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

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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>

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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

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637204fd9c7e80680e0b2890jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="582"/><figcaption>Ganges river dolphin back in Nepal’s Narayani River. Photos: TEK MAHATO.</figcaption></figure>It is the best possible New Year 2022 present. A local nature guide in Nepal, Tek Mahato took several photos of a Ganges <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-wellbeing-of-the-wilderness/">river dolphin</a> in the Narayani River, the first time there has been photographic evidence of a dolphin in the river in years.One of the country’s four largest rivers, the Narayani crosses the border into India as Gandaki, and used to be part of the species’ traditional range, which has dwindled considerably in recent decades.Ganges river dolphins are now rare throughout Nepal. In 2016, the Department of Wildlife Conservation and National Parks estimated the river dolphin population in the country at 52 individuals: 43 in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/freshwater-dolphins-make-comeback-in-nepal/">the Karnali River</a> and its tributaries, and nine in the Kosi River. None were believed to still live in the Narayani River.Indeed, it was only last year that we finalised the current distribution map of the Ganges river dolphin, just <a href="https://www.riverdolphins.org/river-dolphins-worldwide/ganges-river-dolphin/">3,500–5,000 of which now inhabit</a> in the great Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins.The Narayani is coloured in purple (map below) for population extinct as no dolphins had been officially sighted in the river for ten years.That is until the message about Tek Mahato’s remarkable sighting came in.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637204ff9c7e80680e0b2891jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1384" height="980"><figcaption>Ganges river dolphin distribution and density. Map: WWF</figcaption></figure>This teaches us two important lessons: nature is adaptive and bounces back whenever humans allow her to do so. This hopeful message is very welcome at the start of 2022, which is an absolutely critical year for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/">biodiversity</a> with a new global framework for nature due to be agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference in China.The return of Ganges dolphins to the Narayani shows that life will return to the world’s rivers if we take the right steps to restore and protect them.Freshwater species populations have collapsed by 84% since 1970 and all six river dolphin species are now facing extinction. However, we can reverse these trends if countries sign up to, and then implement, ambitious goals under the CBD to conserve and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/too-little-too-much-or-too-polluted/">restore healthy rivers</a>, such as keeping rivers free flowing and tackling pollution. And if more businesses adopt a water stewardship approach as well as support critical water stewardship programs, like WWF-Nepal’s river restoration and collective action initiative on the Narayani.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637205039c7e80680e0b2892jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"><figcaption>Ganges river dolphin in Narayani.</figcaption></figure>The second lesson is to conduct a detailed census of Nepal’s rivers to establish the true population status of its river dolphins, an activity that is in line with the government’s <a href="https://dnpwc.gov.np/media/publication/Dolphin_Conservation_Action_Plan.pdf">National River Dolphin Action Plan</a>, which was finalised in 2021.The most recent survey in 2016 was conducted over too short a period of time and, six years later, the situation has clearly changed. We need to know how many dolphins still swim in Nepal and in which rivers before the authorities, communities and conservation organisations (including my colleagues from WWF-Nepal) can develop the best way to help them survive and thrive.The challenges river dolphins face are huge, particularly in Asia where they live in some of the most densely populated river basins in the world.But this reappearance gives us real hope that our work, particularly with our partners under the <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/freshwater_practice/freshwater_inititiaves/river_dolphins_initiative/">WWF River Dolphin Rivers initiative</a>, can make a difference. That together we can help enhance the health of these rivers and rebuild their dolphin populations.©WWFDaphne Willems is the Lead at the WWF River Dolphin Rivers initiative. Read original article <a href="https://medium.com/@WWFWater/return-of-river-dolphins-to-narayani-8e5deb57c236">here</a>.

