Mohan Oli and his brother Raj have been identified as two of the recruiters who have been luring fellow Nepalis to be conscripted into the Russian Army by promising them huge salaries and citizenship in exchange for exorbitant fees. This investigation has identified some of the human traffickers with information from Nepalis who deserted the Russian military from the Ukrainian war zone to return to Kathmandu. One of the ex-soldiers who returned is Khagendra Khatri from Rolpa who was recruited by Mohan Oli and his accomplice Nim Bahadur Kunwar (alias Sushant) just after he had graduated in agriculture from a college in Dang. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-dying-in-someone-elses-war">Nepalis dying in someone else's war</a>, Sagar Budathoki Unable to find a job to pay back loans his father had taken for his education, he had begun language classes to migrate for work in Korea. Khagendra’s neighbours in Dang were two men from Salyan: Sushant and Mohan Oli. They, along with their companion Ganesh Neupane, convinced Khagendra that ensuring selection for Korean was not worth the hassle and money. They told him joining the Russian Army was a much better option with a monthly salary of Rs300,000 and Russian citizenship after a year. Sushant and Mohan had sent another Nepali, Abhishek Buda of Rolpa, to the Russian Army previously and got him to also persuade Khagendra. Abhishek, who had not yet been sent to the battlefront at the time, enthusiastically obliged, encouraging Khagendra to join as well.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211070_70b1bc2f49182e7331af915628d46538a1764272014843e946b489b3fc5b4338.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024070211070_70b1bc2f49182e7331af915628d46538a1764272014843e946b489b3fc5b4338" data-rendition-name="original" width="1100" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>A receipt of money deposited in the account of Nim Bahadur Kunwar and Ganesh Neupane.</figcaption> </figure>  The recruiters also convinced Khagendra’s relative Dal Bahadur Oli of Rolpa to go to Russia with him. The two paid Mohan Oli Rs300,000 each in cash and deposited another Rs400,000 each in Sushant’s bank account. Their visas arrived surprisingly rapidly within ten days of the transaction, indicating some collusion of the recruiters with the Russian authorities. On 15 October last year, Khagendra and Dal Bahadur met five other recruits also flying to Russia. By the time they reached Dubai to board a flight to Moscow, the number of Nepalis had swelled to 52. Blissfully unaware of the intensity of the war, the Nepalis were in high spirits during the flight.&nbsp; In Moscow, a Russian agent took all the Nepalis to a military recruitment centre. But Khagendra was held back for two more days, as the agent wanted him to pay an additional Rs50,000. Once he did, he joined the rest at the recruitment centre, where there were another 150 Nepali conscripts. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war">Nepalis play Russian roulette in a distant war</a>, Shankar Dhakal Khagendra was to join the ‘Group Seven Battalion’ and had to sign a contract written in Russian. He used Google Translate and found out that the recruits would not be paid Rs10 million in case of death or injury as he had been promised back in Nepal.&nbsp; Khagendra and his group were then taken to a training centre which was a day away by bus. But instead of receiving training for six months they were sent after two weeks of weapons and drone training to the trenches on the Ukrainian front. Khagendra had joined a WhatsApp chatroom of the Group Seven Battalion, and started seeing gruesome videos of Nepalis killed and wounded in battle.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211074_9ef81d64e7904e454ec78905cef5172460a3f4bde4d24e06cdcc6240e13b708b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024070211074_9ef81d64e7904e454ec78905cef5172460a3f4bde4d24e06cdcc6240e13b708b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4789" height="3199" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Khagendra Khatri from Rolpa bribed his Russian commander and walked through the forest under the cover of the night to get to Moscow before returning back home.</figcaption> </figure>  Khagendra bribed his commander with 17,000 rubles (Rs26,000) to let him go back to Nepal to attend to a sick relative, and snuck out of the barracks on 29 October with his relative Dal Bahadur. They walked through the forest under the cover of the night and eventually got a cab driver to take them to Moscow, 14 hours away. To his surprise, the cabbie did not want to be paid. In any case, Khagendra had run out of money by that time, but got in touch with folks back home to book him a flight back to Nepal. On 2 November, just two weeks after leaving Kathmandu he was back. He tracked down his recruiter Sushant (Nim Bahadur Kunwar) in Nepalganj pretending to send more of his friends to Russia.&nbsp; Khagendra demanded his money back, but the cheque Nim Bahadur wrote him bounced. The recruiter then fled and could not be contacted. He filed a human trafficking and banking offence complaint at the Nepal Police Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau. But he has not heard from them. Khagendra is heavily indebted, and wants his Rs700,000 back so he can try going to another country. Khagendra’s relative Dal Bahadur, has gone to India to find work. Meanwhile, the family of Tara Gharti of Salyan, one of the five Nepalis Khagendra and Dal Bahadur met at Kathmandu airport the day they flew to Dubai, were informed that he had been killed in action on the frontlines in Ukraine.&nbsp; Abhishek Buda, who initially encouraged Khagendra to join the Russian Army has also been killed.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cgtppi0a8c4?si=Zs9TQoQD-ckCYYa1" 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> Statements from a dozen other Nepalis who deserted and returned from Russia reveal an international network of human traffickers who extort thousands of Nepalis and other nationals to send unemployed youth to join the Russian Army. All of the Nepali recruits said they paid traffickers between Rs700,000 to Rs1 million to go to Russia. From their testimonies, it is clear the Russians use the Nepalis as human shields and they only have a 5% chance of survival. Because there is no bilateral military agreement between Nepal and Russia, the wounded are not entitled for compensation, and the families of those killed are unable to arrange for the bodies to be brought home. Some 100 Nepalis have managed to desert like Khagendra Khatri, and again paid traffickers to bring them back home. Hundreds of others are out of touch with their families.&nbsp; One of them is Ram Kumar Pradhan of Makwanpur, who had previously been in the Nepal Army. After leaving, he could not find another job and when the 2015 earthquake destroyed his house he borrowed Rs800,000 to pay a trafficker to take him to Russia, little knowing what he was getting into. Ram Kumar’s brother Babu Kaji says that the two had talked on WhatsApp two days before he was sent to the frontlines in Ukraine. He had also sent a picture of himself in Russian military combat gear. “They are sending me to war on 16 October,” Ram Kumar had told his brother. “I have no idea what is going to happen. I will call you once I return.” He never called. Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department told Babu Kaji recently that he had been killed in Ukraine.&nbsp; “He trusted the traffickers to get him a high-paying job in Russia because he needed the money,” says Babu Kaji. “Now the government tells us he has been killed, but they have not provided us any evidence of his death.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211078_504bbd8d21a15435c90bd9ac927b6f892c10648483543d600178497fea022214.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024070211078_504bbd8d21a15435c90bd9ac927b6f892c10648483543d600178497fea022214" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1170" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Babu Kaji Pradhan, brother of Ram Kumar who joined the Russian Army and has since been killed.</figcaption> </figure>  D B Gurung of Kathmandu had flown out together with Ram Kumar to join the Russian Army but was returned home by Qatar immigration. He tried again but was turned back this time by Russian immigration. But his family has not heard from him.&nbsp; Before he disappeared, Gurung told relatives he and Ram Kumar had been sent to Russia by a recruiter named Nabaraj KC and a manpower agency operator called Suraj Thapa. He had also paid them Rs800,000. Their air tickets were arranged by a travel agency called New Nepal Education World. Both Navaraj K C and Suraj Thapa have fled to India. Ram Kumar’s brother Babu Kaji contacted Navaraj KC on WhatsApp, but he told him he was only responsible for the ticket to Mosow. He then went to the recruitment agency pretending to be a client who wanted to go to Russia but Suraj Thapa was not there. “After that one conversation, he disappeared from WhatsApp,” says Babu Kaji.&nbsp; Tirtha Raj Pandey was also a Nepal Army veteran, and had been a bodyguard for former Education Minister Devendra Paudel before retiring. He had been living in Surkhet, and had come to Kathmandu last May after hearing word about a job opening up in the Dubai Royal Guard. Tirtha Raj was approached by a man named Kuber Karki from Dhading at Burger House in Gongabu. Kuber told him joining the Russian Army paid more than Dubai Royal Guard and promised a salary of Rs300,000 and eventual Russian citizenship.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211078_e8b44b9eeb1e90faeebe218d940c2744d412d2cba55a7b63fe34123337b16c88.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024070211078_e8b44b9eeb1e90faeebe218d940c2744d412d2cba55a7b63fe34123337b16c88" data-rendition-name="original" width="897" height="618" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Tirtha Raj Pandey refused to sign the contract and was let go by the Russian Army, fearing he would convince other recruits to similarly decline. </figcaption> </figure>  Desperate, Tirtha Raj borrowed Rs650,000 to pay Kuber’s accomplice: the same Raj Oli, the brother of Mohan Oli who recruited Khagendra Khatri. He flew from Kathmandu via Dubai on 30 September last year, and there at Moscow airport to pick him up was a Russian agent who identified himself as Alex. When he reached the military training facility on 3 October, Tirtha Raj was handed a 22-page contract in Russian, which when he translated had none of the terms Raj Oli in Nepal had mentioned. There were also Indian agents at the Moscow training centre, and when they saw Tirtha Raj hesitate, they warned him in Hindi that he will face a 15 year jail sentence if he refused to sign. “I told them I would rather go to jail than sign the agreement,” Tirtha Raj recalls telling the Indians. “Maybe they were worried I would convince the other recruits, so they let me go.” Tirtha Raj paid another Rs400,000 to a trafficker to get him back to Nepal. In Kathmandu, he confronted Raj Oli who promised to return him some of the fee but disappeared soon after. So far, 49 Nepalis in the Russian Army have been confirmed killed in action in Ukraine, and 41 others are probably also dead as per information from fellow-Nepali soldiers, but there is no official verification yet.&nbsp; The Campaign to Save the Lives of Nepali Citizens has so far collected details of 991 Nepali mercenaries in the Russian Army. Of these, 127 injured in action are being treated in hospitals in Russia while 272 have been out of contact with their families for the past eight months. The Nepal Embassy has made travel documents for 110 Nepalis who escaped the war zone so they could return.&nbsp; Returnees paint a gruesome picture of life in the trenches under constant attack from Ukrainian drones and artillery. But the Nepalis were also constantly beaten by Russian soldiers, many of whom are prisoners convicted of murder, rape, or armed robbery. The convicts have their sentences waived, and if they survive can return home as war heroes. The recruitment of Nepali citizens into a foreign military other than the Indian and British Armies, or for security duty in Singapore, Oman and Brunei is illegal. India has actually stopped recruitment of Nepali nationals into its army. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago, President Vladimir Putin opened the way for foreign nationals to join the Russian Army and announced an attractive salary, Russian citizenship, passport and residential facilities, among others. This lured many Nepalis, including those studying in Russia and some already working as security guards in Dubai or Doha. During training, Russian officers encouraged them to post videos on TikTok of them in smart uniforms, posing with assault rifles, smiling and having a great time. From testimonies of returnees, it is clear the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">TikTok videos were more effective in convincing them to join the Russian Army</a>. “After leaving the Nepal Army, my husband was working as a cook in Dubai. There, he came in contact with a recruiter and he ended up in Russia,” says Deepa Singh Shahi, wife of Nabin Shahi of Jajarkot, one of the Nepalis killed in Ukraine.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240702110712_d81b6cda5b9a69254c41b15406cb350b3eaec093b0f0e372e7c241d6d405298c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240702110712_d81b6cda5b9a69254c41b15406cb350b3eaec093b0f0e372e7c241d6d405298c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="893" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Deepa Singh Shahi, wife of Nabin Shahi of Jajarkot was working as a cook in Dubai before he joined the Russian Army.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240702110716_ea9ee867130c728b47ae7ab25a2c8aa0288ee8b33d4d43cb24c8aa67a3479ccc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240702110716_ea9ee867130c728b47ae7ab25a2c8aa0288ee8b33d4d43cb24c8aa67a3479ccc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Nabin Shahi was killed in the Ukranian front. Also pictured, his Russian military ID.</figcaption> </figure>  Krishna Bahadur of Dailekh has shrapnel wounds all over his body. Surgeons removed four bullets from his left arm and two from his right thigh. He escaped the Russian Army at a huge cost, economically, physically and mentally. “I paid Rs800,000 for the jobs and another 1.1 million to come back home,” says Krishna Bahadur, a former Nepal Army soldier. He was attracted to the job in Russia after watching videos of neighbours from his village who posted them on TikTok from their training centre. Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha spoke in March with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov asking him to stop the recruitment of Nepali mercenaries, to send those already there back, and to compensate the dead and wounded and also send bodies home. Foreign Ministry’s Amrit Bahadur Rai says Lavros raised the issue of modalities for implementation. “But there has been no progress since then,” he admitted. The government has not apprehended the human traffickers involved even though they have been identified. “Several recruiters have escaped and fled abroad, the authorities are not even interested in prosecuting those who are here,” says<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/531-nepalis-in-russian-army"> Kritu Bhandari of the Campaign to Save the Lives of Nepali Citizens</a>. Bhandari collected the names of 61 traffickers involved in recruiting Nepalis into the Russian Army and submitted them with evidence to Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane on 5 April. The police did arrest 22 labour recruiters, travel agents and some ex-servicemen. Some were told to refund the money, but most have been released. Twelve recruiters, including the owner of an educational consultancy, were arrested in December on charges of trafficking. Among them were Hari BK, a Nepali Army retiree, and two others, Sujata Dahal and Ishwar Adhikari. A case was filed against four of them in the Kathmandu District Court but they were acquitted for lack of evidence. Bhandari believes they had political connections.&nbsp; Superintendent of Police Gautam Mishra, Director of the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police, says his agency is actively pursuing traffickers.&nbsp; He claimed: “We are on their tail, and will see results in a few days.”&nbsp; <a href="https://cijnepal.org.np/" target="_blank">Center for Investigative Journalism - Nepal&nbsp;</a>

