This year, Sri Lanka entered a power purchase deal with Adani Green Energy Ltd. In terms of the agreement, the country will purchase electricity from the company over 20 years. The Adani Green Energy project received cabinet clearance from the previous government to produce 484MW of wind power in two facilities the company would build in Mannar and Pooneryn and invest more than US$442 million in its projected life span of 20 years.
Adani Green Energy would be paid $0.0826 per kWh of power produced. The deal was relentlessly pushed, defended and ultimately signed by the previous Sri Lankan government. The mandatory tender process was not followed indicating inbuilt and rampant corruption and vested interests at the time.
The project is now under litigation in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka over the violation of fundamental rights. The main issues raised by the petitioners deal with environmental concerns surrounding the project and the woeful lack of transparency in the awarding process that led to the granting of the deal to Adani.
The petitioners also argue that the agreed upon per unit cost is a significant loss to the country and ideally this rate should be set at $0.005 kWh. The deal, its approval and the final granting process were mired in controversy even before litigation. 
In 2022, the then Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board, M M C Ferdinando told the parliamentary panel, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), that the deal was offered based on a request from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to then Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 
Ferdinando later retracted his statement and resigned from his post under pressure from the then government. In May 2023, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Sabry observed flippantly in an interview with The Hindu that Adani projects in Sri Lanka were a ‘government-to-government kind of a project’. He noted that it was the Indian government that selected the Adani group for infrastructure development projects including the Sri Lankan wind power project. 
Reading between the lines, Sabry’s public observations indicated a clear backdoor and informal Indian state involvement in the project. Despite the notoriety that Adani companies had already acquired across the world, Sabry had the nerve to say that his government was “very very confident” that the Adani Group’s companies had considerable capital.
Adani actually saw a the $140 billion drop in share values after the publication of a negative report by US research company Hindenburg accusing the company’s top leader Gautam Adani of getting away with the ‘largest con in corporate history’. 
Another investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project also documented serious malpractices by Adani companies. All this is in addition to The Guardian and Financial Times also reporting on Adani family’s surreptitious investments in the company’s shares.
It is against this background that the flamboyant and utterly inexperienced former Sri Lankan Minister of Energy attempted to convert the agreement with Adani Green Energy Limited in August 2023 into a formal government-to-government deal. 
In reality no such formal state to state level agreement existed between India and Sri Lanka. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Adani power deal has ended up in litigation in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court. The new Sri Lankan government needs to carefully and comprehensively revisit the power deal.
Malpractices evident in the local awarding process needs to be considered as well as the role of local power brokers who made it happen and evident corruption that enveloped the entire project needs to be investigated. 
The project also needs to be evaluated in light of the global evidence against the Adani Group. In October, the Kenyan High Court suspended a $736 million agreement between the state-owned Kenya Electrical Transmission Company and Adani Energy Solutions to build and operate power facilities, including transmission lines.
In a lawsuit, the Law Society of Kenya argued that the deal was ‘a constitutional sham and tainted with secrecy’. It also argued that the Kenyan state entity and Adani Energy Solutions did not carry out mandatory public participation focused on the project properly, which is a requirement under Kenya’s Public Private Partnerships Act. These conditions sound alarmingly similar to the Sri Lankan case.
In 2023, accusations were made in India’s Gujarat State against Adani Power Mundra Limited that it had charged an excess of INR 39,000,000,000 over a period of five years under two power purchase agreements. An opposition politician in the state noted the case was a “textbook case of corruption, money laundering, loot of public money and above all, the classic case of cronyism that the Prime Minister and his government represent.” 
The issue here was that the rate at which coal for power production that was purchased by Adani Power Mundra was significantly higher than market rates at which coal was being traded in Indonesia, the source of the purchase. This meant that the state-owned Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited, a Gujarati state entity in the energy sector had to pay much more for the overall electricity supply. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited has now written to Adani Power Mundra Limited asking that the excess amount charged be repaid. 
As a presidential candidate, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assured that if he won, the National People’s Power would cancel the Adani energy project because it posed a threat to Sri Lanka’s energy sector sovereignty. 
The controls placed by Adani Power on its power supply to Bangladesh is a classic example of Bangladesh’s energy sovereignty being utterly compromised at a very crucial time in the country’s history. In real terms, Adani Power has slashed its supplies to Bangladesh by about 60% due to unpaid bills exceeding $800 million. Sri Lanka could also find itself in a similar situation if it compromises its power supply and energy sovereignty by going ahead with the Adani project.
In October President Dissanayake informed the Supreme Court that it would reconsider the approval given by the previous regime to the Adani Group projects. The government must now expect considerable pressure from vested parties, in this case both the Adani Group and the Indian government, more generally. But it is essential to be mindful that we are not dealing with a project in an Indian state.
We cannot be endlessly languishing in the depths of poverty simply because of the corruption of our own leaders of the recent and not-too-recent past, and business magnates of the region. The Adani case is a good starting point to roll back mega corruption and illegality in the country.
Sasanka Perera is the founding professor of the South Asia University's Department of Sociology. This commentary was first published <a href="https://island.lk/adanis-power-in-sri-lanka/">The Island Online</a>.

