<figure><img width="800" height="789" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636937139c7e80680e03fe16jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Diwakar Chettri</figcaption></figure>It does not matter who advised Prime Minister K P Oli about attending the dubious Asia-Pacific Summit in Kathmandu last week organised by the Korean Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon. He should have refused to go.Even if he had been told that other Asian leaders would be attending, just glancing at the invitee list should have made it clear to him that they were ones currently ostracised by the international community: Cambodia’s Hun Sen and Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi.Hun Sen got himself elected again this year in an another staged election, and the former Khmer Rouge guerrilla who has brutally silenced critics is Asia’s longest-ruling prime minister. Aung San Suu Kyi may still retain her Nobel Peace Prize, but she has been stripped of numerous other international awards for her refusal to condemn her government’s ethnic cleansing of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-on-the-margins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rohingya minority</a> and imprisoning journalists who covered it. Nepal’s entire political leadership, including even President Bidya Devi Bhandari, tarred themselves by hobnobbing with this disreputable evangelical cult that has been known to buy political influence in soft states around the world. Seeing Nepal’s political spectrum on stage with <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korean-movement-in-Nepal,2962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moonie figures</a> was not just shameful, but exposed gullibility and collusion with a shady born again sect.https://youtu.be/0A3PoCal9GoA promotional video (above) made by the Church boasts about how it has the backing of Nepal’s political leadership. It shows clips of UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on hand at the Kathmandu airport tarmac to welcome the group’s ‘True Mother’ earlier this month, and other leaders receiving ‘blessings’ from her.      Moon’s Unification Church and Universal Peace Federation (UPF) has nearly 15,000 members and dozens of churches across Nepal. It has also bankrolled various political parties to give its Chairman and head of the Nepal Paribar (Family) Party Ek Nath Dhakal berth as Peace and Reconstruction Minister in successive coalition governments in the past four years. Dhakal has taken Nepal’s top politicians and MPs on frequent and lavish junkets to Korea. The Oli administration has been hapless about getting its timing right even when it makes positive moves. It squandered the PR  advantage of signing the much-vaunted Trade and Transit Treaty with Beijing earlier this year by installing a controversial head of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority on the same day. Headlines about the  appointment overshadowed the geopolitical significance of the China treaty. The government has done little to followup on the treaty, but that is another story we will go into some other time.Prime Minister Oli also announced a bold <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/not-just-social-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social security scheme</a> for private sector employees, but the extravagant publicity campaign, in which his face was plastered all over the country, undid any brownie points from it. It will take a long time to undo the damage from the ridicule the government and Oli personally suffered in the mainstream media and social networking sites.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/not-just-social-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Not just social security</a>, Josh Glover<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/social-insecurity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social insecurity</a>, Om Astha RaiMany Nepalis would probably have ignored all this nonsense if in the past nine months of assuming office the Nepal Community Party-led government had used its two-thirds majority to perform. Not only has the government not been able to deliver, its accomplishments in just about every sector has been less than underwhelming.Last week, we lamented in this space how the government has managed to spend only <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/communist-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11% of its outlay for development projects in the first quarter</a>. In the same period, foreign direct investment in Nepal is down 75% from the same period last year, and it is the lowest in three years. Combined, these two trends mean that Nepal is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/roadblocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlikely to achieve the projected 8% growth target</a>.Successive governments have promised that the pace of development and economic growth will pick up once things get back to 'normal'. The war has been over 12 years, the constitution was promulgated three years ago, elections were over and done with and the three levels of government have been in office for nearly a year. When are we ever going to be 'normal'?Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/communist-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Communist capital</a>, Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/roadblocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Roadblocks</a>, Ramesh Kumar<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A rape/murder case in Kanchanpur</a> that could easily have been solved with detective work at the local level was bungled with a cover up, and the framing of innocents until it grew into a crisis of national proportions.Such weakness and chronic failure, especially of an elected government with a strong mandate, is not good news for Nepal’s long-suffering people who have waited out two decades of conflict and transition. It also undermines the people’s trust in their elected representatives, and belief in democracy.The response of the prime minister and his spokesman has been a knee-jerk attempt to blame the messenger and lash out at critics in the time-honoured way of all failed leaders. Our unsolicited advice to the prime minister would be to make a list of can-do deliverables and just get them done. The public will give him credit without him having to beg for it. 		