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Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified

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Nepalis dying in someone else's war

ISTANBUL — It is hard to imagine that only 200km away from here on Turkey’s Black Sea coast there is a full-scale war going on which has killed 200,000 people in the past two years. And to the south, the complete destruction of Gaza with unconscionable violence against Palestinian civilians has escalated into a direct Iran-Israel conflict. In both wars, the protagonists have atomic weapons or are close to developing them. Russia has threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, while Israel and Iran have both targeted locations of each other’s nuclear facilities in this week’s drone and missile attacks. Although there are indications Iran and Israel are exercising restraint, a slight miscalculation could result in a regional conflagration dragging in the Saudis and Emirates. If that happens, the US could also get involved.&nbsp; A bipartisan vote in the US legislature sanctioning $65 billion worth of weapon systems for Ukraine will prolong the war. Hawks on Russian tv talk shows now openly threaten to nuke not just Ukraine but also London and Paris.&nbsp; <a href="https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/" target="_blank">The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists</a> has moved its <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2024/01/press-release-doomsday-clock-remains-at-90-seconds-to-midnight/" target="_blank">‘Doomsday Clock’</a> to 90 seconds before midnight because of what it called ‘ominous trends that continue to point the world toward global catastrophe’. This is the closest the clock has ever been to nuclear Armageddon. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/at-home-and-abroad">At home and abroad</a>, Editorial Besides Russia-Ukraine and Iran-Israel tensions, nuclear nation-states have also proliferated. Aside from the US, Russia, Britain and France, Israel has 90 warheads, India and Pakistan have about 170 each, China has more than 400 and North Korea has 30 with ballistic missiles to deliver them across the Pacific. Although total warhead stockpiles have declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, there is now a new three-pronged US-Russia-China Cold War, and the number of nuclear weapons states has increased. The threat of nuclear conflict is real enough for <a href="https://www.nytco.com/press/new-york-times-opinion-announces-a-new-series-on-nuclear-threats/" target="_blank">The New York Times to launch a series (titled: At the Brink) </a>to look into the new nuclear arms race and ‘what might be done to make the world safer’.&nbsp; It is a macabre choice about which is a bigger threat to the Earth in the coming years: a planet cooked by global warming, or destroyed by all-out war leading to a nuclear winter. Robert Frost’s poem Fire and Ice comes to mind: Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favour fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/year-of-reckoning">Year of reckoning</a>, Editorial The way we are headed, the world could ‘perish twice’. The two crises are linked, both have their origins in greed, ambition and ultra-nationalism. It is the result of tribalism and the decline of the multilateral approaches needed to address justice, fairness and co-existence.&nbsp; The Doomsday Clock was moved to 7 minutes to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis. All-out nuclear war was so unthinkable then that most people blocked it from their minds. It is the same now with war and warming. Here in Nepal, global affairs seem remote to people struggling just to get by from day to day. When news of the war in Ukraine and West Asia does reach the public on mobile devices, it could as well be happening on another planet.&nbsp; Yet, we in Nepal will be affected. The Ukraine war led to a spike in fuel and food prices worldwide, and Nepal’s economy is still reeling from it. Hundreds of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war" target="_blank">Nepalis are fighting in the Russian Army</a>, and at least 33 have been killed in action with dozens out of contact. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nepali-s-lucky-escape-from-hamas" target="_blank">Ten Nepali students were killed</a> by Hamas in Israel, and one is still missing. A broader war in West Asia, aside from the impact on the world economy, would directly affect the estimated 2 million Nepalis working in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Israel and Lebanon. The country is just not prepared for their sudden mass return. &nbsp; A nuclear war between Israel and Iran is not as unthinkable as it sounds. Hardliners in Israel are calling for nuclear hits on Iran’s atomic research facilities before Tehran develops its own bombs. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-destroyer-of-worlds" target="_blank">Prevailing winds would blow radioactive fallout</a> from even a tactical nuclear strike to Pakistan, India and over Nepal. We now live in a global village. War anywhere will affect Nepalis everywhere. Editorial: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/new-year-same-difference">New year, same difference</a>, Editorial Kunda Dixit This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240429130440_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20240429130440_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="Japan stories logo"> </figure>

