<figure><img width="1482" height="947" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6af9c7e80680e07373ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>The confusion and chaos that followed the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/chaos-as-nepal-bans-repatriation-flights/">sudden cancellation of repatriation flights</a> on 16 August was just the latest proof that the Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee (CCMC) and the government are working at cross-purposes, thus deepening the misery of Nepalis already burdened with the pandemic and its economic fallout.The CCMC had already cleared the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to issue a schedule of repatriation flights till 31 August. Embassies abroad had drawn up the passenger manifest based on their priority lists. But it abruptly cancelled the permission, giving the lack of quarantine hotels as an excuse.Tens of thousands of Nepali workers who had been waiting for over five months to fly home, and families trying for flights out of Kathmandu were affected. In one glaring case, the ban came into effect while a Nepal Airlines Airbus was en route to Dubai to pick up passengers, and had to return empty on Tuesday. The 266 returnees who had already got expensive PCR negative tests and had been issued boarding passes, had to return to their dorms in the UAE.The CCMC is led by powerful Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel, who is a close confidante of Prime Minister Oli. Sources in the CCMC said Pokhrel took the decision to ban flights on his own without discussing it in a Cabinet meeting earlier on Monday. <figure><img width="960" height="452" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6b29c7e80680e07373bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai was livid, and there was reportedly a heated exchange at a CCMC meeting on 18 August between Bhattarai and Pokhrel. The lack of coordination between the committee and line ministries has gotten so bad that critics have accused the CCMC of running a parallel government – even though the committee itself is made up of the prime minister, health minister, home minister, defence minister, supplies minister and the Nepal Army.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-grapples-with-bringing-workers-home/">Nepal grapples with bringing workers home</a>, Upasana KhadkaCritics say the CCMC is actually a government within the government that makes ad hoc decisions without consultations with public health and other experts. There have also been questions about transparency even since the committee in its previous avatar in April ordered the wrong test kits at inflated prices from middlemen alleged to be political cronies.As Defence Minister, Pokhrel then ordered the Nepal Army to manage the transport of arriving returnees from Kathmandu airport to holding centres and to their districts.He also got the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-accidental-leaders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Army involved in procurement of test kits and medical equipment</a> from China, but forced it to go through the same tainted middlemen. At a meeting last month, Army Chief Purna Chandra Thapa testily accused Pokhrel of tarnishing the military’s image by blaming it for delays.The CCMC has also been accused of bungling on enforcing and lifting lockdowns, not giving clear guidelines about what is allowed and what is not, issuing contradictory protocols for arriving air passengers, and not doing enough to control the movement of people from India.On the other hand, line ministries have gotten used to passing the buck to the CCMC on everything from permissions for international charters, the reopening of domestic flights, allowing long-distance buses, issuing no-objection letters for students going abroad, allowing private PCR tests, or making private hospitals treat Covid-19 patients. The Ministry of Health, which should be making the critical decisions on control measures, has been sidelined.“This is the time when the health ministry should be at the forefront, banging the table by lobbying for their suggestions to be implemented, it is unfortunate to see that it is taking the back seat,” says Gagan Thapa of the opposition Nepali Congress.Thapa puts the blame on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-virus-vortex/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spike in Covid-19 cases in the country </a>  squarely on the CCMC because it never had a concrete pro-active plan on solving problems like having better and adequate quarantine facilities, increasing the numbers of tests, and now making sure there are enough isolation and ICU wards for treatment of seriously ill patients.“Who is accountable for these lapses?” asks Thapa, who says that giving so much power without responsibility to the CCMC leaves it open to abuse of authority, and prone to making disastrous mistakes.  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-is-too-big-for-ad-hocism/">Nepal is too big for ad hocism</a>, Anil ChitrakarNepal’s social media is also bristling with outrage against the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) for being preoccupied with its <a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=011870630917993763279:opm7uqsat-4&amp;q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-ruling-party-pulls-back-from-split-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">internal power struggle</a> and not giving enough attention to lessening the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable Nepalis like returnees from India and stranded workers overseas.“Our prime minister has all the time in the world for internal politics in Baluwatar, and he cannot even lead an effective Covid-19 response. It proves where his true interest lies, and the result of the negligence is here for all to see,” says Thapa.Anil Pokhrel, CEO of the National Risk Reduction Authority who is also an external adviser at the CCMC agrees that public trust on the agency has eroded largely because of the lack of coordination with implementation agencies. But he adds, “I am not inside in the meetings, but under the circumstances, the government is trying its best to respond to the pandemic the best it can.”  The National Risk Reduction Authority’s predecessor is the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) which was entrusted with reconstruction and rehabilitation after the 2015 earthquake. The NRA had the same problem of coordination.Because of frequent changes in government after the quake, the head of the NRA was changed three times in one year. There was political interference in its day-to-day operation, and it also functioned as a parallel government. <img width="1050" height="588" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6b39c7e80680e07373cjpeg.jpg" alt="">The only difference between the NRA and the CCMC is that while the NRA was a constitutionally mandated body, the CCMS is an ad hoc committee with unspecified powers. Also, line ministries did not cooperate with the NRA in implementing reconstruction plans because of turf battles, while the CCMC has emerged as an all-power super ministry headed by Ishwar Pokhrel, who it seems is in the habit of taking decisions without consulting experts.After the feud between Pokhrel and the Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Bhattarai spilled out into the open this week, and faced with widespread criticism, the CCMC is said to be reconsidering the resumption of repatriation flights this week.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/at-midpoint-nepal-pm-struggles-to-deliver/">At midpoint, Nepal PM struggles to deliver</a>, Ramesh Kumar