			<h2>10 years ago this week </h2>		
		Ten years ago this week, the Nepali Times edition #428 of 6-11 December, 2008 had the front page headline ‘Red carpet’ alluding to the string of foreign visitors in Kathmandu. An excerpt from the analysis:Since the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon in October, there have been four ministers from India, Britain, Denmark and China. The Chinese sent a military delegation and the British their army chief. Most visitors expressed concern about delays in the peace process, army integration and lamented the lack of consensus politics. They urged the Maoist-led government to deliver law and order, prove its commitment to democracy and the free press and ensure industrial security.Some visitors said privately they saw a gap between what the Maoists were saying and what they were doing. There was concern that Nepal, which two years ago was hailed a model country for conflict-transformation, was about to slip back into anarchy. Nepal had a great opportunity after the peace accord to restore stability and be stronger internally. But the country now seems to be going in the other direction. The only way to dissuade foreign meddling is to build consensus during the transition period and to cooperate in the constitution-drafting process. If the Maoists who lead the government can’t do this, opposing geopolitical blocs will start getting jumpy and try to influence political decisions. When that doesn’t work, they will interfere directly.

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The new normal

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921f79c7e80680e03a0ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>Nepal’s flourishing diversity of ethnicities, languages and cultures and its socio-cultural closeness to Burma made me feel at home as soon as I landed in Kathmandu recently.Unfortunately, another similarity is that both countries have been mired in conflict and are trying to come to terms with truth and justice for past human rights violations.  There is a lot the two countries can learn from each other.Burma (Myanmar) was ruled by notorious military regimes for nearly half a century up until 2011, when political liberalisation began. The United Nations and others have documented widespread and systematic human rights violations by the junta, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and allegations of ethnic cleansing.Burma has the world’s longest-running civil wars, and has seen continuous conflict between the government and many of the country’s ethnic groups since independence in 1948. Both the military and ethnic armed groups have committed crimes including extrajudicial killings, forced displacement of entire villages, recruitment and use of child soldiers, and destruction of property, and war rape.The brutal suppression of pro-democracy movements, and violent crackdowns of protests were common throughout this period of military rule from 1962 to 2011, resulting in thousands of political prisoners. The atrocities against ethnic minority groups continue to this day, with the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/tag/rohingya-crisis" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.hrw.org/tag/rohingya-crisis&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149248000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG9Jk6SjnsFjB6vZ6LOiPDxXWE85A">violations against Rohingya</a> people getting the most international attention at the moment.In comparison, Nepal’s conflict lasted a shorter period between 1996-2006 when most of the rights violations occurred. The violations of human rights during conflicts in both countries are so numerous and egregious that the normal justice system is not able to provide adequate response, which is why <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-struggle-for-transitional-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional justice mechnisms </a>are needed.After 2011 Burma’s military rule was replaced by a military-backed civilian leadership. A comprehensive peace process with ethnic armed groups brought bilateral ceasefires moving up to a <a href="https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/17022-extracts-from-the-nationwide-ceasefire-agreement.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/17022-extracts-from-the-nationwide-ceasefire-agreement.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149248000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFCatvjWLrPNer76IDwjivKl6nh7g">Nationwide Ceasefire</a> in October 2015. The current National League for Democracy (NLD) government, elected in a landslide in 2015, has continued <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-peace-idUSKCN1160RF" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-peace-idUSKCN1160RF&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149248000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHlFs7iEmrEFX7RmKFS5qH4T1roYg">negotiations</a> between government, military, ethnic armed groups and political parties. Even so, the International Center for Transitional Justice (<a href="https://www.ictj.org/our-work/regions-and-countries/burmamyanmar" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.ictj.org/our-work/regions-and-countries/burmamyanmar&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149248000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFZYp8J36Vu0BAiKxeaJ9db3UEJEw">ICTJ</a>) has been pushing Burma to provide redress to political prisoners and bring victim experiences into the national dialogue.However, the process has been overshadowed by the accusations of a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya/myanmars-ethnic-cleansing-of-rohingya-continues-u-n-rights-official-says-idUSKCN1GI0C2" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya/myanmars-ethnic-cleansing-of-rohingya-continues-u-n-rights-official-says-idUSKCN1GI0C2&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149248000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHnY3CEDJon3L9CC2ux35UaP6z-Qg">campaign of ethnic cleansing</a> against the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-on-the-margins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rohingya Muslim</a> population by the military which has forced some 700,000 refugees to flee to neighbouring countries. A <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/A_HRC_39_64.