The Canadian media philosopher <a href="https://www.marshallmcluhan.com/biography/">Marshall McLuhan</a> was way ahead of his time in foreseeing how <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/addressing-nepals-digital-divide">the digital age </a>would transform the public sphere. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-message-is-the-medium-z5w3ekk2">medium was indeed the message</a>, and today the messaging app is the message.
On <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/days/press-freedom">World Press Freedom Day</a> on Saturday 3 May, journalists must remind ourselves that it is not only our freedom that needs to be protected. Freedom of press guarantees the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/20-years-ago-this-week/media-in-crisis">public’s right to know</a>, journalists are just defending the freedom of their fellow-citizens.&nbsp;
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/no-freedom-after-expression">Democracy and freedom of expression</a>, by definition, go hand-in-hand. There can be no democracy without participation, and there is no participation without open communication.&nbsp;
But today, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/populism-vs-pluralism">democracy is in retreat across the world</a>, a trend that has gone hand-in-hand and has been abetted by the uncontrolled spread of social media platforms.&nbsp;
The world’s two most populous countries to Nepal’s north and south now have converging political systems and media landscapes. China’s phenomenal economic progress seems to have convinced its admirers that democracy and development are antithetical. &nbsp;
Over the past century, the United States demonstrated that a free press and the free market were two sides of the same coin — open society needed to be defended to ensure accountability and economic growth. The First Amendment to the US Constitution laid down that the legislature should make no laws that infringed on complete <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/jail-the-messenger">freedom of expression</a>.
Yet, the United States is proof now of how too much freedom can kill freedom. We now know that the liberty to say anything can mean we end up saying nothing. There can be so much freedom that the truth can be buried in an avalanche of lies. The free-for-all on the internet is merely an illusion of freedom.
Democracy allows citizens even the freedom to destroy democracy itself. With democracies in decay worldwide, media as the fourth pillar of democracy is turning into a pillar of authoritarianism.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/democracy-s-discontents">Hyper-local digital media content is so polarised</a> that it paralyses democracy and pierces the armour protecting the free press. Algorithms reinforce and further radicalise entrenched beliefs, muffle public debate, and muzzle journalists.
The truth is then drowned in a cacophony of toxic trolling, hate speech and disinformation. AI has made it possible for deep <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/balancing-free-expression-with-fake-news-on-social-media">fake content</a> to be even more potent and pervasive.
Democracy and social networking sites, alas, are not compatible. We have been reluctant to put it so bluntly before because agreeing to social media bans in Nepal (<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rattled-by-criticism-nepal-bans-tiktok">like the government did with TikTok</a>) would mean infringing on constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression. Such control could lead to creeping censorship of digital content by a thin-skinned government.
The age of AI-driven algorithms coincides with democratic reversal globally, and an existential crisis in the mainstream press. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/south-asia-2040-qxr16oup">Journalists are no longer sole gatekeepers</a>, ‘content creators’ and ‘influencers’ now give ‘users’ what they want, not what they need to make informed choices — for example about mitigating climate breakdown.
As a press freedom activist said at a recent gathering: “We do not go to a citizen doctor when we are sick, so why do we need citizen journalists to tell us what is happening?”
Yet publishers and editors are stuck in their old ways, unable or unwilling to adapt to new storytelling styles and multimedia packaging formats. With falling revenue, there is less money for investigative reporting which was already jeopardised by corporate conflict of interest.
The free press must survive so that democracy is made more accountable, and pluralism can <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-populist-party-balenist">prevail over populism</a>. For this, journalism must fight back. Smaller, isolated pockets of independence and professionalism need support to resist. Even practicing independent journalism in this day and age is a form of resistance.&nbsp;
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/media-melee-in-the-age-of-ai">AI will embolden techno-fascists</a>, replacing physical death squads with cyber lynch mobs. Governments do not need to censor the media, journalists can be silenced by corporate takeovers and mass trolling. They do not need to kill journalists anymore, they can just let journalism die.
Free speech is no longer about journalism, ‘free speech’ is what is on YouTube or TikTok. Journalism used to be governed by rules about verification, double-checking, about credibility and trust. Posts on X do not have to abide by any of those rules, and the tyranny of the algorithm remakes McLuhan’s global village with tribalism.&nbsp;
Media freedom has ended up killing freedom, as another philosopher of resistance, <a href="https://janisjoplin.com/">Janis Joplin</a>, once sang 60 years ago: “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”
Kunda Dixit