War and warming

In the past year, about 260,000 Nepali workers flocked to Malaysia to work in factories, service stations, and palm and rubber plantations. A similar number were &nbsp;preparing to go in the coming 12 months.
But the Malaysian government has abruptly capped the proportion of foreign workers in its labour force to 15%, and will stop issuing worker visas after May.
Making up more than one-third of all departures last year, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-malaysia-nepal-migrant-scam-nexus">Malaysia is the top overseas labour destination for Nepalis</a>, An estimated 500,000 are working there. Now, many Nepalis may choose to overstay, &nbsp;and join the ranks of their undocumented compatriots.&nbsp;
The reliance of Nepal’s economy on remittances is precarious. West Asia has nearly 2 million Nepali workers, and is chronically gripped by regional tension. A populist anti-migrant wave is sweeping Europe. Donald Trump has vowed to deport illegal immigrants if re-elected.&nbsp;
How will Nepal accommodate a future surge of returnees? The National Planning Commission, the Labour Ministry and other branches of government must start preparing for this contingency, if they have not already. Maybe, just maybe, they could turn a potential disaster into a dividend.
Short, medium and long-term strategies need to be in place to make the best of returning migrants. Most immediately, returnees from Malaysia and those affected by its visa curb need to be accommodated before they start knocking on the doors of recruiters for jobs in the Gulf or Europe.&nbsp;
The homecoming of semi-skilled Nepalis with overseas exposure <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/brain-drain-into-brain-gain">can be turned into a national asset</a>. Many returnees have worked in modern agriculture and factories. They have picked up and honed new skills at construction sites, and they have excelled in the service industry.&nbsp;
Many will be returning with hard-earned savings and dreams of running their own enterprises. Local governments must provide them support to re-assimilate, encourage their entrepreneurial spirit, and identify outlets for their skills and investment. &nbsp;
When the subject of migration and remittance comes up, Nepali politicians and media tend to forget that there are 2.5 million Nepali workers in India. Most are seasonal migrants who cannot even afford recruitment fees to ‘manpower’ agencies.
And as we saw during the Covid lockdowns, hundreds of thousands of Nepalis <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-returning-to-india">were sent back from India</a> under dire circumstances, harassed and stigmatised on both sides of the border. Nepalis in India may not remit as much money as from elsewhere, but they constitute the largest population of Nepali migrants abroad.&nbsp;
Construction jobs in Kathmandu and other cities are increasingly filled by domestic migrants from the mountain districts. Interestingly, many semi-skilled jobs in construction in Kathmandu Valley are taken up by Indian migrant workers. Nepal, in fact, is the seventh-largest source of remittance for the Indian economy.&nbsp;
That statistic alone proves that there is work for Nepalis in Nepal itself. If the economy picked up, if Nepalis got more meaningful wages, if labour rights were protected, if they got help to start up businesses, many would prefer to stay in Nepal. &nbsp;
That is a lot of if’s, for sure. But it is possible with the right policies and the political will to implement them.&nbsp;
Last week, we published an investigation into Nepali recruits into the Russian Army. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war">At least 39 Nepali soldiers of the estimated 2,000 who enlisted have been killed in action on the Ukraine front</a>. Families in Nepal are demanding the return of their bodies. After loopholes in migration routes were uncovered last year, the government banned work permits for Russia.&nbsp;
Inexplicably, on Wednesday the Ministry of Labour re-opened labour permits for Russia knowing fully well that many will end up enlisting into the military again. Labour Minister Dol Prasad Aryal, who already has a conflict of interest because of his involvement in recruitment and remittance agencies, has to explain why his office has allowed this at a time when his cabinet colleague Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha is demanding that Russia send Nepali soldiers home.
Successive governments in Nepal have treated foreign employment as a safety valve, and a cover for their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">failure to kickstart the economy</a>. Worse, many politicians and bureaucrats are in cahoots with recruiters and profit from the blood, sweat and tears of desperate Nepalis.&nbsp;
A Marshall Plan for investment in infrastructure would be the most effective long term strategy. It would produce jobs during their construction, and generate more multiplier employment downstream as connectivity, a revived agro-economy and cheap surplus energy revs up the economy.&nbsp;
Sonia Awale

Homecoming

Nepalis play Russian roulette in distant war

Families of Nepali who <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">enlisted in the Russian Army</a> after being promised huge salaries and citizenship now want to come home and their families are campaigning in Kathmandu to pressure both governments.&nbsp; Kritu Bhandari, who is leading the campaign, said she had counted at least 531 Nepalis in the Russian Army based on information given by family members. All are on the Ukraine front. More than 1,000 relatives have contacted the campaign to appeal for their return.&nbsp; “We have been reaching out to the families of the Nepalis who joined the Russian Army to get more details,” said Bhandari, adding that the campaign is lobbying the Nepali and Russian government to facilitate their return.&nbsp; Families of 127 of the Nepali soldiers on the Ukraine front have appealed for their return, and family members of 116 of those injured during combat have provided details of their state. However, says Bhandari, 272 Nepalis in the Russian military are out of touch.&nbsp; So far, 16 Nepali soldiers <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">have died in combat</a>, including Raj Kumar Roka of Dolakha, Bharat Bahadur Shah of Kailali, Devan Rai of Kaski, Ganga Raj Moktan of Ilam, Rupak Karki of Kapilvastu, Sandip Thapaliya of Gorkha, Kundan Singh Nagal of Darchula, Sanjay KC of Banke, Sundar Moktan of Rasuwa, Jit Bahadur Pun of Dang, Pritam Karki and Hari Prasad Aryal of Syangja, Raj Kumar Giri and Purna Bahadur Gurung of Dhading, as well as Sajan Gurung and Santosh Gurung of Lamjung.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022512020_d994b8782b0e2c518d9779f5723418475090bac8f938188868c08c42e4bbb75b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024022512020_d994b8782b0e2c518d9779f5723418475090bac8f938188868c08c42e4bbb75b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="531 Nepalis in Russia NT"> </figure>  The campaign has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal demanding he take diplomatic initiatives for the return of the remains of those killed, treatment of those injured in combat, as well as the rescue and repatriation of Nepalis who <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/from-frying-pan-into-fire-for-nepalis-in-russian-army">remain in the military</a>. They have also asked for compensation to the families of the dead and injured. Family members of the men killed also lit lamps at Bhasmeswor Ghat in Pashupati on Saturday evening to pray for the return of their loved ones. Nepali soldiers who have deserted the Russian military and come back to Nepal have spoken of poor treatment, lack of proper combat training, and not being paid the salary promised by recruiters in Nepal and the Gulf.&nbsp; They say that the number of Nepalis in active combat zones is much higher than the Nepal government’s estimates. This paper previously reported on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">10 young men from the same neighbourhood </a>of a town in Nepal who ended up in the Russian military who said there were 200 Nepalis in just one training camp.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240225110256_f3bed4c84b1604950633804e946dbc3da36577b63ea3d14c1ab23fca7cdaa95c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240225110256_f3bed4c84b1604950633804e946dbc3da36577b63ea3d14c1ab23fca7cdaa95c" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="511" loading="lazy" alt="531 Nepalis in Russia NT"> <figcaption>Family members of the men killed fighting for the Russian Army lit lamps at Bhasmeswor Ghat in Pashupati on Saturday.</figcaption> </figure>  Meanwhile, four Nepali soldiers in the Russian Army are known to have been c<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/6-nepali-kia-and-4-pows-in-ukraine">aptured and detained by Ukrainian forces</a>: Bibek Khatri from Bardia, Siddharth Dhakal from Kavre, Bikas Rai from Letang, and Pratik Magar from Rolpa. A few Nepalis are also fighting on the other side in the Ukrainian Army.&nbsp; The Nepal government has tried to control nationals going to Russia, and arrested recruiters said to be involved in supplying soldiers to the Russian Army. Recruiters are said to have lured young Nepalis to Russia with promises of six months of training during which they are paid Rs500,000 a month, as well as eventual Russian citizenship. More than anything else, Nepali recruitment in the Russian Army demonstrates the desperation of the youth in Nepal and the lengths they are willing to go to get well-paying jobs.&nbsp; Last week, the Indian government also officially asked Russia to facilitate the return of its nationals who are also fighting in Ukraine. India has called its nationals being involved in ‘army support jobs’, but most reports say they are seeing action on the Ukraine front. There are said to be hundreds of Indians in the Russian Army, and at least one has been reported killed in action.