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

thumbnail

viewImage

Adani in Sri Lanka

Film Southasia Festival of Documentaries, which opened on 21 November by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-the-forgotten-army-to-bajrangi-bhaijaan">director Kabir Khan</a>, wrapped up on Sunday with the Best Film trophy going to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32590036/">6-A Akash Ganga</a> directed by Nirmal Chander Dhandriyal of India. The three-member jury noted that the documentary was 'a mesmerising tribute to the enigmatic Hindustani classical musician Annapurna Devi, whose genius shaped generations yet whose life remains shrouded in mystery.' 'It was directed with sensitivity and reverence, the film masterfully combines archival footage, intimate interviews, and rare performances to peel back the layers of a recluse who became a legend,” the Jury wrote.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241125111120_ac8cce1c9440427f2a55a34fae60d705a77c6584a8604886f710c3be0b2d3eea.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241125111120_ac8cce1c9440427f2a55a34fae60d705a77c6584a8604886f710c3be0b2d3eea" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Film SouthAsia"> <figcaption>Prateek Shekhar of India was one of the jury winners for his film Chardi Kala – An Ode to Resilience.</figcaption> </figure>  The Jury Award was split between two films <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32058630/">Devi by Subina Shrestha</a> of Nepal and <a href="https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/681329.html">Chardi Kala – An Ode to Resilience</a> by Prateek Shekhar of India, with the jury noting: 'The two exceptional films, each addressing the profound undercurrents of conflict in South Asia, are being awarded the Jury Prize jointly, standing together as equal bearers of the region’s most urgent stories.' This year, Film Southasia also honoured filmmaker India's Anand Patwardhan with the ‘Documentary Stalwart Award’ honouring his decades of films focused on social justice, humanity and memory.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241125111124_262cc63c1712584da7a433820e2f901fc8c345976add66bef54172d60c97aa06.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241125111124_262cc63c1712584da7a433820e2f901fc8c345976add66bef54172d60c97aa06" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1331" loading="lazy" alt="Film Southasia"> <figcaption>Anand Patwardhan was recognised with ‘Documentary Stalwart Award’.</figcaption> </figure>  The Best Student Film Award went to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28266636/">Hello Guyzz!</a> by Samiksha Mathur from India. The Tareque Masud Best Debut Film Award went to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJYFwGgLfJo">Siege in the Air</a> by Muntaha Amin. The Best Film on Depiction of the Climate Crisis, sponsored by ICIMOD, went to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNxqvsMfRl4">A Flaming Forest</a> by Salman Javeed, Vivek Singh Sangwan and Satya Ambasta.&nbsp; This year’s edition of the biennial South Asian film festival featured 47 films from 9 countries, screened over 4 days shortlisted from over 2,000 submissions. With the theme, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/documenting-the-anthropocene">Documentary in Anthropocene</a>, this year’s festival focused on the planetary breakdown, including in South Asia, while also presenting many documentaries that touched lives across boundaries.&nbsp; The festival was also host to workshops and discussions, kicking off with a directing workshop with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4rgSDu1sDw">Bollywood director Kabir Khan</a>. ‘Kathaharu’ and the ‘WOW Festival’ conducted masterclasses with Jane Mote, The Whickers, UK, and film editor Shweta Venkat, in collaboration with Film Southasia. Other discussions were held on the themes ‘Understanding the Anthropocene’, ‘The Evolution of the Nepali Documentary’’ and ‘The Sudden Runaway Success of Nepali Cinema’.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241125111124_4da31b5e8701ad4d53e41236bd83eba1d84166f6be6d0bd6e4a786d520292059.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20241125111124_4da31b5e8701ad4d53e41236bd83eba1d84166f6be6d0bd6e4a786d520292059" data-rendition-name="original" width="696" height="611" loading="lazy" alt="Kabir Khan at FSA"> <figcaption>Bollywood director Kabir Khan conducted a directing workshop at Film Southasia.</figcaption> </figure>  The jury mewmbers were Farjad Nabi (Lahore), Anitha Pottumkulam (Chennai) and Kiran Krishna Shrestha (Kathmandu). In their closing remarks, highlighted the importance and urgency of the theme related to human-induced deterioration of the environment, jury member Shrestha said, “This year’s theme—Anthropocene—is not just timely but essential. It is a stark reminder that what we share cannot be restrained by borders.”

Documenting South Asia on film

Earlier in August, after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India following her violent suppression of a people’s movement, in Nepal pundits asked: ‘Is Nepal Next?”&nbsp;
The national narrative here focused on similar public discontent with leaders who have overstayed, disregarding public welfare while being neck-deep in corruption. They pointed out that the present NC-UML coalition government was ‘India-aligned’, just as Sheikh Hasina was.
Nepal’s cybersphere also shared Indian mainstream media’s magnified reports of attacks on Hindu targets in Dhaka, leaving out the fact that most were attacked for being close to the Hasina and her Awami League.&nbsp;
Some Nepali media also unquestioningly reported that Nepal’s border security was on ‘heightened alert’ for a ‘mass influx’ of Hindu refugees, forgetting that Nepal and Bangladesh do not even have a contiguous border.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">Peacemongers at India-Pakistan border</a>, Beena Sarwar
Regional upheavals have a long history of impacting Nepali politics. After Pakistan’s Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed by the military in 1979, student protests erupted in Kathmandu and quickly turned into mass rallies against the partyless Panchayat system. King Birendra finally agreed to hold a referendum on the absolute monarchy.
When street protests in Sri Lanka forced out the Rajapaksa government and the economy went into freefall in 2022, Nepali commentators again asked: ‘Is Nepal Next?’ Nepal’s macroeconomic position was in a much sounder footing, but editors needed catchy headlines.
Bangladesh’s unrest was initially triggered by students protesting the quota for government jobs, and commentators here immediately drew parallels with constitutionally-guaranteed reservations for women as well as ethnic and caste minorities – even though in Bangladesh the anger was over the increased job quota for Awami League cadre.&nbsp;
If all this was not convoluted enough, add geopolitics to the mix. India and China are now in overt competition for influence in the Subcontinent, a region New Delhi regards as being in its sphere of influence. While Sri Lanka and the Maldives are strategic because of their location astride Indian Ocean maritime routes, Nepal, Bangladesh and to a certain extent Bhutan, are important buffers.&nbsp;
India was fully backing the secular Awami League despite Sheikh Hasina’s &nbsp;growing authoritarianism and her close trade and economic ties with China.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/selfies-on-the-prime-minister-s-bed">Selfies on the prime minister’s bed</a>, Guna Raj Luitel
In July, Hasina returned to Dhaka earlier than scheduled during a state visit to Beijing after being unable to secure a $5 billion loan from China. New Delhi had also leaned on Hasina to cancel China’s involvement in the Teesta contract, and award it to India.&nbsp;
In Sri Lanka, Chinese ‘debt trap diplomacy’ is said to have contributed to its economic collapse, pushing President Ranil Wickremesinghe closer to India and the West to cultivate support for its IMF bailout in June. Defence and maritime cooperation has followed hot on the heels of these deals.&nbsp;
The China’s Exim Bank did sign a $4.2 billion debt restructuring agreement with Sri Lanka in June, showing that Wickremesinghe is deftly trying to balance geopolitical ties.
In the Maldives, relations with New Delhi soured and broke into full-scale war on cybersphere after Mohamed Muizzu won elections earlier this year. But Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s was in Malé this week to ‘rectify’ Muizzu’s pro-Beijing tilt.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/retrofitting-saarc">Retrofitting SAARC</a>, Shristi Karki
In Nepal, China has made no secret of its wish to seek unity among myriad Communist factions, while India and the West have worked behind the scenes to wreck that plan. The latest coalition switch in July was a manifestation of this geopolitical jostling.&nbsp;
India’s new Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri made a courtesy visit to Kathmandu this week where officials were careful not to raise contentious issues like Kalapani, the Eminent Person’s Group report, new air routes, or to lift restrictions on buying surplus hydroelectricity from plants with Chinese involvement. Misri was formerly India’s ambassador in Beijing.
Interestingly, the Chinese who never openly commented publicly on Nepal’s internal affairs are now much more vocal, while the Indians who used to be very outspoken have taken a hands-off approach ever since the 2015 Blockade.&nbsp;
The latest example of this new Chinese mood is Ambassador Chen Song’s X posts with crude criticism last month of a Nepali journalist’s report on the Pokhara airport loan, or using undiplomatic language about the unsuccessful search for the twin buses that fell into the Trisuli, killing 59.&nbsp;
Still, the recent regime change in Dhaka is a warning to Nepal’s leaders not to take electoral mandate for granted, and to demonstrate results from better governance in the run-up to the next elections in 2027, or risk losing out to populist parties.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-love-triangle-with-china-and-india-impacts-investment">Nepal’s China-India love-triangle impacts investment</a>, Ramesh Kumar

