<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe11459c7e80680e0da4d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1066" height="640"/><figcaption>Gaura Rokaya mourns eight family members killed by soldiers in Pandusen of Bajura in 2002 on suspicion of being maoists. Photo: MOHAN MAINALI/ A PEOPLE WAR</figcaption></figure>Mimamsha Dhungel was barely eight when Nepal’s decade-long armed conflict ended, and she has vague memories of clutching a packet of cheese balls in her hands on 24 April 2006 and being part of a victory rally from Thankot to Kalanki to celebrate the restoration of Parliament and the end of the war.“My grandfather was martyred in the war,” Dhungel, now a 22-year-old student, says. “The struggle is a part of history that we cannot forget.”Monday, 13 February marks 27 years since the Maoists took up arms against the state, and almost 17 years since Nepal’s current Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist and then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress (NC) signed the Comprehensive Peace Accord that marked the end of the conflict that left 17,000 Nepalis dead.Yet, even as relatives of victims demand justice Nepal’s political mechanism and leadership, which is made up of former enemies, has ensured that no side is held accountable for the atrocities committed during the conflict.Suman Adhikari’s father Muktinath Adhikari was a teacher at a school in Duradanda of Lamjung. In January 2002, he was taken away by Maoists while in class and later executed because he refused to donate a share of his salary to fund their cause.“To be reminded that it has been 27 years since the war began, and almost 17 years since the peace accord was signed is painful, but at the same time it is also worrying that the society at large has stopped talking about it,” says Suman Adhikari. “Whichever government it is, the strategy has been to delay, dilute, and deny victims truth and justice.”https://youtu.be/Rfj5t6dIiKcNot only have Nepalis begun to forget, but there is also now an entire generation of young people who were either not born or were too young to remember what it was like to live in fear of the soldiers, police or guerrillas.And just like the political leadership and governments have refused to ensure that Nepalis learn our history, they have also kept the conflict years out of the school textbooks.The Grade 10 textbook published by the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) reduces the decade-long war into just a mention in a historical timeline. Textbooks put out by private publishers are better, but still offer few details: reducing the war to brief sentences that mention the start of the war, the massacre of King Birendra’s family, and the 12-point peace agreement.The Grade 12 textbook published by the CDC has dedicated just three sentences to the start of the war, and three sentences to the peace accord in its section about Nepal’s history.The textbooks make no mention of the cost and achievements of the conflict.Bhuwan Raj Shrestha, who teaches higher-secondary level Social Studies in Kathmandu says he tried to bridge the gap. “I try to provide context when I teach my students that particular chapter, and a few students who tend to rank higher in class show an interest and ask for details, but that’s about it,” he says.Shrestha himself used to be headmaster at a school in Nawalparasi during the conflict, and came to Kathmandu for safety after running afoul of the Maoists.Pranjal Pokharel grew up with a father who is a police officer. So he has some experience of the war, but he has little information.“Our political stability and impunity now is rooted in whatever happened back then, so it is important for us to learn about what happened,” says the 22-year-old student. “Whatever we have in the curriculum is just the tip of the iceberg, and doesn’t go in-depth at all.”Aarati Ray, 19, also admits she does not know much about the conflict because it is not taught very well in high school. “There was so much about World War I and World War II in our school textbooks, but there was nothing in-depth about the Maoist war,” says Ray.But veteran journalist Rajendra Dahal, editor of Sikshak monthly magazine for teachers, notes that the absence of information about the war is part of a larger problem with Nepal’s learning system and education sector.“Young people’s lack of knowledge is not limited to the armed conflict, most Nepali students are literate but do not have any real understanding that is applicable in the real world,” says Dahal. “As we have become modern and educated, we have also become ignorant and intolerant.”Journalist Mohan Mainali reported from across Nepal about the human cost of the war and is concerned that almost three decades later, the lack of awareness about Nepal’s recent history and how it could pose a great threat to the nation.“ A society that doesn’t know its history risks repeating it,” he says. “We are again seeing an obsession for newer parties because of disillusionment with the establishment. It could once more take a violent turn, it is a vicious cycle.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe11489c7e80680e0da4d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="579" height="711"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>While the younger generation must be aware of recent history it is not enough to rely solely on textbooks, he says. Indeed, students actually needed to answer questions about the conflict during exams before the peace accord was signed, but the curriculum changed over the decade, and even the exam paper doesn’t have questions specific to the armed conflict anymore.Conflict victim organisations have repeatedly submitted guidelines to political leaders pushing for the war to be included in the school curriculum. But those in power are reluctant because then they  will have to answer to the people about why they were made to suffer.Says Suman Adhikari: “The reality of the conflict is our history, and it must not be hidden. We as a nation need to acknowledge the mistakes of our past so that we might move on, and also so that Nepalis do not ever have to go through something like this ever again.”With additional reporting by Swapnil KC.

Shristi Karki

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Delay, dilute, deny

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe11359c7e80680e0da4cdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="654"/><figcaption>The Maoist conflict began 27 years ago this week. The former Maoist commander is Nepal's prime minister for the third time, and politics has been in disarray ever since the war ended 17 years ago. Photo: KIRAN PANDEY/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>This week marks 27 years since the start of the Maoist conflict that claimed the lives of 17,000 Nepalis. A whole new generation has grown up without any memory or knowledge of the insurgency, and how it has shaped Nepali society and politics, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/armed-conflict-and-conflict-of-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">for better or worse (mostly the latter)</a>.The fact that Chairman Prachanda who admitted to being responsible for “only” 5,000 of the deaths during his insurgency is now Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal for the third time has left many<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/guerrilla-turned-member-of-parliament/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> (including his own former guerrillas and comrades)</a> wondering what it was all for.When heinous war crimes including summary executions, torture, disappearances and war rape by both sides go <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-unpunished-war-crimes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unaddressed and unpunished</a>, the sense of impunity makes Rabi Lamichhane’s citizenship debacle just a procedural lapse.“A society that doesn’t know its history or doesn’t learn from it is bound to repeat the same mistakes,” warns Mohan Mainali, a film-maker who documented the conflict. “As it is, we are already seeing public disenchantment with the established parties turning into support for newer parties and their populist leaders.”The question now is: are the new parties that emerged from the November federal elections really that different? The way Lamichhane got himself appointed Home Minister in the 7-party coalition showed a clear <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/conflicting-interests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conflict of interest</a>, where power trumped ethics. And the prolonged tirade against the media during his press conference was seen by many as a blatant attempt to divert attention from his transgressions by blaming the messenger.In a way, Lamichhane is latching on to a mass yearning for change, much in the same way that the Maoist parties swept the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14730#.Y-XHay8w1KM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2008 Constituent Assembly</a> elections by promising societal transformation through the democratic process. Overwhelming numbers of Nepalis voted for the Maoists then, not necessarily because they supported them, but because they did not want them to go back into the jungle.The peace process that followed the conflict may not have made Nepali society more egalitarian, but there is now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more inclusion in politics</a>, the job market, education, women, and excluded groups having found space they previously lacked.  Nepal went from a Hindu monarchy to being a secular federal republic, and the Madhes movement would likely not have happened without the insurgency making people aware of their rights.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/armed-conflict-and-conflict-of-interest/">Armed Conflict and Conflict of Interest</a>, Editorial<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe113a9c7e80680e0da4cejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“But the question is, did we need to kill a whole lot of people to achieve that?” asks Rajendra Dahal, editor of Shikshak monthly. “Sure, we have matured as a society, but just about everything else is worse than before the insurgency: development, economy, education, and most of all, our politics.”Even so, Nepal is considered a model for post-conflict reconciliation with the former rebels transitioning into mainstream politics in the past 17 years. Dahal is prime minister for the third time <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/oli-dahal-political-deja-vu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">with the UML in the coalition</a>, and Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress a close ally despite being in the opposition. The former enemies are no longer in government together, but Dahal incongruously heads a coalition made up of anti-secular, anti-federal and pro-monarchy forces.“Sure, the war led to notable political and social reforms but unfortunately the very political decline that led to the conflict is more evident, the fact that the behaviour and mentality of our leaders haven’t changed makes all other achievements of the revolution meaningless,” says Mainali.The former enemies do not want to rake up war crimes and want the atrocities their forces committed to be forgotten. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappearances (CIED) have<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/transitional-injustice-in-nepal/"> turned transitional justice into a farce</a>.“There is not much hope for transitional justice given the very perpetrators are now the state, but we as a society must remember to remember the insurgency and people who have blood on their hands, at the very least to prevent another war,” adds Mainali.The families of the victims or those who disappeared during the war continue to wait for the truth. On the 21th anniversary last week of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6369#.Y-XIii8w1KM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the execution by the Maoists of Muktinath Adhikari</a>, a teacher in Lamjung, his daughter Sabita Adhikari pleaded for justice.She wrote: “We lost our father. Nothing will bring him back. If his murderers are not caught and punished, there is a danger of another conflict that will make more orphans like us.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-unpunished-war-crimes/"> Nepal's unpunished war crimes</a>, Sabita Adhikari