531 Nepalis in Russian Army

Bikas Khambu, 33, from Letang Municipality was an ambitious young man with a strong desire to become a Gurkha soldier in the British Army. &nbsp;He enrolled at a centre training young aspirants for the selection process and was tested four times but not selected.&nbsp; Undeterred, Khambu remained steadfast in his pursuit until finally in August he got a tip from a childhood friend about the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine">Russian Army</a> opening recruitment to foreigners. “There is a three month training, and by that time the war will be over,” the friend from Letang told him over the phone. “More risk means more money, why not take the chance?" Convinced, Khambu deposited Rs 850,000 ($7,500) into his friend's account. He said goodbye to his wife Elisa Chemjong and flew out of Kathmandu on 4 October, the first day of the Dasain festival.&nbsp; He met up with Dal Bahadur Rai also from Letang, and flew on to Moscow. Rai had not told his family where he was going because they might dissuade him. Both were on Russian tourist visas. "We told him not to be tempted by the money, especially because it was Russia,” his sister Bhima Limbu said. “But he went anyway.” Khambu and Rai are not the only young men from Letang who have joined the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/6-nepali-kia-and-4-pows-in-ukraine">Russian Army</a>, there are ten families in just one neighbourhood in this town in the southeastern plains of Nepal to be enlisted to fight in Ukraine. Suraj Magrati was among others from Letang who were with Khambu on the flight to Dubai from Kathmandu on 4 October. There could be more than ten, but those individuals could not be verified as having gone to Russia. "I have heard about the young men joining the Russian Army, but no one has filed an application at the ward office for assistance or to search for these young men," said Ward Chair Ram Prasad Adhikari. &nbsp; Indeed, besides Letang, there are young men from other villages in this region of Nepal, which is the traditional recruitment area for Gurkha soldiers, to join the British and Indian Armies who have also joined the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">Russian military</a>.&nbsp; "We've only heard about their departure for the Russian Army, however, there haven't been any official requests for rescue or search operations," says Letang mayor Bhupendra Kumar Lawati.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023122815120_6ca80187b16ded4d1f585fbfad873c831747f27ae163e560a40c48391ac039fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023122815120_6ca80187b16ded4d1f585fbfad873c831747f27ae163e560a40c48391ac039fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="419" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Ukraine"> <figcaption>Nepali soldiers in the Russian Army. Photo: MANSER RAI</figcaption> </figure>  Two months after they left, the young men have sent little information about their whereabouts or condition. But an audio recording of a call confirmed &nbsp;Suraj Magrati was injured on the Ukraine frontlines. In the clip he has asked for emergency evacuation.&nbsp; Khambu has been out of contact for three weeks, says his wife Elisa who is very worried. Earlier, she had got information from other Nepalis that her husband had been taken prisoner by the Ukrainian Army. “He told me to wait for a year and he would return with a lot of savings to take care of the family,” Elisa said. Tika Gurung from Letang was stationed in the same camp, and has also been out of contact since 25 November — the same day that Elisa also got her last call from Khambu. Gurung’s brother Anesh says the Nepalis were taken to the frontlines that day.&nbsp; Meanwhile, Dal Bahadur Rai who also travelled to Moscow from Dubai with Khambu has reportedly been detained by the Russians for desertion. &nbsp;"We've been told that he was caught while trying to escape and has been locked up in a bunker near the frontlines,” said his sister Bhima.&nbsp; Most of the men from Letang paid human traffickers between Rs500,000 to Rs900,000 to join the Russian Army where they were <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">promised salaries of up to Rs500,000 a month, full military training and Russian citizenship</a>.&nbsp; Two Nepalis who recently returned to Nepal after fleeing the frontlines, Manser Rai, and Chhatra Magar, both aged 32 from Letang, have been recounting their experience and dissuaded others from being tempted to go to Russia. Manser wanted to join the Singapore Police, but was not selected and was convinced by recruiters that Russia was an attractive option. He flew to Moscow and signed the contract with the Russian Army on 16 November. He has a wife, two children, and elderly parents, and Manser felt he could take care of them with earnings in the Russian military. But although promised three months of training, he and other Nepalis were immediately taken to the frontlines after 15 days in a camp. Manser managed to escape and his journey back to Nepal took him via &nbsp;Moscow, Azerbaijan and Delhi. Manser also convinced several other &nbsp;villagers from Letang not to sign the contract and they returned to Nepal with him. They are now seeking refunds from the traffickers in Kathmandu.&nbsp; The families of other young men in Letang have heard these stories and want help from the government to repatriate them. "There are elderly parents at home, my brother is confined in a bunker there,” says Bhima, Dal Bahadur Rai’s sister. “He left impulsively, and now the Russians are torturing him.” <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uKxLKW80MoU?si=IFotaA7yd8WiAocX" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> So far, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/from-frying-pan-into-fire-for-nepalis-in-russian-army">seven Nepalis are officially confirmed to have been killed</a> in action while fighting on the Russian side against Ukraine. The deceased are Sandeep Thapalia from Gorkha, Gangaraj Moktan from Elam, Rajkumar Roka and Kusum Lama Roka from Dolakha, Pritam Karki from Syangja, Bharat Shah from Kailali, and Kundan Singh Nagal from Kanchanpur. Four Nepali soldiers in the Russian Army are Ukrainian prisoners of war: &nbsp;Bibek Khatri from Bardia, Siddharth Dhakal from Kavre, Bikas Rai from Letang, and Pratik Magar from Rolpa.&nbsp;