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Who is in charge in Nepal?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141140/636bae289c7e80680e077fd8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="724"/><figcaption>Only one-tenth of estimated 300,000 Nepali workers stranded overseas who want to return home have come back in the past six weeks because of limits on the number of flights at Kathmandu airport.</figcaption></figure>Even though Nepal has decided to pay for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-kathmandu-airlift/">repatriation flights</a> for some of its workers stranded overseas due to the COVID-19 crisis, there are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-kathmandu-airlift-begins/">just not enough flights</a> to bring back the estimated 300,000 workers in the Gulf and Malaysia who want to come home.Only 30,000 Nepali workers have flown back in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/after-10-weeks-first-overseas-nepalis-repatriated/">repatriation flights since 15 June</a>, and even employers willing to pay for charter flights to send laid-off employees home are not getting permission from the airport authority in Kathmandu.For example, 3,100 stranded <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/uae-threat-to-send-back-workers-including-nepalis/">Nepali security guards in the UAE</a> have been unemployed for four months. While their employer, Transguard Group, is willing to charter flights to send them home, it has not received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to do so.“So far, only 300 employees from the company have been repatriated in government arranged repatriation flights with support from our employer,” said one worker <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-quarantined-in-qatar/">still stranded</a> in UAE. “There are just not enough flights for all of us who want to return.”The government has a cap on the number of daily repatriation flights because of the limited capacity to test, quarantine and transport workers on arrival at Kathmandu airport. On Tuesday, the Cabinet decided to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/">gradually lift lockdown rules</a>, with regular international flights allowed with limited frequency and destinations from 17 August.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141140/636bae2b9c7e80680e077fd9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="661"><figcaption>A blunt notice by the UAE company Transguard Group to laid off workers that limited flights to home countries is delaying their repatriation.</figcaption></figure>Last week, Nepal issued a directive to pay for flying home some categories of Nepali workers stuck overseas <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/brokers-going-for-broke/">using the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund</a>. Even if this directive is implemented, it is not clear how workers will get home if there are not enough flights.The ‘Repatriation of Stranded Nepali Workers in the Course of Foreign Employment due to COVID-19, 2020’directive was prepared in response to the Supreme Court’s interim order earlier this month to judiciously use the Fund that now has over Rs5.7 billion in the kitty made up of contributions from all Nepalis going overseas for work.Nepalis with no means of returning to Nepal on their own, and without support from other stakeholders, deportation detainees, and amnesty beneficiaries will be eligible to return with support from the government (see box).<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141140/636bae2d9c7e80680e077fdajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="648" height="553"><figcaption>The Nepal government’s directive ‘Repatriation of Stranded Nepali Workers in the Course of Foreign Employment due to COVID-19, 2020’.</figcaption></figure>“We have set aside Rs750 million to fund repatriation of stranded workers, and we will add to it if necessary,” said Rajan Shrestha of the Foreign Employment Board (FEB), adding that it would not just cover international airfare costs but also domestic transport to home districts.The directive recognises that displaced workers in their first year of contract are some of the most vulnerable given that they are still struggling to pay recruitment costs associated with their employment, often borrowed informally at back-breaking interest rates.It tries to hold recruiters and employers who profit from foreign employment accountable. Shrestha explained: “For workers with valid contracts, employers have the primary responsibility towards workers including buying return tickets. The recruiter is also jointly liable. We have to exhaust these options and ensure everyone is playing their part.”Employers who breach contracts by not assuming responsibility for repatriation of  workersor clearing their salaries and other dues will be barred by the FEB from hiring Nepali workers for the next five years. It is not clear how migrant workers who were charged exorbitant recruitment fees but had to return prematurely will be handled.As with very thing else in Nepal, the challenge now lies in implementing the directive. It requires <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/preparing-for-nepals-returnees/">embassies and recruitment agencies</a> to be particularly responsive and proactive to help migrants who meet the criteria for repatriation support.Sujit Shrestha of the Nepal Association of Foreign Agencies (NAFEA) said: "We have a comprehensive Foreign Employment Act that holds all players responsible but a weakness is the lack of clarity when employers go into situations of force majeure invoking a situation like COVID-19.”He said the directive can be followed if the employer is still operating but has reduced workforce size, but it is not clear what happens when employers use the ‘circumstances beyond their control’ clause.“The Nepal government also needs to play a more proactive role via diplomatic efforts, especially with countries with which we have signed bilateral labour agreements,” Shrestha added.A downside is that workers who do not have valid labour approvals, and are some of the most vulnerable during this crisis, will not be able to benefit from this contributory fund. This includes domestic workers who traveled through irregular channels because of the ban, for whom an alternative like the Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Fund could be used.But there are also others could step in to set up a fund, like Nepal’s development partners and the private sector. Also, recruiters recently contributed Rs3.5 million to the Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Fund which could have been channeled for migrant-specific need if such a basket fund existed.The directive, if properly implemented, could serve as an example for other migrant-sending countries also facing challenges in repatriating vulnerable workers and have similar Welfare Funds. The pandemic has laid bare Nepal’s gross unpreparedness for emergency support to migrants.Previous attempts to set up a Rapid Rescue Team in the Ministry of Labour failed while lessons from earlier large-scale repatriations such as from Libya in 2011 are poorly documented and did not serve to inform the repatriation strategy during this pandemic.Like the Philippines, Nepal also needs a contingency plan for overseas workers and rapid response teams that activate during such periods for evacuation and welfare. The directive could be an important starting point.