Shristi Karki

The geopolitics of Nepal’s politics…

On a slow, sweltering summer afternoon at the edge of a forest in deep rural northern Thailand, the brain fever bird is doing my head in with its insistent, rising call.
We, like most of Asia south of the Himalaya,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/warmer-drier-winters-in-nepal"> are now living on the heating planet</a> which experts have long warned of and science has projected for decades.
Across the world as summer temperatures break record after record, bumble bee nests are overheating, endangering the key pollinators. Warming seas are killing corals, which will then affect fish and then artisanal fishing communities in South and Southeast Asia. Sea surface temperatures are at 34° Celsius in the Bay of Bengal, the highest recorded anywhere in the open oceans.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, are our leaders and billionaire class - the two often overlap - <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-politics-of-pollution">serious about climate change</a>? The evidence is not compelling. Former US President Donald Trump in April reportedly asked top fossil fuel industry leaders for $1 billion for his campaign to retake the White House. “We’re going to drill, baby, drill,” he has said at his rallies. &nbsp;
Should he win the White House, climate change mitigation goals will be out of the window in his first days in office. Meanwhile, as if nothing untoward was happening, wars in Ukraine and Gaza are - besides death, destruction and misery - producing staggering amounts of greenhouse gases.
The burning of oil wells by Saddam Hussein’s army in 1990 as western coalition forces drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait generated more than 400 million tonnes of carbon, according to Axel Michaelowa, a University of Zurich climate policy expert.
Even at the most peaceful of times, militaries are massive emitters of greenhouse gases. In 2018 - the most recent year figures are available for, the US Department of Defense alone produced 56 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent - more than many single countries.
But<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/the-international-order-is-dying-in-gaza"> wars and militaries </a>are the sacred cows of national security establishments, and their emission reductions are never a part of climate summits. It's business as usual for the military; total global military expenditure reached US$2443 billion in 2023, an increase of 6.8% in real terms from 2022, says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) — the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009. The ten largest spenders in 2023 were the United States, China and Russia.
In May, the Guardian reported that a poll of hundreds of leading climate scientists found that they expect global temperatures to rise way past the internationally agreed target of 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels. A dystopian future is not just around the corner: for a farmer in Asia’s heat belt it is already here. Numerous experts told the paper they felt hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.&nbsp;
I asked anthropologist and expert on warfare Brian Ferguson, a professor at Rutgers University, whether the human species is capable of rising above its quarrels to unite in the face of a genuinely <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/biosphere-on-the-brink">existential threat to the biosphere</a>.
Ferguson asked for a week to think about that, and then wrote back: ‘Any way I think about it, the answer is no.'
'Identity is always constructed, with competing versions, often involving an enemy. It is easy to create alternative versions. So people with power can redirect an experienced threat to a target they find more congenial. Which is what we have seen happening in climate debates, and we see in war all the time.'
The many thousands of young people who flood the streets demanding action against global warming, have something in common with<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/protests-of-despair"> the thousands across campuses in the US </a>demanding their schools sever any investments in and association with Israel. They have woken up and discovered what the adults have been up to.
In the energy of those students, there is hope. Like the protests in the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s against the Vietnam war, and in the late 1980s against South Africa’s apartheid, they challenge and disrupt the prevailing power dispensation. But they are fundamentally hopeful. They demand peace, not war.
‘You see the kids protesting on behalf of Gazans? See how they <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/solidarity-with-gaza">risk their careers</a>? DO THAT. And then do it again and again,’ wrote Genevieve Guenther, a climate activist and founder of End Climate Silence, on X.
As psychologist Viktor Frankel famously wrote in his classic Man’s Search for Meaning, about life and survival in the Nazi regime’s death camps: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
You could call it survival. We are an ingenious species, and we have no choice. Amid the bad news, we have a responsibility, and an obligation, to hope.
Nirmal Ghosh, veteran foreign correspondent, author and former US Bureau Chief of The Straits Times, co-hosts the podcasts Green Pulse and Asian Insider.

