Manoj Kumar Mahara grew up in a Dalit settlement near Janakpur in a family that could not even afford to send its children to school.&nbsp; Still, he was one of only two students from the community that went to school. But he had to drop out in Grade 10 because his father went overseas to work. His mother worked as a farmhand in a landlord’s field.&nbsp; The family borrowed money to pay for Mahara’s high school, and as he prepared for the Public Service Commission exam. Because of the government quota for Madhesis, he got a job in the civil service in 2016. &nbsp; Now 32, Mahara is a senior officer at the Land Management and Revenue Office of Siraha district, one of few from his community to have a government job. Because of his earnings, his father no longer has to toil in Saudi Arabia and he has paid off the Rs100,000 loan his family owed to a microfinance company. “It would have been tough for me to get this job had it not been for the reservation system,” he says. “This government job is not just my livelihood, it also gives my family dignity and respect in the community.”&nbsp; Many Nepalis in the Tarai face double the discrimination because of being both Madhesi and Dalit – both the communities have faced historical ostracisation and economic deprivation.&nbsp; Even within the Dalit community there are sub-castes: nineteen in the Tarai and seven in the mountains. The discrimination against Dalits in the Madhes is said to be worse. &nbsp; Nepal’s civil service reservation policy, introduced after the post-conflict 2007 Interim Constitution, gave Nepalis from excluded and underserved communities an opportunity to participate in the state mechanism, changing its structure in the process.&nbsp; In the 17 years since, Dalits and others have had a more proportional representation in the state structure than before, although there is still a long way to go. And even though the laws are there, societal and cultural discrimination is slower to change. &nbsp; Discussions about affirmative action to redress discrimination began in fact after the 1990 People’s Movement. Before that, discourse on gender, indigenous rights and exclusion of Dalits were considered ‘development’ issues rather than violations of human rights.&nbsp; The 1990 Constitution acknowledged diversity and inclusion for the first time, and while the Constitution Drafting Committee had arranged for a 5% reservation for women and 3% for Dalits, the interim government removed the quota for Dalits before the Constitution was promulgated.&nbsp; Under the post-conflict Comprehensive Peace Accord of 2006, the inclusion of Dalits and minorities was explicitly mentioned as a part of the state restructuring process. Article 21 of Nepal’s Interim Constitution 2007 guaranteed social justice, stipulating: ‘Women, Dalits, indigenous ethnic groups, Madhesi communities, oppressed groups, poor farmers and labourers, who are economically, socially or educationally backward, shall have the right to participate in state structure on the basis of principles of proportional inclusion.’ Tula Narayan Shah, chairman of the Nepal Madhesh Foundation, concedes that the reservation policy has brought communities previously excluded from the state mechanism to the mainstream, helping bridge the inequality gap. “Previously, Nepal’s civil service was almost entirely made up of Brahmin and Chhetri men, reservation has ensured the presence of different communities,” Shah told us. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-uncivil-servants">Nepal's uncivil servants</a>, Bimala Rai Paudyal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024090619094_6f1bbb1002b8b02533ecc6cdea92250667d34b2f0647ffd94a64921397f70a12.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024090619094_6f1bbb1002b8b02533ecc6cdea92250667d34b2f0647ffd94a64921397f70a12" data-rendition-name="original" width="1357" height="819" loading="lazy" alt="reservation graph NT"> </figure>  Hill Dalits have benefited more from reservation, while Madhesi Dalits remain on the sidelines. Indeed, while reservation has played a significant role in ensuring the representation of different communities in government service, the Public Service Commission’s data from the last seven years shows that access to reservation itself has not percolated past those who are on the top of the hierarchy of reserved groups to reach socio-economically marginalised communities.&nbsp; For instance, while 97 of Nepal’s caste groups have entered government service, 45 other groups remain excluded. The presence of underserved caste and ethnic groups within the indigenous community is still small, and in many cases disproportionate to the population of those communities.