Too many stranded Nepalis, not enough flights

<figure><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d5c9c7e80680e06b347jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The usually bustling beaches of the resorts in the Maldives wear a deserted look.</figcaption></figure>Ninety percent of Nepal’s overseas contract workers are in West Asia and Malaysia, but there are other countries like the Maldives where the estimated 5-10,000 Nepalis employed in the tourism industry have been affected by the global pandemic.The resorts of this atoll archipelago nation have been increasingly popular for Nepali workers, who have built a strong reputation for work ethics there. Last year alone 2,000 Nepali workers left of the Maldives, nearly four times more than in 2015, to work in hotels and as housemaids. But some of these jobs are in jeopardy because of the pandemic. Of the 191 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Maldives, over 102 are foreigners including 84 Bangladeshis and 10 Indians. Nepalis have so far been spared, but there is a fear they could be vulnerable because of cramped living conditions. “Overall, Nepalis have created a favorable impression in the Maldives, but tourism has collapsed because of the coronavirus and Nepali workers have been affected,” says Rita, who has been working in the Maldives for four years, and only wanted her first name used. <figure><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d609c7e80680e06b348jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Deserted streets in the Maldivian capital, Malé, which is in lockdown. </figcaption></figure>Similar to Nepal, Maldives also set a target for attracting 2 million tourists in 2020, in what seemed like an achievable goal given that 1.7 million tourists visited the country in the preceding year. Tourism makes up two-thirds of the GDP of the Maldives and brought in $2.5 billion last year.Maldives has a per capita GDP of $10,330 – highest in the region and ten times higher than Nepal. But the World Bank predicts that it is the South Asian country that will be most impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The Maldivian government hopes to start issuing visas on arrival by July, but even in the best-case scenario it expects arrivals to drop by half in 2020. A Nepali worker at a luxury resort told us over the phone that the Maldivian government has assured foreign workers that they will be treated on par with locals, and indeed employers were providing food and accommodation to them in the resorts which is a huge relief. However, he added: “But some staff are not getting paid, while others are only getting partial salary and this has worried some workers.” <img width="1008" height="490" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d649c7e80680e06b349jpeg.jpg" alt="">Some hotels have told workers they should go home on unpaid leave until the tourism industry bounces back. In a survey by the Nepali community, 319 have expressed the desire to go back to Nepal paying for their own tickets. But there may be more who want to return if the Nepal government eases travel restrictions.“We came here to work. Without tourism, there is no work here. Without work, there is no point staying here,” says Rita, who is getting half her salary and spends the day surfing the net. “But I am also aware that my situation could have been much worse.”Another Nepali resort worker agrees: “We have access to room and board and 30% of our salary. Why should we stay here when we don’t have work and it is evident that tourism is going to remain affected for a while?”Workers are worried that things will get worse in the Maldives if tourism is affected for many more months with disruptions in food supplies. They are far away from Malé and say it may be difficult get transportation if they get sick. The focus in the Maldives is mostly on Bangladeshis who number 100,000 and make up a bulk of migrant workers there. They are mostly in Malé, and because there is a higher risk of being infected the government is relocating them to decongest the city. The Bangladesh government recently sent 100 tons of equipment and 10 medical personnel to treat its nationals.  <figure><img width="3400" height="2400" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d679c7e80680e06b34ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Source: OUR WORLD IN DATA</figcaption></figure>Seven Nepalis working as security guards at a resort who were sent to Malé, have had to fend for themselves in an expensive city. One of them, who identified himself as Ram, told us over the phone: “It costs $50 a night to stay here, and the Nepali community has been helping out with meals. But how long can we go on? What if the lockdown is prolonged?”Attempts to reach the Nepal Embassy in Colombo has not led to any solution. Nepali community leaders in Malé say that the need for a resident embassy or at least a consulate is felt most acutely during a crisis like this.It is likely that countries like Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius which have Nepali workers in the service industry will not get the priority for phased repatriation once the lockdown is lifted because of the comparatively smaller numbers involved. But while they wait to return, community leaders say it is important to ensure that no Nepali goes hungry, is homeless or without access to health care. Shares Hari: “When workers eventually return to Nepal, many will have had worked in high-end resorts. We many things to learn from Maldives, especially in luxury tourism. There is a lot of knowhow we can transfer once things get back to normal.”

Nepalis stranded in the Maldives

<figure><img width="760" height="428" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d469c7e80680e06b33ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Nepali workers entering the border from India on Saturday. Photos: MANORANJAN SHARMA</figcaption></figure>After being stuck for three weeks, on no-man’s land between India and Nepal some Nepalis are finally being allowed to go back to their home villages.Among them were 325 Nepali workers who had trekked across India to reach the border, only to find that their own country was not allowing them in. They had been quarantined in the Nautanwa district of India’s Uttar Pradesh state.Rupandehi District Police Office reported that another 100 had been allowed to come to Nepal from the Sunauli checkpoint on Friday, and others from the Belahiya border post.  <figure><img width="760" height="428" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d499c7e80680e06b33fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nepali families from the Arghakhanchi district stranded in India for 24 days being allowed into Nepal.</figcaption></figure>On hand to receive some of the Nepali workers were local government officials and mayors from their districts who had hired buses to ferry them home from the border. Chairman of Malarani municipality in Arghakhanchi district, Balkrishna Acharya, was among those who was at the border over the weekend to receive 102 from his village who had been working in India, and had lost their jobs because of the lockdown there.Those entering into the country through Belahiya are being checked for  coronavirus through Rapid Diagnostic Tests, and those tested positive will have to undergo a further PCR check.“If confirmed they will be quarantined in Rupandehi isolation centres,” said Kedarnath Shah, of the district health office. Member of the Rupandehi state assembly said he hopes to return all Nepalis quarantined across the border in India’s Nautanwa district by Monday. Meanwhile, there is concern that the quarantine facilities do not meet minimum living conditions, and people in isolation are being exposed to non-COVID-19 diseases while confined to their quarters.Some quarantined people have fallen sick due to mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue, and there is a fear that Nepal may have multiple epidemics in its hands as the summer season sets in.There are 14,731 people in mandatory quarantine in isolation centres in various parts of the country. Most are people who have entered from India, or those who have come in contact with them. Nearly all have so far tested negative.

