal has been prime minister twice since the end of the conflict in 2006, and he has been forging party-to-party ties with both the CPC and BJP to assure the rulers of China and India that whatever the past, he will be a reliable partner.“It is clear that he (Dahal) is impatient to be prime minister again, so he is pulling every lever for his political longevity,” explains political analyst Puranjan Acharya. “He was probably clarifying his position to Liu during their meeting in Kathmandu, and then immediately went to New Delhi to placate Indian leadership.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/geopolitical-tug-o-war-over-nepal/">Geopolitical tug-o-war over Nepal</a>, EditorialThe CPC delegation also met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, Unified Socialist chair Madhav Nepal, as well as opposition leader KP Oli.The Chinese may have carried back the message that full Communist unity may not be possible before the November election, but having a ’Maoist’ prime minister may not be such a bad idea.The Chinese tried unsuccessfully to mediate in the power struggle between Oli and Dahal last year in a bid to keep the Nepal Community Party intact. They also failed to stop the ratification of the US-funded MCC infrastructure project, and believe Deuba to be West-leaning.Dahal’s visit to India was said to have been at the invitation of BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda, and Dahal insisted at a press briefing at Kathmandu airport that the trip had been planned months in advance.Analysts say that while his meetings with the Chinese delegation was par for the course for a foreign delegation visiting Nepal, Dahal's visit to India on such short-notice was unusual.Dahal met with Indian External Affairs minister S Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and with Nadda at the BJP headquarters. But Dahal, who had hinted at a breakthrough meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flew home without having one.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/planting-seeds-of-democracy/">Planting seeds of democracy</a>, Shristi KarkiDahal’s visit to Delhi coincided with the presence there of Arzu Rana Deuba, NC leader and the wife of Prime Minister Deuba. The timing raised eyebrows in Kathmandu, and especially after he said in an interview that there was a pact with the NC to take turns being prime minister after November.Dahal insisted that the timing of the visit was a coincidence, and it was also significant that immediately after his return he met with Baburam Bhattarai, freshly ousted from his JSP. The former Maoist comrades have apparently been discussing the formation of a ‘socialist front’ for November.Although an electoral alliance with the UML seems unlikely, Dahal has also met Unified Socialist chair Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam of a new left party to discuss an electoral alliance.“K P Oli stands in the way of a leftist alliance, and if he extends even the hint of an invitation, nobody should be surprised if Dahal dumps the Congress and jumps at the chance of leading a Communist super-alliance," says Acharya.Dahal’s meeting with leftist leaders comes on the heels of Babu Ram Bhattarai’s expulsion from Janata Samajwadi Party’s Central Committee by party chair Upendra Yadav on grounds of Bhattarai ‘engaging in activities to divide the party’. Eight other leaders from the Bhattarai camp were expelled alongside him, which Bhattarai called ‘arbitrary’ in a statement.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/deubas-mixed-report-card/">Deuba’s mixed report card</a>, EditorialYadav and Bhattarai had fallen out after the party’s poor showing in the May local election. "By now, it is apparent that party-building is not Babu Ram Bhattarai’s forte. Every party he has established has ended up in instability due to trust issues within leadership,” says Acharya. “His political future will be safer— and his political expertise and knowledge can be much better used to help the nation— if he directs his attention to playing an active supporting role in an already established party as opposed to trying to form a new one."Meanwhile, in the NC the rift between Deuba and leaders like Gagan Thapa and Shekhar Koirala is widening as the two have decided not to engage in a power sharing deal if the coalition wins a majority in the upcoming elections. This would mean that the NC would hold prime ministership for a full term after the elections.Experts say it is clear that the decision of the NC to not pursue a power sharing deal is a result of the pressure on the prime minister from those outside Deuba's camp within the party.“The NC’s decision has foiled Dahal’s plan, and he will now actively pursue a leftist alliance or a socialist front. But he has continued to say that any such alliance will not hinder the coalition in any way, so as to placate the NC,” says Acharya.The NC’s Shekhar Koirala says his party made a mistake by encouraging its cadre to support other parties to the detriment of its own interests. He says: "We are discussing electoral alliances, but it should be done in such a way as to minimise losses for our party.”Dahal, meanwhile, has been coy in interviews about his prime ministerial ambitions. It is clear he is impatient to lead the country once more, and he is trying to make sure that domestic dynamics and regional geopolitics will be conducive.Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-local-polls-a-rehearsal-for-federal-elections/">Nepal’s local polls a rehearsal for federal elections</a>, Shristi Karki