Freshwater dolphin comeback in Nepal

<figure><img width="1920" height="1280" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13aa9c7e80680e0a9934jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>South-East Asia has achieved the fastest rate of decline in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/fired-up-over-tobacco,920" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tobacco use</a> among any other region in the world in 20 years, sustaining tobacco control measures during the Covid pandemic, according to a <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-global-report-on-trends-in-prevalence-of-tobacco-use-2000-2025-third-edition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new WHO Global Report</a>.
The region was estimated to have the highest average rate of tobacco use compared to all other WHO regions, with around 432 million users, or 29% of the total population.
However, the average prevalence of smoking among men in South-East Asia went down from 50% in 2000 to 25% in 2020, while tobacco smoking among women saw a sharp decline from 8.9% to 1.6% during the same timeframe, reports the 4th WHO Global Report on Trends in Prevalence of Tobacco Use 2000-2025.
South-East Asia at present has the highest proportion of the population covered by tobacco surveillance to monitor tobacco use prevalence and tobacco control policies. With continued efforts, smoking rates in the region could reach as low as 11% by 2025. 
“Sustained political commitment and relentless efforts by countries to strengthen surveillance, expand tobacco control measures including cessation services to help users quit tobacco are some of the key reasons for success,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia.
In Nepal, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/in-a-puff-of-a-smoke,3739" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">overall tobacco use went down</a> from 56% of the population in 2000 to 26% in 2020. Meanwhile, 2020 figures put 15% of the Nepali population over 15 years old as smokers.
However, the report lists Nepal among the only two countries in the region, along with India, that are likely to achieve the targeted 30% relative reduction in tobacco use by 2025. 
Nepal introduced its Tobacco Control and Regulation Act in 2011 and has some of the strictest smoking laws. The country is far ahead of other nations in the region with its anti-tobacco campaigns and is among few in the region to have scaled-up tobacco cessation services.
However, Nepal, which has imposed a 27% tax on the retail price of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Kicking-butts,329" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tobacco</a>, has the lowest rates of taxation on tobacco products in the region. The WHO recommends a minimum 75% tax share of the retail price of tobacco.
For packaging, Nepal has implemented large-sized graphic health warnings on tobacco packs, requiring that they cover 90% of the front and back of packages. Pictorial, or graphic, warnings are one measure contained in the global blueprint for fighting tobacco use: the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Nepal joined the treaty in 2007. 
The FCTC and MPOWER package, a set of six cost-effective and high impact measures to help countries reduce demand and supply of tobacco, contributed significantly to the implementation and effectiveness of tobacco control measures across the country.
Singh also reaffirmed WHO support to member countries towards tackling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18267#.YZYlumBByUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">controlling tobacco</a>, emphasising the importance of WHO’s ‘best buys’— a set of cost-effective interventions for the prevention and control of NCDs.
“The best buys…continue to be at the core of the Regional response, recognising the need for countries to identify &amp; implement the most effective, feasible, and affordable interventions whatever their resource setting,” said Singh.
With sustained and accelerated efforts, and using the power of innovation, countries in the region can fulfill their commitment to FCTC and to the 2030 Sustainable Development agenda, leaving no one behind, read a statement by WHO South-East Asia.
Globally, there are now 1.30 billion tobacco users compared to 1.32 billion in 2015. This number is expected to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025.  Sixty countries are on track to achieving the voluntary global target of a 30% reduction in tobacco use between 2010 and 2025, two years ago only 32 countries were on track.