Nepalis stranded at India border return

<figure></figure> <img width="640" height="297" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a819c7e80680e064765jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Nepali workers stranded on the Indian side of the border after Nepali authorities in Darchual denied them entry. Efforts are being made to bring them home on condition they quarantine themselves. </figcaption> With thousands of Nepalis stuck on the Indian side of the border, legal and human rights experts say the government of Nepal cannot legally deny entry to its citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Indian nationals working in various parts of Nepal <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/112713" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/112713&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1585724891390000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGXbshLpSxusAgEc6BhwzHdk1vfYQ">have also been prevented from entering India</a>, and Sastra Seema Bal (SSB) border police fired into the air at the Raxaul checkpoint on Monday to stop them. They had arrived in Birganj from various parts of Nepal, and were trying to walk across the Friendship Bridge at the Nepal-India border.Nepali workers in India headed home on foot and by bus after India declared a three-week lockdown on 27 March, only to find their own country was not allowing them in. A handful who swam across the Mahakali River in Darchula district have reportedly been arrested by Nepal Police.  “The government of Nepal should respect the Constitution and its international obligations,” says advocate Madhav Kumar Basnet. His writ petition, filed with advocate Meena Khadka, calls for authorities to allow the return of citizens who have been denied entry since before the country went into lockdown one week ago.   <figure></figure> <img width="640" height="422" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a839c7e80680e064766jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Indian workers in Nepal being prevented from entering India by Indian border police on Monday at the Raxaul checkpoint. Photo: Arohan Shah</figcaption> On 25 March the Supreme Court refused the petition’s call to order the government to open the doors to Nepalis abroad who wish to return. A second hearing has been scheduled for 6 April.In an interview, Basnet points out that Article 45 of the Constitution guarantees that citizens will not be exiled and argues that the current situation is “exile-like treatment”. On 20 March the government imposed a partial lockdown, halting long-distance transportation services, international flights and non-essential services. Two days later it sealed international borders to the movement of people, then imposed the nationwide lockdown from 24 March.Article 12 (4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the bedrock human rights laws, to which Nepal is a party, states: ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.’ According to Niranjan Thapaliya, director of Amnesty International Nepal: “The government has a duty and responsibility under international law to ensure the rights of its citizens, wherever they are.”“It should let these people in, put them under quarantine to ensure they are healthy, and afterwards they should safely and in a dignified manner be allowed to go home,” Thapaliya told Nepali Times. Quarantine must also adhere to a human rights approach, ensuring that the sick, elderly, women and children receive any different treatment they require, he notes.  Thapaliya says that freedom of movement can be curtailed in certain situations but those exceptions must be of short duration, notified in advance, and communicated clearly. Nepal’s border closure was “too sudden, too quick”.  <img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a859c7e80680e064767jpeg.jpg" alt=""> According to Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, “The need right now is for people to be safe where they are to contain the spread … Nepal should strengthen its healthcare systems, including quarantine wards, on an urgent basis, and ensure that stranded citizens are able to return.”Basnet points out that the writ petition does not demand that every Nepali citizen overseas be repatriated. “But if a Nepali is going to be removed from another country, or if a citizen arrives at the border on her or his own, they must not be turned away. That is not allowed.”The government’s argument has been that it cannot risk the health of its population from people bringing the virus from outside, and that it does not have enough facilities for quarantines and testing. Foreign Minister<a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/112703" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/112703&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1585724891390000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHQr7tFFLmRDdpUwRb8_awBrTf0Tg">Pradeep Gyawali said in an interview with RSS</a> on Monday: “We have not made any plans to repatriate any students or workers from abroad. It is not the right away, and it is not safe for them to travel at the present time.”Indeed, Basnet was asked at the Supreme Court hearing if it was a good idea to repatriate Nepalis when the country has so few resources to handle the virus. “I answered, ‘which country has the medicine and all the resources needed to deal with Covid-19? None of them is prepared’,” he said.

