<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d142b9c7e80680e0a9965jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2002" height="1032"/>A network of 24 civil society groups have demanded that the <a href="https://www.ipu.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)</a> withdraw its invitation to House Speaker Agni Sapkota to attend its <a href="https://www.ipu.org/event/143rd-assembly-and-related-meetings" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">143rd assembly</a> that begins Friday in Madrid.Sapkota of the Maoist Centre has been accused of summary execution during the conflict, and his case is pending in Nepal’s Supreme Court.The <a href="http://www.advocacyforum.org/what-we-do/transitional-justice-department/accountability-watch-committee.php">Accountability Watch Committee (AWC)</a>, a network of human rights groups and victims of the conflict of Nepal, have written an open letter to the President of IPU Duarte Pacheco, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno and Ambassador to India and Nepal José María Ridao Domínguez asking that Sapkota not be invited to the conference.‘We ask the Government of Spain to direct its immigration authorities not only to refuse Mr. Sapkota entry into the country but also to open an investigation under the principles of Universal Jurisdiction, given the continuing investigation in Nepal in relation to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal/">international crimes</a> committed during Nepal’s conflict,’ wrote AWC coordinator <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-real-story-in-nepals-supreme-court-debacle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Charan Prasai</a>.The news comes as Nepal this week marks the 15th anniversary of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/by-the-way/justice-adjourned-for-nepal-conflict-victims,454">Comprehensive Peace Accord</a> between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), effectively ending the insurgency in which at least 17,000 people were killed, and more than 2,000 are<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-stalls-on-war-crime-probes/"> still missing</a>.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/state-of-impunity,2976">State of impunity</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/speechless/">Speechless</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d142e9c7e80680e0a9966jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1611" height="1062"><figcaption>Agni Sapkota</figcaption></figure>But <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-runs-out-of-excuses-to-address-war-crimes/">one and a half decades and 14 prime ministers later</a>, and despite the formation of two commissions to investigate war time excesses, conflict-era survivors of torture, abuse, rape and families of those killed continue to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/One-To-Many/victims-waiting-for-justice,698">wait for justice.</a>Nepal’s <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/13/nepal-reform-transitional-justice-law">delayed transitional justice</a> and multiple cases of the perpetrators being set free have added to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-lingering-trauma-of-war/">injustice and anguish of the victims and their families</a>.Speaker Sapkota himself is alleged to have been involved in the April 2005 abduction, torture, disappearance, killing and illegal burial of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/quest-for-justice-unites-two-women-whose-relatives-were-victims-in-the-hands-of-the-maoist-and-nepal,1295">Arjun Bahadur Lama,</a> a civic leader from Kavre district. During conflict years, Sapkota was a central committee member and leader of the underground Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) in Sindhupalchok district, neighbouring Kavre.Sapkota was elected as Speaker in January 2020 amidst protests against his candidacy. Before this, he served as a cabinet minister after his party entered mainstream politics in 2006 after the peace accord.‘Despite the order of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rights-groups-laud-nepal-supreme-court-ruling/">Supreme Court</a> requiring impartial and prompt investigation and an arrest warrant pending against him, investigations have not proceeded for more than a decade nor has he been arrested. Meanwhile, even as Mr. Sapkota’s political career has progressed, as far as the Nepal Police administration is concerned, he still cannot be located,’ the letter states.Due to the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2011/05/31/hearing-set-for-case-against-minister-agni-sapkota/">allegations pending</a> against him, Sapkota has had visa applications rejected by the United States and Australia in the past.The letter has been endorsed by prominent members of the civil society and rights organisations, including:<ol><li>Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF)</li> <li>Amnesty International Nepal</li> <li>Bandurmudhe Ghatana Pidit Samiti</li> <li>Conflict Victim Women National Network (CVWN)</li> <li>Conflict Victims Common Platform (CVCP)</li> <li>Conflict Victims National Alliance (CVNA)</li> <li>Conflict Victims Orphans Society (CVOS)</li> <li>Conflict Victims Society for Justice (CVSJ)</li> <li>Conflict Victims’ Rights Forum, Myagdi</li> <li>Democratic Freedom and Human Rights Institute (DFHRI)</li> <li>Ganesh Ujjan Foundation</li> <li>Human Rights and Justice Centre (HRJC)</li> <li>Human Rights for Justice</li> <li>Human Rights Organizations Nepal (HURON)</li> <li>Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC)</li> <li>Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre Nepal (LACC)</li> <li>Maina Bal Bikash Samiti</li> <li>Nagarik Aawaz (NA)</li> <li>National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders</li> <li>National Network of Disabled Conflict Victims (NNDCV)</li> <li>Nepal Forum for Restorative Justice</li> <li>Tarangini Foundation</li> <li>The Story Kitchen</li> <li>Voices of Women Media (VOW Media)</li></ol>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.’Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/toothless-commissions/">Toothless commissions</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rocky-transition-to-justice/">Rocky transition to justice</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-a-crime-not-to-call-it-terrorism/">It’s a crime not to call it terrorism</a>, Kunda Dixit