Sonia Awale

Ghosts of war

<img width="1808" height="1251" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e8e9c7e80680e0b7926jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>One month after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/ukraines-lessons-for-sandwiched-nations-like-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine</a>, the fallout of the war on global fuel prices threatens to derail Nepal’s aviation and tourism sector which was finally reviving after two years of the Covid pandemic.
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has raised prices for petrol and diesel at filling stations several times, but it is aviation turbine fuel (ATF) that has seen the steepest hike.
International airlines serving Kathmandu which had already seen some booking cancellations due to the Ukraine war are now paying double the rate for refuelling their planes at Kathmandu airport.
ATF cost in Kathmandu has risen steeply from $715 per kilolitre in June last year to nearly $1,500 after the latest NOC price hike on 17 March (see graph). 
But the NOC appears to be passing on the rising import bill for petroleum products to its customers, while keeping its profit margins intact. The <a href="http://noc.org.np/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://noc.org.np&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648181914714000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2vxZrc3-FmibmlA9NtNpz7">state-owned monopoly’s own website</a> shows that the profit it makes from <a href="http://noc.org.np/fortnightly" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://noc.org.np/fortnightly&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648181914714000&amp;usg=AOvVaw30xV_D5k1K3ycFpKU14IgA">ATF sold to airlines has risen</a> from Rs23.92 per litre inJanuary to Rs67.93 this week.
The NOC’s overall fortnightly losses have also soared from Rs1.83 billion to Rs4.66 in that same period. It is clear that NOC is compensating for its losses from petrol, diesel and LPG sales at fuel stations by doubling the price it charges airlines in order to subsidise Nepali customers.
NOC officials have justified the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/petroleum-price-hike-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">price hike</a> saying that the fuel needs to be transported in tankers from the Indian border, and the hike in diesel prices has added to the cost of ATF in the international market.
However, the price of aviation fuel at Indian airports was only $900 per kilolitre — which is $600 less than in Kathmandu. 
Nepal’s domestic airlines, which were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pokhara-will-be-a-game-changer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">seeing a boom</a> since the Omicron wave started to subside earlier this year, have passed on the added cost to passengers with a hefty fuel surcharge. 
However, it is medium and long haul operators to Kathmandu like Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Himalaya Airlines and Nepal Airlines which have been hit hardest. Airlines have started flying in on full tanks only topping up in Kathmandu to save on fuel costs. 
Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-climate-and-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ukraine, Climate, and Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale
A Boeing 777 or Airbus 330 on a 7-hour flight from Kathmandu to Incheon or Istanbul, for instance, burn 40 tons of fuel at a cost of $75,000. That cost will now soar, but airlines cannot raise prices on pre-booked tickets.
“Because of the rise in passenger demand we were thinking of increasing our frequency to daily flights, but with this kind of fuel cost it is just not feasible,” says one Kathmandu-based international airline executive. “Aviation fuel prices have gone up everywhere, but in Kathmandu it is 50-90% higher than any other Asian airport.”
NOC first raised its price of aviation fuel steeply to $1,095 on 2 March after the Russian invasion sent international oil prices sky high. It then raised it to $1,295 on 4 March, and again hiked it to $1,495 on 17 March. 
Brent crude prices had dropped somewhat last week, but with Russian counter sanctions against oil and gas supplies to European countries and the spectre of a long-drawn war of attrition in Ukraine, it again climbed above the $120 per barrel mark.
Some US states have legislated to temporarily waive taxes on fuel to stabilise gas prices at filling stations and reduce burden on consumers. Nepal also has heavy taxes on all petroleum products, but it cannot afford to reduce the levee at a time when it faces budgetary pressures, a spiralling trade deficit, and plummeting foreign exchange reserves. 
To be sure, Nepal is not alone in being hit by volatile oil prices because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the entire economy is affected</a> — not just the aviation sector. However it could not have come at a worse time, just as the country’s tourism was starting to show signs of revival after two years of Covid closure.
Several European tour operators have cancelled bookings to Nepal at the last moment. The crisis has coincided with the start of the peak trekking and mountaineering season, and a large Ukrainian expedition to Mt Everest has been cancelled. The number of climbers who had booked Himalayan peaks is expected to go down by half.
More than 1 million people depend directly on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-reopening-for-tourists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s tourism industry</a> and they have been without income for more than two years because of the pandemic. There was considerable optimism that Spring 2022 would see a revival, but those hopes have been dashed. 
There have been other indirect impacts from rising energy prices in Nepal, with electricity rationing this week along industrial corridors in the Tarai. As the dry season flow of Himalayan rivers reduces generation capacity, demand this week outstripped supply by 600MW. 
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) was meeting this shortfall with imports from the Indian grid, but on Tuesday and Wednesday it was outbid by other purchasers. Most of India’s electricity is generated from coal and diesel powered plants, and this has nearly doubled the price of peak power imports from India to INR13 per unit on Wednesday.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-does-defending-europe-mean/">What does ‘Defending Europe’ mean?</a>, Slavoj Žižek

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Sky high fuel price hits Nepal’s tourism, airlines