&nbsp; “Even within the Dalit community, hill Dalits have benefited more than those from the Madhes,” says Umesh Prasad Mainali of the Public Service Commission. “While reservation has brought positive change, its benefits have fallen to only selected castes within the cluster groups.” &nbsp; Meanwhile, the Tarai’s Brahmin community makes up most of the Madhesi category in the civil service, which means Dalits get left out even though they can compete under two cluster groups. Journalist and human rights activist Bhola Paswan says that the double discrimination, poverty, lack of access to education, and language barriers have contributed to the continued underrepresentation of Madhesi Dalits in Nepal’s civil service.&nbsp; “Madhesi Dalits with a literacy rate of 48% can compete within Dalits, but how can they compete with higher caste Madhesis who have a 100% literacy rate?” asks Paswan, who says caste reservation is in urgent need of review. Other experts say that the 45% civil service seats set aside to ensure inclusion is not effective because even though women are allocated 33% of reservation seats, it has not translated into reality, especially since women make up 51% of Nepal’s population. There are also complications when an individual is part of more than one group allocated for reservation. For instance, a Dalit woman can apply under the women category, Dalit category, or through open competition.&nbsp; “Since the Dalit quota is not categorised by gender, her competition will ultimately be with women and Dalits as a whole,” explains researcher Kailash Rai, who says a separate provision for women under different reserved categories would be more fair.&nbsp; Muslims have also been at a disadvantage because they are placed in the Madhesi category for the civil service, although the proportional representation criteria applies for them in politics. In 2021, the Madheshi Commission included the Tharu and Muslims as part of the Madhesi community, which was widely disputed, since there are separate Tharu and Muslim commissions. Mohammad Zakir Hussain, former State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, argues that there are also Muslims from Nepal’s mountain districts, and his community cannot compete with Madhesi Brahmins who are better educated and connected.&nbsp; In 2020, medical student Binay Kumar Panjiyar sought a Supreme Court intervention to demand a government scholarship for a postgraduate in medicine. The court ruled that reservation should be interpreted as a class issue, which was itself criticised for undermining reservation for representation by gender, caste, ethnic, and geography. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/including-the-excluded-in-the-bureaucracy">Including the excluded in the bureaucracy</a>, Nepali Times  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024090619094_d9c0e04a921e5a7b331f30dd521e307563c2bb413ac13765d24930d311cbaa55.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024090619094_d9c0e04a921e5a7b331f30dd521e307563c2bb413ac13765d24930d311cbaa55" data-rendition-name="original" width="870" height="828" loading="lazy" alt="Reservation graph NT"> </figure>  Lack of access to education is deemed to be the main reason communities have not been able to benefit from representation quotas.&nbsp; “Reservation allocation must look into marginalised groups within underserved communities and take into account education and economic conditions across cluster groups themselves,” says researcher Bhaskar Gautam. Indeed, Magar, Rai and Gurung communities have not been represented in the civil service in proportion to their population, and Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar, of the Indigenous Nationalities Commission explains the main reasons: “They prefer to join the military, go for foreign employment, and lack access to education.”&nbsp; However, anthropologist Mukta Singh Lama blames underrepresentation of these communities to historic state exclusion. “Although they are a large part of Nepal’s population, these communities have been historically oppressed, and have not had access to education and information, which means they have had minimum participation in the state mechanism.” Lama suggests reducing the quota for caste groups who have already been represented in civil service in proportion to their population and reallocating those seats to other communities. Devraj Bishwokarma, chair of the National Dalit Commission, agrees seats for those communities under the cluster groups whose reserved quota has been completed, must be reduced so that hitherto excluded communities are represented in civil service in proportion to their population.&nbsp; Umesh Prasad Mainali, former chair of the Public Service Commission, says that some of Nepal’s indigenous communities have reached economic, social and educational advancement through reservation so they no longer need to be included. “This problem should be addressed by the upcoming Federal Civil Service Act.”