Tobacco use in South-East Asia declines

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d036a9c7e80680e0a36d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1666" height="1018"/><figcaption>Noam Chomsky at the webinar 20 Years After 9/11: Impact on South Asia and South Asians organised by Sapan this week.</figcaption></figure>Prominent American author and activist Noam Chomsky has urged the United States and India to engage with the Taliban, work towards overcoming differences with other regional powers, and help the Afghan people.Rather than blocking “the best of the options that are available”, Chomsky said Washington and Delhi should play a role in getting the Afghan Taliban to mitigate and overcome human rights violations, especially in rural areas.Chomsky advocated pressuring Afghans to shift the economy from opium cultivation to mineral resources, encouraging trade, development, and their integration into the region. “These moves can’t be made through sanctions,” he told a webinar 20 Years After 9/11: Impact on South Asia and South Asians, organised by the <a href="http://www.southasiapeace.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.southasiapeace.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH30gINJiXOjznQxlrNow95l6uXcQ">South Asia Peace Action Network</a>, Sapan.Chomsky was among the thought leaders and activists from across South Asia and the diaspora who gathered virtually to discuss the impact of 9/11 on the region and its people.Journalist Raza Rumi moderated the panel discussion including human rights advocate Radhika Coomaraswamy, Chair of <a href="https://www.southasianrights.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.southasianrights.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG-UXkJk-7KBptaQQyLMoLDQS8okw">South Asia for Human Rights</a>, Afghanistan’s Former Minister of Women’s Affairs Sima Samar, peace activist Rais Bhuiyan, Khushi Kabir of the rights organisation Nijeri Kori in Dhaka, Arsalan Iftikhar, human rights lawyer and author of the recently published book<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Muslim-Planet-Global-Islamophobia/dp/151076187X/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Muslim-Planet-Global-Islamophobia/dp/151076187X/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJRSS3ViPA2OZ1ha0umGcLV7sk7Q"> Fear of a Muslim Planet: Global Islamophobia in the New World Order</a>. and others.“It is not about being optimistic. It is about finding the best of the options available,: Chomsky told the webinar. “Uppermost should be the fate of the Afghan people. Engagement “does not mean overlooking the abuses.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d036d9c7e80680e0a36d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1110" height="602"><figcaption>Participants at the weibnar.</figcaption></figure>Earlier, journalist Beena Sarwar played a clip from her documentary<a href="https://vimeo.com/614161820" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://vimeo.com/614161820&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHBtBN6tBKj-mKtCcm6ZshuKrKL6Q"> Chomsky in Pakistan</a>, broadcast on VPRO Dutch television, documenting Chomsky’s November 2001 visit to the country for the third Eqbal Ahmad Memorial Lecture series in honour of his old friend.Rumi is himself survivor of an assassination attempt that killed his driver, one of many events in the spiral of violence unleashed in the aftermath of 9/11.The 9/11 attacks led to a “seismic and epistemic shift” in global consciousness, said Radhika Coomaraswamy. She added: “The first impact of 9/11 was fear – fear that would be manipulated, assuaged by appealing to national security, and the most draconian laws would be passed. We need to de-programme the system of criminal justice.”She said 9/11 spawned endless wars, endless hate, and a military-industrial complex of armies, defence contractors, private contractors, and mercenaries for whom war has become a way of life.Former Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan Sima Samar also paid tribute to victims of the 9/11 attacks and subsequent war in her country which has received the brunt of the pressure.The ongoing repercussions are visible not only in other South Asian countries but around the world, with a visible change being harassment and extra screening for travellers. But more dangerous are the laws and regulations made in the name of the counter-terrorism activities which are violating fundamental human rights, she noted.A former Air Force pilot in Bangladesh Rais Bhuiyan moved to the United States shortly before 9/11. He shared how his race and ethnicity made him a target after 2001. The man who shot him in the face ten days later had already killed an Indian and a Pakistani.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d03709c7e80680e0a36d3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="980" height="504"><figcaption>Former Bangladesh Air Force pilot Rais Bhuiyan who was shot in a reprisal attack 10 days after 9/11 in the United States, where he had settled.</figcaption></figure>Bhuiyan made a promise to himself that if he survived, he would spend his life to support peace and humanity. It has been a struggle. He lost sight in one eye, his home, job, fiancé, and sense of security. With no medical insurance, he paid $60,000 in medical bills. “I felt discarded and dehumanised,” he added.But from this pain emerged his non-profit <a href="https://worldwithouthate.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://worldwithouthate.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGT6AjaWDVPDERVlojZMsbn1Tdt-g">World Without Hate</a>, with the hope that together we can build a world without fear, without violence, without victims. He not only forgave Mark Stroman, his attacker but also campaigned to overturn his death sentence.The effort moved Stroman, who was<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-stroman-execution-texas_n_905579" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-stroman-execution-texas_n_905579&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEMu2NPQCQ1FaAUtxThP3MQxsCJTg"> executed in 2011</a>, to call for hate to stop, saying that “hate causes a lifetime of pain”.The power of forgiveness also came across strongly in remarks by Mejindarpal Kaur, who remembered Balbir Singh Sodhi, one of the first victims of the post-9/11 hate crimes.For Sikhs, the world changed forever, with their articles of faith being equated with “terror” as they were mistaken for Muslims. The Sikh community has taken a stand with Muslims instead of disassociating themselves.It is an ongoing struggle, said Kaur, and we can’t give up. Those perpetuating evil are not going to look for answers about how to stop the hate.Khushi Kabir from Dhaka said 9/11 led to South Asian states using ‘anti-terror’ laws to curb democracy and free speech. Highlighting the rise in bigotry and othering of minorities.People’s Union of Civil Liberties activist Kavita Srivastava in Jaipur noted that India is reeling from hate crimes and criminalisation of Muslims. Given India’s massive population, she said its actions reverberated in the region.Facebook Live is at <a href="https://fb.watch/8ghBojsp7R/">this link</a>.The section with <a href="https://fb.watch/8gsSLP0ZJD/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://fb.watch/8gsSLP0ZJD/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633086401819000&amp;usg=AFQjCNErnnCVG5abneOvDS_5rOG8tXK1Nw">Chomsky is at this link</a>.