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Messaging is the Message

<h2>“My brother died right in front of my eyes”</h2> - Dhanu Bishwakarma  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250401110456_de4a04720790ed70067d7ad74a16b72cee179e99e85fb78a093edadd592be5a0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250401110456_de4a04720790ed70067d7ad74a16b72cee179e99e85fb78a093edadd592be5a0" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="Suresh Rajak"> <figcaption>Avenues TV journalist Suresh Rajak, who died last Friday as he was filming the pro-monarchy protests from a building that was eventually set on fire by royalist rioters.</figcaption> </figure>  Sujani Magiya was busy preparing for a family gathering that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">fateful Friday</a> at her home in Chandragiri as her husband, television journalist Suresh Rajak, got ready to head to work.&nbsp; Sujani reminded him to be home early for the get-together. “I’ll come back early,” Suresh promised and left to cover the royalist rally at Tinkune.&nbsp; As confrontation between riot police and demonstrators unfolded, he had climbed up an office building for a vantage point to film the events below. Just then, some in the crowd shouted that there were police on the roof of the building and started stoning the green glass façade.&nbsp; Suresh was last photographed filming through the broken windows, and kept on filming even as the rioters set fire to the building after blocking the front door. Suresh was either asphyxiated or was burned to death. His body was discovered hours later. Back in Kirtipur, Sujani was too busy preparing dinner for the family gathering to check her phone, and was unaware of what was happening across town.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250401120416_60a4b7e5ceb0cd6879f6682013f365f26562154025821ec29a8e9322f448e29b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250401120416_60a4b7e5ceb0cd6879f6682013f365f26562154025821ec29a8e9322f448e29b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="667" loading="lazy" alt="Suresh Rajak Family"> <figcaption>Ramesh Rajak (left) and Dinesh Rajak, older brothers of Suresh Rajak. Dinesh and Suresh, both video journalists, were covering the protests for their respective media outlets. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  When she finally saw the news, she dialled her husband’s number but his phone was switched off. The rest of the family had already heard that Suresh was dead, but did not have the heart to break the news to his wife. “My brother-in-law told me around 6PM that my husband had met with an accident and had been taken to hospital,” Sujani recalled. “They stopped me from going to the hospital.”&nbsp; She feared the worst, and prayed fervently. It was on Saturday evening that she finally got confirmation that her husband had lost his life. Her tears have not stopped since. “I have lost everything,” she told us, weeping. Suresh was the youngest of four siblings, and the family could not afford to send him to college. The eldest brother Ramesh took care of the brothers, but his police job did not pay enough.&nbsp; Suresh migrated to Malaysia to work for two years to supplement the family income. He came back after his mother died, and his other brother Dinesh, who is a video journalist with Lokpath, suggested that he also get a job as a reporter. He had been a video journalist at Avenues TV for the past seven years.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250401110452_22ab2d4c9652aeb5007db4b69d07b15e24d5b70a6b0b7e60c07141c1b3f537c2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250401110452_22ab2d4c9652aeb5007db4b69d07b15e24d5b70a6b0b7e60c07141c1b3f537c2" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="579" loading="lazy" alt="Building set on fire by protestors in Tinkune"> <figcaption>Suresh Rajak was seen filming the protests from this building shortly before it was set on fire. His body was found hours later. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Dinesh and Suresh left home together on 28 March to cover the pro- and anti- monarchy rallies and had agreed to be home early for dinner. Dinesh reached Tinkune as the royalists were gathering, but was too busy to look for his brother.&nbsp; At around 4PM, when he was filming the building that had been set alight, a colleague informed that there was a reporter trapped inside. Dinesh immediately dialled his brother’s phone, but could not reach him.&nbsp; Dinesh stood frozen as the rioters swirled and shouted around him, unable to get ahold of his brother. No one, including Suresh’s film crew knew where he was. He called hospitals with no avail, and that was when Dinesh felt the journalist in the burning building could be his brother. “I had been filming the very house that my brother was burned to death in,” he said, weeping. “I will never be able to forget that.” Dinesh has not been able to face his sister-in-law because he has no answers to the questions she might have. Suresh and Sujani had got married seven years ago after a long-term relationship. She had been with him through much of his journalism career, and was increasingly frustrated that he was often required to work overtime. Suresh dismissed her worries.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250401110452_a74962b765a26e9046ddd4a9fa920a5d02d9cf43cf4fd6df361ba4723ec4c97d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250401110452_a74962b765a26e9046ddd4a9fa920a5d02d9cf43cf4fd6df361ba4723ec4c97d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="Suresh Rajak receiving award"> <figcaption>Suresh Rajak was the 2022 recipient of the Hem-Sunil Risky Journalism award.</figcaption> </figure>  He had been injured once before while filming anti-MCC protests in Baneswor three years ago. “I had asked him to quit his job back then, but he would not listen,” Sujani recalls. Dinesh says that his brother would often take risks to take exclusive photos and videos. He was well regarded by colleagues for his passion for reporting, and was the 2022 recipient of the Hem-Sunil Risky Journalism award. His body is still at Teaching Hospital, and his family met the prime minister on Monday and demanded that he be eligible for a martyr’s compensation, and to punish those who set fire to the building. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has organised memorials nationwide for Suresh and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-deja-vu-on-black-friday">condemned the various attacks on Nepal’s media and press institutions</a> during Friday’s protests. Dinesh says that while the rioters were guilty of setting fire to the building, he faulted the police for not helping rescue his brother even when repeatedly told that there was a reporter inside. He says, “Had they gone to that building, my brother’s life could have been saved.” <h2>The last time Sabin left home</h2> - Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250401120416_12ba007525d427fb9136ad20da45c28e71e397089efc23c1a70ed66d022240d6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250401120416_12ba007525d427fb9136ad20da45c28e71e397089efc23c1a70ed66d022240d6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1343" loading="lazy" alt="Sabin Maharjan"> <figcaption>Sabin Maharjan had left his house on Friday telling his wife he was going to pick up his vehicle from the garage. His family does not know how he ended up at the pro-monarchy demonstration in Tinkune, where he was shot to death after police fired live rounds to disperse protestors.</figcaption> </figure>  There may have been a few thousand pro-monarchist demonstrators at Tinkune on 28 March. But many of those caught up in the melee were either bystanders, or walking past to get to their destinations because there was no public transport. There are at least a dozen people in hospitals across Kathmandu being treated for bullet wounds who were not protesters, but were hit when the police resorted to live rounds to disperse the angry crowds on an arson rampage. One of them was Sabin Maharjan, 29, from Kirtipur who drove a public van on the Hetauda-Kathmandu route. He left home that morning telling his wife Bhavisha Thakuri Malla that he was going to pick up his vehicle from a garage.&nbsp; Sabin was passionate about driving, and had learnt to drive at the age of 14. He met Bhavisha in Hetauda and got married in 2016. He would often stay nights in Hetauda unless his vehicle needed repairs, in which case he drove back to Kathmandu. Last Wednesday, Sabin had come back to Kathmandu in the evening after spending a week in Hetauda, leaving his Tata Sumo at a garage in Balkhu for repairs before heading home to Kirtipur.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250401120420_52efc283b4578b8e951fb695d81d8967e5cdf52e39326db82854c76d1e97cdc1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250401120420_52efc283b4578b8e951fb695d81d8967e5cdf52e39326db82854c76d1e97cdc1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Bhavisha, Sabin's wife"> <figcaption>Sabin's wife Bhavisha Thakuri Malla. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter. Photos: ANITA BHETWAL</figcaption> </figure>  Relatives and co-workers say they have no idea why a man who had said he was going to pick up his van from the garage had ended up across town at a violent protest. “Maybe someone took him to Tinkune from the garage, or he could have gone there for some other work,” Bhavisha says, her voice breaking.&nbsp; Bhavisha was doing her chores with her daughter when she got a call from TU Teaching Hospital. She rushed to Maharajganj, but was informed that Sabin had died.&nbsp; Bhavisha stares listlessly at her daughter Subisa beside her, as mourners file into the room to offer words of consolation. “The bullet wound was on the left side of his chest, he must have died instantly, without knowing what hit him,” she says. “Those here ask what they can do for me. Can they bring my husband back?” Relatives say Sabin had no interest in politics, and had never joined any political rally. The only time he left home was to drive his van.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025040112040_be268599be04b0738465410af93f93938c6ac5206355edd7c3938b7b7c610abf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2025040112040_be268599be04b0738465410af93f93938c6ac5206355edd7c3938b7b7c610abf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="894" loading="lazy" alt="Sabin Maharjan"> <figcaption>Mourners have gathered for the last few days to pay respects at Sabin Maharjan's house in Kirtipur.</figcaption> </figure>  Bikash Maharjan raised his nephew, Sabin, since he was five after his mother’s death and father’s remarriage. He says: “Sabin was not the least bit interested in politics. We just cannot understand what took him to Tinkune.” Family and neighbours were not the only ones at Sabin’s house in Kirtipur to offer condolences. There were some participants from the pro-monarchy protests, as well as government representatives.&nbsp; But Bhavisha has no interest in meeting them. “I do not know what this protest was for. All I know is that if it had been peaceful, this would never have happened.” Bikash Maharjan, Sabin's uncle, says his death should not be exploited by any political side for propaganda purposes. “We are ordinary people, we do not want anyone to use the name of the son we have lost for any political purpose.”&nbsp; “Since Sabin cannot take care of his family now, it is up to the government to support them,” he adds.