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/A_HRC_39_64.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFjnSZCGKZsKvq4mB0Q05qmpvitkQ">UN repor</a>t on 24 August was the strongest condemnation yet and called for top military figures to be investigated for genocide in Rakhine State and crimes against humanity in other areas. It recommended that the case be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).Predictably, Burma’s rulers <a href="http://time.com/5381281/myanmar-rejects-un-rohingya-genocide-report/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://time.com/5381281/myanmar-rejects-un-rohingya-genocide-report/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHXozMm9CjyFfrgfrqgRcp2s_JVGw">rejected</a> the report. Then last week, a Rangoon court sentenced two Reuters reporters to seven years in prison for <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45392972" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45392972&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE07dgoa6OG7N-imhGIkuPmFXc8aw">violating a state secrets act</a> while investigating the atrocities against the Rohingya. Domestic and international rights have condemned it as a crushing blow to freedom of the press and another setback for democracy.Nepal’s own 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement laid down the steps to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons which were finally established in 2015. Even so, they are criticised for allowing the government to grant amnesty to perpetrators, they <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/13/nepal-transitional-justice-proving-elusive" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/13/nepal-transitional-justice-proving-elusive&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGebWcVaS1DrMhWBpyjX4uKXTT3HQ">fail to meet international standards</a> and are unconstitutional. The government has extended their mandates for the second time in February, but has not provided them enough technical and financial support.Both Nepal and Burma currently face the challenge of a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/just-not-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lack of commitment and delays</a> about the transitional justice process because of the lack of political will to acknowledge the past and provide relief to victims.In Burma, the military did not want to uncover the wrongdoings of its personnel and discussion of massive human rights violations has been largely<a href="http://www.irrawaddy.com/election/news/forgive-those-who-wronged-us-suu-kyi-tells-nld" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.irrawaddy.com/election/news/forgive-those-who-wronged-us-suu-kyi-tells-nld&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-f-Fz5PYrT6mZYMmyuPWQSLywog">understood to be off the table</a> during the transition and the peace process. This is because the current government says it is worried that raking up the past might reopen old wounds and further deepen divisions. Burma’s hybrid political structure still equips the military with greater power and influence. This failure to address transitional justice to confront past violations is now impeding the ability to confront the present.A similar <a href="https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Nepal-TJus-Process-Advocacy-2017-ENG.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Nepal-TJus-Process-Advocacy-2017-ENG.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1536731149249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFjTUV6E4PEQAdkfJwBIUBkGlAJYg">narrative</a> is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Rights-right-here-at-home,3956" target="_blank" rel="noopener">being put out in Nepal as well</a>, and this is largely the reason why the perpetrators of conflict-era violations keep getting amnesty without serving actual jail time or prosecution. Since former enemies are now the state, it is in their interest delay, dilute and deny justice. Transitional justice is said to impede reconciliation, and perpetrators argue they were just following orders.Victims, their families, and human rights activists want them to be held to account no matter what. The Nepal government recently began consultations on amendments to the two <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rocky-transition-to-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional justice mechanisms</a>. While this shows the country may be going in the right direction, the notion that seeking justice impedes reconciliation is still widespread.Justice and reconciliation should not be trade-offs, nor are they mutually exclusive. After periods of repression and conflict, burying the past for the sake of peace might seem desirable but is not  sustainable in the long run. Transitional justice does not merely mean prosecution or reopening old wounds, it holds perpetrators to account and gives a change for them to offer apologies and acknowledgment. Nepal and Burma must remember that addressing past violations and recognising victims as rights-holders, fosters civic trust and the rule of law while promoting reconciliation.Naw Gladys Maung Maung is a political science student from Burma who was recently in Nepal.