South Asia after US exit from Afghanistan

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc6b9c7e80680e0a0b8ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2006" height="1332"/><figcaption>Paddy and maize fields in Kavre. A heavier than usual monsoon this year brought destructive floods, but was a boon to farmers. Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>As if the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/first-drought-then-downpour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">drought</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildfire</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flood disasters</a> this year were not bad enough, scientists have warned that unless the world reduces emissions of greenhouse gases drastically, these disasters will get much worse.Hundreds of scientists spent the past two years drafting a 4,000 page <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">report for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),</a> but even as they did so, news of climate calamities were coming in thick and fast: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/turning-on-the-heat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heat waves</a>, continental-scale wildfires, flash-floods, biodiversity loss.A summary of the report for world governments was released on Monday, three months before world leaders meet in Glasgow in November for a Climate Summit called COP26 (Conference of Parties 26).The highly technical Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the IPCC on the science behind climate change has forecasts that will directly affect Nepal and the Himalaya. It also has pointers on what must be done urgently to reduce its impact.The IPCC report contains the most direct correlation scientists have drawn between <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-hotter-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change and extreme weather</a> around the world.‘The frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events … and droughts have increased since the 1950s,’ the report states with ‘high confidence’, adding that human-induced climate change is likely the main driver.It adds categorically: ‘Increases in monsoon precipitation since the 1980s have resulted from rising GHG (greenhouse gas) concentrations … Monsoon precipitation is projected to increase in the mid- to long term on a global scale, particularly over South and Southeast Asia.’<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc6e9c7e80680e0a0b8bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1988" height="1024"><figcaption>Source: IPCC</figcaption></figure>It predicts that these heavy precipitation events will intensify and become more frequent in most regions as the world continues to warm. Globally, there will be 7% more <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-damage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extreme weather</a> for every 1° Celsius of global warming.Even under the best-case scenario of reduced greenhouse gas emission, global average temperature is set to exceed 1.5°C by the turn of the century. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-biden-presidency-climate-and-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Himalaya</a> will get hotter faster than other parts of the world, and could warm by 1.8-2.2°C.The main conclusions of this IPCC report were leaked to AFP in June, and predicts global surface temperatures increasing until at least the mid-century even under the best scenario. The warming will ‘exceed 2°C during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades’.The 2015 Paris Agreement recommended capping global warming at ‘well below 2°C’ above pre-industrial levels, and to 1.5°C in the next 30 years by reducing emissions. However, the increase is already at 1.2°C Celsius, and on track to exceed 2°C.This will lead to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mass species extinction as ecosystems collapse</a>, more <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mosquitoes-move-up-mountains-as-the-earth-warms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">widespread diseases</a>, heatwaves making parts of the world unfit for human habitation, cities and small island nations at risk of being submerged by sea level rise.For Nepal, even a 1.5°C rise in global temperature will mean <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/manpower-and-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heavy precipitation and associated flooding</a> of the kind the country saw in 2018 and this year. At 2°C increase, the floods, heat waves and droughts  will be even deadlier.The other impact on Nepal will be a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himalayan meltdown</a>, as the mountains thaw with rising temperatures.