A Tale of Two Deaths

One video on social media shows Avenues tv videographer Suresh Rajak filming <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">Friday's pro-monarchy protests</a> in Kathmandu through windows shattered by stone-throwing crowds on the street below. The steel sliding door has been padlocked from the outside.&nbsp;
Minutes later, the rioters set fire to the building and stoned a fire truck trying to douse the flames. Rajak’s body was found two hours later after colleagues started searching for him.
Onlinekhabar journalist Dinesh Gautam was taking pictures of protesters snatching a tear gas gun from a policeman, when they attacked him, fracturing his leg. Across the Tinkune intersection, protesters attempted to set fire to the office of Annapurna Post and pelted stones at the Kantipur Television building. A Himalayan TV van was set alight.
Kathmandu woke up on Saturday to watch videos of the violence on their devices, or buy dailies at the newstands. The front pages carried special editorials and publisher’s notes that accused the royalists of deliberately targetting the media.&nbsp;
The <a href="http://www.fnjnepal.org/np">Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ)</a> organised memorials nationwide for Rajak and called the royalist attacks “a black day for press freedom”, comparing it to the days of the absolute monarchy.
“The attacks on the press and activists prove that protesters had no intention of peaceful gathering, they were itching for violence,” former FNJ chair Taranath Dahal said at the event in Kathmandu attended by hundreds of journalists.
Nepal’s public sphere appears to be polarised by former king Gyanendra Shah’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal">attempt to reinstate Nepal as a Hindu kingdom</a>. While the mainstream press is vocally critical of the arson and looting unleashed by his supporters on Friday, on social media the picture is more mixed with many accusing the security forces of provoking the protesters.
The posts say riot police used the roof of the building that was torched to fire tear gas shells at the stage prepared for pro-monarchy figures. Police denied doing this. The owner of Avenues tv, Bhaskar Rajkarnikar, who is on a pro-monarchy committee led by Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala, had one of his own journalists burnt to death by royalist protesters. He has since accused the police of not doing enough to douse the fire and rescue Suresh Rajak.&nbsp;
The other fatality on Friday was 29-year-old Sabin Maharjan who got a police bullet in his neck. At least 112 people were injured, including 77 security officials. Apart from newspaper buildings, protestors vandalised private property, party buildings as well as ransacked a Bhatbhateni department store and a pharmaceutical factory.
Late Friday night, pro-monarchy leaders Rabindra Mishra and MP Dhawal Shumsher Rana of the royalist RPP were arrested for instigating demonstrators to engage in violence. The leader of Friday’s protest, business tycoon and alleged bank defaulter<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/street-politics"> Durga Prasai</a>, who rammed his pickup through police cordons, has eluded the police dragnet.
Many have said that the final responsibility for Friday’s violence lies with Gyanendra Shah, who reportedly instructed Prasai directly on Thursday on plans for the rally. The government is reportedly planning to strip Shah of state facilities granted to him since the monarchy was abolished in 2008, and to cancel his passport because of fears he may flee the country.
Ex-king Gyanendra has not yet spoken out about the protests. The RPP under Rajendra Lingden gave moral support to the protest but he had disagreements with Prasai, Mishra and Rana about how and when to hold it. The party meeting on Saturday is said to have decided to continue with “peaceful protests” to restore Nepal’s monarchy. Strategically, it helps Lingden's position within the party that a more radical faction is being blamed for Friday’s violence.
Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC on Saturday warned: “If this is what Gyanendra is doing now, what will he do if he is a king? He has never been a constitutional monarch, and he never will be.”
In its Special Editorial titled ‘<a href="https://ekantipur.com/opinion/2025/03/29/special-editorial-make-gyanendra-shah-accountable-16-58.html">Hold Gyanendra Shah Accountable</a>’ on Saturday, Kantipur wrote: ‘Instead of presenting ideological, political, and practical arguments for monarchy the royalists have engaged in vandalism, arson, and looting, proving that frenzy and chaos is inherent in their identity and character.’
Most editorials and analyses emphasised that Friday’s protest was an indication of public dissatisfaction with Nepal’s three main party leaders who have been prime minister multiple times — their corruption, lack of accountability and impunity.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sacking-of-nea-chief-exposes-cronyism">Public anger is bubbling away</a>, and Friday’s mayhem in Tinkune was a manifestation of this. This should be a final wake-up call to political parties to clean up their act, and for ageing leadership to hand the reins to younger untainted figures before the next elections in 2027.
This is the reason leaders like Balen Shah and Rabi Lamichhane were elected in 2022, and is proof that at least democracy allows citizens to choose their next leaders.
But for democracy to function, it needs checks and balances in place, and this is where the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/media-matters">role of the media as a watchdog </a>becomes crucial. It is when critical voices are silenced and suppressed, dictators are born.
Following an emergency central committee meeting, the FNJ has announced protests demanding action against those involved in the killing of Rajak. “Protesters might have attacked and killed journalists, vandalised equipment and media outlets, but you will lose,” FNJ’s Deepak Acharya said at Saturday’s memorial. “Nepal’s press has always fought authoritarian control and it will keep fighting.”