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Nepal and Burma delay, dilute and deny justice

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904739c7e80680e037d23jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>On 5 August, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/best-years-of-their-lives-migrant-workers,3722" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bangladeshi artist, writer and organiser Shahidul Alam</a> was interviewed on Al Jazeera about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/05/bangladesh-pm-urges-teen-protesters-to-go-home-amid-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">student protests triggered by the deaths of schoolchildren run over by a public bus</a>.Alam said that the anger of the protesting youth were not just with the transportation sector but the dire situation of the country as a whole. He outlined a litany of everything that was wrong in Bangladesh: “The looting of banks, the gagging of the media, the extra-judicial killings, the disappearances, the need to give protection money at all levels, bribery at all levels, corruption in education.”That very day, security personnel in plainclothes arrived at Alam’s Dhaka home in the middle of the night and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/08/06/bangladeshi-photographer-shahidul-alam-arrested-over-provocative-comments/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.9b6c0afa5357" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took him away without any explanation or warrant</a>. When he was presented before court a few days later, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEeyhQNU8fg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he was limping and had to be held up as he walked</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/freeshahidulalam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#FreeShahidulAlam</a>He had obviously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/world/asia/bangladesh-photographer-shahidul-alam.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">been tortured in custody</a>. Soon after, he was charged with Section 57 of Bangladesh’s Information and Communications Technology Act (ICT) for ‘spreading propaganda and false information against the government’. Alam was denied bail. If convicted, he could face a seven-year sentence.The blatantly unjust and politically motivated arrest of Shahidul Alam <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/08/the-guardian-view-on-shahidul-alam-bangladesh-should-let-him-go" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has been widely condemned</a> and there have been petitions <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/calls-grow-release-bangladeshi-photographer-shahidul-alam-180811145247788.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for his release from all parts of the world</a>. The attention this case has received partially has to do with Alam’s extraordinary achievements and his international fame.As a photojournalist, he has received widespread acclaim for revealing that the marginalised are active agents rather than victims and his visceral depictions of state brutality. But Alam is equally known as an institution builder and a mentor for younger photojournalists. He founded the Drik Picture Library photo agency, the ChobiMela, one of South Asia’s most prestigious photo festivals, and the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute which has trained hundreds of photographers, including from Nepal.But the case has far-reaching implications that go beyond Shahidul Alam as an individual, and even beyond Bangladesh. The arrest has to be seen in light of worrisome trends that have begun to afflict large sections of the world, including many countries in the South Asian region.Broadly speaking, this has to do with the attack by the state upon what is often called ‘freedom of expression’.In recent months, governments in South Asia have tried to criminalise all criticism of the government, both by publicly prominent personalities and by private citizens expressing themselves on social media.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/suppressed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Suppressed</a>, Om Astha RaiIn Bangladesh, several people have been arrested for posting or sharing comments critical of the government on Facebook. The government there is planning to replace the notorious ICT act with even more draconian legislation. In Myanmar, journalists reporting on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-on-the-margins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rohingya crisis</a> have been arrested and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act.In the past week, several high profile activists and intellectuals have been arrested in India in what is clearly a vendetta on the part of the government. And in Nepal too, the government has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/suppressed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed legislation that would prevent journalists from reporting on state activity</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/strongman-rule/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Strongman rule</a>, Om Astha RaiGovernments have claimed that such measures are necessary to preserve national security. In order to maintain their power, rulers in the region have tried to instigate nationalist sentiments among the population. Organisations campaigning for greater justice have been vilified as tools of foreign countries.The intention behind these efforts is clear. Governments want to establish their own interpretation of history and current events as the only legitimate one. They want to be left free to bulldoze decisions without having to confront independent civil society groups. And in the process, they are trying to create populations that are fearful, inward looking and xenophobic.The campaign for the release of Shahidul Alam is not just about an individual who has been unjustly persecuted. More broadly, it