<figure><img width="630" height="473" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e1b9c7e80680e0b78fbjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Ukrainian refugee, Valia, recalls the ‘terrible conditions’ during her 1000 km journey to safety with her 13-year-old son. Photo: ED HOLT/IPS</figcaption></figure>“I never, ever, believed that anything like this could happen,” says Valia*. “Not for a second.”
Just two weeks ago, the English teacher says, she had been living a normal life in Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine with her 13-year-old son. But on February 24, she woke up to the news that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/ukraines-lessons-for-sandwiched-nations-like-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russia had invaded</a> her country.
After spending one night in a school basement with scores of other people afraid that her town could come under Russian fire, she decided she had to try and get herself and her son <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trapped-in-ukraine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to safety</a> and began a 1,000-kilometre journey out of the country.
She spent days travelling in what she describes as “terrible conditions” on dangerously overcrowded trains where people became sick. It was sometimes hard to breathe properly because many people were packed into carriages. She then took buses to the border with Slovakia.
There, she waited four hours in the cold before she and her son made it over the border and then on to friends in the Slovak capital, Bratislava
“My journey may sound bad, but when I think about it, I see myself as lucky. I know some people who came from Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, and they had a terrible journey. It took some of them six days,” she says.
Valia is just one of the estimated more than 2.8 million people, overwhelmingly women and children, who have <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-flee-ukraine-as-russians-advance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fled Ukraine</a> since the Russian invasion began.
The UN has described the exodus as the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lest-we-forget/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WWII</a>. International humanitarian organisations warn there are likely to be many millions more trying to leave the country in the coming weeks as what they have repeatedly described as a humanitarian catastrophe is set to only get worse.
“The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is increasingly dire and desperate. Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water, heat, electricity, or medical care. Two million people are reported to have left their homes for neighbouring countries, while hundreds of thousands more are trapped in cities desperate for a safe escape,” says Christoph Hanger, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Humanitarian organisations have described the scenes in some parts of the country as “apocalyptic”.
The conflict – which has so far claimed the lives of at least 549 civilians as of March 11, according to the UN, although the real figure is thought to be much higher – has left some towns and large parts of cities destroyed.
Infrastructure damage, Russian troops blocking roads, and constant shelling, means that in some places, there is no way to get in even basic humanitarian supplies to residents.
In the city of Mariupol, which has been surrounded by Russian troops and whose authorities have said it is essentially under siege, the situation is said to be desperate.
There have been reports of people fighting each other for scraps of food on the streets as residents begin to starve. Others are simply unable to leave their homes because of constant shelling.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-does-defending-europe-mean/">What does 'Defending Europe' mean?</a>, Slavoj Žižek
Svitlana, a 52-year-old hairdresser, said her life now in the city was spent largely in bomb shelters.
“Life in a shelter is not a life. We are surviving as long as we can. People bring their food and share it in the shelter while the bombing goes on above us. We try to pretend all will be ok, but we all know many of us will die,” she says.
But even in places where there has not been fierce fighting, the toll of war is being felt.
Says Oksana, 35, who lives in Kyiv: “Even though the bombs are not falling here yet, the atmosphere of war is so stressful. The worst thing is that after a day or two, you realise it is not a movie but a fight for life and death. It is hard to explain how terrified I feel. A friend of mine filmed on his phone a Russian warplane crashing in his neighbour’s garden. My mind is simply unable to understand that this is really going on. This has to stop. Otherwise, I don’t know how people will survive and what will happen to food and medicine supplies for people.”
All across the country, medical supplies, in particular, are dwindling while hospitals and healthcare facilities have been targeted by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/ukraine-dispute-can-leave-russia-as-the-losers,259" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russian forces</a> putting pressure on healthcare provision.
People who spoke to IPS said in some places, services are increasingly being focused solely on emergency healthcare and treating war wounded, limiting the capacity for treatment of people with chronic or potentially fatal diseases.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of medics and ambulances being targeted by Russian troops.
Evgenia, who works in the healthcare sector, managed to escape her hometown Irpin, outside Kyiv, just days before it came under heavy fire by the Russian army and was eventually largely destroyed.
She is now in Kyiv, where, she says, many healthcare services are continuing to run relatively normally. But, she says, “in some parts of the country, the only healthcare now is emergency healthcare, nothing else”.
She said any healthcare that involves outreach work has stopped in some towns and cities “because it is now very dangerous, you can get shot just being out on the street” while drug supplies are dwindling because “the roads are occupied by Russian military, and so it is impossible to move medicines from one area to another even if anyone tried to”.
And there are growing problems in the Ukrainian capital, too.
“The queues outside drug stores are long, and they’re often out of medicines now anyway,” she says, adding that NGOs and other groups involved in the response to chronic diseases like TB, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, social outreach groups for vulnerable populations, including in the LGBT community, had been forced to turn to delivering humanitarian aid on the streets of the capital rather than their usual work.
The deteriorating security and humanitarian situation is driving more and more people to flee their homes. The UNHCR reports that there are as many as 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country due to the conflict, and as fighting continues, that number is expected to rise, putting more and more strain on resources.
“If the fighting gets closer and closer to more towns and cities, especially in the west, the numbers of refugees will increase, and then there will, because of the numbers, be an even greater strain on services, within Ukraine itself as people move to escape fighting elsewhere, but also in neighbouring countries receiving refugees,” says Toby Fricker, Chief of Communications and Partnerships at UNICEF.
This is already being seen in some parts of the west of the country, which, so far, has seen relatively little fighting and is perceived to be safer, notably in Lviv, a major city in the west of Ukraine. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ukraine crisis hits Nepal economy hard</a>, Ramesh Kumar
The UNHCR has forecast as many as 4 million people will be forced to leave Ukraine because of the war.
But while leaving Ukraine provides some hope of safety, for many, the journey itself is fraught with danger, and once across the border, the effects of the conflict remain.
Many <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">refugee</a> journeys can be days long, are made in freezing weather, sometimes involve treks for dozens of miles on foot, and sometimes with limited food and water supplies.
Meanwhile, because Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 have been ordered not to leave the country to help defend it if needed, the overwhelming majority of refugees are women and children.
Humanitarian organisations have warned women refugees face an increased risk of exploitation and gender-based violence, while the abrupt separation from partners and fathers can also be traumatic for women and, especially, children, others say.
“Kids are going through having to cope with seeing, for instance, their parents have a last embrace as they go separate ways, and trying to understand why daddy isn’t going with them,” says James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson.
Organisations helping with reception of refugees in receiving countries told IPS that many people who arrive are often exhausted and deeply traumatised.
“What we are seeing very much is that people are turning up in a very deep sense of shock and trauma. Because of the speed at which everything happened, a lot of them are still in a state of confusion. The adults, most of whom are women with children, are still in a state of denial about what has happened to them, about having to leave their countries, businesses, homes, and husbands and partners suddenly,” says Fricker.
Valia, who is now working as a volunteer at Bratislava’s main train station helping the thousands of Ukrainians coming in every day from further east in the country, agrees.
“People are traumatised, but it happened so quickly that a lot of them are just in a state of massive shock. They still can’t quite believe what’s happened,” she says.
Uncertainty is also a worry for many refugees, she says. Some have lost everything, and many have been left with little money as the Ukrainian currency they brought with them cannot be changed now in many countries, and because many people cleared out their bank accounts before they left, any bank cards they have with them are largely useless.
Valia herself says she does not know how long she will stay in Slovakia, and her son wants to return to Ukraine as soon as possible. But she admits she has “no clear idea” what the future holds for her, and others.
“It’s troubling for a lot of people I speak to,” she says.
However, Valia believes she will one day go back to her homeland when peace returns to it.
“I believe I will go back to Ukraine. I speak to other Ukrainians who say they will never forgive Russia for what it has done. But I don’t hold it against the Russian people. Everyone has to come together to stop things like this happening. The world has so many other problems with climate change, poverty, diseases, etc – people should be putting energy into that and not fighting wars like this.”
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-climate-and-nepal/" target="_blank" style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ukraine, Climate, and Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale
*Valia is identified by her first name for her safety.
By arrangement with <a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2022/03/refugees-recount-harrowing-escape-besieged-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR1F1LWwsc3eQFcYtk2Jp37f7ebHYyf-N2btKjtIYwc2Qr53uMR6xrsBMx0">Inter Press Service</a>.