Sonia Awale

Nepal’s déjà vu on Black Friday

The National Assembly will discuss the government’s contentious Social Media Bill which has been criticised by press freedom watchdogs, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/makeshift/addressing-nepals-digital-divide">digital rights</a> experts and journalists.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/protecting-free-speech-on-nepal-s-cybersphere-osx1xz46">Nepal’s cybersphere </a>is also largely united in condemning the proposed Bill, which seeks to monitor content on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/digital-discrimination">digital platforms</a> and criminalise what it deems as offensive with hefty fines and jail terms for users and service providers.&nbsp;
“The Bill has brought matters relating to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/no-freedom-after-expression">freedom of expression</a> entirely under criminal law, making them state party criminal cases,” explains &nbsp;Baburam Aryal, digital law expert. “We already have laws that address defamation, indecent posts and extortion which extend to online spaces. Why has the government not tried to address these issues through existing laws?”&nbsp;
Activists say the Bill does not seek to regulate social media so much as control what Nepalis say on them. The proposed restrictions would also undermine <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/press-for-people">press freedom</a> since mainstream media also have a presence on digital platforms and websites.
Says Nirmala Sharma, Chair of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists: &nbsp;“The government might have drafted this bill with the intention of regulating social media, but this must not be done at the cost of the people’s right to express themselves freely. It will also affect press freedom at a time when much of Nepal’s media reaches its audience through digital platforms.”
The Bill seeks to criminalise content sharing on social media that ‘disturbs the sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and security of Nepal’, with imprisonment of up to five years, or fines of up to Rs500,000 or both.
The definitions of what is objectionable is so broad, anyone can be prosecuted. The Bill states that users must not ‘engage in offensive words and audiovisuals, trolling, or use abusive, insulting, or hate speech to harm or humiliate others’, and must not ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/inoculation-against-misinformation">spread false and misleading information,</a> or distort information.’
The Bill will also require network companies like Meta and X to be registered in Nepal, establish an office, and pay taxes. Companies operating without registering will be fined Rs2.5 million.
Digital rights experts say that the government might be pushing registration of social media companies to gain access to personal data that &nbsp;companies may be reluctant to hand over otherwise.
“If these global social media companies have not shared data with the authorities even in the countries where they are based, they will not do it for Nepal,” says Aryal, “They are not just answerable to Nepal but the entire world. They will not play by different rules for us.”
It is impossible for the thousands of apps Nepalis use on a daily basis to register and establish points of contacts in Nepal. Just because these digital services are easily available does not mean that they will be as easy to regulate.
“These companies have data protection obligations, and will not exchange information with Nepali authorities unless we provide a robust legislative framework and we can assure that the data will be used in case of civil wrongs and not criminal wrongs,” says Aryal.
The social media bill defines ‘hate speech’, but does not set parameters for ‘trolling’, ‘abuse’, ‘insult’ and ‘misleading information. It is all left purposefully vague so the government can take it to mean whatever it wants.
This is ominous because such broad provisions can allow Nepal’s authorities to bend the law to silence any criticism of politicians and muzzle anti-government sentiments.
While some terms are broad and undefined, the definition of terms like cyber-stalking, cyber-bullying, and hate-speech do not qualify as their actual definitions, and there are inconsistencies with punishments associated with the same offence in two different clauses.
The Bill would prohibit <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/internet-in-everything">social media</a> users from creating anonymous profiles or use fake names, which will carry a prison term of three months or a fine of Rs50,000 or both. Section 25 would also punish those disseminating content that is ‘obscene, false, or misleading with Rs300,000 fine and two years in jail or both.
Adds Aryal: “If an administrative agency becomes the final arbiter of what is wrong and harmful information, it opens up the possibility of maximum misuse of authority.”
To be sure, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/facebook-nation">Facebook</a>, Instagram, YouTube, X and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/taking-back-tiktok">TikTok </a>do have content that propagates misinformation and disinformation, primarily due to lack of media literacy, click-bait journalism, and targeted content.
“While social media has become an essential source of news and information, it remains unreliable,” says pollster Madhu Acharya of &nbsp;Sharecast Initiative. “Unlike legacy media, social media lacks gatekeepers, making it more susceptible to the spread of false information.”
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/balancing-free-expression-with-fake-news-on-social-media">Balancing free expression with fake news on social media</a>
There is disinformation on both social and mainstream media, but the Bill bypasses existing legal provisions to criminalise it outright.&nbsp;
Says Nirmala Sharma: “Government bodies must not be given absolute authority on social media usage over existing legal remedies.”
Ram Prasad Dahal, also of FNJ, adds, “Instead of focusing on genuine regulation and accountability, the entire bill appears to be a strategic move towards greater state control and censorship on social media platforms.”
Nepal’s leadership seems to be taking its cue from autoritarians in the region to stifle dissent and the freedom of the press. In India, even as much of the mainstream media fell under PM Narendra Modi’s tutelage, his loyalist Gautam Adani brought NDTV, one of the last mainstream media attempting to hold the Modi government to account.
In the USA, Elon Musk, who owns X, gleefully became the mouthpiece of Trump during his candidacy and now has an active role in shaping the US government. Other media entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, have also cosied up to the American president, who has repeatedly undermined the legitimacy of the press.
Nepali leaders have tried to muzzle the media in instalments in the past, but public outrage has stopped those measures. Last year, three people were arrested for sloganeering against Prime Minister KP Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba of NC at a festival. Some who criticised the government on social media platforms have also been detained.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/media-matters">Media matters</a>, Shristi Karki
Leaders have in the past arrested owners of media that have exposed corruption, and journalists reporting on natural resource extraction and corruption have received death threats.&nbsp;
The watchdog Freedom Forum recorded 53 violations in 2024, of them 19 journalists received death threats, seven were detained, and three faced cybercrime charges. Additionally, 28 journalists were attacked and one journalist in Sudurpaschim Province was killed for reporting on corruption.
Nepal’s mainstream press is not without problems. It often puts out partisan content, and there have been allegations of blackmail.&nbsp;
Hate speech, incitement of violence, and infringement of privacy on social media do go unpunished. The absence of fact checking means glaring falsehoods go uncorrected.
Ultimately, lines have to be drawn to safeguard social harmony and protect individuals from wanton reputational harm. With companies like Meta abandoning <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/punished-for-fact-checking-in-nepal">fact-checking</a>, digital media platforms may need more national oversight.&nbsp;
But this must not undermine <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/jail-the-messenger">freedom of expression in Nepal</a>, one of the few countries with an open society in the region.&nbsp;
“We have made it clear that the Bill in its current form must not be passed by Parliament, and the government must consult stakeholders to review and make necessary amendments,” says Nirmala Sharma.
With additional reporting from Sangya Lamsal.