is a campaign to resist the steady encroachment upon democratic space across the region. It is a campaign against a narrow-minded nationalism and the arbitrary use of power. A campaign that stands for tolerance, the rule of law and the rights of the most marginalised people.During her visit to Kathmandu for the BIMSTEC conference, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/freeshahidulalam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would do well to realise that her government has only lost international legitimacy by arresting Shahidul Alam</a>. His immediate release will be an important first step towards restoring the Bangladesh government’s credibility.Other heads of government visiting Nepal should similarly recognise that attacks on journalists and members of civil society only serve to increase hostility and anger towards the ruling authorities. Dismantling legislation that impedes the right to free expression will be necessary if states are to regain the trust of their populations.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904759c7e80680e037d24jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1019"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904799c7e80680e037d25jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1021"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/6369047c9c7e80680e037d26jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="997" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/6369047f9c7e80680e037d27jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1007"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904829c7e80680e037d28jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="961"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>

The death of democracy

<h5>Rohingya refugees feel safe in Nepal, but have not given up the dream of returning to Burma</h5>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQLZdOuuAMY&amp;feature=youtu.beIt’s just a little before 7PM, and there is excitement in the Rohingya camp, a settlement of about 30 tin sheds at Kapan on the northern outskirts of Kathmandu. There is sound of cooking, and an enticing aroma of spicy curry wafts from Jafar Alam’s kitchen separated from his bedroom by a partition.“Just one minute left,” says a child breathlessly, bringing the message from the makeshift mosque in one corner of the camp. It is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and the 169 Rohingyas in this camp, one of four refugee neighborhoods, are eager to break their fast.After an entire day without even a drop of water, Alam, his wife and three children dig into plates of chickpeas and rice.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/there-are-muslims-in-tibet-too/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tibetan Muslims in Kathmandu celebrate Ramadan</a><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d7189c7e80680e0314c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="936"/><figcaption>Bikram Rai</figcaption></figure>“Back home in Rakhine, we had a different dish each day during Ramadan,” recalls Alam, 27, wistfully. “Goat one day, chicken another, and maybe buffalo the next. That is impossible here, even a kilo of apple costs more than 300 rupees.”Like hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled Rakhine state in eastern Burma to Bangladesh and India and southeast Asia, Alam has horrific tales of persecution in Burma. There are said to be only 318 Rohingyas in Nepal with ID cards, but there may be many more who are undocumented.“First they told us not to use loudspeakers to call people to azaan (prayers). Then they didn’t let us sacrifice animals for our festivals. Then they drove us out of our homes,” says Abu Takir, 26, who was in the first wave of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/rohingya-in-kathmandu,2339">Rohingyas to come to Nepal in 2012</a>.Takir and Alam have friends and relatives scattered all over the subcontinent: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/burmas-final-solution-regarding-rohingya,1057" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some in squalid camps in Bangladesh, some jailed for alleged human trafficking in India</a>. They are relieved they do not face that kind of persecution here, though their life is full of daily struggle because they do not have work permits. Paying the rent on their living space is their biggest struggle at the moment.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-on-the-margins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Living on the margins</a><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d71b9c7e80680e0314c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2808" height="1872"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Most Rohingya men here work in construction, which is particularly difficult during the month of fasting. “Back home, nobody worked during Ramadan,” says Alam. “Our entire village of Riyaz Uddin Fara gathered in our huge 45-pillar mosque to celebrate Iftar.”Alam does not feel like going to the improvised mosque here, and says the community cannot afford a big evening feast for everyone.In a small tin shed which was designated a mosque, some men still gather to break their fast with fruit, and pray as the sun sets. Jame Masjid in Bagbazar has helped by sending a teacher who guides the rituals and offers spiritual support.Other than complaints from neighbors when they sacrifice buffaloes, the Rohingya say they face no other problems regarding religion. “The good thing about being in Nepal is that all the religions are equal here,” say Takir and Alam together. “Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, they are all free to practice their faith.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d71f9c7e80680e0314c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2808" height="1872">Though they finally feel safe as Muslims, they have no wish to stay in Nepal longer than they have to. But they have no long term plans to seek asylum or citizenship anywhere.“Why would we want to be labourers, when we have acres of land back home?” asks Takir, wearing a Burmese sarong and speaking in halting, accented Nepali. “If all was well in our country, there is nowhere else we would rather be.”His only worry at the moment is that the children will be stateless. Rohingya children have blended right in, speaking fluent Nepali which they learn in school. Noor Kalima Begum, 11, is in Grade 4 and her best friends are Nepali classmates.She says: “We had orchards full of mangoes, guavas, and jackfruits. We did not have to buy anything. Life was so good in Burma, I want to go back home.”Also read:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/Nepal-lhotshampa-rohingya,1046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lhotshampa, Rohingya</a><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/the-south-asian-cauldron,1025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The South Asian cauldron​</a>