Harrowing escape from Ukraine

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203d59c7e80680e0b282bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>Bhakta Bahadur Regmi with Rabin and Rabina in Kathmandu last week speaking about a traumatic tragedy 20 years ago that changed their lives. All photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>It was exactly 20 years ago that Rabina Regmi and her brother Rabin were travelling with their parents when their bus was attacked with petrol bombs by Maoists along the East-West Highway in Sarlahi.As the fire spread, the driver lost control and the bus toppled over into a ditch. Rabina, aged 5 and Rabin, 3, and their mother, Anju, were the last to be rescued.All three suffered severe burns, and a video taken at the time shows the two children huddled around their mother, crying and in shock.Anju died after two weeks of pain and agony in a hospital in Raxaul. Rabina had burns all over her face, her hands and stomach. Rabin had burns on his face, a gash on his head, deep cut on his leg and his left hand was broken. Two other passengers also lost their lives in the attack.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2681#.Yd3XUy8w3u1">Rabin and Rabina</a>, Nepali Times<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203d89c7e80680e0b282cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="632"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203db9c7e80680e0b282djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203de9c7e80680e0b282ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203e19c7e80680e0b282fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="162" height="462">After Nepali Times reporter <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4138#.Yd01MmhBxPZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D4138%23.Yd01MmhBxPZ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642003161641000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3xCd8ewhrV9Mu4ia5bOtYQ">Naresh Newar’s story</a> appeared in this newspaper in 2002 (left), the tragedy came to represent the face of a meaningless war, and there was an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10418#.Yd01s2hBxPZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D10418%23.Yd01s2hBxPZ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642003161641000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0k9ll2ElmCFl161aiP0SgQ">outpouring of support from readers</a>. Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital offered <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4485#.Yd01uGhBxPZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D4485%23.Yd01uGhBxPZ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642003161641000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2vHaXELYbwVRMJ58aPNrLT">reconstructive surgery to the children</a>, and Bright Horizon Children’s Home and School took responsibility for their education till college.“Telling their story was important because there wasn’t enough coverage on how the war was affecting children,” says Naresh Newar. “The Maoist were attacking public spaces without regards to who may be affected from their actions, this story showed the victim’s side of story.”Newar followed up with the family numerous times and is grateful for the positive impact it had for the family. The last time he met them, the siblings were happily settled in at the school.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1fsjRXaEHUThe Regmi family's tragedy and ordeal was depicted in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-sibling-war-juna-rai,731">A People War</a>, a photo book trilogy curated by Kunda Dixit and featured in Kesang Tseten and Prem BK's documentary <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2009/10/27/a-state-of-lawlessness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Frames of War</a> (clip, above).   Now aged 25 and 23, Rabina and Rabin still bear scars from the tragedy, but are determined to not let their past hold them back. Rabina is a final year BBA student at Global College of Management and wants to get into banking. Rabin is doing his BSc in Agriculture from Chandigarh University. After the campus closed last year due to the pandemic, he in Kathmandu attending online classes.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4138#.Yd3XSS8w3u1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why the children?</a>, Naresh Newar<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203e39c7e80680e0b2830jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203e69c7e80680e0b2831jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">Their father Bhakta Bahadur Regmi is a forest ranger stationed in Hetauda, the same job he had 20 years ago. He is grateful for all the help his children have got over the years from the school, hospital, and others, but says it has been two decades of struggle without their mother.There has been no help from the state. “Everywhere we go, they ask for identification cards proving that we are conflict victims. But we don’t have any papers to prove that,” he says. Even today, he carries a folder of newspaper cuttings and old medical records of his children.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203e99c7e80680e0b2832jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was mandated to provide identification cards to conflict survivors, and inform them about investigations into war crimes. But without political connections, and no time to scour many government offices, Bhakta Bahadur and his family have been left to fend for themselves. The attackers were never identified and did not have to answer for their crime.For the past 20 years, Rabina and Rabin have needed numerous operations to heal their wounds, including reconstructive and orthopedic surgery, laser treatment, even hair transplant. The fees for surgeries are waived or subsidised, but the cost of travel, medicines and hospital stay add up.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12867#.Yd3XRy8w3u1">New life</a>, Naresh Newar<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203ec9c7e80680e0b2833jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">In 2015, when Rabina was getting another of her laser treatments for burn scars, the Indian blockade led to a shortage of medicines. “The doctors had to perform the procedure without anesthesia and it was very painful,” recalls Bhakta Bahadur. Later, her wounds got infected and she had to get it treated again. Rabin has not had laser surgery due to financial constraints.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/psychological-scars-%20of-maoist-conflict-on-young-survivors-take-longer-to-heal,1519" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Post-conflict stress syndrome</a>, Taylor Caldwell<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203f09c7e80680e0b2834jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="161" height="242">At Bright Horizon, the siblings aced their studies. Rabin passed his SEE with a GPA of 3.85, the highest from his batch. Rabina was also a good student, and the school is still helping them with college fees, while their father struggles to cover other costs.The first year Rabina was at the boarding school, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12867#.Yd0szmhBxPZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D12867%23.Yd0szmhBxPZ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642003161641000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1HzBsDJ5lqZZQWUUsNOHQp">she ran away</a>. “I did not know anyone there and I missed home,” she says. “But later, it became our home. Both of us made life-long friends there.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203f29c7e80680e0b2835jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="161" height="242">Bhakta Bahadur describes Rabina as the calm one. Rabin on the other hand was a mischievous little boy. He says, “Both of them felt at home at Bright Horizon, when I went to pick them up during holidays, they’d refuse to come home saying their mother wasn’t there.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4485#.Yd3XUS8w3u1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rabina and Rabin in hospital</a>, Naresh NewarAt school, Rabina made it a point to look out for her brother. Every time Rabin got into fights with his friends, his elder sister would come to his rescue. Today, the two share their hopes and dreams, supporting each other and hope to take care of their father who has sacrificed all to raise them.Weary of the country’s situation, Rabina now wants to go abroad for her MBA. Rabin wants to complete his MSc and then try for the civil exams. “The two of us came to the conclusion that one of us should go abroad and the other should stay back,” says Rabin. “We have seen how much difference having a family member abroad makes for the economic wellbeing of families.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10418#.Yd3XTy8w3u1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rs 199,349 for Rabina and Rabin Regmi</a>, Nepali Times<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203f59c7e80680e0b2836jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="363" height="242">Having brought up the children on his own, Bhakta Bahadur still worries about their future. But he is happy the two have become responsible young adults ready to take charge of their own lives.Rabina says with determination, “We have had to depend on our father for so long. Now, we want to look after him, and our family.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13966#.Yd3XSi8w3u1">Remembering hell</a>, Nepali Times<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/burning-in-the-aftermath,3757" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Burning in the aftermath</a>, Sahina Shrestha