Shristi Karki

No comment.

2024 was marked by Nepal’s politicians attempting to silence journalists and institutions that were critical of them.&nbsp;
Despite being elected, they seem to be learning the tricks about gagging the media from authoritarians in the neighbourhood. But the lesson there is that such suppression is counterproductive.&nbsp;
First it was Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane who, as Home Minister in the previous coalition, jailed the publisher of Kantipur which had exposed his alleged involvement in defrauding cooperatives
Lamichhane lost his job when the coalition collapsed after the Nepali Congress switched to the UML side in June. He has now been charged, and lost his MP seat and party chairmanship as well.&nbsp;
Lamichhane and other political leaders who catapulted to national politics after the 2022 local and federal elections copied the proven method of fanning populism through social media. Once in power, like elected authoritarians elsewhere, they have tried to emasculate the mainstream press.
Earlier this month, Dharan Mayor Harka Sampang openly threatened journalist Gopal Dahal and the Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal for their <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/143356" target="_blank">exposé</a> of governance and fundraising irregularities. Sampang said he would ‘end the career’ of Dahal and former Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Sunsari chair Janak Rishi Rai who had shared the story on social media.
Sampang’s supporters have since been sending Dahal death threats, using slurs, and praising the mayor for ‘teaching the media a lesson’.&nbsp;
The mayor’s actions have drawn widespread condemnation, with FNJ and Freedom Forum calling for the safety and protection of journalists. Dharan journalists <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/143445" target="_blank">staged rallies</a> in outside the mayor’s office denouncing his threats.&nbsp;
“There is no environment for freedom of expression in Dharan, where the mayor has long been intimidating the press," CIJ-N editor Kiran Nepal says. “All the while, the central government is silent in the complaints against Sampang.”
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement: ‘CPJ calls for a swift and thorough investigation into the death threats against journalist Gopal Dahal. Authorities must hold all perpetrators accountable while ensuring the journalists’ safety … the media must be allowed to report without fear of harassment or violence.’
Lamichhane, Sampang and Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah campaigned in 2022 on anti-incumbent platforms riding the save of public disenchantment against established parties.&nbsp;
They have continued to rile up their base by magnifying the message on social media, scathingly trolling and threatening anyone daring to criticise them — including those in the mainstream press.
“What Sampang, Shah and Lamichhane have in common is that they think they are above media scrutiny, and prefer to mobilise their troll armies," says CIJ-N's Kiran Nepal. "Nepal's media has problems, too, but this new crop of politicians thinks there is no role at all for a free press."
The new leaders all have their sights on the 2027 elections, and have benefited from the silence from the political establishment against their methods. Mainstream political leaders seem wary of engaging with these younger leaders and their supporter base.
Nepal’s established parties which fought long and hard for democracy also appear to have developed a thin skin — especially to social media content that lampoons them.&nbsp;
For mainstream leaders, intolerance of criticism is not just limited to the media, but also to dissenting voices from within their own parties, as evidenced by the expulsion of Bhim Rawal and suspension of leaders Binda Pandey and Usha Kiran Timilsina.
The coalition government is pushing ahead a new media bill aimed at regulating social media networks and online media.&nbsp;
Communication Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung has said the bill is aimed at “countering the chaos created by social media”. The bill has been approved by the Cabinet, but it is unclear whether it will now go to Parliament, and Gurung is urging Prime Minister K P Oli to pass the bill through ordinance.&nbsp;
The bill will require international social media networks like Facebook and TikTok to obtain registration, establish an office, and pay taxes in Nepal. Social media and online users can be fined or jailed if found to violate norms in the bill.&nbsp;
Last year, the Maoist-NC coalition used similar rhetoric of ‘maintaining social harmony’ to ban TikTok. Mainstream parties were spooked by rising popularity of religious radicals and pro-Monarchy groups on the platform.&nbsp;
Establishment leaders are nervous that independently elected mayors including Sampang and Shah, will use social media to join national politics like the RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane.
While populist leaders demonstrate intolerance towards criticism in the mainstream press, they and their supporters use their social media handles to threaten and troll even a hint of criticism of their actions on those platforms.
This puts media organisations and free speech activists in a dilemma: while hate speech, intimidation and trolling corrode democracy, censoring the internet is a slippery slope.
They say the bill undermines freedom of speech, and that while monitoring social media to maintain socio-cultural harmony is important, putting controls over social media is the wrong way to go about it.&nbsp;
Tellingly, the political establishment has stayed silent throughout Sampang’s threats against Dahal and CIJ-N, Lamichhane ridiculing the ‘dirty dozen’ media owners and the Balen Shah overstepping his remit in Kathmandu. &nbsp;Authorities in Dharan have also been willing to start legal proceedings against Ssampang even after complaints
Nepal is currently one of the most open societies in Asia in terms of freedom of expression. Any restrictions on media freedom through the bill, or government inaction against threats to journalists will set a bad precedent in the region.&nbsp;
However, even as politicians try to mute the media and despite the online support for populist leaders who attack the press, Sharecast Initiative’s annual survey shows that Nepalis still have a lot of trust in mainstream press.
Even though the audience of legacy and linear media continues to decline every year, there is still a considerable critical mass that appreciates the role free media plays in making democracy function as it should.
Says Nepal: “Putting regulations over social media is a double-edged sword, it will curtail freedom of expression-- democracy cannot function under this kind of control mechanism.”&nbsp;