Ramadan in exile

<figure><img width="1400" height="986" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110711110/6368d7249c7e80680e0314c5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>One of the Rohingya camps in Kapan. Currently there are four such camps in Kathmandu, housing Rohingyas who started arriving in Nepal after 2012 in waves, after every fresh military crackdown. Pic: Lindsey A Hedges</figcaption></figure>The arrival of Rohingya refugees in Nepal earlier this year was just the latest wave of the Muslim group fleeing violent persecution in Burma – in fact hundreds of Rohingya families have fled to Nepal each time there is a fresh crackdown by the military.The Rohingya have made harrowing and sometimes treacherous journeys across from Burma to Bangladesh and India and into Nepal, finding this country by far the most hospitable to them. The first wave of refugees six years ago sent word back to those fleeing the latest violence that Kathmandu was a safe bet.In fact, Muslim refugees are not new to Nepal. After the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, Bihari Muslims were hunted down for collaborating with the Pakistanis and many thousands fled to India and Nepal. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/Nepal-lhotshampa-rohingya,1046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This country also has a reputation for not turning away refugees</a>, having given sanctuary to Tibetans in the 1950s, more than 100,000 Bhutanese, and later even refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.The Rohingya today have been called the most persecuted minority in the world, and started arriving in Kathmandu in 2012, while others have come as recently as six months ago. For most refugees like 15-year-old Sahat, Kathmandu is safe because “there are no checkpoints” and he can move freely.Sahat has big dreams to go to university, but with no refugee status this may be difficult. Though they are safe and free from violence, some say their quality of life has deteriorated since their time began in Nepal.The Rohingya established themselves in a flat in Kathmandu when they first arrived overland via Bangladesh and India, but the rent became too expensive. At the time the UNHCR was helping families with education and medical costs. However, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/compassion-fatigue-for-rohingyas-in-kathmandu,2760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">since December 2016 UNHCR has dropped the funding</a>, claiming it would rather see the community become ‘self-sufficient’.That is something the Rohingya are striving for, but their lack of refugee status makes it difficult to get by in an overcrowded and under-resourced camp in Kapan (pictured, above). They try to survive day-to-day, working as carpenters and plumbers to be able to afford food, water and medicines. Because of the earthquake, there is a demand for construction workers.Noor Jahan is a young mother who is happy her children are doing well in school, but says she has to sometimes send them hungry to school. Rohingya children being raised here in Nepal have integrated well into local schools, learning Nepali and helping parents communicate.Saitara, a mother of two, is happy her husband has found work even though it is in reconstructing homes in Gorkha and he can come home only once a fortnight. His absence has added strain to an already burdensome life. The workers say they are paid less than Nepalis doing similar work.The Nepal government strategy seems to be to let the Rohingyas be, leave them to their own devices, allow them to stay and work as long as they do not become too dependent on the state. Many have hopes of receiving official refugee status, at least for their children.The community has arrived bearing the weight of physical and emotional trauma, they are stateless, fighting disease, and the pain of loss. Though the Rohingya of Nepal have a hard road ahead of them, they are all grateful for the community they have been able to build in Kapan, even though it is made up of tin sheds. By leaning on one another they have been able to survive in attempts to make a better life for their future generations.Also read:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/Nepal-lhotshampa-rohingya,1046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lhotshampa, Rohingya</a><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/the-south-asian-cauldron,1025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The South Asian cauldron​</a>		
		Readers write:<a id="js_3ko" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/vishma.dekeyzer?fref=ufi&amp;rc=p" target="_self" data-ft="{" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=100002611674980&amp;extragetparams=%7B%22is_public%22%3Atrue%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi_admin%22%7D" aria-describedby="js_3kn" aria-owns="">Vishma de Keijzer</a> Refugees are not new to Nepal, but when a government neglects its own people... hostility towards refugees seems logical. The earthquake of 2015 brought thousands of rupees. All for rebuilding the country. Not a bad idea to finally use that money for a good purpose...