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Nepal Speaker’s IPU trip slammed

<img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71679c7e80680e0600ccjpeg.jpg" alt=""/> NCP parliamentarian Agni Sapkota has been elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, despite ongoing protests against his candidacy. Sapkota, of former Maoist faction, has been accused of murder during the conflict.  Fourteen years after the end of the conflict, a series of controversial actions by leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) have raised doubts about their commitment to transitional justice, the most glaring of them bring the appointment of Agni Sapkota to succeed Krishna Bahadur Mahara as Parliament Speaker. (Sapkota is pictured above on Tuesday after having registered his name for the candidacy.)  Nepal’s cybersphere had poured scorn over a person accused of murder replacing someone charged with rape when all the while a highly qualified female candidate, deputy speaker Shivamaya Tumbahangphe, was available for the post.  Sapkota has been accused of ordering the murder of Arjun Lama, a UML activist, in Kavre in 2005. Ironically, the UML is now a partner with the former Maoists in the NCP.In 2010, Agni Sapkota was denied a US visa for ‘serious and specific human rights allegations associated with his conduct during the insurgency’. He was earlier also prevented from going to Australia. “Theoretically, the Speaker should be someone able to rise above the party line, and not someone controversial. That does not seem the case with Sapkota,” said political analyst Krishna Khanal. “In fact, that has never been the case in Nepal. The Speaker’s post has always been a launching pad for those interested in higher political status.” The appointment of the Speaker was deadlocked for more than a month by the power struggle between Prime Minister Oli and his would-be successor Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Sapkota was Dahal’s choice, and Oli wanted a loyalist from his former UML party: neither supported Tumbahangphe’s nomination.At a farewell press conference this week, the fiery Tumbahangphe lashed out at her own party leadership for not trusting a woman to do the job, saying: “We succeeded in abolishing the monarchy, but we still need to work hard to abolish patriarchy.”Human rights activist Bhojraj Timilsina from Sapkota’s home district of Kavre said: “A person accused of such grave crimes should be investigated like anyone else.” But few expect that to happen. Of Sapkota’s nomination, Lama’s wife Purnimaya Tamang said: “Now I have lost all hope of justice.”In another move, the opposition Nepali Congress (NC) joined the ruling NCP to appoint apparatchiks to vacant posts in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) despite strong opposition from activists.The two parties did hold a consultation with victims’ groups about the nominations, but the consultation was boycotted by many and was condemned as a merely cosmetic gesture. “This is just a ploy by leaders to give legitimacy to their nominations and it is not acceptable to us,” says Bhagiram Chaudhari of Conflict Victims’ Common Platform. “It also mocks the rule of law, and gives a negative impression of the country in the international arena.”Last week NCP co-chair and former Maoist leader Dahal said he took responsibility “only” for 5,000 of the 17,000 Nepalis killed in the conflict. Dahal’s irreverence about war-era crimes was seen as a mockery of the rule of law. Since 2006, the Maoists under Dahal and later the NCP have tried to turn both the TRC and the CIEDP into pawns and prevent prosecution of perpetrators of proven wartime atrocities. “These are troubling signs,” wrote Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, on Tuesday. “International crimes cannot be brushed away with political trickery. If justice is denied in Nepal, victims may be forced to take their cases to courts abroad.”