Nepal and India stop citizens from returning

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

The streets of Patan are alive this month with lavender jacaranda trees under rain-washed skies as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-red-god-rises-again-in-patan">the chariot of Rato Matsyendranath</a> is pulled across town. This is the festival of the rain god, and inevitably the heavens opened up and pre-monsoon showers pelted the chariot as it started being pulled in Pulchok last week. Thousands of devotees, onlookers and the chariot procession organisers thronged the streets on the first day last week. The rhythmic cymbals and drums exuded a vibrant energy as the enormous four wheels turned and the chariot lurched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  The<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141"> red rain god</a> has Hindu and Buddhist antecedents, alternatively called Bungadya and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival"> Karunamaya</a> — reflecting Kathmandu Valley’s syncretic mixture of the two religions.&nbsp; “Bungadya is a profoundly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/marketing-the-intangible">intangible form of heritage</a>,” explains heritage expert Monalisa Maharjan. “It embodies traditional knowledge,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft"> artisanal skills passed down through generations</a>. Local communities and specific families have specified roles in being custodians of the heritage, ensuring their survival over the centuries.” There are many legends and stories about this annual tradition. Lichhavi king Narendra Dev is supposed to have brought Rato Matsyendranath from Assam to Kathmandu Valley to convince Guru Gorakhnath to lift a spell that created a two-year drought in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Matsyendranath was Gorakhnath’s mentor, and upon seeing him, the serpents were released, unleashing the rains. The chariot festival honours the return of this life-giving rain. The deity is seen as an icon for thriving agriculture, t<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">he arrival of monsoon</a> showers, and the welfare of the community. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain">The reign of the god of rain</a>, Vidhu Prakash Kayastha Till this day, the Rato Matsyendranath festival is no ordinary celebration. Patan does not sleep for a month as the chariot is pulled through various neighbourhoods. It unfolds at a state level with the president (formerly the king) attending the climax of the Bhoto Jatra in Jawalakhel later this month.&nbsp; The intergenerational transmission of tradition is unique in the world, and the reason the festival is one of the most vibrant cultural expressions that thrives despite inroads of modernity. The other unique aspect is that it is a transnational festival, binding Patan with Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  “Unlike Nepal, where the deity commands grandeur and devotion, many in Assam are unaware of Rato Matsyendranath,” says Khagen Sharma of Gauhati University, which convened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-assam-connection-revived">a symposium in February in Guwahati on the rain god</a>. Attending was a delegation led by Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, organisers of the festival, and builders of the chariot. After the symposium, a committee was formed to explore and revive the tradition in Assam as well. Although the team had planned to visit Nepal this month, logistical challenges delayed the trip. Still, there are plans to build a Guru Matsyendranath statue in Assam to reestablish regular worship practices in the Guwahati shrine.&nbsp; The vines used to build the chariot in Patan are sourced from the jungles of Assam. But Sharma notes that in recent years unclear regulations have blocked the official import of the vines, although they are still brought to Nepal informally. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">chariot making</a> has also had a taste of modernisation in recent times. In the past, even a single nail or piece of steel was avoided. But over time, the wooden structure, particularly the shaft between the wheels, has been replaced with bronze. When that too proved unstable, metal clamps were introduced, which have become a pragmatic compromise.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Another welcome change is the focus on safety. Builders climbing the chariot’s tower now wear harnesses and there are efforts in crowd control. The most visible change in recent years has been the involvement of Patan’s enthusiastic youth in the festival — the tradition is now passing to a new generation. Says Matsyendranath expert Vidhu Kayastha: “There is more energy, the young people in red t-shirts this year were very organised, these modern touches aren’t diluting our culture, they’re keeping it alive in new forms.” He adds, “We are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">reconnecting with our roots</a>, we have more resources, more awareness than ever before. We must not be swept away by western values that may not serve us, and in some ways, cause more harm than good. We must revive our own culture.”&nbsp;