The obligation of hope

In an English city, my aunt had learned to call home, it was the pursuit of familiarity that really gave her the purpose to stay. One weekend, she sat on the stairs, making frantic calls. My uncle punched numbers on his Nokia cell phone. Where? What time? Are tickets available? They echoed one another. Both were trying to book tickets for the only screening of Bollywood’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420332/">Veer Zara</a>, in a city near us.
My cousins and me, we waited with bated breath. This would be an opportunity to watch a Bollywood film on the big screen. In the early-2000s, screening of Bollywood in the cinemas had not yet become a thing in England, so South Asians would organise their own screenings.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/light-of-the-absurd">Light of the absurd</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
Tickets were finally booked and we rushed out, thrusting our arms through our coats as we hastily locked the door behind us. “This is as far as Nagarkot is from Kathmandu,” my uncle said aloud, as he drove. Would we have covered the same distance to go watch a “Hindi” film in Kathmandu? Probably not. But in the UK, we did, racing towards a collective, South Asian sentiment.
When we arrived, the theatre premise was packed with Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Nepalis. Immediately, there was the relaxing of the muscles you experience in the presence of the familiar.
Probably among the last people to buy the tickets, ours weren’t the best seats. We were on the very first row, and for the rest of the show, we would tilt our head up towards the screen, as though clamouring for some love, while the actors would virtually breathe down our necks.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/memory-of-a-conversation">Memory of as conversation</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
We weren’t the only ones with bad seats. Some in the audience had been accommodated on make-shift chairs. The auditorium was packed all the way to the exit.
As <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0451321/?ref_=tt_ov_st">Shah Rukh Khan</a> rescued <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006689/?ref_=tt_ov_st">Priety Zinta</a> by slinging on a chopper, I remember flinching in my seat, as though they would fall on my face. A Nepali family friend, Mahesh Mahaseth, who happened to be sitting next to me, nudged and laughed at me when tears ran down my face as the India-Pakistan romance transpired. I remember thinking at that time how cruel-South-Asian-male that behaviour was-- teasing a girl in tears.
Even as my dislike for Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) continued to build-up, I joined other women and girls in the audience and cried during all the sad scenes. The men cleared their throat. And although it seemed like SRK was demonstrating that it is okay for men to weep, to be vulnerable and heartbroken, that precedent wasn’t quite set off screen.
Regardless, we all went home purged. Post-catharsis.
…
For many South Asian women, SRK is religion, said my friend Ayub, and sent me a snapshot of the book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Desperately-Seeking-Shah-Rukh-Independence/dp/9354891934">Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh by Shrayana Bhattacharya</a>. Ayub described SRK as “the resilient embodiment of liberalism.” I asked him to elaborate and we ended up hate-watching <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15354916/">Jawan</a>. (Was he a convert by the end of the film? He might answer that in a separate article.)
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/the-light-of-feet">The light of feet</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
I cannot remember the last time I watched a Bollywood movie in the theatre. So, when the audience cheered and clapped every time SRK dismantled a bad guy, I was surprised. And while the audience responded in euphoria, I found that I was quickly disassociating: what was this film beyond a family drama steeped in violence, a revenge tragedy interlude, and family reunion with the Robin Hood of a son, all woven into the narrative of vindication of geopolitics? But the show was house-full and parents had their toddlers in tow.
There are no sanitised versions of the world here, for children.
“I was not expecting so much crowd for a Bollywood masala movie. I was surprised to be honest,” Hashim Ahmad Hakeem, video producer from India, who went to the film’s screening in Kathmandu with friends from South Asia, told me. “It was amazing bonding over the movie and realising most of us have grown up in the same Bollywood cinema.”
Hakeem was participating in the Adenauer Media Leaders Academy in Kathmandu. On the sidelines of the event, one of the things the fellows did together was watch Jawan.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/of-anger-and-love">Of anger and love</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
“I watched it because Bollywood movies are banned in Pakistani cinemas. Secondly, I wanted to watch with fellows from other countries, specifically India as they are very much enthusiastic about Shah Rukh Khan. So, I enjoyed their cheering more than the movie,” says Abbass Raza, an aspiring journalist from Pakistan.
For many South Asians, Bollywood movies are about coming home to culture and language they can relate to.
“Honestly, this will always be memorable,” says Navneeta Nandan, journalist with The Economic Times. “It signifies the strength of art. We can be geographically apart but this can always be something that will keep us connected- cinema, music from different countries.”
…
On a certain terrace restaurant in the heart of Kathmandu, a friend from Pakistan and I get talking about architecture and end up discussing Pakistani teleserials. In the 80s, Nepal Television used to broadcast Pakistani series as an endorsement of its friendly relations with Pakistan. Some viewers at the time, even named their children after their favourite characters.
My aunt who lives in an English city, which has become her home, still binges on Pakistani series and records Indian serials. In the solitude of a foreign land, content in languages she can speak have always been her friends.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/a-letter-to-a-sister">A letter to a sister</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
Soap operas were created for housewives, who would watch them after putting their day’s work to rest, as though visiting old friends in the emptiness of their days. While on weekends husband and children filled the hours, on weekdays, they would go back to conversing with their virtual friends: women who sometimes did not represent their reality, and sometimes, offered them the comfort of heroism.
At my request, my friend from Pakistan shared a very long list of recommended Pakistani dramas. I forwarded it to my aunt. And here’s what she wrote back: Thank you, chhori. I have watched ALL of them! :)