Media matters

The scenes from Dhaka on Monday were eerily similar to the ransacking of the residences of Ferdinand Marcos or Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Protesters took selfies lying on Sheikh Hasina’s bed (pictured above), they lounged on her sofas, feasted on biryani, and looted whatever was portable.&nbsp;
As is usually the case, it only takes a spark to light a revolt when a people’s fury at ruthless rulers reaches the tipping point. Hasina’s regime cracked down brutally on demonstrators, killing more than 300.&nbsp;
After another day of bloodshed on 4 August, Hasina lost support of the security forces, and jubilant protesters watched as their <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/05/asia/bangladesh-prime-minister-residence-stormed-intl/index.html">prime minister of 15 years fly off to India</a>. Army Chief Waker-Uz-Zaman announced an interim government would be formed.
There is a vital lesson from what has happened in Bangladesh for the rest of South Asia and beyond. Rulers cannot rest on their laurels just because they were freedom fighters. If citizens do not benefit from regime change, they will sweep rulers into the dustbin of history.
History is replete with examples of despots who plunder, torture and kill opponents, but are overthrown sooner or later. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/05/why-bangladesh-prime-minister-sheikh-hasina-resigned">Sheikh Hasina</a>, was elected for the fifth time in a rigged election in January that was boycotted by the opposition BNP, and accepted only by India.
Hasina's fate is also a lesson for regional powers who back tyrants for geopolitical reasons: what they gain from such support can be tenuous and short-lived.
Nepal is presently not ruled by an elected despot, our press is the freest in the region, and the check and balance of democracy here function relatively well. Yet, the events in Bangladesh have an important lesson for our elderly rulers and mass media.&nbsp;
Are we in the media also partly to blame for increasing public frustration with politics as usual that is making Nepalis cynical and apathetic?
Nepal’s new politicians have exploited the fecklessness of old rulers by using the new media to gather populist support. Journalists are seen to be comrades-in-arms of the legacy leaders, and are collectively held responsible for Nepal’s decline.&nbsp;
In the age of citizen journalism, there is a misconception that the mass media has become redundant. However, in-depth journalism is more essential than ever to help citizens navigate information overload, disinformation and deep fakes.&nbsp;
The mobile phone and its algorithm-driven networking platforms are more for entertainment than information. And if information is a major part of content, then more often than not it is fake news and toxic trolling. Readership has not decreased, it has just migrated, and the sources of information have changed.
The main reason Nepal's politicians and journalists find themselves targetted is because they played active roles together in the people power movements of 1990 and 2006.
Indeed, journalists have been at the forefront of the restoration and protection of democracy and in upholding press freedom — through the conflict years, and after king Gyanendra’s coup in 2005.&nbsp;
But <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/stemming-asia-s-democratic-decay">when democracy fails to deliver</a>, the public and populists tend to blame not just elected politicians, but also journalists.&nbsp;
The irony is that Nepal’s leadership is reluctant to credit the mass media for helping defend democracy and making it possible for them to get to power. Instead, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/press-for-people">many politicians would like to muzzle the media</a> because of its role in holding their power to account and exposing corruption in high places.&nbsp;
The media is playing its mandated adversarial role in Nepal’s democracy, but click-bait media and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/democracy-s-discontents">populist politicians</a> see public-interest journalism as competition for public attention.
We in the legacy media therefore find ourselves being distrusted by old guard politicians, and as rivals by YouTubers and TikTokers.
The state itself refuses thus far to recognise the communication enterprise as an industry, and successive governments <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/gagging-the-press-in-installments">have tried to weaken the traditional mass media by laws and policies</a>. The ban on alcohol ads on grounds of public health, even though such goods can be openly bought and consumed, is part of that strategy.&nbsp;
New leaders like Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah were propelled to power by new media. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-home-minister-vs-the-media">RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane</a> also fanned cyber-populism to get elected, which is why he is so dismissive of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ (१२-भाइ एडिटर) of the legacy media that exposed his wrongdoings.
The lesson from the Bangladesh upheaval for Nepal’s rulers who have been at the helm now for decades is this: clean up your act and start delivering, or else face a similar fate.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clywww69p2vo">Sheikh Hasina</a> persecuted the press, allowing social pressure to build up until it all exploded in her face. A free press is democracy’s safety valve, and it is in the self-interest of Nepal’s political parties to defend it.
Gunaraj Luitel is the Chief Editor of Nagarik Daily in Kathmandu.
@gunaraj

Selfies on the prime minister’s bed

Scream lies to drown the truth.
Gag free expression with free expression.
Spread falsehood faster than facts.
Sow distrust so facts don’t matter.
Jail the messenger.
That is the tip sheet of populist demagogues the world over to add a poison tip to social media. The disinformation is intended to unravel the social fabric, and dismantle trust in institutions to gain power. Blocking their way are the liberal democratic system and the press, and this is why they are targeted.
It is easy for populism to strike roots in democracies, including Nepal, because some in the established parties and the legacy media have squandered hard-won freedoms through lack of accountability and power brokering. The proximity of media tycoons to elected leaders provides grist to this anti-‘elite’ narrative.
Despots around the world are learning from each other how to weaponise social media platforms. Big Tech companies made this job easy by basing their business model on algorithmic radicalisation that manufactures outrage. Users quickly learn to exaggerate rage and magnify wrath to amass more followers. Facebook, X, YouTube reward them with digital pheromones, turning them into addicts.
In a commencement speech at Harvard University this week, <a href="https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/full-text-maria-ressa-speech-2024-harvard-commencement-ceremony/" target="_blank">Nobel Prize winning Filipino journalist Maria Ressa</a> blamed Big Tech of coding divisions in society with hate speech, and being <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/7dETo7ECQKc?app=desktop" target="_blank">“the accelerant to conflict and violence”</a>.
She went on: “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these three, we have no shared reality, no rule of law, no democracy.”
Elected despots enabled by Big Tech spread chaos and break down trust. Which is why journalism is in the crosshairs: we stand in the way by standing for rule of law and an open society.
Here in Nepal we have survived dark periods when freedoms were crushed under the jackboots of royal-military authoritarians. The press and the political parties fought for freedom together. After 1990 and 2006, the media was often critical of those in government, exposing wrongdoing, but for the most part the main parties shared the same values -- that press freedom and democracy are two sides of the same coin.
Now, the leader of an independent party that rose dramatically in the 2022 election on an anti-incumbent platform is behaving like autocrats of yore by attacking the media. Nepal’s Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is himself <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/after-balen-the-rabi-phenomenon" target="_blank">a former anchor</a> of a rabble-rousing tv show.
He was forced to resign during <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-rabi-lamichhane" target="_blank">his first stint</a> as home minister last year because of media exposures of his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rabi-lamichhane-is-home-less" target="_blank">US citizenship issue</a>. He deftly wriggled out of that one, and as home minister once again is charged with cheating depositors of several cooperatives of their savings and investing it in his tv channel.
The mainstream press relentlessly pursued this story, the most persistent being Nepal’s largest-circulation daily broadsheet, Kantipur. Last week, Lamichhane used the powers of his office <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-home-minister-vs-the-media" target="_blank">to jail the paper’s publisher Kailash Sirohiya</a>, strong-arming state agencies to detain him. A classic case of guilty until proven innocent.
The matter is in the Dhanusha court, and Siorhiya’s remand has been <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2024/05/27/dhanusha-district-court-extends-kmg-chair-sirohiya-s-remand-by-three-days" target="_blank">extended by another three days.</a> There is little doubt that the publisher’s citizenship discrepancy, which could be a clerical oversight, has been used to hide skeletons rattling in Lamichhane’s own closet. The <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2024/05/22/us-embassy-expects-dialogues-to-ensure-good-governance-and-press-freedom" target="_blank">US Embassy in Kathmandu</a> and international <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/interviews/2024/05/26/people-are-now-listening-to-democratically-elected-authoritarian-leaders" target="_blank">press freedom</a> watchdogs have <a href="https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/newsletters/detail/nepal-media-house-chair-arrested/category/press-releases" target="_blank">condemned the arrest</a>.
Using some of the same <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/after-balen-the-rabi-phenomenon" target="_blank">social media mobilisation</a> that got him elected, Lamichhane has unleashed troll platoons to cyber lynch anyone who dares question this vindictive abuse of office. The controversy stalled the budget session of Parliament for many weeks, as the opposition Nepali Congress (no saints themselves) demanded a house committee probe into the matter.
All top leaders of the three mainstream parties have said skeletons they use to blackmail each other and cancel each other out so nothing is ever investigated. Being the fourth largest in Parliament, Lamichhane’s RSP has the swing votes critical for this Left-led coalition to stay in power.
That is why top leaders of the Maoist Centre and the UML both looked away when Sirohiya was detained last week. They will benefit from journalists now too scared to investigate their scams. There is freedom of expression in Nepal, but not necessarily freedom after expression.
Nepal’s senior editors met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday, and reminded him that this attack on the free press was happening on his watch. They <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2024/05/25/21-editors-of-media-outlets-across-asia-call-on-pm-dahal-to-stop-media-intimidation" target="_blank">handed him a statement</a> that said: “There are serious questions about the manner in which Kailash Sirohiya was arrested and about the charges levelled against him, this is a direct attempt to put pressure on, and silence the independent press.’
Kunda Dixit