Sahina Shrestha

The scars of war

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d141e9c7e80680e0a9960jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="490"/><figcaption>The then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel leader 'Prachanda' Pushpa Kamal Dahal signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Kathmandu on 21 November 2006. Photo: SAGAR SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure>The headlines for the past month have all been about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-happening-to-nepals-supreme-court/">Supreme Court</a>, and whether or not Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana should be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-lawyers-on-warpath-against-chief-justice/">impeached, or resign</a>, over past naughtiness.The controversy goes to the heart of Nepal’s governance failure and the erosion of the rule of law. Politicians have tampered with the doctrine of the separation of powers, and politically appointed justices have returned the favour.But there was a larger lapse of justice that went virtually unnoticed this week. It has been exactly 15 years after the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/justice-delayed-justice-denied-transitional-justice,3556">Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA)</a> was signed on 21 November 2006 between the Maoist commander Prachanda and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress (NC).As per the provisions of the CPA, two commissions to investigate the disappeared and for truth and reconciliation were to be set up and given two years to do their job. This being Nepal, it took a full ten years for the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/truth-about-truth-commission,3565">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> (TRC) and the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Who-doesn-want-a-TRC,2042">Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappearances (CIED)</a> to start their work.The United Nations, Nepal’s Western partners and international human rights watchdog groups were the driving force behind the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/08/18/justice-under-threat/">transitional justice process</a>, and if it was not for them it would have been unlikely that the country’s 14 prime ministers since 2006 would have made any moves to rake up wartime excesses.The rationale behind <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/truth-and-justice-for-relatives-of-murdered-and-disappeared,2122">transitional justice</a> is that until survivors and families of victims find truth and justice, there will be no closure, residual revenge will poison societal relations, and there will be a danger of the country slipping back into violent conflict.Justice denied also <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/Justice-in-transition,458">promotes impunity</a> in other arenas of national politics, as we see today. It is also important to keep the memory of the conflict years alive, and document the untold death and suffering it caused. Nepalis have to be reminded not to forget.Yet, memories fade, time moves on, people drift into everyday routines and try to get on with their lives. Transitional justice would have at least helped heal the loss for families of the victims, provided society with closure, and perpetrators of war crimes a chance for atonement.But, as with all other spheres of national life, the transitional justice mechanisms have been politcised from the word go. The leadership of the Maoist, NC and to a lesser degree the UML, all colluded to appoint yes men to the TRC and the CIED, extending their mandates over and over again with no hearings, trials or verdicts against those involved in heinous crimes.The toothless commissions collected tens of thousands of testimonies from families of victims and survivors, but the files are all mothballed in steel cabinets in their offices. Meanwhile, in the past 15 years, there has been plenty of lip service, blame game, scapegoating and tokenism. The two commissions have actually been used by politicians to prevent cases from moving through the regular courts.In fact, on the 15th anniversary of the CPA, Prachanda who has gone back to his peacetime name of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vowed to complete the transitional justice process. In a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/">statement</a> on 21 November and an English <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2021/11/20/the-nepali-peace-process-as-a-global-model">op-ed in The Kathmandu Post</a>, he termed Nepal’s peace process a ‘successful homegrown model’ for other post-conflict countries.‘Although the conflict was brought to an end, the task of investigating events that occurred during the war and to provide victims with transitional justice remains,’ Dahal said in his <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/">statement</a>. ‘We are proud of what the revolution achieved, but we will probe wartime excesses.’The fact that most other political leaders did not even bother to acknowledge the CPA anniversary showed that Dahal knows the sword of justice hangs over his head. With Western backing for the transitional process not as vigorous as it once was, he knows he just has to keep on saying the right things.The CPA pledged to ‘investigate human rights violations and those involved in crimes against humanity’. With every year that goes by, it looks less and less likely that will happen. There are still more than <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16267#.YZxyclVBypo">2,000 people listed as missing</a>, and some of their families have waited two decades already to know whether they are dead or alive, or what happened to them.Many <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/1,334,3287">families of the disappeared</a> interviewed by this newspaper have said finding out the truth is more important than justice. This could also mean they do not expect the state to persecute known perpetrators, so they do not even ask for justice. But their anguish is heightened when they see war criminals in senior leadership positions, who never had to answer for their crimes.As Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/">Human Rights Watch, said in a statement issued jointly with Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists and TRIAL International</a> on 21 November: ‘State officials’ reluctance to investigate and prosecute such serious crimes has exacerbated the suffering of victims, undermined the rule of law in post-conflict Nepal, and increased the risk of such violations in the future.’She went on to warn: ‘If justice is continually denied in Nepal, perpetrators of these international crimes committed during the conflict will be prosecuted abroad under international jurisdiction.’