&nbsp; Mainali adds,“We might not be able to represent all of Nepal because of the scale of our diversity, but groups with a larger demographic presence must be included.”&nbsp; Some activists say the current reservation system has elevated privileged groups and it would be more prudent to set aside quotas on the basis of class rather than on caste or ethnicity.&nbsp; “People representing only a select few caste groups have entered civil service,” says Vijay Kumar Datta of the Madheshi Commission. “At this rate it will take another 200 years for less privileged Madhesi communities to be represented in the civil service.” In a report titled The Impact of Reservation on Existing Government Services published in 2021, the National Inclusion Commission recommended that reservation should be abolished altogether by 2034. ‘The goal of the six allocated groups making up 45% of the civil service seems to be achievable within the next 14 years … it is not desirable to maintain the reservation system beyond that time,’ the report says.&nbsp; The report also drew a backlash for not taking into account the benefits of reservation to the target communities — as did the six-member commission that prepared the report, all of whom belonged to privileged caste groups. &nbsp; The discussion was reignited earlier this month as commentators drew parallels between Nepal’s reservation system with the Bangladesh student protests against their quota system even though, there, it was anger over the increased job quotas for cadres of the Awami League.&nbsp; The debate between affirmative action and meritocracy is a long one, and has been going on in every country. Although Nepal’s inclusion policy aimed to represent historically excluded communities and state bodies, it did not consider the shortcomings. &nbsp; Says Bhaskar Gautam: “If the state had properly committed to the policy during the Constitution-making process, reservation quotas could have been allocated to those who have been sidelined even within the marginalised communities.” &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/whose-country-is-it-anyway">Whose country is it anyway?</a>, Editorial <h2>By the numbers</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024090619090_922a5c8cb8c1ef05b866f693cfef94fb33251f607aef29788f6b35b297435c04.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024090619090_922a5c8cb8c1ef05b866f693cfef94fb33251f607aef29788f6b35b297435c04" data-rendition-name="original" width="1202" height="690" loading="lazy" alt="10-11 graph"> <figcaption>Current distribution of civil service jobs by cluster groups.</figcaption> </figure>  The Civil Service Reservation Policy was introduced in Nepal through the Second Amendment in 2007 to the 1993 Civil Service Act, which stated that in order to make the civil service inclusive, 45% of the total posts shall be set aside and be filled up by having separate competition between six groups based on gender, ethnic and caste background, as well as geography. This ‘positive discrimination’ policy allocates 33% of civil service jobs for women, 27% to indigenous groups, 22% to Madhesi people, 9% to Dalits and 5% to people with disabilities, and 4% to people from ‘backward areas’ (which include six districts of Karnali Province and three from Sudurpaschim Province). Nepalis from poorer Brahmin and Chhetri communities are also eligible for reservation.&nbsp; Since the introduction of the reservation system 17 years ago, the percentage of Dalits in the civil service has increased from 0.13% to 1.76%, while the percentage of Muslims has gone up from 0.13% to 1.92%. Only 11 caste groups were present in government jobs in 2007, compared to 97 today. There are currently 85,520 civil service employees, of which 68.6% entered through direct competition, 7.4% of civil service workers are women, 5.4% are from indigenous communities, 4.1% are Madhesi, 1.6% are Dalit, 0.8% are people with disabilities, and 0.7% are from backward areas.&nbsp; Meanwhile, the percentage of Khas Arya Nepalis in the civil service has gone down from 80.6% before the implementation of reservation to 70% at present – still the largest share in the civil service.&nbsp; According to the National Census, Brahmins, constitute 11.3% of the population but make up 34.18% of the civil service, while Chhetris who make up 16.45% of the population hold 19.15% of government jobs. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/quality-of-equality-for-women">Quality of equality for women</a>, Editorial

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Reaffirming affirmative action

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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Turkish to Seville

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