In Bhutan, this is one sentence one hears often: “We are learning from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/now-the-economy-stupid">Nepal’s mistakes.</a>” Considering lack of political accountability and chronic incompetence of the past decades, Nepal indeed sets an example of what not to do. But Nepal has not forcibly evicted one sixth of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-population-to-cross-30-million">its population</a> like Bhutan did in the early 1990s. More than 100,000 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mindfulness-about-bhutan-s-refugees">refugees </a>were transported across India to Nepal and lived for over 15 years in camps in eastern Nepal. Most have since been resettled in third countries, but there are still about 6,000 elderly refugees who want to return to their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">homeland</a>. This history has strained relations between the two Himalayan nations which share many of the same socio-economic, geopolitical and environmental challenges. Despite the asymmetry in size and population between Bhutan and Nepal, there is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/missing-out-on-nepal-s-tourism-potential">untapped potentia</a>l for them to learn more from each other and cooperate.&nbsp; Both have abundant <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-new-national-natural-resources-and-fiscal-commission">natural resources</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/pump-water-store-energy">clean energy sources</a>, both are sandwiched between two giant emerging global powers. Nepal and Bhutan also struggle with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/staying-home-to-create-jobs">creating enough jobs at home</a> and prevent <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/the-migration-myth">mass outmigration</a> of their youth. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-column/nepal-in-the-new-world-order">Nepal in the new world order</a>, Dhirendra Nalbo Bhutan’s defence and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/no-binary-foreign-policy?fb_comment_id=3583384368393672_3586424038089705">foreign policy </a>are handled by New Delhi, and there is a heavy presence of the Indian Army along Bhutan’s border with China, especially along the disputed Doklam region. Nepal is nominally more independent, and has tried to steer equidistant relations with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/india-china-rail-race">India and China</a>. Bhutan generates 2,326MW of electricity from plants built mostly by Indian companies and half this power is exported to India. The government’s Druk Holdings and Investment is looking to harness an additional 15,000MW of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-1st-hydroelectric-plant-is-a-museum-piece">hydroelectric</a> and 5,000MW solar power for which it will need over $25 billion in investments. There seems to be an acceptance among Bhutan’s officials that this is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-geopolitics-of-nepal-s-politics">the geopolitical reality</a>, and the country has to live with exclusive <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-india-power-play">Indian involvement </a>in its energy planning.&nbsp; Nepal pursued a different path in developing hydropower, with private producers and international investors generating nearly 70% of electricity in the country. But India has gradually asserted itself in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-hydropower-goes-international?fbclid=IwAR1bfKP8flv5RQTnYALhmupWQH2hKL_BKiuylbGogpIbCd-dwY1goNvYsUY_aem_ASFlf8dMv3b2J0BWfSJITaR74lDt3yxH9t8Cg-eYZxRLLOS_dVwJwMTXqK7nxD6tfvI&amp;mibextid=Zxz2cZ">Nepal’s hydropower development</a> by sidelining Chinese involvement, and pressuring Nepal not to allow outside investment in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%20,3991">large reservoir projects</a> on its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-revenge-of-the-rivers">rivers</a>. The cascade of three out of four big hydropower plants in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/upper-arun-question-mark">Arun Basin</a> in eastern Nepal are all being built by an Indian state enterprise, more or less along the same model as Indian projects in Bhutan.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022812024_ac6cf08607ee0873bb4f82e19d0917050c73b7efa8e7c3912525a3cd2efa85f0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="2025022812024_ac6cf08607ee0873bb4f82e19d0917050c73b7efa8e7c3912525a3cd2efa85f0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1439" loading="lazy" alt="Photo: GMC"> </figure>  “We are a 100% hydro energy portfolio with about 2.5GW installed capacity with about another 1.5 GW in the pipeline in the next year or so,” says Ujjwal Deep Dahal, CEO of Druk Holdings and Investment. “While we are a net exporter of energy over a year, winter demands are increasing and we look to invest for additional power and importantly firm power.” Nepal also imports power from India in winter when its rivers are running low and demand is highest, but this is at a more expensive price than it exports during the rest of the year. Ecological and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/agroecology-nepal-s-answer-to-climate-change">climate concerns</a> are prompting Bhutan to diversify from harnessing hydropower to explore pump storage, geothermal and solar power – a model that Nepal could also pursue. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/pump-water-store-energy">Pump water, store energy</a>, Dipak Gyawali and Sudhindra Sharma While tensions between India and China affect Bhutan more than Nepal, Kathmandu has failed to adopt a more independent water and energy strategy. Despite being four times larger than Bhutan, Nepal has only 3,3000MW of installed capacity. It has also failed to increase domestic demand by electrifying industries, irrigation, transport and household consumption so surplus energy is not wasted. Nepal’s goal is to generate 28,000MW by 2035 but transmission and distribution infrastructure will have to keep pace. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-great-game-2nd-half">suspension of the US-supported MCC project </a>may further delay energy trade and distribution. Climate collapse is rapidly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">melting Himalayan glaciers</a>, and it is going to be risky building large expensive hydropower plants in Nepal and Bhutan. Both countries must learn from a glacial lake outburst flood in 2023 that swept away the 1,200MW Teesta III Projectin Sikkim, a $1.7 billion dam. In Nepal, the $800 million <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi">Melamchi Water Supply Project </a>for Kathmandu Valley was severely damaged in a flood in 2021. The eastern Himalaya in Nepal, Bhutan, India and southern Tibet are affected more severely by glacial lake expansion, and combined with seismicity post a major threat to energy security in the region. “We cannot predict disasters like these but we can’t also be fatalistic, we need to be pragmatic and strike the right balance,” says Pema Gyamtsho from Bhutan, and director general of Kathmandu-based ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development). “We have to invest in risk assessment before developing mega infrastructure. Where the risk is high, we should opt for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/small-is-still-possible">smaller hydropower and other alternatives like solar and biogas</a>. We should have options rather than putting all our eggs in the same basket.” <h2>GDP, GNH, GMC</h2> Bhutan’s audacious Gelephu Mindfulness City mega-project is a risky gamble on the future&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022812020_64d59d3ca75b44983167c70ba340afa56b1f88e4b6807605101bed4671abe198.jpg" data-media-id="editor_26" data-image-id="2025022812020_64d59d3ca75b44983167c70ba340afa56b1f88e4b6807605101bed4671abe198" data-rendition-name="original" width="1778" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Small Bhutan dreams big NT"> <figcaption>Rendering of a section of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), which is currently under development. Photo: GMC</figcaption> </figure>  On 17 December 2023, Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced the setting up of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) to be an international hub focused on energy, connectivity and skills for the 21st century.&nbsp; The city will be a 2,500 sq km Special Administrative Region to take advantage of Bhutan’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-can-lead-in-zero-carbon">clean energy</a> to power an information technology corridor with AI data centres. It will try to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/turning-nepal-into-singapore">replicate Singapore</a> in a city three times larger, with its own hydropower plants generating 5,000MW.&nbsp; “Gelephu will become a gateway connecting Bhutan to the world and the future,” the King said. “The road we have chosen is a gateway to the world – to markets, capital, new ideas, knowledge, and technology towards our future, and to chart our destiny.”&nbsp; The rapid spread of energy-intensive <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-power/nepal-as-an-ai-power-bank">generative AI applications</a> have prompted technology companies to scout for clean energy sources to power their data centres. Some like Amazon and Google are even building their own small nuclear power plants.&nbsp; “Investing in green energy with our hydro potential of over 35,000MW is a priority and the strategy on AI data centres are an important anchor industry,” says Ujjwal Deep Dahal of Druk Holdings and Investment. Bhutan’s Finance Minister Lyonpo Lekey Dorji told visiting editors here earlier this month that energy cooperation under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) were going nowhere, and a new framework was needed. “Significant connectivity challenges, poor infrastructure, and often tense diplomatic relations lead to limited cross-border trade and movements of goods and people,” Dorji added. “The GMC is envisaged to help not only Bhutan but also the South Asian region, and particularly the neighbouring states of India.”