Speechless

<figure><img width="1101" height="734" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71199c7e80680e0600b1jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Agni Sapkota after registering his name as candidate for the post of Speaker of House of Representatives. Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Fourteen years after the end of the conflict, a slew of controversial decisions and pronouncements by leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in the past two weeks has raised doubts about its commitment to resolve issues of transitional justice.Families of the 1,400 disappeared are still waiting for the truth of what happened, victims of war crimes want justice, while many thousands who were wounded, tortured, raped, or lost property during the conflict still awaiting compensation.There has been a bi-partisan resistance on the part of the NCP and the opposition Nepali Congress (NC) to address <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/state-of-impunity,2976" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/state-of-impunity,2976&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE-VRNrZHcLkqbC8jkCHAF_ibxycA">wartime atrocities </a>and provide closure to the families of victims and survivors.In fact, the former enemies are now not just the state. The Maoists, who killed and persecuted many from the former UML party have now unified under the same NCP banner.  Last week NCP co-chair and former Maoist leader who has become prime minister twice, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said in a speech in Chitwan that he took responsibility “only” for 5,000 of the 17,000 Nepalis killed in the conflict. He said the security forces had killed the rest. Since 2006, the Maoists under Dahal and later the NCP has tried to make both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on Enforced Disappearances toothless and ineffectual bodies. He has also tried to prevent prosecution of those who perpetrated proven war atrocities from the courts.Last week, the NCP and the NC agreed on political appointees to the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/One-To-Many/victims-waiting-for-justice,698" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/One-To-Many/victims-waiting-for-justice,698&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHUuaxDbFVqw17VQ--TLTMNticNDA">Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP)</a> despite strong opposition from conflict victims’ groups and human rights activists.The term of officials from both Commissions expired 14 months ago, and since then the posts have been vacant. They received many depositions from families of victims and survivors of war crimes, but not a single case has been taken to the courts.<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/victims-unhappy-nepal-revives-transitional-justice-process-200113082330798.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/victims-unhappy-nepal-revives-transitional-justice-process-200113082330798.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHNLYmm0mKKfi3hRpUx1RzZgp-Kdw">A three hour “consultation” </a> with victims’ groups was widely condemned as a merely cosmetic gesture and boycotted by many. The <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/12/nepal-reform-transitional-justice-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/12/nepal-reform-transitional-justice-law&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEk_5tXidhL25wkpdDcMoqNDvzPEQ">transitional justice law has still not been amended</a>, although the Supreme Court struck down key provisions that could grant amnesty to perpetrators back in 2015.‘These are troubling signs,” wrote <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/20/nepal-falters-justice-pledge-conflict-abuses" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/20/nepal-falters-justice-pledge-conflict-abuses&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNETrSeFLGj4NDuqkmKnIeZICLNc3A">Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch</a> on Tuesday. ‘International crimes cannot be brushed away with political trickery. If justice is denied in Nepal, victims may be forced to take their cases to courts abroad.’The last straw was the NCP’s appointment as the new Speaker of Parliament former Maoist commander <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2011/05/31/hearing-set-for-case-against-minister-agni-sapkota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2011/05/31/hearing-set-for-case-against-minister-agni-sapkota/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnI_YaxpLVDZmW6JcksaCRY1wCGA">Agni Sapkota</a> who is accused of executing a UML activist in Kavre, Arjun Lama in 2005.  <img width="594" height="142" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b711b9c7e80680e0600b2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="591" height="289" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b711c9c7e80680e0600b3jpeg.jpg" alt="">The cruel irony of it is that the UML is now a part of the NCP. Also, a person charged with murder has replaced former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is charged with rape, over-stepping <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-speaker-no-parliament-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shivamaya Tumbahengphe</a> of the NCP who had a rightful claim to be a Speaker.The government has not yet investigated Sapkota’s involvement in Lama’s murder. His wife <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/111027" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/111027&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579677544059000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJpCkhE239E86oZOgjhD6meLK_DQ">Purnamaya Lama </a>said: “Now, I have lost all hope of justice.”In 2010, Agni Sapkota was denied a US visa for ‘serious and specific human rights allegations associated with his conduct during the insurgency’. He was earlier also prevented from going to Australia.

14 years after conflict, no closure in Nepal

<figure><img width="1200" height="733" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121136/636a3f989c7e80680e04a5d4jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: HIMALKHABAR.COM</figcaption></figure>While the Government of Nepal is taking pains to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Rights-right-here-at-home,3956" target="_blank" rel="noopener">polish its human rights image internationally</a>, its actions at home belie the perception of a global rights champion.Nepal became a member of the revamped UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2018 for the first time, for a term running until 2020. On 27 February 2019, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali addressed the HRC, telling it Nepal had embarked on the final leg of the peace process by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-transition-to-peace-needs-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extending the terms of two commissions</a>: one on truth and reconciliation, the other on enforced disappearances.  <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rocky-transition-to-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The process</a> would be guided by the Comprehensive Peace Accord of 2006, Supreme Court directives, international human rights commitments, victims’ concerns and ground realities, Gyawali assured the HRC. Subsequently, the government put on an elaborate and insincere act to amend the Act, even asking representatives of the international community in Kathmandu for their suggestions. It was a ruse. As a result, on 12 April five HRC officials wrote to the government pointing out <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/just-not-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shortcomings in the truth and reconciliation process,</a> including the ‘reported lack of impartiality, independence and transparency’ in the selection of new heads of the two commissions. While the government takes pains to show the world that it is working for those who suffered rights violations during the 1996-2006 conflict, and their families, at home a proposed law threatens to weaken the national institution tasked with ensuring the human rights of all Nepalis — the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). A proposed amendment to the NHRC Act 2012 would require the rights body to have its recommendations for action against perpetrators of alleged violations vetted by the attorney general. This is despite the fact that the NHRC is a constitutional body, a status given in the Interim Constitution in 2007 precisely so that the NHRC can investigate alleged violations independent of government interference. In fact, the 2012 NHRC Act contained the same provision, section 17 (10), until it was declared null and void by the Supreme Court on 6 March 2013, following a challenge by lawyer Om Prakash Aryal. The court ruled that as a constitutional body, the NHRC was capable and empowered to decide if a case should be pursued and that the attorney general could not overrule such decisions.The revised Act, discussed by the parliamentary committee on law, justice and human rights this week, would reintroduce 17 (10) in slightly different wording, then go a step further by giving the AG the power to ask the NHRC to conduct criminal investigations. Ironically, when Nepal was campaigning for governments to support its bid for an HRC seat in Geneva, it noted in a note verbale: ‘The  National Human Rights Commission, established as an independent statutory body in 2000, has now been elevated to a powerful constitutional body with a commensurate mandate, competence and independence.’And in his HRC speech in February, Gyawali called Nepal a ‘pioneer’ for mainstreaming the global rights agenda into its national policies and plans. Yet since the NHRC came into being in 2000, just 12.5% percent of its 810 recommendations have been fully implemented, 48.3% were implemented partially and 39.2% are under consideration. Even those statistics are misleading as the only recommendations acted upon concern compensation — those calling for action against perpetrators have been ignored.Notably, all political parties that have held power in the past two decades have failed the NHRC, including the opposition groups now railing against the proposed amendments.The NHRC reportedly recommended 17 changes to the revised NHRC Act 2012, all of which were ignored in the version sent to Parliament. The root of the ingrained culture of impunity and lack of accountability in Nepal today is the many perpetrators who literally got away with mass murder in the past. While truth-telling and compensation are important, without <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/justice-in-transition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">justice</a> being seen to be done, the peace process will never really be over, as we have seen with a Maoist faction still on the war path.Now that victims are in agreement and the way forward has been clearly laid out by the Supreme Court and international law, what’s also needed to finally advance on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/12-years-later-justice-is-a-mirage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional justice</a> is a fresh slate of commissioners in both the enforced disappearances and truth and reconciliation bodies.In February, Gyawali announced Nepal’s candidacy for a second HRC term, from 2021 to 2023. That election will be decided primarily on geopolitical considerations, but the Nepal government could help its own cause by finally addressing the demand for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-struggle-for-transitional-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">truth and justice</a> so conflict victims and their families can have closure, and by ensuring the independence of the NHRC. <h2>10 years ago this week</h2> Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s effort to sack Army Chief Rookmangud Katawal and replace him with his nominee earned Dahal India’s wrath, as Prashant Jha <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15898#.XMqu5jAzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in his column Plain Speaking</a> in the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/449" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#449 edition of Nepali Times</a> of 1-8 May 2009.The army row gives us a glimpse of India’s concerns, its power and limits. The Maoists have been relatively successful in portraying the opposition to sacking General Katawal as India-inspired, and an unacceptable interference in Nepal’s internal affairs. What they forget is that they would still be in the jungles fighting an unwinnable war if not for India’s mediation. If Nepal’s political class had succeeded in mounting a solely domestic opposition to the royal regime, if they had not rushed to Delhi to instrumentally use India to advance their own partisan interests, they could have told the Indians to keep away.The reality is that this peace process is essentially a compact between India (which acted as a guarantor of the 12-point deal and later got the army on board), the Maoists (who promised to accept multiparty democracy) and the NC (which agreed to dump the monarchy). And now, the Maoists suddenly remember that domestic political decisions are none of India’s business.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/449"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121136/636a3f9b9c7e80680e04a5d5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="508" height="812"></a>

Nepal’s human rights act

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

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;