Toothless Commissions

From Nalapani to Kalapani

Where Nepal’s banner once waved

<img width="640" height="355" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d18cd9c7e80680e0ac7e5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Legal theorists once consigned the idea of ‘statelessness’ to the realm of fiction, because they considered it to be impossible within the state system that emerged after World War I. Every human being was supposed to be assigned a nationality and a country to call his or her own. But the war had created many refugees, and as empires disintegrated and new nation-states adopted exclusionary nationality laws, not everyone was in fact included.The rise of fascism in the 1930s and 1940s further exposed the fallibility of this system and the ominous reality of the state’s power to exclude people or strip them of citizenship. Across Europe, citizenship-stripping went hand in hand with genocide for Jews and other minority groups. Following World War II, questions about the right to nationality, state power, and the limits of sovereignty loomed large in the development of human rights and international law. Could the states that were being created out of the independence movements and diminished European empires adopt nationality laws that excluded entire population groups? Did national governments hold the power to strip their own citizens of that status? Who was responsible for the newly stateless?These issues remain highly pertinent today. Statelessness affects at least 15 million people, and the nationality of millions more is under threat, owing to an <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/38/52">escalation</a> of racially discriminatory policies and rhetoric in many countries. Nationality policies remain a favoured tool of authoritarians, who sometimes use them in tandem with mass atrocities, as in Myanmar, where the Rohingyas have been denied citizenship and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=23575&amp;LangID=E">subjected</a> to genocide and mass deportations to Bangladesh. Making matters worse, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to even more <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/coronavirus-fuels-fascist-politics-by-federico-finchelstein-and-jason-stanley-2020-05">xenophobic scapegoating</a> and ethno-nationalism, with political leaders like former US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blaming migrants and refugees for spreading the coronavirus.The pandemic also reminds us of the enduring influence that nationality has over our lives. Last May, <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/filippo-grandi">Filippo Grandi</a>, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/press/2020/5/5eb952222ec/unhcr-warns-stateless-people-risk-behind-coronavirus-response.html#:~:text=The%20right%20to%20a%20nationality,on%20policy%20and%20good%20practices.">warned</a>: “The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right and in this time of crisis it can mean the difference between life or death.” When governments prioritise citizens over others in their public-health and economic responses, the stateless suffer. Because statelessness remains a major blind spot for the institutions charged with protecting life and livelihoods, stateless people have been left <a href="https://files.institutesi.org/together_we_can_report_2021.pdf">further behind</a> than ever.Ghosts from the pastAt a time when statelessness demands urgent attention, two recent books provide important lessons about the nature of state power, international responses to national acts of exclusion, and the consequences of failure.Statelessness: A Modern History, by Mira L. Siegelberg of the University of Cambridge, and Denaturalized: How Thousands Lost Their Citizenship and Lives in Vichy France, by Claire Zalc, Director of the Institute of Modern and Contemporary History at the École Normale Supérieure, underscore both the historic scale of the problem and its grim costs. Each takes a different but equally meticulous approach to researching the history of the problem. And both explore how people have had their citizenship denied and revoked against the background of some of the most violent periods in modern history. Together, they remind us that the history of statelessness is a history of crumbling empires, world wars, genocides, and the emergence of an interstate system based on the formal equality of states.Siegelberg’s work is a sweeping survey of international legal and political thought, covering a period that includes WWI, the rise of fascism in the 1930s, the Holocaust, the postwar reconstruction of the international legal order, and the independence movements of the postwar decades. Drawing on a wide variety of archival sources – including popular fiction, case law, correspondence from stateless people to the League of Nations, works of legal and political theory, and notes from negotiations on human-rights treaties – she documents how the problem of statelessness informed theories of human rights and sovereignty.Siegelberg is concerned with how notions of statelessness developed within, and then shaped, ‘the political contours of the modern interstate order’. She reminds us that the concepts of citizenship and statelessness are not static. Rather, the meanings attached to these terms are constantly being reshaped and reconstructed by historic events and shifting power relations.While Seigelberg’s book provides a comprehensive overview of international perspectives and experiences concerning statelessness and the modern state’s power to exclude, Zalc’s work focuses on Vichy France between 1940 and 1944, when Jews and others were denaturalised in increasing numbers to serve the Nazi agenda of deportation to death camps. Her detailed investigation provides unique insights into how bureaucracies in authoritarian regimes produce and reproduce violence.“The other”Siegelberg’s Statelessness shows us that the racial hierarchies that characterised early twentieth-century citizenship regimes gave way not to equal citizenship, as was envisaged, but rather to other forms of racism in Europe. At the same time, Zalc’s book demonstrates how processes of citizenship were racialised with the help of seemingly neutral and innocuous bureaucratic categories and data collection. Under the French Third Republic, Jewishness had been considered a private matter of faith and thus went largely unrecorded by the state. But as Zalc shows in fascinating detail, the categorisations of ‘Jew’ and ‘Israelite’ were deciphered and applied retroactively to stigmatise and discriminate. With a new racialised definition of ‘Jew’, and under pressure from the occupying Nazi regime to identify, count, and denaturalise Jews according to quotas, individual citizen files were scrutinised for evidence of Jewishness.Zalc’s work provides direct evidence of how state power – and sometimes state violence – functions through the routine processes of registration, categorisation, and counting. This was how discriminatory decisions by administrators and judges, on the basis of predominantly unstated racial criteria, ultimately resulted in deportation and mass murder. Denationalisation, Zalc shows, does not only result from explicit discrimination in nationality laws, but also from the misuse of administrative and bureaucratic processes.We see this today, too. National registers or citizenship-verification processes requiring excessive documentation and paperwork are used to exclude and marginalize certain groups. A case in point is the mass disenfranchisement of Muslims carried out by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in Assam – the <a href="https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/india/assam-the-biggest-mass-disenfranchisement-of-the-21stcentury">biggest exercise</a> of its kind in this century. An administrative act described by the government as ‘<a href="https://scroll.in/article/948969/the-nrc-is-a-bureaucratic-paper-monster-that-will-devour-and-divide-india">just a process</a>’ has pushed some 1.9 million people to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/magazine/india-assam-muslims.html">brink of statelessness</a>, and many more will follow if this ‘process’ is rolled out nationwide.Racialised categories are also still being applied retroactively to exclude people, including through proxy indicators such as name, place of origin, or one’s status as a ‘dual national’. In Myanmar, where racial hierarchies in citizenship acquisition are explicit, registration and application processes have been fully <a href="https://files.institutesi.org/Towards_an_Inclusive_Citizenship_in_Myanmar.pdf">weaponised</a> against ethnic minorities and political opposition groups. ‘National security’Siegelberg and Zalc highlight not only the potential for bureaucratic violence through the administration of citizenship, but also how this exercise of state power is put to deliberate and targeted use. The archival material examined by Zalc offers a sampling of some of the legitimising rhetoric of the day. In Vichy France, the law on denationalisation was ‘of primordial importance’. According to a 1941 letter by Prime Minister François Darlan, it was needed to ensure that ‘the morally tainted or insufficiently assimilated elements that have been allowed to infiltrate the national community be eliminated as soon as possible’.Similarly, a recent <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/70213/RSC%202021_23rev.pdf?sequence=4&amp;isAllowed=y">academic symposium</a> canvassing revocations of citizenship from the 1960s through the present (with contributions focusing on Syria, India, Nigeria, and Myanmar) identified a common thread: ‘those targeted for exclusion are reimagined and branded as ‘aliens’ or even ‘infiltrators,’ who the state can and must uncover.”Zalc warns that the inherent ‘malleability of the notion of national interest’ can easily be used to legitimize ‘discretionary power as being exercised in the name of the higher interests of the state’. The revocation of nationality is enjoying something of a renaissance even in some Western democracies, where it is framed as a counterterrorism measure. When stateless people appealed to the League of Nations for assistance in the years following WWI, the world’s first global-governance body received so many letters that it was forced to acknowledge the issue, and to consider whether and how it could take up the refugees’ cause. But, as Siegelberg shows, the response was muted. Firm in their resolve to protect the legitimacy of states and the international state system, legal experts at the League shied away from ‘the messier world of politics’. They preferred to situate ‘the problem of statelessness within the domain of the conflict of laws and avoided addressing it as a wider international or humanitarian crisis resulting from mass denationalisation or exclusionary national legislation’.Then came the post-WWII system, which renewed the ambition to use international law to insulate the modern world against mass atrocities, statelessness, and human-rights abuses, but has proved insufficiently robust. States have maintained and adapted their powers to exclude and denationalize their own people.This is evident even in countries that harbour no doubts about their status as liberal democracies. In 2019, the United Kingdom’s then-Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, summarily revoked the citizenship of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c347vzp58nzt/shamima-begum-case">Shamima Begum</a>, a teenage girl who had run away from home to become the bride of an Islamic State fighter. Since this decision had clear political motives and was taken without any judicial proceedings, a court of appeal ruled in July 2020 that Begum should be allowed to return to the UK to fight the decision, but this ruling was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56209007">overturned</a> by the UK Supreme Court.In recent decades, important strides have been made in reframing statelessness as a human-rights issue, rather than as merely a matter of conflicting laws. Solutions have shifted from a focus on technical legal assistance (which tiptoes around the elephant in the room – state power) to approaches that challenge discrimination and states’ exclusionary powers directly.And yet, the international system still renders us powerless to temper the discretionary power of states to choose their own membership. There is no reliable, effective check against authoritarian states that set out to disenfranchise sections of their national communities. The contemporary drivers of statelessness are eerily reminiscent of the League of Nations era. Ethno-nationalism, security-related anxiety, and economic scapegoating are all contributing to processes of ‘Othering’ that, in the extreme, leave individuals or entire communities without citizenship. And, as was true of the post-WWI period, we have very few effective remedies to protect stateless people.Willful ignorance of the problem of statelessness has provided fertile ground for official abuses historically. Today, we must not look away as xenophobia is institutionalised in citizenship laws and bureaucracies. We must put aside fears of the ‘messier world of politics’ and call states to account for their exclusions – before it is too late for the excluded.© <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.project-syndicate.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Project Syndicate</a>Laura van Waas is Assistant Professor of International Law at Tilburg Law School in the Netherlands, is a founder and Co-Director of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.Natalie Brinham, a PhD student at the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University of London, is Senior Programme Officer at the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. <img width="307" height="462" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d18cf9c7e80680e0ac7e6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="301" height="462" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d18d19c7e80680e0ac7e7jpeg.jpg" alt="">Mira L. Siegelberg, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976313">Statelessness: A Modern History</a>, Harvard University Press, 2020. Claire Zalc, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674988422">Denaturalized: How Thousands Lost their Citizenship and Lives in Vichy France</a>, Belknap Press, 2020.