&nbsp; Economists say that if countries in the region could go beyond geopolitical differences and increase trade, each country in South Asia stands to gain from the regional energy trade. While Nepal and Bhutan have export potential for clean energy, Bangladesh can reduce its carbon footprint by buying cleaner fuel from neighbours. “There are significant benefits if you increase investment in transmission across the region, increase connectivity, with more liberal trade,” says Simon Stolp of the World Bank. In the first phase, the GMC will build infrastructure including an international airport, and a regional railway linking Gelephu to Assam with a six-lane highway. Bhutan is one of few carbon negative countries in the world, and officials assure that 60% of the GMC area will retain its forest cover with two protected areas, a national park and a wildlife sanctuary. The Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has been hired to come up with a sustainable urban plan.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022812020_f9e04d55bb349a64031f8133b0ad0f38dbe608f00070cb8d62dd2cab22bf1bb3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_30" data-image-id="2025022812020_f9e04d55bb349a64031f8133b0ad0f38dbe608f00070cb8d62dd2cab22bf1bb3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="590" loading="lazy" alt="Small Bhutan dreams big NT"> </figure>  GMC is also Bhutan’s response to the increasing outmigration of its young people, primarily to Australia — a problem similar to what Nepal faces.&nbsp; Youth unemployment in Bhutan in 2022 was 28.6%, and in 2023, 1.5% of the country’s 800,000 people moved just to Australia to work and study. Bhutan has a total fertility rate of 1.4, which is much below replacement level. These demographic trends have raised questions about Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) approach to development. It has been hailed as a new age concept by some and ridiculed by others, especially because the regime has never answered for the eviction of one-sixth of its population in the 1990s (box).&nbsp; In that sense, the GMC could be Bhutan’s way of turning the page on GNH. Officials here said privately that Gross National Happiness has been largely misunderstood to be an idealistic dream, but it does not mean de-emphasising economic growth or GDP per capita. In the first 20 years, the Gelephu Special Administrative Region will be a ‘mindfulness city’ under complete autonomy with a legislative, judicial and governance system independent from the rest of Bhutan. After that will be the ‘convergence phase’, when the rest of Bhutan will have caught up with Gelephu in terms of development and socio-economic status. Gelephu was chosen for the mega-project because of the narrow strip of plains in a mostly mountainous country. This will make it easier to build infrastructure, especially the proposed new international airport which will be an alternative to Paro in which only specially trained pilots are allowed to land because of difficult terrain and weather.&nbsp; “GMC represents a new era for growth and opportunity for Bhutan, a bold experiment in &nbsp;governance, sustainability and economic transformation, all the while preserving Bhutanese identity, cultural and spiritual heritage,” explained GMC’s Rabsel Dorji. “We have the unprecedented opportunity to build a Special Administrative Region from the ground up, and for Bhutanese this is a nation-building experience.” Officials say that GMC needed to be a Special Administrative Region in order to speed things up, including decision-making so there would be no <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">bureaucratic hurdles</a> to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/why-there-is-no-foreign-investment-in-nepal">foreign investments</a>.&nbsp; But will such a separate ‘state’ not create a gap between haves and have nots, much like other parts of the world which have set up Special Economic Zones? Officials here are convinced that since GMC is the brainchild of King Jigme himself, it will succeed without compromising Bhutan's culture. Bhutan lies in the emerging economic corridor between South Asia and Southeast Asia, which has close to half of the world’s population. The idea is that with better connectivity, GMC will be strategically located to attract investors, residents and retirees.&nbsp; Planners here hope this will also replenish Bhutan’s shrinking population and allow just GMC to accommodate up to 2 million people — more than double Bhutan’s current population. Bhutan has the third highest GDP per capita in South Asia after the Maldives and Sri Lanka because of income from hydropower and tourism. It now wants to build on this for future growth with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/putting-nepal-on-the-right-track?fbclid=IwAR2NwzuRGlfxnbjoMcTWRTlRMwXlRuTRA45k-lpnXQoZ1lxl5mBrow9YU08">clean energy and connectivity</a>. &nbsp; Added Rabsel Dorji: “The quality of life in Bhutan is very good but one could say <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/not-rising-nepal">the standard of living</a> could improve. With the GMC, we are trying to mix the two such that people have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-qatar-job-mirage">high-paying jobs</a> while retaining the Bhutanese way of life.” &nbsp; <h2>The Gelephu connection</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022812020_df5f1c680b18261d89a005da0e4eaca4877909738ae691285e745b562558116e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_36" data-image-id="2025022812020_df5f1c680b18261d89a005da0e4eaca4877909738ae691285e745b562558116e" data-rendition-name="original" width="946" height="599" loading="lazy" alt="Small Bhutan dreams big NT"> <figcaption>Bhutan Refugee Camp in Beldangi-2 in Jhapa district, Nepal.