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Not everything happening in Nepal is bad. If you just looked at the glass as half full, the news that Nepal has dropped another two notches to now rank #124 among the most corrupt countries in the world is in fact the best news we’ve had so far this year.Corruption is good for business, it spreads the wealth around through an alternative tax regime, it greases the system so the bureaucracy moves faster, it raises Nepal’s GDP. Without corruption this country would grind to a halt.What’s that? Didn’t quite catch you. You are saying that the country is already at a standstill, how can it grind to a halt? That is exactly the problem with this country. It is full of cynics like you. Don’t blame corruption for the country’s stagnation, how can we get anywhere if we still have honest cops who refuse to let you go on a traffic violation even if you offer them a cash incentive?Then there are tax officials at the airport who stubbornly insist on confiscating the extra bottle of whiskey you brought from Bangkok, and to rub salt on the wound, they give you an official receipt for it. And there are ministers who want to actually punish bureaucrats extorting money from contractors on National Pride Projects instead of rewarding them. How will this country ever attain Middle Income Status at this rate?Finally, we are able to get Don Manange sworn back into Parliament. Populating our federal legislature with members of the mafia, representatives of crime syndicates, cartel owners, the medical-industrial complex, knaves, goons, and mass murderers is the only way we can have a can-do law-making body that will restore Nepal as the proud and glorious nation it once was.Instead of banning corruption we must find ways of making it work in the national interest. One way to do that is to make malfeasance contribute to Nepal’s macro-economic stability by taxing vice. A service surcharge on graft and bribes would help us redress Nepal’s balance of payments deficit so we can hit the 7.8% growth target for fiscal 2018-19.Once we legalise corruption, we will become more transparent as a nation. Every time someone from the Ministry of Poultry and Livestock pilfers from the coffers, or a tycoon passes out a hefty baksheesh they will be slapped 13% VAT on the spot.Investors keen to start joint ventures in Nepal can be given a one-year tax holiday on all bribes they have to pay to lubricate the labyrinths of officialdom. Foreign diplomatic missions and international agencies, will of course have duty-free status, since their presence in our country is governed by the Vienna Protocol.

The Ass

Transparently corrupt

<img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710114/6368cacd9c7e80680e02f336jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Himal Khabarpatrika 22-28 AprilInterview with civil society leader Devendra Raj Pandey on the 12th anniversary of the Democratic Movement in 2006. Himal Khabarpatrika: This week marks the triumph of the 2006 Democratic Movement. How do you recall those heady days?Devendra Raj Pandey: After 1990, people were growing frustrated with political parties and the Maoist insurgency was escalating. Yet, civil society was passive. The royal coup in 2005 gave us new energy, and we announced a civil movement for peace and democracy.Why was civil society passive? This is what happens when you have the desired political system, but the leaders do not deliver. Democracy was already restored in 1990, so we did not have to fight for it. We were disillusioned with elected leaders, but we could not ask them to step aside and let us govern the country.Why has civil society failed to create the kind of political order it envisioned? You can change the regime, but not the attitude of political leaders. After 1990 and 2006, our leaders considered money instead of people as their source of power. The general people or civil society were responsible because they stand united to overthrow authoritarian regimes, but are divided when political parties come to power. They never question the party they belong to.How has Nepal’s political course been after 2006?  Nepal was run by political cartels until recently, with a syndicate of top leaders taking all important decisions. And they were doing it not to serve the country but to cling on to power. The transition to federalism was long and bumpy, but we did not have the luxury to undo everything and start afresh. Even after three tiers of elections under the new Constitution, Madhesi, Janajati, women and Dalits have political grievances. But there is a sense of political stability, and I am hoping for new power dynamics within existing political parties and the emergence of a new political culture. <img width="456" height="410" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710114/6368cad19c7e80680e02f337jpeg.jpg" alt="">Are you suspicious of the communist government?There is speculation that the communist government will curtail civil rights and impose authoritarianism. I do not think so. We cannot regress. Democracies are under attack, and populist ultra-rightists are emerging around the globe. Our democracy is in much better shape. The only problem is that our leaders never seem to retire or improve. A politician returns to power after 12 years, but his style and attitude does not change. It looks like I am pointing to NC President Deuba, but this is true right across the political spectrum.Has civil society been donor-driven? With financial assistance come political agendas. Soon after the restoration of democracy in 1990, the Soviet Union collapsed and several new nations were born. The Western powers invested heavily in transforming these new nations into democracies. That was when they began funding Nepal's civil society movement. If we allow them to decide our state structure, order and distribution of resources, it will be harmful to us.Why did civil society not intervene when the Maoists tried to push ethnic identity-based federalism? Civil society was polarised, too. While some supported the Maoist agenda, others tried to foil them. There was no space for neutrals like us.But none of you came up with ideas to reconcile ethno-centrism and regionalism.Who listens to ideas in Nepal? I personally believe that we must accept that the State has historically excluded Janajati, Dalit and women. If we make this acceptance a point of departure, we can negotiate to mainstream these excluded communities. But how can we even start a negotiation when you end the debate with: 'This country was created by Prithvi Narayan Shah'. A radical idea was countered by another radical idea, and there was no middle ground.How can grievances of Madhesis, Janajatis and women be addressed? They need a leadership that can articulate their voice and negotiate with the government. They do not have a leader at the moment. For example, Madhesis are being led by dishonest and opportunist leaders. It is easy for the government to coopt them. But what if Madhes explodes against its own so-called messiah? It is a responsibility of the government to foresee future crises and avert them through negotiations.What's next after the Constitution, elections and federalism?Creating three levels of government is real devolution, and the Centre should no longer try to retain the unitary system. Tax payers are concerned that the State will now have to pay for too many ministers and MPs. If our elected representatives want to address these concerns, they must renounce their sense of entitlement.The agenda of stability and prosperity seems to have struck a chord with the people?  I do not understand why we are suddenly after prosperity at a time when we have failed to deliver even development. The Prime Minister is making one grandiose promise after another. But where is the mechanism to realise these dreams. A few ministers have hit the ground running, but overall the system has not improved.

“Our leaders never retire”

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

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