10 Nepalis from one town fighting in Ukraine

Several of the seven Nepalis who joined the Russian Army and were killed in the Ukraine war were retired from the Nepal police and military, or were former Maoist guerrillas. &nbsp;
On Wednesday, Nepal’s foreign ministry announced the death of the seventh known <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed" target="_blank">Nepali killed in action on the Ukraine front.</a> He is Kundan Nagal from one of Nepal’s remotest districts, Darchula.
Five years ago he had retired from Nepal’s Armed Police Force (APF), a group that was formed in 2000 before the Nepal Army got involved in the insurgency to fight the Maoist rebels.
The Foreign Ministry did not reveal any details about Nagal, but Nepali Times has learnt that he had been in the APF for 14 years &nbsp;after the ceasefire. The APF mainly guards infrastructure and border areas of Nepal.
Nagal is said to have decided to quit the APF and also leave Nepal because he was worried about not being able to support his family with the salary he got in Nepal. He first migrated to Dubai and worked in the police for three years.
During the Covid pandemic, he left that job and returned to Nepal and moved his family to Mahendranagar in the plains of western Nepal. His wife and two children live there.
Nagal’s former colleagues in the APF remember him as an able trainer, who was lured by traffickers in Dubai in November to join the Russian Army and promised a big salary.
Because of his police background and familiarity with firearms he was immediately deployed on the Ukraine front, and had called his family on 7 November to say he had been sent to ‘Red Zone’ and would not have reliable mobile connections.&nbsp;
“He had no illusions that it was dangerous where he was going,” recalls Kundan’s brother Rabindra. “He told me he did not know whether he would come out of it alive.”
But the very next day on 8 November, a Nepali fellow-soldier somehow got word to Nepal that Kundan had been injured. But he had been out of contact since then, until the Foreign Ministry announced he had died on 20 December.
Meanwhile, Kundan’s wife Pratikshya was still waiting to hear that his injuries were being treated. Out of the blue, she found out through the media the Foreign Ministry’s press statement that her husband was dead.&nbsp;
The only other information the ministry divulged was his passport number, and it was on that basis that the family was sure it was him. Rabindra is convinced that his brother’s body is not going to come back.
Pratikshya is in shock and in no condition to speak to anyone. Her husband had been sending money regularly from Dubai, and the family’s new house is nearing completion. Kundan had not been able to send any more from Russia after he got there last month.
“The real worry is the children and how they will be raised,” says Bikram Kunwar, Pratikshya’s brother.&nbsp;
Two other ex-APF security guards in Dubai had also gone to Russia with Kundan. The two are also on the frontlines, and have told their families that they left Nepal because of low pay in the police force.
Another Nepali in the Russian Army, Bharat Shah, was killed on 20 November in Avdiivka but the family got the news from fellow Nepalis last week. Shah had also been wounded on the frontlines, and died because of delayed treatment.
Shah’s family carried out a ritual funeral for him on the banks of the Karnali last week. He had a wife, a son, and an infant daughter. The Russian Army has denied there are foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.
There are said to be at least 700 Nepalis in the Russian Army who have been attracted by the promise of a much higher salary and Russian citizenship.
Among those killed are: Kundan Nagal and Bharat Shah, Pritam Karki of Syangja, Raj Kumar Roka of Dolakha, Sandip Thapaliya, Rupak Karki of Kapilvastu and Ganga Raj Moktan of Ilam.
Four Nepalis in the Russian Army have been captured by the Ukrainians, and Nepal is working with the ICRC to bring them home. Pratik Pun of Dang, Siddharth Dhakal of Kavre, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine" target="_blank">Bibek Khatri of Bardia</a> were all captured in Ukraine in the past three months.
The Nepal government announced that Nepalis going to Russia on tourist visas now need no objection certificates from the Consular Department. About 10 agents who were involved in sending the Nepalis to the Russian Army were arrested last week. But the traffickers simply moved to Dubai and are recruiting Nepalis there.&nbsp;
Among them was Ram Chandra Khadka from Rukum who saw action as a Maoist guerrilla in the battle of Khara in 2002. Khadka, 36, was approached by traffickers in October and sent to Bakhmut where he was injured, and is now being treated in a Moscow Hospital.&nbsp;
Several Nepalis have paid the same traffickers who took them to Russia to bring them back after deserting the Russian Army. &nbsp;They have spoken of poor treatment, not being paid the promised salary and dangerous conditions. They said the Russians were now trying to prevent desertions.

From frying pan into fire for Nepalis in Russian Army

The number of Nepalis in the Russian Army appears to be much higher than the 200 that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal estimated last week, even as news came of the sixth known <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">Nepali killed in action on the Ukraine front.</a> Bharat Shah (pictured above), 36, was killed on 20 November in the strategic town of Avdiivka but the family received the news only on 15 December. A fellow Nepali conscript in the Russian Army informed the family that Shah had been wounded but died when he did not receive emergency treatment in time.&nbsp; Shah was working as a ‘royal guard’ in Dubai, but had been attracted by the promise of a much higher salary and promise of Russian citizenship. He was flown to Moscow only three months ago along with other Nepali recruits. "I had told him time and time again not to go to Russia to become a soldier because we had heard bad things,” Shah’s younger brother Mahendra told Nepali Times. “We had always feared the worst.” After hearing about Bharat Shah’s death, his family in Kailali district performed a cremation ritual on the banks of the Karnali River on Saturday without his body. Shah leaves behind a wife, a son, and a two-month-old daughter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231217161248_e6ce541d81bdc910660211707e3384d3eb17f2f01030ddc37fd2c0c208cc0cbc.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20231217161248_e6ce541d81bdc910660211707e3384d3eb17f2f01030ddc37fd2c0c208cc0cbc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1938" height="1226" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Ukraine"> <figcaption>Bharat Shah joined the Russian Army and was killed in Ukraine in November.</figcaption> </figure>  However, like the other Nepalis killed in action, there has been no information from the Russian military about Shah. Indeed, Russia has not officially acknowledged that there are foreign mercenaries in its army fighting in Ukraine. Another young man from Kanchanpur who is also in the Russian Army in the ‘Red Zone’ on the Ukraine front broke military regulations to send a mobile text message to his family that fighting was fierce, it was really cold, and that there was little chance of him making it out alive.&nbsp; He also said that there were 200 Nepalis just in one camp where he had been trained, and believed that there were many more. Soldiers on the frontlines are not allowed to use mobile phones for fear of being tracked by the Ukrainians. A few Nepalis are also fighting on the other side in the Ukrainian Army.&nbsp; Four Nepali prisoners of war are also in detention by the Ukrainians, and Foreign Minister N P Saud said on Friday that he is using diplomatic channels to bring them home. Among them are Pratik Pun from Dang, Siddharth Dhakal of Kavre, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine">Bibek Khatri of Bardia</a> – all captured from Bakhmut and Zaporizhia sectors in the past three months.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023120601124_b55402221065995b1711d8b3df3a8c6d78be93ccb80e5f8718a70d3e638c39b2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023120601124_b55402221065995b1711d8b3df3a8c6d78be93ccb80e5f8718a70d3e638c39b2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russian Army NT"> <figcaption>Rupak Karki was killed on 30 June after joining the Russian Army to fight on the Ukraine front. A photo appearing to show is grave has been published on a memorial site.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023120606120_11712156bdb7dcd6770838694f087b251589bb76217aa0e0bcac45cdefec6aad.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023120606120_11712156bdb7dcd6770838694f087b251589bb76217aa0e0bcac45cdefec6aad" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="959" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia NT"> <figcaption>Sandip Thapaliya, who died on 28 June, is said to be buried in the same gravesite as Rupak Karki.</figcaption> </figure>  Among those <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">killed in action</a> besides Bharat Shah are Pritam Karki of Syangja, Raj Kumar Roka of Dolakha, Sandip Thapaliya, Rupak Karki of Kapilvastu and Ganga Raj Moktan of Ilam. A Russian website <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/graves-of-nepali-soldiers-in-russia">published photos of the graves of Thapaliya and Karki</a> who it said were killed in June in Bakhmut. Their names are engraved in Cyrillic script on the tombstones. The Nepal government has tried to control nationals going to Russia, except on business and student visas, and arrested a dozen recruiters said to be involved in supplying soldiers to the Russian Army last week in Kathmandu.&nbsp; However, recruiters and human traffickers are now said to have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">moved their operations to the Gulf</a> where they are actively recruiting Nepalis working there as security guards. Some of the Nepalis in the Russian Army are either former Maoist guerrillas or retired from the Nepal Police or Army. Ram Chandra Khadka is from Khara in Rukum, which saw a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=328">fierce battle between the Maoist militia and the Nepal Army</a> in 2002. Khadka himself rose to be Company Commander with the Maoists, and after the ceasefire served in Afghanistan. Khadka, 36, was recruited by agents in October in Kathmandu and sent directly to the frontlines where he was wounded by a mortar round dropped from a Ukrainian drone in Bakhmut. He is being treated for shrapnel wounds in a Moscow hospital. Several Nepalis have deserted the Russian Army and one of them who somehow found his way back to Kathmandu in November warned fellow Nepalis in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKxLKW80MoU">video interview with Himal Khabar</a> not to fall for the promises of human traffickers. Recruiters promise Nepalis six months of training during which they are paid Rs500,000 a month, that they will fight behind Russian soldiers, and will get Russian citizenship. However, even if they are paid the Nepalis get much less than promised and are sent to the frontlines with less than a week’s training where they are used as human shields to expose Ukrainian firing positions. There have been so many Nepalis trying to desert that one Nepali POW in Ukraine said Russian units have taken away the passports of Nepali recruits and put them under surveillance in the trenches on the frontlines.