Pratibha Tuladhar

Navigating invisible borders

Even though heat waves, floods and wildfires are ravaging the planet, it is actually suspended particles in the air that pose the most serious immediate risk to human health, reducing average life spans across the world. Moves to control carbon emissions by switching to renewable energy will help in also reducing pollution thereby improving public health and allowing billions of people around the world to live longer. The <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AQLI_2023_Report-Global_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">latest data from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI)</a> issued by the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago shows that fine soot particles in the air that are less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in diameter are the most dangerous. <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Nepal-FactSheet-2023_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">Nepal is among countries most affected</a> by particulate air pollution from its own vehicular emissions and open fires, and is downwind in winter from the <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/India-FactSheet-2023_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">most polluted parts of north India</a>. The <a href="https://uchicago.app.box.com/s/swo06s7b5fvfmn0v4h5eisi37w6a5c6g" target="_blank">report reveals</a> that particulate pollution carries the greatest external risk to human health, with the impact on life expectancy comparable to that of smoking, more than 3 times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, and more than 5 times that of traffic accidents.&nbsp; However, the risk is not spread equally across the world. Six countries in the world are at much greater risk than others and most of them are in Nepal’s neighbourhood.&nbsp; “Three-quarters of air pollution’s impact on global life expectancy occurs in just six countries, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria and Indonesia, where people lose one to more than six years off their lives because of the air they breathe,” says Michael Greenstone, Professor in Economics at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230829050856_334052e47db863afb0a8d17fe97e67321fd808c7079610bd7e9fa3f97d39933b.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230829050856_334052e47db863afb0a8d17fe97e67321fd808c7079610bd7e9fa3f97d39933b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1688" height="632" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollutuon"> </figure>  Even though awareness about the danger of pollution is growing, slow changes in state energy policy have not led to meaningful action. The pollution is also being <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/open-air" target="_blank">transported across national boundaries</a>, which means regional cooperation to improve air quality is as important. The first priority is to provide citizens with real-time open air quality data, yet only 6.8% of the Asia knows how dirty their air is. Knowledge about pollution can create public pressure on governments to act. As it is only one-third of the countries in Asia have air quality standards, the basic building block for policies, the AQLI report says. Investment in air quality infrastructure also does not match where air pollution is having its greatest toll on human life.&nbsp; “Timely, reliable, open air quality data in particular can be the backbone of civil society and government clean air efforts—providing the information that people and governments lack and that allows for more informed policy decisions,” says <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW7YmSSnes&amp;t=50s" target="_blank">Christa Hasenkopf,</a> the director of AQLI and air quality programs at EPIC. “Fortunately, we see an immense opportunity to play a role in reversing this by better targeting—and increasing—our funding dollars to collaboratively build the infrastructure that is missing today.” <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6mW7YmSSnes?si=qCHCmCfqcMXerxiI" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> The release of the AQLI report comes just ahead of the UN’s <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/clean-air-day" target="_blank">International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies</a>. While much of multilateral and bilateral development assistance goes to control of diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, the resources for pollution control are much less even though many more people die or are affected by dirty air. The report singles out South Asia, especially its densely-populated northern areas as suffering the deadliest impact of pollution. More than a quarter of the global population in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are the most affected, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/breathing-can-kill-you" target="_blank">losing five years of their lives on average.</a>&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230829050852_2853466cd4b12be5cc853762f736bb5b264a752d22354797f35c24f2cd6a1f5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20230829050852_2853466cd4b12be5cc853762f736bb5b264a752d22354797f35c24f2cd6a1f5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1842" height="1118" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution"> </figure>  Although China had some of the worst air quality 20 years ago, the <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/China-FactSheet-2023_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">report cites its remarkable success</a> in reducing pollution by 42.3% since 2013, when it declared a ‘war against pollution’. The &nbsp;average Chinese citizen can now expect to live 2.2 years longer.&nbsp; Even industrialised countries have high air pollution levels. <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/US-FactSheet-2023_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">Americans are exposed</a> to 65% less particulate pollution than in 1970 before the passage of the Clean Air Act, yet 96% percent of the country still doesn’t meet the WHO’s new guideline of 5 µg/m³. In 2021, California was the most polluted state, not because of vehicular pollution but wildfires.&nbsp; <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Europe-FactSheet-2023_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">Europeans </a>were exposed to 23% less pollution than in 1998, improving their life expectancy.&nbsp; But even then, most European cities do not meet the WHO’s new guideline. Eastern Europeans are living 7.2 months less than people in the west due to dirtier air.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023082906080_567310490ad8fe6685e219794356eb128ffd3fb2f722e7c8b419cef0a0744b4e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2023082906080_567310490ad8fe6685e219794356eb128ffd3fb2f722e7c8b419cef0a0744b4e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1417" height="496" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution"> </figure>  Full report here: <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AQLI_2023_Report-Global_Embargoed.pdf" target="_blank">https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AQLI_2023_Report-Global_Embargoed.pdf</a>

Cleaner Air = Longer Lives

After decades of people smuggling within and between countries in South Asia, the traffic pattern for human trafficking has changed. Increasingly, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/us-bound-nepalis-trafficked-to-malawi">nationals of one country are stranded in another country</a> in the Subcontinent while in transit to the Gulf, Europe or America.
Middlemen dupe compatriots with fake visas, or assurances of taking them to the West and leave them along the way, where they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
It is difficult enough to crack down on traffickers within countries because of impunity and spreading authoritarianism in the region, but what makes it even harder is the increasing trans-boundary nature of the crime.
“How do we deal with human trafficking in the context of rising authoritarianism and fascism in the region?” asked Emmy Award-winning Indian filmmaker Ruchira Gupta. “We are worried about the increasing power of the police and army in all our countries and yet we want to end impunity for those who are buying and selling human beings.”&nbsp;
Gupta was speaking at a webinar on trafficking of women and girls in South Asia organised by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/art-and-resistance-in-south-asia">South Asia Peace Action Network</a> (SAPAN).&nbsp;
A new bill in the Indian Parliament allows the police to raid homes on the pretext of fighting trafficked persons without any FIR. Gupta stressed that while ending impunity for rape and other sexual assaults on girls and women is of utmost importance, providing the police with a blanket warrant is not the solution.
“Fascism eroticises violence,” Gupta added.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/people-to-people-at-india-nepal-border">Human trafficking</a> is the third largest crime industry in the world in terms of monetary transactions, only behind drugs and arms smuggling. Girls and women account for 71% of trafficked persons globally. Detection of people smuggling fell by 11% in 2020 and convictions by 27%. An estimated 41% of those trafficked manage to escape on their own.&nbsp;
Gupta’s most recent book, I Kick and I fly, also investigates child prostitution and human trafficking in South Asia since the 1990s. Her investigations have helped crack down on human trafficking rings in the region. In 2002, she set up Apne Aap, a welfare organisation for survivors.
India recently cut its budget for Public Distribution Services including food and housing for the poor, and Gupta called on other governments in the region not to follow that example by increasing funds for those who fall through the social safety nets. Many who are deprived of basic needs eventually fall victim to traffickers.
Indeed, traffickers often target the young, impoverished and those from marginalised communities. After the 2015 Nepal earthquake, there was a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/epicentre-trafficking-migration,3256">spike in the number of girls and women trafficked</a> from low-income families in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/escaped-traffickers-back-in-business-luring-quake-survivors,2279">Sindhupalchok</a> and other hardest-hit areas.
Nepal and the rest of South Asia is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking. An increasing number of Nepali women are stranded at transit airports in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or India after being cheated and abandoned by traffickers who promised to take them to the Gulf or the West.
Cross-border collaboration between the governments and advocates in the region is therefore crucial, the panel heard.
Sigma Huda, advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and the first UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons pointed out that r<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Analysis/pride-and-prejudice-at-SAARC,394">egional cooperation under SAARC</a> was largely unsuccessful to end trafficking in the region.&nbsp;
Some 92% of the trafficked persons in Bangladesh, as elsewhere in the region, are girls. In the past five years, 13,000 women and children have been trafficked across the country while 4,000 have been rescued. There is also a tendency of getting the girls married off to traffickers.
People in Bangladesh are primarily taken to the Middle East under the pretext of getting jobs in carpet factories, mills and other industries. But most are forced into domestic work and get exploited.
Huda added that even though the border with India is closed and fenced, people cross over. Together with Bangladeshi women and girls, the Rohingyas are also trafficked via the Bay of Bengal into Mumbai then on to the Middle East.”
Human traffickers are liable to capital punishment in Bangladesh, but she said implementation is a different story. In many cases, survivors shy away from seeking justice in fear of retribution or ostracisation, much like in Nepal and other countries in South Asia where victim-blaming is a norm.
Mehr Husain, author, publisher and journalist from Lahore said implementation of international laws and treaties to control trafficking, was not feasible even though Pakistan was a signatory, because they contradicted local laws.
Furthermore, people smuggled into Pakistan are then trafficked inside the country, mainly for sex and forced labour with an estimated 13 million people in Pakistan are engaged in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-can-take-lead-to-end-modern-slavery">one form of slavery or other</a>. People are also being trafficked to steal their organs for transplants.
As many as 150 women and children were being smuggled into Pakistan every month in 2013, but Husain said strict migration laws meant they were jailed instead of being served justice. The fact that Pakistani laws do not clearly define human smuggling and trafficking makes matters worse.
Interestingly, Nepal’s Civil Code promulgated in 1853 has a chapter on human trafficking which Kathmandu-based advocate Sabin Shrestha pointed out as proof that the crime was prevalent even then.
Much later in 2007, a Human Trafficking and Transportation Act defined people smuggling as a serious crime and the burden of proof was put on the accused. The confidentiality of the victims and survivors is protected. If family members are traffickers, as often happens with girls, their confidentiality would be protected to protect the victims.
Even so, there is no law addressing human smuggling in Nepal. This is being rectified, a bill is now pending in Parliament.
The webinar ended with <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/2023/08/01/resolution-combat-trafficking-of-women-and-girls-in-southasia/?fbclid=IwAR1cldtLJrz6VksKvyznl_D5F7nY9_iM2RU3V-BgQN6VPwlepRXYWYqAZdI">an adoption of a resolution</a> to take action under the SAARC Convention on Combating and Preventing Trafficking of Women and Children by assembling a working committee to understand the modus operandi, causes, and consequences of human trafficking in the region.

Human trafficking patterns changing in South Asia

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218549c7e80680e0baa37jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="664" height="450"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The crisis that is consuming Sri Lanka has sent warning bells ringing in Nepal. While sensational media headlines, some of them in the Indian press, have drawn too close a comparison between the two countries, there are parallels.Nepal does not have the kind of debt burden that has forced Sri Lanka to default on its loans. Ironically, it is Nepal’s underdevelopment that cushions it from global upheavals. Politics may be in disarray here too, but at least we do not have an executive president, a prime minister and three other brothers who are ministers in government.Nepal’s disease may not be as severe as Sri Lanka, but <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/A-tale-of-Nepal-and-Sri-Lanka,1086" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the symptoms are the same</a>.For decades, Sri Lanka was the development model that the rest of South Asia strived to emulate. Its 95% literacy, equitable health care, a proficient bureaucracy were the envy of the developing world.But even a well-educated public and effective social security system stand no chance against bad leadership, and can wreck a once-vibrant democracy. The rot in Sri Lanka started as far back as 1956, with ultra-nationalist leaders building vote banks with exclusionary ethnic politics.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/asias-new-cold-war/">Asia’s new Cold War</a>, Dhirendra NalboThe grievances of the minority community piled up, erupting in the anti-Tamil pogroms of 1983, and the inevitable slide to conflict. At one point in the late 1990s, a country half the size of Nepal and with two-thirds of its population had two <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9345#.YoMV3RRBxpQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">civil wars raging</a> at the same time: the ethno-separatist conflict in the north, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=507#.YoMUpxRBxpQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the ultra-Marxist JVP</a> uprising in the south.The JVP insurgency was crushed, but by the time <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15978#.YoMV8xRBxpQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Tamil war</a> came to a violent end in 2009 nearly 100,000 Sri Lankans had been killed. In comparison, Nepal’s Maoists insurgency lasted a decade and left 17,000 dead.The precursors of Sri Lanka’s current crisis lie in post-war politics and the rise and fall, and rise again, of the Rajapaksa family, its greed, ambition and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Here-We-Go/here-we-go-silenced-by-state-sri-lanka,182" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">drift towards authoritarianism</a>. Sri Lanka’s thriving tourist industry was destroyed in the deadly Easter bombings in 2019, and the pandemic wiped out what remained. Exports and remittances from its workers abroad slumped.In addition, the Mahinda Rajapaksa in his previous stint had borrowed extravagantly from China for grandiose infrastructure projects, and the Chinese were demanding their pound of flesh.Another Rajapaksa brother as agriculture minister decreed overnight that Sri Lanka would go organic, and banned the import of agro-chemicals. Tea export and food production fell.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ukraine crisis</a> could not have hit at a worse time. Fuel prices doubled in a space of weeks, and Sri Lanka had no foreign exchange reserve to pay for imports. Faced with a 40% inflation rate, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-geopolitics-of-food/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a crippling shortage of food</a>, cooking gas and fuel, peaceful protesters were camped out in central Colombo.Then, on 9 May the Rajapaksa brothers sent hired goons to drive out demonstrators from Colombo’s seafront promenade. The police stood by, and visuals of violence went viral on social media. Nine people were killed and scores injured as protests spread nationwide.Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down, and his much-reviled brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa swore in Ranil Wickremasinghe as prime minister for the sixth time, beating a record set by our own Sher Bahadur Deuba.This could be too little too late. As long as the Rajapaksas cling to power, Sri Lankans fear that the nepotism, corruption, and mismanagement will continue.The coming weeks are critical for Prime Minister Wickremasinghe, and he himself admits that things will “get worse before they get better”.Sri Lanka is an object lesson for us in Nepal about how <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/clean-up-elections-to-clean-up-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">short-sighted leaders</a>, populism, and lack of accountability of elected despots and their dynasties can completely ruin a country that was once so full of promise.Crises like these do not just happen overnight, they are the result of decades of mal-governance by leaders who neglect the needs of citizens. Democracy is supposed to fix that, but this is what happens when leaders hijack the democratic process itself.Nepal has a unique opportunity during <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/turning-a-new-leaf-in-2079/">this election year</a> to find leaders that can take the country forward. That so many independent candidates have won <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local elections</a> this week should be a wake-up call for Nepal’s politicians to mend their ways or be swept away by public anger.

How not to be a Sri Lanka

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d6b9c7e80680e0bd4e9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1011"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>The war in Ukraine, which began with Russian aggression, has now turned into a battle between two powerful global forces: liberal democracy and authoritarianism. A new world order is emerging.Unlike the 20th century’s ideological clash between communism and capitalism, recent global events show complexity, volatility, unpredictability and elusive multipolarism.In this new world order, too, strategically located countries like Nepal will face intense pressure from the two mighty political forces: liberal democracy countries led by the US and allies, and alternative forces or authoritarianism led by China, Russia and the co.In such hyper-polarisation, a win-win situation can be hard to come by, particularly for less powerful countries like Nepal. Nevertheless, the new 21st century world order also offers an opportunity for countries with important geostrategic positioning to advance their interests and gain leverage among the giants.Financial integration, technological connectivity and human mobility today have turned the world into a global village, albeit with constant threats and instability.Over the last 30 years, China has become a global factory, it enjoys economic growth at home while fulfilling material demands globally. The rise and fall of demand for goods inevitably influences its stability.Around the world, many countries also face instability from dependence on global markets. The Covid-induced supply chain disruptions, particularly due to Beijing’s ‘zero-covid’ policy, have created high inflation around the world. In January 2021, the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/what-happened-supply-chains-2021">shipping cost</a> for a 40-foot container was $1,400. By September 2021, it jumped to over $20,000.Our chronic dependency on fossil fuels is the same story: from households in the foothills of the Himalaya to the suburbs of Houston, the fluctuation of oil and gas prices hits us hard, sparking protests and instability.But there is an additional factor in play: hypernationalism. Donald Trump is no longer in the White House but the supposedly liberal statesman and champion of democracy President Joe Biden continues to advance Trumpian hypernationalism.During January’s State of the Union address, Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/01/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-as-delivered/">said</a>: “When we use taxpayer dollars to rebuild America – we are going to Buy American: buy American products to support American jobs.” Such insular and self-serving American nationalism resembles President Xi Jinping’s desire for “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/what-china-wants/528561/">the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”</a> and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/are-we-turning-into-a-nation-of-hyper-nationalists/article18701484.ece">increasingly intolerant</a> India.Put simply, Russia under President Vladimir Putin and its ongoing onslaught in Ukraine to assert itself in a new global power equilibrium is the kind of hypernationalistic aggression we are likely to see more of.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111148/63721d6e9c7e80680e0bd4eajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Extreme climate change events will further destabilise the 21st century global world order. According to a <a href="https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf">report</a> from the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), competition over water and food, made scarce because of climate change, will increasingly turn violent.Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-monsoon-rain-ruins-nepals-crops/">"freak" rain in October</a> 2021 shows how a climate event can trigger civil strife. The downpour not only destroyed nearly $60 million of rice and killed dozens of people but also pushed peasants further into poverty and hunger, turning them desperate to seek ways to make ends meet.One such way for them has been to farm wheat. But a shortage of wheat seeds pushed frustrated peasants to launch a protest, which prompted a violent response from the police.To disperse protesters along the East-West highway, police fired teargas and rubber bullets and the protesters retaliated by hurling rocks and sticks. Both protesters and police sustained injuries.This incident demonstrates the non-linear but complex interplay between extreme climate change events and social, political and economic dimensions, and how quickly it can escalate to violence.Migration adds further complexity. An anti-refugee sentiment has given rise to anti-democratic <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/rising-far-right-declining-centre-left-future-refugees-europe/">forces</a> across Europe and North America, upending democracy. Such forces are getting traction amidst the clash between liberal democracy and authoritarianism.Migration, whether due to climate change, war, poverty, or labour, helps harden state boundaries. This, in turn, promotes intolerance and bolsters ultranationalism and xenophobia – some of the key features of the new world order.But Nepal and strategically positioned countries can take advantage of this multipolar volatile and unpredictable world order. With shrewd diplomacy and strategic planning, the countries can use their location to not only spur economic development but also strengthen cooperation promoting stability and peace. Take Laos and Bangladesh as examples.Laos, a Southeast Asian landlocked country like Nepal, is ruled by an authoritarian government and is under strong Chinese influence. As part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, it implemented a $6 billion high-speed railway project. But Laos has only a 30% stake in this joint venture. Still, the country gets a lot of benefit from it.Inaugurated in December 2021, the project advances the country’s fundamental economic interests: it not only directly connects Laos with Thailand (and eventually with all Southeast Asia) and China but also connects its internal territory, making goods transportation more efficient.According to a World Bank <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33891/Main-Report.pdf?sequence=5&amp;isAllowed=y">report</a>, swift goods transportation will help increase Laos’ GDP up to 21%. In other words, the project’s economic benefits outweigh the risk of a Chinese ‘debt trap’.More importantly, mindful of a ‘debt trap’, Laos maintains strong <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/on-chinas-doorstep-laos-plays-a-careful-game-of-balancing/">economic ties</a> with traditional donors like Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam, including the Asian Development Bank. To avoid over-reliance on military aid from China, Laos has established military <a href="https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/02/10/china-and-russia-position-themselves-for-laos-fast-approaching-post-ldc-era/">tie</a>s with Russia.Bangladesh also has met its own interests amidst the new order and recently surpassed <a href="https://thewire.in/south-asia/bangladesh-economy-pandemic-gdp">India's per capita income</a> despite its inherent vulnerabilities to climate change. Its <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/28/bangladesh-is-everyones-economic-darling-it-might-not-last/">economic prosperity</a> combines strong remittance, a vibrant garment industry, and prudent economic governance.Most impressively, through ‘<a href="https://thewire.in/south-asia/bangladesh-economy-pandemic-gdp">balanced’ diplomacy</a>, it advances its economic interests while maintaining the two clashing mighty powers: Western liberal and authoritarian forces.In June 2021, the World Bank <a href="https://jamestown.org/program/the-belt-and-road-initiative-still-afloat-in-south-asia/">canceled</a> a $1.2 billion investment to build the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project, citing corruption. But Dhaka secured the funding to build a bridge from China as part of the BRI. Yet, when Beijing proposed the Sonadia deep-sea port project, Dhaka rejected it, instead preferring Japan’s proposed similar project at Matarbari.Most importantly, Bangladesh actively avoids Chinese projects that pose concerns, particularly to India. Like Laos, Bangladesh shrewdly focuses on economic interests while maintaining power asymmetries stemming from a new volatile multipolar global order.Laos and Bangladesh’s experiences suggest that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mcc-gets-green-light-in-nepal/">Nepal ratifying the US’s $500 million MCC aid</a> is strategically a positive step. Beijing’s <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202202/t20220218_10643446.html">objection</a> should not surprise anyone or the US’s pressure.Chinese Foreign Minister <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/fixing-the-broken-parts-in-nepal-china-ties/">Wang Yi’s visit</a> despite the MCC ratification <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/reaction-to-wang-yis-nepal-visit-in-chinese-media/">indicates that Beijing</a> wants to build closer ties with Kathmandu. Above all, Nepal should expect intense pressure from liberal democracy and authoritarian forces and prepare itself.Be it a US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy driven fund or China’s Belt and Road Initiative or the EU’s “<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_6433">Global Gateway</a>”, strategically located countries do have leverage that they can use to push their financial interests while carefully handling the competing political powers.In doing so, Nepal can achieve economic prosperity and contribute to stability and peace not just at home but also regionally and globally.Dhirendra Nalbo has Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and is the co-founder of <a href="https://theopen.institute/">the Open Instiute</a> in Kathmandu.