The statelessness pandemic

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d17ff9c7e80680e0ac79ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>View of the Gorkhali fort at Subathu. Photos: ALISHA SIJAPATI</figcaption></figure>Nepali Times reporter Alisha Sijapati spent a month retracing the Gorkha expansion beyond the Mahakali River more than 200 years ago to Garhwal, Kumaon and beyond. The Gorkha Empire was on a warpath, and the British East India Company saw it as a threat to its own expansionist ambitions. This five-part series looks at the bravery of the Gorkhali troops under its legendary generals to defend the newly-conquered territory, but also the historical memory among the local people of an oppressive rule.This is the third of a five-part report. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/beginning-of-the-end-of-the-gorkha-empire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-gorkhali-defeat-at-kangra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second</a> episodes are in the Nepali Times archives. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/where-nepals-banner-once-waved/">fourth</a> part will appear on 16 October in this space. The road from Subathu to Jaithak in Himachal Pradesh of India will remind any Nepali of the highway from Bharatpur to Mugling. In the monsoon, there are frequent rockfalls and landslides.  This year’s monsoon saw heavier than unusual rainfall across the Himalaya, and especially here in these rugged mountains where more than 200 years ago the invading Gorkhali army was facing an imminent threat from the East India Company.The expansionist Gorkha Empire was headed for a headlong clash with the equally belligerent British who were extending their influence across India.The deep valleys are lush and green this time of year, as the rain sweeps in on the monsoon winds from the east. It was also from the east that the Gorkhalis came in the early 1800s, sweeping across 1,500km of the Himalayan foothills in a blitzkrieg. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d18029c7e80680e0ac79bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It was among these mountains that the sound of cannons must have echoed, along with the battle cries, and the rivers ran red with the blood of the dead and wounded. One of the bloodiest encounters of this offensive occurred at Christmas in 1814 at Jaithak Fort, as the British launched an offensive all along the western front, the centre and east of what was then not yet Nepal. Unlike other forts, the Gorkhalis held on to Jaithak for five months, and was unconquered, until they had to give it up because of the loss of the nearby fort at Malaun.  The Empires Strike The Anglo-Gorkha war began in October 1814 when the British troops proceeded to take over Nalagarh, the present-day gateway to Himachal Pradesh. Within the next four months, the Gorkhalis had already lost Khalanga, Nalagarh, and Ramsheher passes.  The Gorkhali general Amar Singh Thapa, devastated after the defeat by the Sikhs at Kangra and the treaty with Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had moved to Arki Fort, while many Gorkhalis went on to join the Khalsa army at the Lahore camp, giving rise to the term Lahurey — which even today denotes anyone migrating abroad for work.  Amar Singh Thapa knew about the strength of the British and their mighty cannons, and he did not want to engage with the East India Company, advising restraint against any provocation. However, back in Kathmandu, the Mukhtiyar General (prime minister) Bhimsen Thapa had ambitious plans to preserve the influence he had hitherto contrived for his family and preferred assertive action against the British. <figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d18069c7e80680e0ac79cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On the other hand, the East India Company, with expansionist ambitions of its own, was swiftly moving across India and took the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tales-of-courage-and-suffering/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gorkhali advance </a>in the north as a threat. There was another reason at play as well: cotton export from India was dwindling because of the burgeoning textile industry back in England and the Company needed a trade route across the Himalaya to Tibet to access the valuable shatoosh wool (pashmina) which was prized in England. Historians say that if the British had had enough time to instigate their troops for taking over the Gorkha, they would have done it quickly and easily, considering their numerical superiority and modern weapons.The rivalry between the Gorkhalis and the East India Company actually began much earlier. The Malla kings of Kathmandu Valley in 1767, facing an imminent Gorkha invasion, sent an SOS to Calcutta for help. The British sent an expeditionary force led by Captain Kinloch which was met by the Gorkhali defenders at Sindhuli Garhi fort. Battling malaria, wild animals and the fierce Gorkhali defence, the British and their Indian fighters retreated.  In 1795 there was another dispute over the Tarai frontier lands. The British wanted to define the borders in Morang and Purnea districts but were deterred by thieves and fugitives in the area.  <img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d18089c7e80680e0ac79djpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d180b9c7e80680e0ac79ejpeg.jpg" alt="">Amar Sing Thapa's residence atArki Fort. Photo: CREATIVE COMMONSIn 1804 Sano Kaji Amar Singh Thapa (not the same general in Kangra) conquered Palpa and expected to receive rents from Butwal and Gorakhpur. However, he did not know then that the Nawab of Oudh had already ceded Gorakhpur to the Company. The negotiations around the territory took a turn for the worse when the Company flatly refused it to Kathmandu. That bitterness was festering when in 1813, Major Paris Bradshaw, who joined the East India Company as Chief Commissioner, produced land documents as evidence to back the Company’s claim on the villages in the Makawanpur border and Butwal. Historians say that Bradshaw’s ‘haughty’ manners did not sit well with the Gorkhalis, and this escalated the matter further. The Gorkhalis were given until 22 April 1814 to surrender Butwal and Siuraj. On the day, the Magistrate of Gorakhpur sent 17 Companies to take possession of the land. The Gorkhalis had withdrawn since it was the malaria season. A month later, however, they returned to attack the police posts in Butwal resulting in the death of one policeman. Meanwhile, Francis Rawdon Hastings joined the East India Company in Calcutta as the new Governor-General. Hastings was a sensible man and did not want to start a full-scale war with the Gorkha Empire for a small piece of land that merely got the Company Rs15,000. But war was inevitable. A precursor to the Kumaon-Garhwal-Himachal war was that Bradshaw had occupied 22 villages in Saran and captured a Gorkha police post. Following this, when Chandra Shekhar Upadhaya, an agent from Kathmandu was sent for diplomatic negotiations, the Company announced it did not want any more talk.  Meanwhile, in the territory newly conquered by the Gorkhalis in Garhwal, General Amar Singh Thapa claimed Sirmaur and Hindur. British Gen David Ochterlony, who was then based in Ludhiana countered the claim. Thapa wrote to Kathmandu and was eventually successful in invalidating Ochterlony’s claims. The failure to secure Sirhind for the Empire and the Company greatly embittered Ochterlony towards Amar Singh Thapa. According to Jyoti Thapa Mani, the author of the book <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2016/03/22/the-sharp-edge-of-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Khukri Braves</a>,  Ochterlony and Amar Singh Thapa were rather frenemies. To keep an eye on each other, these two opposing generals even made their sons mit friends.  “Both Ochterlony and Thapa understood each other’s expansionist ambitions and loyalties to their respective countries,” Thapa Mani says. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/diary-of-a-nepali-soldier-in-france/">Diary of a Nepali soldier in France</a>, Shree Bhakta Khanal <figure><img width="2011" height="1323" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d180f9c7e80680e0ac79fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Despite his reluctance to go to war with the British, Amar Singh Thapa knew that the war with the East India Company was inescapable. The Gorkhali’s ties with the Khalsa army of Punjab was weakening after the Sikhs were subdued with the Treaty of Perpetual Friendship with the Company. Amar Singh Thapa knew that a war would come at a hefty price for the over-extended Gorkhalis.  Thapa tried to send word to Lord Hastings in Calcutta but failed. He even tried to get support from Qing rulers of China and the Sikhs, but in vain. The Peshwas of Maratha, who were also fighting the British, were also approached.  In a letter to General Ochterlony, Amar Singh Thapa wrote: ‘Otherwise by favour of Gods, the troops of the Gorkhas, resembling the waves of the ocean… will make necessary preparations to prevent the usurpation of any one place which has been in their possession for years past, and the flame of agitation will daily increase.’ On 1 November 1814 Lord Hastings formally declared war on the Gorkha kingdom, but he permitted the army to strike as they saw fit as soon as the monsoon ended. He had to his favour also the intensified infighting in the royal court in Kathmandu, and the tension between Bhimsen Thapa and Amar Singh Thapa was already at a tipping point. The East India Company was looking to redeem itself as the bravest warriors since Captain Kinloch defeat at Sindhuli, and the second time around, on top of more advanced artillery, Hastings was also more prepared. By February 1815, the East India Company had already placed four points of attack on the Gorkhas -- Khalanga, Saran, Jitgarh, and Malaun Fort. By the end of the first month of the war, the Gorkhali had already surrendered Nalagarh Fort to the East India Company, and by the end of November Khalanga in Dehradun too was lost. The British had overwhelming numbers and mountain cannons that could blast the Gorkhali forts.The forts did not just have the warriors in them, but the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lest-we-forget/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gorkhali troops </a>had brought along their wives and children as well who would rain boulders down from the ramparts at the British. These families bore the brunt of the Company’s siege of the forts and the battles to conquer them.In November Amar Singh Thapa moved to Ramshehar Fort. Then in January he again moved his base to Malaun, where winding roads isolated the fort. He then advised his son, Ranajor Singh Thapa to move his base from Nahan to Jaithak, 92km north-west of Malaun.The Assault at JaithakJaithak Fort sits atop a steep hill and even today, with one wrong move on the narrow trail, a visitor can fall into the ravine below. Historians remark at how only the nimble-footed Gorkhalis knew their way around the terrain and to imagine the British troops trying to scale this perilous hillside is truly astounding. The British had no option but to try and build roads to reach from the nearby mountain peaks. Due to its geographical advantage, Ranjor Singh Thapa held on to the fort even after five months of the British siege. <figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d18129c7e80680e0ac7a0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The fort had earlier served as a garrison for ammunition and a lookout post, and Amar Singh Thapa had seen strategic advantage in Jaithak Fort, since he was well aware that the topography would make it difficult for the British troops.Gen Ochterlony, on the other hand, was seeking every vulnerable aspect of the Gorkhalis to strike. He called Major-General Gabriel Martindell from Kanpur to attack the Jaithak troops with all the might of his force. Martindell soon arrived and set his camp close to Nahan and was joined by Captain Ludlow who had just won a war in Khalanga. The battle for Jaithak Fort took place in December during a bitter Himalayan winter. It rained, it snowed, and the Gorkha soldiers were already weak from hunger and thirst. The soldiers also had to protect and care for their families inside the fort. The campaign was fierce, and eventually there were only 500 Gorkhali soldiers against thousands of British troops. Even then, the Company could not take over the fort.Nevertheless, while Ranjore Singh Thapa still held on to Jaithak, the Gorkhalis had already lost Malaun where Ochterlony and Amar Singh Thapa signed a treaty on 15 May 1815. As per the agreement, the Jaithak Fort was surrendered to the Company – even though it had not actually been conquered.  Jaithak todayTwo centuries later, these scenic mountains of Himachal Pradesh are serene — there is little to remind us of the blood that was shed here in the clash of empires. Even though the tales of bravery from the battles survive in lore, folk songs and history textbooks in present-day Nepal, few of the descendants of the Gorkhalis who remain here in India remember that history. One person trying to change that is a descendant of the rulers of Sirmaur, Ajay Bahadur Singh, who along with his son, has bought a section of the Jaithak Fort. He takes pride in his connection to the Gorkhalis, some of whom had joined the British even before the war ended in 1816. There is a sign outside the Fort that says: ‘Jaithak Fort is a private property of Kunwar Ajay Bahadur Singh and outsiders needed permission to trespass the property.’ Ajay Bahadur Singh is a descendant of the former royal clan of Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh and takes immense pride in being a part of the Gorkha heritage. Sitting comfortably in his centuries-old palace in Nahan, Ajay Bahadur Singh tells us proudly that the site is called Ranjore Palace — named after the Gorkhali commander Ranjore Singh Thapa, son of Gen Amar Singh Thapa. Ajay Bahadur Singh has even named his son Balbhadra, after the great Gorkhali warrior Balbhadra Kunwar, who after the Khalanga battle, came to Jaithak. He also fought the British in Nalapani.  Balbhadra Kunwar later joined the army of Punjab’s king Ranjit Singh and was killed in a battle against the Afghan in 1823, in present-day Pakistan.  <figure><img width="500" height="375" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161124/636d18159c7e80680e0ac7a1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Although not a Gorkhali by lineage, Ajay Bahadur Singh has always been a fan of the brave fighters from the east, whose valour and loyalty has stood the test of time. Every now and then, locals dig up 200-year-old skeletons and skulls from below the ground, and some of them even have rusted khukris next to them.  Ajay Bahadur Singh is a former legislator from the Himachal Pradesh assembly, and with his son Balbhadra has also set up a guest house in a section of the Jaithak Fort. The rest of the fort is in ruins and overgrown with trees.    “Neither the government of India nor Nepal has taken any heed or consideration in the restitution of these buildings,” Ajay Bahadur Singh. “If forts in Rajasthan can be turned into resorts, and even Kangra Fort is preserved by the Archeological Survey of India, why are the other Gorkhali forts in such a dilapidated state?” The former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Vir Bhadra Singh, who was from Rampur Busher, had started to restore the old Gorkha forts, but he died this year. Even more than Jaithak, the Malaun Fort six hours drive away held a greater strategic significance during the Anglo-Gorkha War. That is the fort where Amar Singh Thapa was fighting the most crucial battle against the Company while his son Ranjore was holding out in Jaithak in the winter of 1814.In the next episode in this series, I will travel on to Malaun the Gorkhali fort that saw one of the fiercest and longest sieges by the Company. The fall of Malaun was decisive and led to the eventual signing of the Sugauli Treaty, under which the Gorkha Empire had to cede all territory to the west of the Mahakali River and east of the Mechi River.

war