6 Nepali KIA and 4 POWs in Ukraine

A Nepali mercenary fighting with the Russian Army has been captured in the Avdiivka by Ukrainians. <a href="https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1714955395037278371" target="_blank">A video posted on X </a>by Anton Gerashchenko @Geraschchenko_en shows Bibek Khatri, who says he is from Bardia confessing that he joined the Russian military to make money and make his mother proud. Nepali Times had earlier <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit" target="_blank">filed a story about Nepalis</a> in the Russian Army, including an interview with one soldier named Ramesh who had deserted from the Ukrainian frontline in Bakhmut. In a Nepali Times video interview, Ramesh said he was a health worker but unable to find a job in Nepal went to Russia where he worked in a factory but heard he could earn more by enlisting. Nepali youth have been lured to Russia with promises of earning Rs400,000 a month to fight in the Army. But many said they had been sent to the Ukrainian border with just a week of training and were not given the money promised by recruiters. They left Nepal on Russian tourist visas. In the video posted on Friday, Bibek Khatri says: "I wanted to return to my mother a successful man." <a href="https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en" target="_blank">Gerashchenko's X bio</a> says he is adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs and founder of the Institute of the Future. It also says he is: 'Official enemy of Russian propaganda.' Bibek Khatri is also asked what he thinks of Vladimir Putin. His reply: "Putin seems to be like Hitler, the Russian system is not good." It is not clear if Khatri is speaking freely, or is being told what to say. He speaks in English. Nepalis are also on the Ukrainian side. After the Russian invasion, 4,000 Nepali students left Ukraine for Poland but some remained. A video on social media in early 2022 showed a Nepali man fighting for the Ukrainian side. Another Nepali, 63, &nbsp;married to a Ukrainian woman also joined the army because his son was also conscripted to fight the Russians.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230817160820_b05ecd7d69d59dbd29c8084b43f88c4fcb8156d98d92fb95461c5dc1a5f9a54f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230817160820_b05ecd7d69d59dbd29c8084b43f88c4fcb8156d98d92fb95461c5dc1a5f9a54f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Russian army soldiers"> <figcaption>Photos: POST BY NEPALI SOLDIERS ON TIKTOK</figcaption> </figure>  There are also unconfirmed reports that another Nepali soldier in the Russian Army, Sandip Thapaliya, was killed in action in Ukraine in July and that his body is buried near the frontlines. He had gone to Russia on a tourist visa and was hoping to travel on to western Europe, but was attracted by the high salary offered to be a Russian soldier.

Nepali soldier captured in Ukraine

Architecture can be a powerful agent of change, shaping not just spaces but the way people live, connect, and experience the world.&nbsp; For Nepal, which is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">gifted by nature</a> and rich in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/ambassador-fund-cultural-preservation-nepal,2092">cultural heritage</a>, &nbsp;reviving rural architecture with modern amenities could hold the key to more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-sustainable-tourism-means-in-practice">sustainable tourism </a>that benefits local people more. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bayalpata-hospital-in-nepal-wins-global-design-award">Design and architecture</a> are amazing tools to create a unique experience for visitors,” says Spanish architect Tomeu Esteva of Esteva i Esteva Architecture Studio. “Difficult destinations have beautiful hotels with design and comfort.” Esteva was in Kathmandu with his colleagues at an event organised by the Spanish Honorary Consulate at Dwarika’s Hotel last week to showcase buildings which Nepali architects can adapt with local material and design inputs.&nbsp; Rural architecture holds a unique significance: it is more than a shelter and must reflect <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/inking-an-idenity">local identity, culture</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-humla-from-heritage-loss">heritage</a>. An area’s natural and cultural harmony can be upset by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-protected-areas-from-infrastructure?fbclid=IwAR1wK0MDFlFST_2EYb3f54LS4-fPt6rYfLG1DJ1JaQsU3w8-ezyXIxGOqzk">poorly planned development</a>, speakers at the event said, but the environment can be improved and revitalised by well-integrated structures.&nbsp; Another Spanish architect, Belen Moneo, has designed hotels at elevations of 3,700m in her home country Spain that supply natural spring water spas. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction">Creativity in construction</a> must be encouraged. Rural architecture always shows possibilities of what we can do better,” Moneo explains, adding that designs must enhance <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-healing-power-of-nature">the beauty of nature</a> and give a natural feel at a time when steel, glass and cement dominate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rebuilding-kathmandu-after-the-1934-quake">urban design</a>.&nbsp; This is why the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/weaving-nature-into-craft">use of natural products</a> such as bamboo, local timber, straw and rammed earth are in demand from customers who want a fresh eco-friendly look encouraged in construction of rural architectural structures. The demand for boutique hotels has increased world over, with &nbsp;more and more tourists favouring aesthetics, experience and comfort over price. While creativity is an important part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/architecture-for-mountains">construction and architecture</a>, incentives to build and use <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Building,370">rural construction materials</a> still remain minimal, and Moneo emphasises the significance of design and execution.&nbsp; Esteva helped design the Vana Retreat in Dehradun that kept the natural environment in focus, with the structure giving an elaborate aesthetic experience to visitors. Another example is Hotel Las Mercedes in the Dominican Republic which was designed and constructed by Moneo and the company she co-founded Moneo Brock, respecting and revaluing the traditional architecture of the area. Hotels providing such experience could attract tourists and revenue. The Spanish ambassador to Nepal Juan Antonio March Pujol said, “The role of architecture and architects in developing tourism is crucial, not only in urban areas but rural settings as well.”&nbsp; The concept of rural boutique hotels gained traction in Spain during the 1990s, particularly in regions like Majorca with economic and environmental sustainability as the main focus. In Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/guiding-nepal-s-tourism-industry">the tourism industry</a> directly employs about 1 million people, and makes up about 8% of the country’s GDP. In Nepal, the stone homes of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/reviving-himalayan-vulture-and-culture">Mustang and Manang</a>, bamboo and mud structures of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai</a>, and the Kathmandu Valley’s terra cotta tile skylines, graceful temples, and tranquil bahal courtyards are all examples of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-traditional-seismic-resistant-designs">Nepal’s traditional architecture</a>.&nbsp; Nepali architect Sarosh Pradhan has been working for the past eight years on the Brakka Village project in Manang Valley north of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna">the Annapurnas</a>. Other examples of this kind of rural architecture for high-end tourism are the Shinta Mani Hotel in Mustang and Khumbu Lodge below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a>. Says Pradhan, “There are places in Nepal that radiate purity and embrace simplicity. Creating projects in such settings require deep reflection and thoughtful planning.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="2184" loading="lazy" alt="A new architecture for Nepal's tourism"> </figure>  Rural architecture is not easy, and sometimes more expensive. Inflation, energy efficiency, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">the climate crisis</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">increased costs of living</a> pose obstacles to sustainable rural architecture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-international-starchitects-in-nepal">Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal</a>, Anne Feenstra and Varun S Bapu Esteva says faith and trust between client and architect is necessary for any project to be successful. He adds that architects must practice being humble, the process of designing always involves learning and not imposing their ideas on clients. Nepal is uniquely positioned for the growth of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-up-the-benefits-of-tourism">rural tourism</a> because of its stunning countryside as well as its internationally renowned traditions in holistic wellness. Creating infrastructure that is small, thoughtfully planned and that respects both tradition and contemporary hospitality standards is crucial. “Projects in Nepal can be made cost effective by using materials from houses that have been brought down,” says Esteva. “Pilot projects involving <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local people </a>and simple designing also helps the process.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vacant-homes-become-homestays-in-nepal">The growth of homestays in Nepal</a> is a step in the right direction, but they are still a bit too rustic for the international traveller who also wants comfort and is willing to pay extra for it. Upgrading the facilities in homestays and ensuring that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-archive-of-nepali-heritage">architectural heritage</a> of the locality is preserved using locally sourced building material could allow owners to charge more. Says Sangita Shrestha of Dwarika’s Hotel, “Our effort is to build upon rural architecture by empowering local communities and using what is available locally. We can fine tune and encourage indigenous design and training.” The vision goes beyond just boosting the economy, it is about building a future where tourism helps villages grow in a healthy and lasting way. Instead of using up resources, it gives back to the land and the people. It supports local communities by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-in-nepal-to-create-jobs"> creating jobs</a>, improving infrastructure, and protecting natural beauty. When done right, tourism can be a tool for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation">preserving culture and nature</a>, not harming them. Architects must therefore see their work as more than just designing buildings, they also need to care deeply about people and places, especially in rural areas that can benefit the most.&nbsp; With global interest in sustainable and off-the-beaten-path travel increasing, Nepal stands at the cusp of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/missing-out-on-nepal-s-tourism-potential">tourism transformation</a> that values community-driven, eco-conscious hospitality. A mix of modern ideas and traditional knowledge could transform rural tourism in Nepal. Says Shrestha, “Young architects should spend time with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/the-unsung-heroes-of-conservation">local and indigenous communities</a>, listen to their stories, and learn from their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal">ways of living</a>. These communities have deep knowledge about the land, materials, and climate. If this wisdom is used in new designs, it can help create tourism spaces that truly benefit everyone.” &nbsp;