Jail the messenger

Nepal’s Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-rabi-lamichhane">embroiled in a controversy over his US citizenship</a> during his first stint last year. Now, he is using his position to go after Kailash Sirohiya, the publisher of Nepal’s largest media company, over his citizenship.&nbsp; A police team arrested Sirohiya from the office of Kantipur Media Group in Kathmandu on Tuesday after an arrest warrant was issued against him by Dhanusha District Court after a complaint was filed against him for holding multiple citizenships. The media tycoon responded angrily before being taken away for his court proceedings in Dhanusha, saying the arrest warrant was to exact revenge on Kantipur for exposing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heads-roll">Home Minister Lamichhane’s alleged involvement</a> in siphoning off deposits from a cooperative into his tv channel.&nbsp; The Home Minister is said to have given Sirohiya’s arrest the go-head despite Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's reluctance. On Wednesday, the Dhanusha District Court remanded Sirohiya to a three-day custody as the police investigates the issue of his citizenship.&nbsp; Nepal’s civil society and the public have expressed concern over the manner of Sirohiya’s arrest after he was taken directly into custody after a complaint was filed. Nepal’s public sphere is also abuzz about how Lamichhane himself was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rabi-lamichhane-is-home-less">never arrested for revelations about his own US citizenship</a> last year.&nbsp; Lamichhane is from the independent RSP that is the fourth largest party in Parliament, and his supporters praised him on social media for ‘holding the rich and powerful to account’, and accused Kanitpur of being a mouthpiece of politicians. Editors of Nepal’s mainstream media wrote to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday, stating that Sirohiya’s arrest was driven by political vendetta and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/press-under-pressure">intended to put pressure on the press and silence criticism</a>. During the editors’ meeting with the prime minister, &nbsp;Dahal is said to have taken responsibility for directing law enforcement to arrest Sirohiya as per the court’s arrest warrant.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240522170520_8145a64963c59c82a8934bc30f080324963037dda1aa7d0c961afcac54de17d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240522170520_8145a64963c59c82a8934bc30f080324963037dda1aa7d0c961afcac54de17d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="2570" height="1104" loading="lazy" alt="editors with PM"> <figcaption>Editors of Nepal's mainstream press reading out their letter to Prime Minister Dahal on Wednesday condemning the detention of Kantipur publisher Kailash Sirohiya.</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s opposition politicians, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists and the Nepal chapter of the International Press Institute, as well as the US Embassy in Kathmandu have censured the decision to detain Nepal’s most prominent publisher, calling it anti-democratic and an attack on press freedom.&nbsp; ‘Freedom of the press, accountability, and transparency are guiding principles for the United States as we continue to work towards “a more perfect union”,’ wrote the US Embassy on X. ‘We expect that as Nepal continues to shape its hard-won democracy, the Government and the people of Nepal also have a meaningful dialogue about how to ensure good governance, freedom of the press and people’s fundamental rights.’ On Wednesday, the RSP put out a press release justifying Sirohiya’s detention, saying that he was accused of ‘serious accusation of fraudulent citizenship’. ‘A person who runs a profitable private business is not the same as a hard-working journalist who writes news,’ read the party’s statement, rejecting that the arrest had anything to do with undermining press freedom in Nepal. &nbsp; ‘An investigation that has sufficient grounds and the permission of the court is not a violation of the freedom of the press. Rather, this misinterpretation makes the press, instead of being free, a slave network of unfair transactions,’ the statement continued. However, most independent analysts do not buy that argument, and say that the Home Minister’s action shows that he is thin-skinned and could not stomach press exposes about his alleged involvement of cheating cooperative depositors. Lamichhane has in the past lashed out at the mainstream press, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ghosts-of-war">calling its publishers the 'dirty dozen'</a>. Political leaders in PM Dahal own coalition have also criticised the handling by the government of Sirohiya’s citizenship issue.&nbsp; "Arresting Sirohiya’s on the basis of whether or not he is a citizen of Nepal is highly condemnable," said CPN-Unified Socialist chair Madhav Kumar Nepal, “The matter of two citizenship documents having the same number should be attributed not to the persons who hold the citizenships, but to the administration that issued them.” Sirohiya’s arrest has also deepened the political chasm between the opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and Rabi Lamichhane. Leaders of the opposition have been vehement in their condemnation of the RSP chair following Sirohiya’s arrest, just days after the main opposition in parliament finally allowed Lamichhane to speak in the Lower House.&nbsp; NC lawmakers had previously banned Lamichhane from speaking in parliament ever <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/what-difference-does-it-make">since the RSP joined the coalition</a> and Lamichhane got the Home Minister portfolio for the second time.&nbsp; The main parties in parliament finally agreed to form a parliamentary inquiry committee to look into the cooperatives scam case. However, it is unclear if Home Minister Lamichhane and his alleged involvement in the case will fall under the purview of the investigation.&nbsp; Meanwhile, the party chair’s public controversies have taken away from the promises of action that the party made to voters in the run-up to the elections in 2023, and also seem to have put fellow RSP lawmakers and leaders on the defensive, causing them to make public statements which insiders have said put the party leader above the party. Such rhetoric from RSP leaders, say analysts, points to a lack of understanding on the part of the party about how political language works and exposes how the party, two years past the election, still lacks a proper organisational structure and messaging strategy.&nbsp;