Divine chariot

In 2025, two seemingly disconnected acts of violence shattered the illusion of stability in the region. In March, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/16f7f947-1e96-4206-9844-891378adc683" target="_blank">militants hijacked a passenger train</a> near the Bolan Pass in Balochistan, executing soldiers in cold blood. A month later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/world/asia/kashmir-terrorist-attack.html" target="_blank">gunmen in Kashmir’s</a> Pahalgam Valley massacred tourists. 
In both Islamabad and New Delhi, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/25/were-cursed-kashmiris-under-attack-across-india-after-pahalgam-killings" target="_blank">the reaction was reflexive:</a> condemn the violence, <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/04/22/india-and-pakistan-could-come-to-blows-over-kashmir" target="_blank">blame external enemies</a>, declare the situation contained. But South Asia’s leaders are not fighting terrorists alone. They are fighting the consequences of their own betrayals.
Across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26272897" target="_blank">Balochistan</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11693674" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india/346-finding-way-out-festering-conflict-indias-manipur" target="_blank">Manipur</a>, and beyond, decades of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/enforced-disappearance-in-south-asia/" target="_blank">enforced disappearances</a>, broken promises, and brute militarisation have hollowed out the social contracts meant to hold these nations together. The grievances that drove rebellions from the 1940s through the 1990s – demands for dignity, recognition, and political agency – were never meaningfully addressed. They were buried beneath asphalt and propaganda, paved over by development projects and security checkpoints.
States may claim victory. But their victories are mirages, dissolving the moment anyone looks too closely. South Asia’s unfinished wars are not relics of a violent past. They are live ammunition, loaded into the future.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/he-only-wanted-revenge-the-bloody-insurgency-in-balochistan-gaining-lethal-momentum" target="_blank">Balochistan</a> has been at war with Pakistan for most of its modern history. Rich in gas, minerals, and coastline, the province has been plundered for decades under the language of national development. 
Projects like the <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/26/pakistans-three-evils-cpec-and-good-governance/" target="_blank">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</a> promise progress but deliver exclusion: minerals are mined, ports are secured, but Baloch homes are raided. 
The insurgency endures not because of foreign conspiracies, as Islamabad endlessly insists, but because the Pakistani state remains incapable of seeing its <a href="https://thebalochistanpost.net/2025/01/enforced-disappearances-in-balochistan-in-december-2024-tbp-report/" target="_blank">Baloch citizens</a> as anything other than a security problem to be managed.
In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2016/07/12/kashmir-in-the-worlds-most-militarized-zone-violence-after-years-of-comparative-calm/" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, the Indian government claims to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/world/asia/kashmir-village-defense-committees.html" target="_blank">“normalised” the valley</a> after revoking its autonomy in 2019. It <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan" target="_blank">looks a lot like occupation</a>. Soldiers outnumber local leaders, dissent is criminalised, internet shutdowns suffocate public life. Tourism campaigns and investment summits cannot erase a generation raised under curfew and surveillance.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66260730" target="_blank">Manipur’s descent into ethnic bloodshed</a> in 2023 exposed another fault line Delhi prefers to ignore. Long-simmering tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities erupted into violence that shattered any illusions of northeastern integration. The central government’s delayed, politicised response made clear what many Manipuris had always suspected: they are citizens of India only when convenient.
Even the <a href="https://msf.org.au/rohingya-worlds-largest-stateless-population" target="_blank">Rohingya, stateless and exiled from Myanmar</a>, find themselves entangled in South Asia’s ethnonationalist calculus. Fleeing genocide, they are criminalised anew in Bangladesh and India – trapped between the countries that reject them and the memories that refuse to let them go.
South Asia’s states have excelled at suppressing rebellion. But failed at extinguishing the reasons rebellions rise in the first place. And the wars South Asia tries to forget at home have found new life abroad.
Across <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-17/modis-indian-government-accused-of-spying-silencing-critics/103974414" target="_blank">Canada, Australia, Britain, and the United States</a>, diasporic communities have become memory-keepers and, increasingly, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/khalistan-supporters-hold-protest-outside-indian-consulate-in-vancouver-123092600087_1.html" target="_blank">the agitators</a> for the struggles their home states would rather erase.
Khalistan flags fly outside Indian consulates in Vancouver and <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/perturbed-over-waving-of-khalistani-flags-at-an-event-in-melbourne-india-warns-australia-of-khalistan-separatists-and-their-links-with-terror-groups-458320/" target="_blank">Melbourne</a>. Tamil activists march through London, demanding accountability for the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/19/grim-reminder-sri-lankas-tamils-mark-15-years-since-end-of-civil-war" target="_blank">massacres in Mullivaikkal</a>. Kashmiri protests in Washington and New York refuse to let India’s crackdown slip into diplomatic amnesia.
For host countries, these movements pose uncomfortable questions. Freedom of expression collides with fears of extremism. Clashes erupt between communities carrying wounds that their new homelands.