A new architecture for Nepal's tourism

Extract from an addendum to Nepal's Two Wars, Chapter 2 in the updated edition of Essays on Nepal: Past and Present by Sam Cowan, a retired British Army general with a long association with the Gurkhas. The book was first published in 2018, and republished earlier this month by FinePrint exclusively on Amazon. The addendum details a one-to-one conversation the author had in the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8884">Royal Palace </a>with the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">King Gyanendra</a> in November 2002 just after he had taken his initial steps on the road that ultimately led to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14681">the abolition of the monarchy</a> in Nepal in 2008. In the early evening of September 16, 2002, in my role as Colonel Commandant of the Brigade of Gurkhas, I had my second and last official audience with King Gyanendra to give him an update on the Brigade’s activities over the previous 12 months. I had some 6 or 7 such audiences with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/preserving-king-birendra-s-family-home">King Birendra</a>.&nbsp; These were official affairs with the British ambassador of the day present, along with key <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12233">palace officials</a> and a representative from Nepal's Foreign Ministry. The two monarchs were very different in character and temperament, but both treated me with the utmost civility and made the audiences as relaxed and easy for me as possible.&nbsp; It is, however, worth recording that when the official business had been covered, King Birendra, with a twinkle in his eye, often ended by asking, “Now General, what’s the gossip in London?” The second audience with <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8026">King Gyanendra </a>was my last official act in uniform. We came back to Kathmandu in the first week of November (after treks) to stay for a few nights with our Defence Attaché before heading back to the UK. Waiting for me was a message from the Palace saying that King Gyanendra would like to meet me informally: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6933">no uniform</a> and no ambassador.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2406" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra crowned page 1"> <figcaption>Nepali Times Special Edition of 6-14 June 2001 with enthronement of Gyanendra. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1857" loading="lazy" alt="Royal massacre"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 22-29 June 2001 covering the royal massacre after which Gyanendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  Although I had no idea what the purpose of the meeting might be, events in Kathmandu since I last saw the king put me on edge. On October 4, 2002, Gyanendra had dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, allegedly for failing to hold <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-goes-on-in-nepal-s-elections">elections</a>. He had put in place a new prime minister and a cabinet personally selected by him. When I heard the news on my travels, the people I met were generally supportive of the king’s actions. There was a general view that something had to be done, the country was going nowhere, and the king deserved his chance, not least to solve<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal"> the Maoist </a>problem. Back in Kathmandu, views were not so sanguine. The chosen prime minister, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, was a relic from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mob-movement-and-mayhem">the Panchayat period</a> whose party had failed to win a single seat in the last elections held in 1999. Some of the chosen cabinet ministers had, to put it mildly, dubious reputations, and others had no record of proven competence in any field. There was a fear that the king’s real motive in dismissing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/deubas-denouement">Deuba</a> was to start to reverse the democratic gains made since 1990. I informed <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-britain-mark-centenary-of-1923-treaty">the British ambassador</a> about the invitation. He was strongly against accepting it, which was probably the clinching reason for my decision to do the polite thing and accept it. On the evening of November 7, 2002, I presented myself at the royal palace, alone and in civilian attire.&nbsp; As in the past, the Military Secretary, Major General Vivek Shah, met and escorted me into the presence of the monarch. This time, however, he was politely asked to leave the room and shut the door behind him. King Gyanendra greeted me warmly and invited me to sit down.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal"> The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="993" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra coup"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 4-10 February 2005 after king Gyanendra's coup imposed media censorship. anendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  I had wondered, and to be truthful, had worried, not just about the purpose of the meeting, but about how the conversation might start and develop. I reduced my resolve to two points: be polite but speak candidly. The latter resolve was quickly put to the test with the king’s opening words: “Sam, [in previous meetings it had been ‘General’, you walk the highways and byways of this land more than most, tell me what the common man is thinking?” &nbsp;“Your Majesty, I have no idea what they are thinking, but they are waiting.” “Waiting?” “Yes, Your Majesty, they are waiting to see whether what you did some weeks ago in appointing your own prime minister and cabinet ministers is going to make any difference to their lives or whether it is just going to be more Kathmandu hot air.” “Everything is going to be difficult and is going to take time, a lot of time.” “Your Majesty, time is the one thing you don’t have. You must act quickly and decisively to take advantage of the opportunity you have created. Everyone knows that you have appointed these new ministers. Why don’t you get them in here one by one and tell them that they have three months to deliver a programme in their area of responsibility that is going to make a difference to people’s lives? Most will fail to do so. Sack them! It will be a powerful signal of your strong intent to deliver real change.” I can express the opening of our conversation in this way because just about every word is still etched in my mind. The king’s response to my last quoted words was to challenge me to give an example of something that could be delivered quickly. I can give a verbatim record of what I said in response to this unexpected challenge: “Health posts, Your Majesty, there is no shortage of them throughout the country as building them has been one of the sources of local corruption, but very few have any medicine to issue at present or have skilled people to assess and meet medical needs. Your Majesty, children are dying for lack of a few pills. Given the right priority, over a period, say of six months, every health post could be fully stocked with medicine and manned with trained people. This is something I could help to lead for you as I know it would have strong international backing. At last, people would know that you mean business.” As I warmed to the theme, I could see no sign of the king having any enthusiasm for the idea, and I quickly disengaged as it dawned on me, as it had clearly dawned on the king, that the reason for the deficiencies in health posts was to prevent any Maoist combatant from gaining access to any <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/tech-away/nepal-s-health-tech-industry-is-here-to-stay">medical support</a>, and if this meant people suffering, so be it. The subject of the Maoist insurgency inevitably came up, and I took the opportunity to elaborate on what is written in the final four paragraphs of the article above. I advised King Gyanendra that, self-evidently, since there were three parties in the conflict—him, the Maoists, and the political parties—it was imperative that he form an alliance with one of them, preferably the political parties; otherwise, he would find himself isolated, as the other two parties would inevitably, at some stage, form their own alliance. However, it quickly became apparent that the king’s mind was on a totally different track. On the Maoists, he told me that he had channels open to them, but he was scathing about the political party leaders. He made it clear that they would be waiting for a very long time before he gave any power back to them, and that is a polite way of expressing the actual words he used, but “crawling through the door” is a phrase which has stuck in my mind.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1317" loading="lazy" alt="fall of monarchy"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 28 April-3 May 2005 with cover image by Ajay Joshi of jubilant protesters after street demonstrations sidelined king Gyanendra, paving the way for a ceasfire and restoration of democracy. </figcaption> </figure>  As the conversation developed, it became ever clearer that King Gyanendra had decided to go in alone, relying on the misleading assurances he was constantly receiving from <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14954">the army</a>, and no doubt his close advisers, that the Maoists could and would be quickly defeated militarily, and taken out of the equation. This would obviate the need for him to do any deal with the political parties.&nbsp; Thus, the way would be clear for him to establish a version of his father’s Panchayat system, under a constitution that would be granted to the people by him, their sovereign, as his father and brother had done in 1962 and 1990. As in those constitutions, ultimate power would have remained in the sovereign’s hands. This proposed direction of travel was very clear from what the king said to me. In sum, King Gyanendra was motivated by a desire to emulate his immediate predecessors by granting his people a constitution that would restore his father’s Panchayat system in a modern form and give him a central role in decision-making. What was particularly dispiriting was that beyond this single objective he had no plan worthy of the name, nor demonstrably did he have the people with the skills to implement an appropriate plan even if one had existed. Crucially and depressingly, there was little or no indication from the king that he realised that such a course of action could put Nepal’s monarchy into serious jeopardy, as indeed proved to be the case. <h2>King Twice</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445" data-rendition-name="original" width="1302" height="632" loading="lazy" alt="“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”"> </figure>  <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah has been king twice</a>. In 1950 he was enthroned briefly as a child king (left, above) by the Rana Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher when his grandfather, King Tribhuvan, fled to exile in India. In 2001 he was crowned king again after the massacre in the royal palace in which his brother King Birendra and nine other members of his family were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra.&nbsp; During his second reign, Gyanendra gradually asserted power by sacking Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2002, and then taking full control after the 1 February 2005 coup. He was sidelined after the ceasefire in April 2006, and became a commoner after the Constituent Assembly finally <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Ftnp-abolishing,624">abolished the monarchy in 2008</a>. In the past year, Gyanendra has tried to exploit public dissatisfaction with the political parties to restore the monarchy.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Essays on Nepal by Sam Cowen"> </figure>

“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”

“It's Kathmandu.” Just as the family was sitting down for one of its extended lunches, that jubilant cry was from François Driard’s grandfather announcing the next posting for his diplomat parents.&nbsp; Driard (pictured) was 18 in the summer of 1996,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/chasing-a-nomad"> a bit of a hippie</a> already, and his life was about to change forever with the magical word “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/time-capsule-of-kathmandu">Kathmandu</a>”. “I was awed with that information from my grandfather, nothing else mattered … In France <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tales-of-courage-and-suffering-cx95f89e">in the 1990s</a>, Kathmandu had a mythical aura,” Driard recalls. He came to Kathmandu for Christmas that year to visit his stepfather, the French Ambassador Michel Lummaux. It was to be the first of many visits during school holidays, before he decided to permanently settle down in Nepal. “Kathmandu, and Nepal, were very different then, it was magical, I liked the nature, the people, civilisation, temples, trees,” says Driard, who explored the country sitting on the top of buses. “Visitors talk about the crazy <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">urbanisation</a>, traffic jams today, and all that is true. But Kathmandu has not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/loss-of-soul-and-soil">lost its soul</a>.” After his stepfather’s tenure in Nepal ended, Driard worked as a business reporter for international publications but decided he did not want to be anyone’s employee anymore. In 2007 he landed in Kathmandu with €20,000 in savings to invest.&nbsp; He knew a few crucial things about himself: he liked food and nature, which is very much tied up with his upbringing--full of lively conversations during lunch and dinner at the family table between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-yak-cheese-is-on-world-map">abundant cheese, wine and cigars</a>. So he decided it would be cheese, and registered Himalayan French Cheese and went to the French Alps for a month to learn how to make Tomme de Savoie. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-story-of-langtang-cheese">Cheese making is such an ancient craft </a>and so I thought I won’t need much money or studying which I hated and indeed, if you have a tamako bhado and fire you are set,” explains Driard. But Nepal’s temperature and humidity were not ideal, even at higher altitudes. The first customers for his cheese were the Hyatt Regency and Nina and Hager. But he needed to create a market for cheese in a country which only knew hard churpi in the north and soft paneer in the south. He started selling his cheeses at the Summit Hotel weekend market, expanding to his own 1905 Farmer’s Market which later moved to Le Sherpa in Maharajganj, where it is now, and also a market at Labim Mall in Pulchok. He had cow dairies in Nuwakot and Dhulikhel, and finally a yak cheese unit at 3,379m in Ramechhap. It was the yak blue cheese from here that went on to win a Gold Medal in France, putting Nepal’s French cheese on the world map. “People come and try our cheese at the market, they ask questions. There is a lot of education to be done about cheese,” adds Driard, who also has three cheese shops in the Valley. Driard now makes 25 types of cheese. The products are being noticed and every year he has French students coming to Nepal to learn the art of yak cheese making. “In France, one family or company makes one kind of cheese for generations. In that I’m very unique as a cheese artisan,” he says. “The students come in to learn but I tell them to also teach us something too, add another cheese to my collection.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/langtang-after-10-years">Langtang after 10 years</a>, Sonia Awale Being a foodie, Driard is now also dabbling in meat with his own charcuterie at Meatini with bacon, ham, sausage and pâtés. All of this is now served at his Emilio’s Pizza, a leafy hideaway in Lazimpat. His South Side in Moksh is probably the smallest wine bar in the world. “I call the process sublime,” says Driard of his ventures, which have grown organically. “You need the same temperature and humidity of 12°C and 80% for cheese, meat and wine.” Emilio’s speciality is the eight-cheese pizza (which has eight types of cheeses), and a pizza with bhutan topping (not the country but fried intestines and organs Nepali-style). He has opened a small branch at Courtyard in Pokhara.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="8 cheese pizza"> <figcaption>Eight-cheese pizza</figcaption> </figure>  With two artisanal cheese units, two farmers’ markets, a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-meat-of-the-story">meat processing unit</a>, a bakery, and wine bar he now envisions a vineyard so he can add Nepali wine to his repertoire. Another future plan is to start up an agri-tourism business where customers can drink, eat and work in peace. In the past 20 years in Nepal, Driard has not always succeeded in his ventures but this hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm. He is learning as he goes, and like an old wine, Nepal is growing on him. Its slowness suits his French art de vivre with eating slowly outdoors, having conversation, importing less.&nbsp; “I have proven that with even a little money you can do a lot of things in Nepal,” adds Driard. “In the West, they easily invest half a million euros on a cheese factory, I invested 10 times less.”&nbsp;

Fromage, vin et charcuterie Népalais

Bhuthan भुठान starts with Bishnu Bahadur KC played by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/dhuwa-smoke-telefilm,2671">Hari Bansha Acharya</a> on a call, requesting to speak to the visa officer. By this point, he had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival">applied for a visa </a>to Bhutan 10 times, but was denied each time. KC was a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-women-excel-in-sports-in-2024-z9ramyct">national football player </a>in Bhutan in 1988 before he and other Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people were forced out of the country in the 1990s as part of the Druk regime’s ‘One Nation One People’ campaign. Over 100,000 Bhutanese Nepalis were forced out, driven across India and dumped in Nepal where they lived in seven<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp"> refugee camps</a> supervised by the United Nations and other charities until they were resettled in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries starting in 2007. In the fictional movie with the satirical English title The World’s Happiest Man, KC has resettled in the state of Ohio in the US but wishes to visit his home country once before he dies. Between flashbacks, we learn KC has died without having fulfilled his wish. &nbsp; The drama then focuses on KC’s two families from two marriages as they debate whether to cremate him as per <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/muslim-hindu,2996">Hindu rites </a>or give him a Christian burial. A mediator played by Hollywood actor Bruce Dern urges them to take a firm decision before it is too long.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="945" height="945" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  There are drawn out scenes of KC being baptised and when he is confronted by his first wife from Darjeeling played by Anuradha Majumdar, he says he changed his religion in the hope that he will be <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/bhutan-s-refugees-between-hope-and-despair">allowed back in Bhutan</a>.&nbsp; We find out KC has a second wife, a Christian Nepali played by Puja Chand. Dayahang Rai as the younger son doesn’t have much screen time to flex his acting chops. &nbsp; Acharya competently portrays a man that is equal parts haunted by the memories of and longing for his home country. KC’s pain and loss is acute when he is teaching football to Gungun but between mid-scene, he freezes, perhaps lost in memories of being in Bhutan’s national team. &nbsp; In another scene, KC recalls his mother singing a lullaby in Dzongkha. He also has a box filled with medals, photographs and a football which he deflates with a knife in a powerful depiction of his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home?fb_comment_id=1506516030025634">complicated emotions about his homeland</a>. KC keeps checking his mailbox in the hopes that his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4977">visa application</a> has been accepted. He says in Nepali: “If a tree that has already struck roots in one place is shifted to another, it will not survive.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34" data-rendition-name="original" width="1422" height="2048" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  Dern’s character says that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">western world</a> has become “lonely in pursuit of happiness”, another reference to Bhutan’s obsession with its Gross National Happiness index. Scenes shift quickly throughout making the story difficult to follow at times. The use of symbolism is a trite overdone. Nonetheless, भुठान is a nuanced depiction of raw pain and agony of losing one’s homeland. But one cannot help but leave the theatre feeling deflated. KC dies without having visited <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/small-bhutan-dreams-big">Bhutan</a>, but perhaps he does in his afterlife. It is up to the audience to create its own ending to this sad story of exile. भुठान Mad Monkey Films, 2025 Directed by Binod Paudel 102 minutes In cinemas in Nepal