Nepal's home minister vs the media

The climate crisis is upon us today, whether we like to believe it or not. It is going to destroy much of what humanity has built in the last few hundred years, as well as the biodiversity that nature has bestowed on the planet. It is going to wash away our livelihoods in our lifetime.
Freedom of expression and democracy are the most important adaptation mechanisms to climate breakdown. If we cannot freely express our views and elect leaders, we will continue to build the wrong dam, the wrong roads, the wrong embankments in the wrong place, at the wrong price.
&nbsp;We already see bridges bridging nothing. Roads to nowhere. Airports not used, and vanity projects of politicians all built through our debt. This is because we are unable to speak out, because we do not have a say in what our governments do.
We take loans to build a bridge, a house, a school and bad weather destroys them. But the debt remains and we have to pay back the money without receiving the benefits from the loans we took.
The amount of money flowing out of our countries will amount to $900 billion in the next two years, mainly for debt servicing and repayments. Many climate vulnerable countries are in debt distress, and more than 15 will go into default this year. These countries have lost 20% of their GDP because of extreme weather events.
The environment, therefore, is no more a dispatch from environment correspondents. It is a major financial story. The impact extreme weather due to climate change has on the economy is tremendous.
<div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kYZV-l7dn6Q?si=ZOtUxDlPy7vYC-FE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
I now work for the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an intergovernmental organisation of 68 countries established in 2009 initially with nine countries including Nepal. I quit as the Speaker of the Maldives Parliament last year to set up the secretariat in Accra in Ghana.
Among other things, the CVF develops what we call Climate Prosperity Plans which are low carbon development strategies that would give the same outcomes of GDP growth of high employment and low inflation, but without damaging the planet.
To become resilient you must be prosperous. Being poor makes you less resilient, reduces your choices. So we are looking at new methods of farming, irrigation, harvesting, fertilisers, transport, and building cities and homes.
I have been attending COPs for nearly 30 years. We have been talking about Loss and Damage by using the ethical human rights argument of climate justice. But I do not think anyone ever listened, and nothing much has come out of the last 28 COPs. They are just talking shops.&nbsp;
The CVF wants to find solutions to the climate crisis, and one of the things we do is advise member countries on debt.
Sri Lanka is going into the IMF’s ‘Debt Sustainability Analysis’ program for the 17th time and Bangladesh for 24th. Year after year, the IMF bails them out on condition that they increase taxes, fire half the civil servants and reduce spending. These austerity prescriptions are not our way out of the debt, we cannot do so by suppressing growth.
More and more countries now want debt-for-nature swaps wherein those who want to protect the environment are willing to guarantee the new bond which asks the government to do more on specific environmental issues such that there is a conservation agent with, for instance, a forest management plan. The money is paid per usual, but you are also protecting nature while doing it.
We also encourage countries to do carbon exchanges. Most of the forests are in climate vulnerable countries today, capturing most of the carbon the world is emitting. At the same time, if we do not have forests, our very survival will be jeopardised. But we need money to look after our forests and our natural assets. Carbon exchange, therefore, can also be a mechanism to finance development.
Simply because industrialised countries have taken us to the brink, we cannot do the same. If we do, it is going to be the end of us all. We must find sustainable development paths that will also deliver prosperity.
People in the Maldives perhaps feel I have abandoned them. But to save the Maldives, I had to leave it. The Maldives cannot be saved unless the planet is saved. We had to do something else so that island nations and climate vulnerable countries have a better chance.&nbsp;
This is an excerpt of the keynote address by Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, an ex-journalist and a climate campaigner, at the Himal Media Mela 2024 on World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. He is now the Secretary-General of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. Watch his complete speech on our YouTube channel.
Mohamed Nasheed

Climate, Democracy and Media

Namaste, journalists, climate experts and friends of the planet! The third edition of the Himal Media Mela is going to be held on 3rd May 2024, Friday, at Yala Maya Kendra, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur. This year, the theme is 'Journalism for the Planet', in keeping with UNESCO's theme for World Press Freedom Day 2024 - 'A press for the planet: journalism in the face of the environmental crisis'.&nbsp; We are excited to announce that we are offering workshops and knowledge sharing sessions that are interactive and for smaller groups this time. Sub-events will be held two at a time so please carefully comb through <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeveKsuPezOER4EK1Zz8mOjHyoRD1ACpFsThtksUz4b1WB2YQ/viewform?pli=1">this form</a> and let us know which ones you will be attending, so that we can save you a seat. Do have a look at the sessions and select your preferences here: <a href="https://t.co/xI5VbMAP3n" target="_blank">https://shorturl.at/pS239</a> This one-day conference will packed with events from 9AM until 6PM, with lunch provided and breaks in between. But do stay on for the closing reception (drinks, snacks and networking) after 6 PM. Seats are limited, so we will take your filling this form as your confirmation, along with your payment (see details below): Entry Ticket: Rs. 500 Payment to be made in advance via eSewa to: Samrat Tamrakar 9841359603 Thank you for your interest and participation! Looking forward to seeing you for another successful Media Mela where we share valuable insights with each other and grow together. Best, Team Himalmedia  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240429100448_2250035690fc50a6d31f29de73759209122976dc2bd82fc63ad88a3e68be5b1e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240429100448_2250035690fc50a6d31f29de73759209122976dc2bd82fc63ad88a3e68be5b1e" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="680" loading="lazy" alt="Himal Media Mela 2024 registration"> </figure>

Himal Media Mela 2024 registration

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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