</figcaption> </figure>  Situated along Bhutan’s southern border with India at a point where the mountains meet the Brahmaputra plains, Gelephu was home to some 40% of the country’s 100,000 Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people. Many of their family members were forcefully evicted from Bhutan over 30 years ago. Rights activists have opposed the GMC project, especially since many of the refugees still have land titles for property they left behind in Gelephu. People from Nepal were first invited by the Bhutan government to populate the lowlands in the south from the mid-19th century onwards. Over time, Nepali-speaking people accounted for one-sixth of the population of Bhutan, and were relatively better off because of their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-wards-off-evil-spirits">agrarian lifestyle</a> in the fertile southern plains.&nbsp; ‘However, their growing numbers and the formation of a political party were perceived as a threat to the cultural and political order of Bhutan,’ notes Human Rights Watch in an explainer.&nbsp; The Lhotsampa ('people from the south') were driven across India and dumped in Jhapa and Morang from 1990-92. They lived in refugee camps until they were resettled in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries between 2007-2016.&nbsp; Now, 6,577 refugees, most of them elderly who want to go back to Bhutan, remain in the camps even after UNHCR and WFP withdrew support in 2016. Back in Gelephu, there is still a township of 15,000 people. One of the families there is that of a Bhutanese sociologist. In a carefully worded reply, he told us in Thimphu: “All of my childhood memories will soon be gone, but perhaps it is for the greater good.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mindfulness-about-bhutan-s-refugees">Mindfulness about Bhutan’s refugees</a>, Archana Darji&nbsp;

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Small Bhutan Dreams Big

Political prisoners languish in Bhutan’s jails

<figure><img width="3888" height="2592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/636903159c7e80680e037ca0jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A classroom full of Bhutanese refugee children in Beldangi. Many of them have been denied resettlement to be with their families already in the US. All photos: JAMIE PIOTROWSKI</figcaption></figure>As a student in Pittsburg in the United States, I began working with refugee populations four years ago. A wide-eyed sociology graduate I was aspiring to change the world, though I did not know exactly how.My first job as Resettlement Caseworker changed the trajectory of my life. The first family I was helping were three men from Bhutan, a father and two sons who had arrived in Pittsburgh but needed help to adjust and find work.Now, as a graduate student I came to Nepal to learn more about the people from Bhutan who were my neighbours and friends back in the United States. They were among the 75,000 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-one-to-care-for-doctor-who-cared-for-everyone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people</a> forced out by Bhutan’s royal regime and with Indian help sent to Nepal. They were housed in refugee camps for the next 20 years until they started being <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/resettlement-of-Bhutan-refugees-in-United-States,3404" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repatriated to the US</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Bhutanese-refugees-in-united-kingdom-find-stability,1585" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the UK</a>, Canada, Norway, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15045#.W2gmdmaB1TY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Netherlands</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17868#.Wk3SKlWWbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a> and Australia.