Nepal in the new world order

<img width="1811" height="944" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101120/637208939c7e80680e0b54f3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>“In dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing, about the dark times.”German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s words echoes and remains relevant, particularly in South Asia, as underscored by prominent artists at <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/2022/01/24/event-jan-30-resisting-together-art-and-the-artist-in-south-asia/">Resisting Together: Art and the Artist in South Asia</a>, a recent online gathering.The discussion, organised by the <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/">South Asia Peace Action Network</a> (Sapan) highlighted how the arts and resistance shape each other especially as the region’s regimes drift towards authoritarianism.The deliberations highlighted how political turmoil and violence have catalysed creativity with many artists grounding their work in response to the challenges.“There is an artist in each one of us,” asserted event host Kavita Srivastava, a human rights activist and feminist in Jaipur.As revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz once said about the artists’ role in time of turmoil: “Even though I run no state, I command no power, I am entitled to feel that I am my brother’s keeper, and my brother is my whole mankind.” said the well-known revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, talking about the role of the artist in resisting injustice.Faiz felt closest to those who were “the insulted, the humiliated, homeless and the disinherited, the poor and the hungry and sick at heart.”Faiz’s daughter, noted artist and educator Salima Hashmi shared his words during her presentation to the meeting. She demonstrated how art is not about a product, but engaging with and critiquing where we live, how we live and what we can do.Her own evocative painting Poem for Zainab emerged in response to a horrific case of domestic violence in the 1990s in which a woman was violated by her cleric husband.From Kathmandu, art curator Sangeeta Thapa of the Siddhartha Art Gallery said: “South Asia is an ancient culture but we are also new nations, and that comes with its own trials and tribulations. The Maoist insurgency was a time of great sorrow, but also marked the beginning of a new age of artivism and collaboration.”The <a href="https://biennialfoundation.org/2021/12/kathmandu-triennale-2077-announces-dates-and-artists/">upcoming Kathmandu Triennale</a> to be launched on 11 February aims to touch upon indigenous voices.  From Colombo, the Sri Lankan artist Chandraguptha Thenuwara said that Sri Lanka’s 30-year long civil war had physically ended, but many issues remained unsolved and questions remained unanswered.He also spoke about the misuse of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act to stifle freedom of expression. The struggle within the arts for a new language led to the establishment of the Heywood Institute, now the University of the Visual and Performing Arts. “Without changing mindsets, we can’t go forward”, he said. “Artists must respond to the politics of hate, religious extremism and militarisation.Artist and cultural activist Lubna Marium in Dhaka talked about the difficulties of surviving as an artist “without ever subscribing to any political party or any regime”. She has been engaged in this struggle for 50 years in Bangladesh, where she runs one of the largest dance companies in the country.A Sanskrit scholar, Marium is deeply involved in researching and understanding arts and aesthetics, and is part of a Trust that manages Shodhona: A Center for Advancement of Southasian Culture.  “Resilience is necessary but it is not necessary to be always resistant,” she said. “The concept of resilient subjects as apolitical subjects overlooks the ‘transformability’ of resilience, which in part is about innovating and sowing the seeds of transformation”.Eminent vocalist T M Krishna in Chennai highlighted the problem with focusing only on resisting the state, often at the expense of important and difficult internal conversations. An exponent of the rigorous Carnatic tradition of India’s classical music and public intellectual who regularly engages on socio-cultural issues, he stressed the need to introspect and ask difficult questions.“We need to step back and look at the ugliness in society — whether it’s caste, gender, ethnic othering,” he said. “It’s the people who are on the margins who ask the difficult questions about social and political structures because their conditionality makes it difficult for them to remain silent. Meanwhile, those who are privileged, the middle class and upper classes, aid and abet every form of violence in society.”  The link between art and resilience as well as resistance was highlighted also by eminent feminist activist and theatre and dance exponent Sheema Kermani who joined the session from Karachi.  Simply performing classical Bharatanatyam and Odissi in Pakistan was “an act of defiance, an act of resistance, to the kind of suppression of these arts that we saw during Zia ul Haq’s regime”.In solidarity with the struggle of the Afghans, the event featured a brief clip from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgt3comtpg">poem by Ghani Khan,</a> the late prominent Pushto poet, philosopher and artist and son of the highly regarded peace activist Abdul Gaffar Khan. Human rights activist and physician Dr Fauzia Deeba from Quetta introduced the musical rendition by the singer Sardar Ali Takkar.https://youtu.be/ukgt3comtpgParticipants at the online session also endorsed Sapan’s call for a visa-free Southasia, a demand enshrined in the regional coalition’s <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/founding-charter/">Founding Charte</a><a href="https://southasiapeace.com/founding-charter/">r</a> jointly presented at the meeting by the activist couple Lalita Ramdas and former chief of Indian Navy Admiral L. Ramdas, both founder members of Sapan. This event was the tenth monthly webinar organised by Sapan as part of a series titled ‘Imagine! Neighbours in Peace’. The Facebook Live recording of the meeting is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/456738112648478/">available at this link</a>, with a video log sheet of timestamps <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V097KwrTvDwT09FUP7FYiJnMSClJsE6f/">at this link</a>.Since its inception in March 2021, on the last Sunday of every month, Sapan has held regional discussions and the February event will focus on the theme of music and radical love with acclaimed artists Saif Samejo, Parvathy Baul, and others.<a href="http://www.southasiapeace.com/">www.southasiapeace.com</a>

Art and resistance in South Asia

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

south-asia