Meanwhile, South Asian states pursue their adversaries across borders. India faces allegations of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canada-says-india-home-minister-ordered-campaign-against-sikh-activist-rcna177972" target="_blank">targeting Sikh activists for assassination in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/g-s1-29561/sikh-separatist-assassination-india" target="_blank">United States</a>. Pakistan continues to court Kashmiri separatists abroad while crushing Baloch dissent at home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-tamils-civil-war-dead-5b372b0bba567837c5a4d94250040e7d" target="_blank">Sri Lanka</a> lobbies furiously to brand Tamil diaspora organisations as fronts for terrorism, even as it stonewalls investigations into its own wartime atrocities.
The old insurgencies have not been defeated. They have been globalised. South Asia’s governments have long mistaken silence for stability.
In Punjab, India broke the back of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/06/india/india-canada-sikh-khalistan-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">Khalistan insurgency</a> through brute force. The fields grew green again, the trains ran on time. But the wounds were never closed, the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-indias-khalistan-separatist-movement-on-the-rise/a-65081729" target="_blank">movement’s heart beats</a> not in Amritsar but in Brampton and Surrey.
In Sri Lanka, the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4738983/The_Man_Who_Destroyed_Eelam" target="_blank">military crushed the Tamil Tigers</a> with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/17/death-of-the-tiger" target="_blank">overwhelming brutality in 2009</a>. <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264148/we-want-our-children-back-sri-lankan-families-still-demanding-justice-their-missing-loved-ones" target="_blank">Tamil families still search for their missing</a>, still mourn their dead – and still organise across the diaspora for justice that remains undelivered.
In Kashmir, Delhi boasts of new <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/4/kashmir-is-bleeding-its-economy" target="_blank">highways and investment corridors</a>, showcasing the region as a trophy of unity. But when the visitors leave and the cameras are packed away, <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-134/from-domicile-to-dominion-indias-settler-colonial-agenda-in-kashmir/" target="_blank">the checkpoints, the raids, and the quiet despair remain.</a>
Victory parades fade. Grievance endures. Suppressing insurgency may end battles. It does not end the ideas that fueled them. In a region where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/world/asia/kashmir-attack-india-pakistan.html" target="_blank">history is rarely past</a>, and memory is rarely voluntary, states that rule through repression are only ever buying time. And often, not very much.
South Asia’s unfinished wars are not accidents. They are the inevitable consequences of states that confuse conquest with consent, and erasure with reconciliation. They cannot legislate memory out of existence.
Every <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15qyyzz89lo" target="_blank">disappeared son in Balochistan</a>, every <a href="https://medium.com/the-wvoice/the-half-widows-in-kashmir-fef80c6b88e9" target="_blank">half-widow in Kashmir</a>, every <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/focus/rohingya-refugee-crisis" target="_blank">refugee child born stateless in a Rohingya camp</a> carries forward the memory of betrayal – a memory that outlives soldiers, politicians, and peace accords alike.
The region’s future will not be decided by GDP figures or infrastructure projects alone. It will be decided by whether its governments can summon the political courage to face the truths they have long suppressed – or whether they will continue down a path <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-using-the-g20-summit-to-further-its-settler-colonial-ambitions-in-kashmir-205166" target="_blank">where forgetting is demanded</a>, and rebellion becomes inevitable.
Shyam Tekwani is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. This <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/nexus_articles/ghosts-at-the-border-south-asias-unfinished-wars/" target="_blank">article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/security-nexus/" target="_blank">DKI APCSS Security Nexus.</a> The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of DKI APCSS, the Department of Defense, or the US Government. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these sites.

Balochistan to Kashmir

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/11-56-25-april-2015-wkc9q2an">the 25 April 7.8 magnitude </a>earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store. On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha.&nbsp; Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati-rising-from-rubble-rebuilding,3703">Singati survivors</a> had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed. &nbsp; Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed. Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/bungamati-builds-back">houses have been rebuilt</a> as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/off-the-beaten-trek-in-nepal"> popular trekking destination</a>.&nbsp; The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  “The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year. The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">cement houses are safer</a>. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes.&nbsp; The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas for work</a> so they can service their debt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Suresh Khadka</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Phu Doma Sherpa (right)</figcaption> </figure>  “My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60. Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/structural-problems">many of the buildings are of questionable building standards </a>and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality. “But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/every-day-is-closer-to-pay-day">migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans</a>,” Budathoki says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480" data-rendition-name="original" width="1501" height="1079" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Kul Bahadur Budathoki</figcaption> </figure>  Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati,3091">12 May 2015 earthquake </a>could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/stairway-to-heaven">Tso Rolpa</a>, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path. Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.

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