‘Human influence is very likely the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s,’ the report states. ‘…The global nature of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacier retreat</a>, with almost all of the world’s glaciers retreating synchronously, since the 1950s, is unprecedented in at least the last 2,000 years.’<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc719c7e80680e0a0b8cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="546"><figcaption>Future annual emissions of CO₂ under the five scenarios SSP1-1.9, SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5. Source: IPCC</figcaption></figure>This is even truer for the Himalaya because of its proximity to the equator. Scientists say it is already warming up to 0.3-0.7°C faster than the global average due to a phenomenon called ‘Elevation Dependent Warming’. But at the current trajectory, the mountains may see warming of up to 5.7°C during this century. In such a scenario, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himalaya will lose two-thirds of permanent ice</a>, and most glaciers will have melted.It predicts that even if greenhouse gas emissions are curtailed, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mountain and polar glaciers will continue melting</a> for decades or centuries. This will impact not just Nepal but about 1 billion people living downstream from the Himalaya in China, India, Bangladesh and southeast Asia.‘Human influence has likely increased the chance of compound extreme events since the 1950s, increases in the frequency of concurrent heatwaves and droughts on the global scale, fire weather in some regions of all inhabited continents, and compound flooding in some locations,’ the says the IPCC report, almost describing the winter drought, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/weve-seen-fire-and-weve-seen-rain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildfires and floods that have ravaged Nepal</a> in the past 8 months.The main cause of all this warming is that in 2019, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were higher than at any time in at least 2 million years. Global surface temperature averaged over 2081–2100 will be higher by 1.0°C to 1.8°C compared to pre-industrial levels even if emissions are controlled in the next 30 years.The IPCC report summary says that the only solution is for world governments to immediately agree on reaching net zero anthropogenic CO2 emissions to stabilise human-induced <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">global temperature increase</a>.If the biggest carbon emitters like India and China meet cut back targets, under the most optimistic scenario global average temperature would stabilise at below 1.5°C toward the end of the 21st century after overheating by 0.1°C. But experts do not sound very optimistic about this happening.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc749c7e80680e0a0b8djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2006" height="986"><figcaption>Projected global temperature rise under the intermediate, high and very high GHG emission scenarios considered. Source: IPCC</figcaption></figure><a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s greenhouse gas emission</a> is negligible, but it has doubled in the past seven years according to a mandatory report filed by the Ministry of Environment with the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Most of this is because the volume of petroleum imports from India has doubled in the past 10 years to meet the demand of transportation, expansion of cement and other industries.Last year, Nepal had submitted its second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to meet <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zero emission by 2050</a>. Switching to electric public transport and battery vehicles to reduce the petroleum import bill by just 10% would save Rs21 billion a year. This will also clean up the air, dirty air killed 41,000 people in Nepal in 2019.It is a sign of just how desperate the situation is that the IPCC scientists say in their report that the only hope for life on the planet may be a major volcanic eruption this century that would reduce global surface temperature because the sun will be blocked out for 2-3 years.The reports says rather phlegmatically: ‘If such an eruption occurs, this would therefore temporarily and partially mask human-caused climate change.’

south-asia