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/camps-for-Bhutanese-refugees-are-emptying-but-some-want-to-return-home,2748" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Over 8,000 refugees still remain in Nepal</a>, mostly in the camps. But <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/02/01/trump-affects-bhutanese-refugees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restrictive immigration policies</a> in some of these countries have brought resettlement to a halt for the Bhutanese, some of whom have been living in the camp for nearly three decades. The result: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19646" target="_blank" rel="noopener">families have been separated</a>, much in the same way that children were taken away from illegal migrants in the United States. <figure><img width="640" height="445" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/636903199c7e80680e037ca1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Tikaram Rasaily is the elected camp secretary at Beldangi, one of the last remaining refugee centres. He was forced to leave his home in Bhutan when he was five years old, and has very few memories of his home but says: “I feel Bhutan in my heart.” And he wants to return one day.Rasaily’s family is now resettled to the United States. His mother and brother live in Atlanta and his sister in Akron, Ohio. Since going back to Bhutan is likely impossible, he would like to be reunited with his family. But he remains in the camp with his wife and child because his application for family reunification was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/state-of-statelessness-for-refugees-in-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied by the United States Department of Human Services and UNHCR</a>.“I was never told why, I have human rights, but no one is allowing me to express them,” he says. <figure><img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/6369031c9c7e80680e037ca2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As camp secretary, Rasaily is worried about the funding cuts that will affect fellow-refugees who remain. The UN stipend for refugees is now only Rs650 per person every month in lieu of food rations.The World Food Program (WFP) supplies of oil, sugar, salt and other rations have also been slashed, only rice is distributed. Additionally, education funding for 951 students is being cut and students beginning Grade 5 must get enrolled in Nepali government schools.There are only three options for refugees according to UNHCR guidelines: assimilation in Nepal,  repatriation to Bhutan, or third-country resettlement. Unfortunately, for many of the remaining refugees, none of these options are viable. Nepal has not accepted the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, nor established a national legal framework concerning refugees and asylum-seekers, and Bhutan refuses to take its people back.Applications for resettlement to a third country have been closed since December 2016. Only those approved for family reunification may travel, though many are still waiting for their departure dates. The only other remaining camp in Sanischare may be closed soon.Meanwhile, Bhutanese outside the camps <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4842#.W2gm-GaB1TY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">face different challenges. Tek Nath Rizal</a>, 71, the leader of the Bhutanese in forced exile used to be a member of the Royal Advisory Council in Thimphu. He fled to Nepal after being accused of a conspiracy against the King, but Nepal’s royal government kidnapped him from his home in Kathmandu and deported him back to Bhutan in 1989. He was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17869" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jailed and tortured</a> for 10 years and named a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. <figure><img width="640" height="790" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/636903209c7e80680e037ca3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="612" height="753" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/636903239c7e80680e037ca4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Rizal now lives in Kathmandu, Nepal, he is not recognised as a refugee by the Nepal government. He has been adamantly opposed to third country resettlement, and wants all Lhotsampa to be allowed to return to Bhutan. He worries that the international community has abandoned the refugees, especially the case of unregistered refugees, family separations, and justice. ”Those who violated our human rights are still in power in Thimphu today, all I want is to bring democracy to Bhutan before I die,” he told us.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-one-to-care-for-doctor-who-cared-for-everyone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhampa Rai</a> was a royal physician in Bhutan, and did not have to leave his country. But seeing the plight of his compatriots in refugee camps in Nepal, he thought they needed his care more than the royal family. He lived with his wife taking care of sick refugees for nearly three decades. Rai has relatives resettled in Texas, but refuses to go.“I will either return to Bhutan or die here as a refugee,” he says. The UN has tried to convince the couple to return to Bhutan, but Thimphu has repeatedly rejected it.There are many <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15760#.W2gmBWaB1TY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhutanese I met in the United States</a> and in Nepal who remain positive despite what they have been through for so long. They are still hopeful about justice being served some day, but it may have to be a long wait.

Family separation, Bhutan-style

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum