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Following pressure from opposition parties, the government formed a probe panel to investigate the visit-visa scam. However, the move has failed to satisfy key opposition parties, including the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). These parties argue that instead of a panel led by former Chief Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi, who himself is under scrutiny by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, a parliamentary probe committee should have been formed. 

Despite these criticisms, the panel has begun its investigation, though public expectations remain low due to past failures in implementing such committees’ recommendations. Nevertheless, the panel’s formation has helped the CPN (Maoist Center) save face. For now, discussions about a potential government change have subsided, with both opposition and Nepali Congress (NC) leaders refraining from further statements. However, given past unpredictability, the situation warrants close monitoring.

Meanwhile, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal (JSP-N), led by Upendra Yadav, has decided to withdraw its support from the KP Sharma Oli-led government, in which the Nepali Congress is a key coalition partner. While this move is unlikely to destabilize the government, the JSP-N justified its decision by citing the administration’s failure to ensure good governance, amend the constitution, and initiate economic reforms.

In parliamentary developments, the House of Representatives (HoR) has endorsed the budget for the next fiscal year, pending approval from the National Assembly. Opposition parties and independent lawmakers have protested, alleging that a significant portion of the budget has been allocated to the constituencies of top leaders from major parties.

On the political front, the RSP celebrated its third anniversary this week, with its chairperson, Rabi Lamichhane, who is currently in police custody, issuing an appeal to party cadres. The party is now focusing on expanding its activities nationwide.

The ruling CPN-UML, meanwhile, is preparing for its statute convention. Party Chairperson KP Sharma Oli has been tasked with drafting the political document, while Vice-chairperson Bishnu Poudel will handle statute-related issues, and General Secretary Shankar Pokharel will oversee organizational matters. A proposal to impose a 70-year age limit and a two-term cap for the party chair is under discussion, a contentious point, given Oli’s age (74). In a recent public statement, Oli dismissed the debate as irrelevant. Separately, the party has revoked disciplinary actions against Binda Pandey and Usha Kiran Timalsina, who had been penalized for criticizing the party’s acceptance of business donations for its office construction.

In legal developments, former prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, appeared before the Special Court after the CIAA filed a corruption case against him over the Patanjali land scam. Released on bail, Nepal claims the case is politically motivated, an allegation Prime Minister Oli denies.

The Election Commission is preparing for upcoming by-elections in select constituencies and local bodies. After consulting with Prime Minister Oli this week, the government is expected to announce election dates soon. Oli is also set to visit Spain starting Saturday, with a potential trip to India afterward. Notably, India has yet to extend a formal invitation to Oli, despite his over year-long tenure as prime minister, a delay that remains unexplained.

On the policy front, the Supreme Court has issued an interim order barring government agencies from imposing restrictions on ride-sharing services. Under pressure from transport syndicates, the Gandaki provincial government has paused its plan to legalize ride-sharing. The court has also urged transport entrepreneurs to avoid disruptive strikes.

In the energy sector, Nepal has withdrawn the ‘take and pay’ provision from its budget following pressure from independent power producers. This provision, related to power purchase agreements with private developers, was a last-minute concession after the Nepali Congress (NC) intervened.

Within the NC, senior leader Shekhar Koirala continues pushing party president Sher Bahadur Deuba to hold the general convention before the 2027 elections. Koirala and Gagan Kumar Thapa fear that delaying the convention until after the polls could allow Deuba, who is set to become prime minister before the elections, to influence the outcome.

In foreign affairs, Nepal has paused its evacuation plan for citizens in Israel following the Iran-Israel ceasefire. At Nepal’s request, India has assisted in repatriating Nepalis from Iran, with six out of 16 evacuees already returned. Meanwhile, around 1,000 Nepalis in Israel have registered to return, but the government has slowed the evacuation process.

Finally, Nepal and India held productive talks on security and defense cooperation, covering joint military exercises, disaster relief, and personnel exchanges. While Indo-Nepal defense ties have remained strong over the past 70 years, Nepal has also recently deepened its defense collaboration with China.

Over the past three years, the world has witnessed four major wars, each affecting Nepal to varying degrees. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Israel-Palestine war also erupted that year following a terrorist attack. India and Pakistan engaged in a short but deadly war after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, and most recently, the Iran-US-Israel conflict unfolded. Iran and Israel have now reached a ceasefire agreement after a 12-day-long war. During this time, the United States carried out brief and targeted strikes on three Iranian sites.

As in previous conflicts, the Nepal government had to focus on the rescue of its citizens from Israel and Iran. Evacuation efforts are already underway. Two Nepali nationals have returned home, and the remaining 14 are expected soon. Responding to Nepal’s request, the Indian government also evacuated Nepali nationals along with its own. The absence of a Nepali embassy in Tehran and a lack of formal communication channels made the evacuation process particularly difficult.

During the Iran-Israel war, the Nepal government did not issue any official statement. Nepal has shared a long and cordial relationship with Israel since establishing diplomatic ties in 1960. It was, in fact, the first South Asian country to recognize Israel. Since the beginning of the Iran-Israel war and the subsequent US strikes, Nepal has faced no significant pressure from political parties or the strategic community to issue a statement. However, some left-leaning parties, including the main opposition CPN (Maoist), condemned the US strikes on Iran. A few civil society organizations held demonstrations in Kathmandu, calling for an end to the conflict. Although Nepali political leaders and officials have met Iranian counterparts on the sidelines of multilateral forums, no formal bilateral engagements have taken place.

Regarding the Israel-Palestine war, Nepal promptly condemned the Hamas attack on the very day it occurred. The attack claimed the lives of 10 Nepali students, and the whereabouts of Bipin Joshi remain unknown. “The Government of Nepal vehemently denounces the recent act of terrorism in Israel, which tragically resulted in the loss of precious human lives and left many others injured,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated. Notably, later statements from the ministry omitted the word “terrorist,” a shift that caught the attention of foreign policy analysts. Meanwhile, Israel has expressed some reservations about Nepal’s voting positions on issues concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict. In recent votes, Nepal has supported calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Following a terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22 this year, which killed 25 tourists—including one Nepali—India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, engaged in a four-day conflict from May 7 to 10. In response, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two statements: the first on April 23 and the second on May 8. The April 23 statement unequivocally condemned the “barbaric terrorist attack on innocent tourists” and expressed Nepal’s solidarity with the Indian government and people.

On May 8, amid the India-Pakistan conflict, Nepal reaffirmed its stance against terrorism. The statement expressed deep concern over rising tensions and reiterated Nepal’s commitment to fighting terrorism in all forms. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava reportedly thanked Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for Nepal’s support. Before and after the conflict, several Indian politicians visited Kathmandu for wide-ranging discussions. A few regional programs on terrorism in South Asia were also held in the capital. Interestingly, Nepali political leaders and the strategic community remained relatively silent on the India-Pakistan tensions.

The Russia-Ukraine war had a more visible impact on Nepal, largely due to US involvement. Following Russia’s invasion in Feb 2022, Nepal joined the international chorus condemning Russia’s actions. Nepal even voted in an emergency session of the UN General Assembly against Russia’s invasion, calling for an immediate withdrawal and adherence to international law.

This move sparked considerable debate within Nepal. Many argued that Nepal’s vote aligned too closely with Western powers and went against its traditional non-aligned foreign policy. In subsequent UN votes on the war, Nepal adopted a more neutral stance. The conflict’s economic repercussions were felt in Nepal, though not as acutely as in many other parts of the world.

Interestingly, soon after the war began, Moscow proposed advancing bilateral cooperation with Kathmandu. At the same time, the US pressured Nepal to avoid engagement with Russia on business and other matters. Most communist parties in Nepal expressed support for Russia, arguing that Ukraine had failed to acknowledge Russia’s security concerns. However, when it came to light that Russia was recruiting Nepali youth into its army, public and political criticism intensified. Since Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th President of the United States, Russian activity in Kathmandu has increased, with more visits from Russian political, business and other delegations.

A close analysis of these four wars suggests that Nepal has not been significantly affected, at least directly. The country continues to adhere to its long-standing policy of non-alignment. Still, there is growing domestic debate about whether this policy remains viable in a rapidly-changing geopolitical landscape. For now, despite changes in leadership, Nepal has not deviated from its foundational foreign policy approach when dealing with global conflicts.

The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump between Israel and Iran has offered some respite to the Nepal government, which had been scrambling to rescue its citizens from the two countries. As tensions escalated, nearly 1,000 Nepalis in Israel had expressed desire to return home. 

Had there been no ceasefire, the fallout would likely have extended beyond Israel and Iran, affecting Nepali workers across the entire Middle East (West Asia for Nepal).

Iran’s strike on the American military base in Qatar had already sparked panic among the Nepali workers. Qatar hosts around 365,000 Nepali migrant workers.  Whenever a conflict erupts in the Middle East, Nepal bears the brunt. Hundreds of thousands Nepalis are working in the region, and the remittances they send home are a backbone of Nepli economy. If these workers were to return from the labor destination countries in droves, remittances would dry up. Soon, there would be an unemployment crisis. Prolonged conflict in the Middle East could also cause shortages or price hikes of petroleum products.

At the time of writing, Iran and Israel—despite agreeing to the truce—continue to exchange fire. At this uncertain time, the safety and security of Nepali workers in the Middle East must be the government’s prime concern. It should face the reality of the situation and come up with a proper strategy to evacuate its citizens in the event of an emergency. It should start by strengthening the presence of Nepali embassies. For long, Nepali embassies not just in the Middle East but around the world have been grappling with insufficient resources. Many embassies are short-staffed and are thus unable to coordinate an emergency mission. Worse, they do not have information about the number of its citizens.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the top nine destinations for Nepali migrant workers are Malaysia (700,000), Saudi Arabia (400,000), Qatar (365,000), the UAE (250,000), Kuwait (70,000), South Korea (40,000), Bahrain (25,000), Oman (20,000) and Israel (3,000).

Foreign relations experts suggest it is high time Nepal increased its reach and presence in those countries with a high number of Nepali migrant workers. A long-term peace in the Middle East is still a shaky prospect, so the government should explore alternative job destinations as well as prioritize domestic job creation.   

US President Donald Trump has accused the two countries of violating a ceasefire hours after he announced it, expressing particular frustration with Israel, which had announced plans for major new strikes on Tehran.

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” he said as he departed Washington for a NATO summit in the Netherlands. “The biggest load that we’ve seen.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that two of the 16 Nepalis in Iran were evacuated from Mashhad to New Delhi. We express our sincere gratitude to the Government of India for facilitating the evacuation process, said the ministry.  Efforts are underway to evacuate the remaining 14 Nepalis, according to the ministry.  Over 950 Nepali nationals in Israel have registered expressing their interests to return to Nepal but the ministry is yet to initiate the process of evacuation from there.

Is the heat making you want to shut the windows, turn on the AC, and stay inside the house? As it gets unbelievably hot, all we want to do is the bare minimum. But it would be almost blasphemous not to make use of the longer days by indulging in activities that are far more pleasurable in summer. While we definitely recommend staying out of the scorching heat or using an umbrella, if you must go out in the sun, there are a good number of things that you can do when it’s hot outside and you want to do nothing more than plonk yourself in front of the TV.

Water workouts 

Many places these days offer water workouts like aqua zumba and competitive swimming. Sign up for a class so that you can get a workout in while chilling in the pool during hot summer days. If you don’t know how to swim, then there can never be a better time to learn. You can even make this a couple’s thing and get some quality time or enroll in classes with friends.

Evening stroll

Take advantage of the longer daylight hours and head out for an evening stroll after work. Visit local haunts or discover some place new in your area. Patan Durbar Square comes alive in the evenings with vendors, temper-goers, and people just lazing around. Local parks and even malls are good places to hang around in the evening when the sun is milder and there’s a gentle breeze in the air. This could be a good time to get a little workout in as well.

Get creative

There are many classes and workshops that you can enroll in when the days are longer and you seem to have more time. From candle-making and pottery to cooking and photography, there is just so much to choose from. You don’t have to commit to these long term, if you don’t want to. Sign up for a class and see how you feel about it. It’s a good way to learn something new while staying away from the heat but not slouched on your couch or bed.

Plan a party

Too lazy to go out and meet friends over the weekend? Why not invite them over and turn it into a fun summer meet up? You can prepare some light snacks and drinks or order-in. Decide what you want to do beforehand. Do you want to indulge in a round of board games? Or is watching a scary movie more your thing? Depending on what you want to do, you can plan your day around it. It’s always a good idea to spend some time together and bond.

Paint and sip

The concept of painting something while indulging in some wine or cocktails had become quite a trend when House of Palettes, an art center in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur, came up with it. Slowly, the novelty died down but there are many places that offer the same facility these days. There are also many pop up places that offer the service at reasonable prices during the weekend as well. It’s a particularly enjoyable activity on a hot summer day.

Spa day

The hot weather is the perfect excuse to pamper yourself. Book yourself a manicure, pedicure session and throw in a full body massage as well. This is again another thing you can do with your partner or a friend. We recommend Ayurvedic massages and treatments that are extremely relaxing. An entire day at the spa is such a perfect way to spend a particularly hot summer day when you don’t want to do much else.