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Nepal has intensified diplomatic efforts with Russia to address the key concerns surrounding Nepali youths joining the Russian army. Speaking with ApEx, Foreign Minister NP Saud said the number of Nepali youths in the Russian army could be higher than the government estimates. 

“The number of casualties and missing could also be higher,” said Saud. Given the situation in Russia, the minister said that the government has taken a series of measures to stop Nepalis traveling to Russia as well as Ukraine through various transit countries. 

Russia has been enlisting Nepali men in its army and sending them to fight the war with Ukraine without the knowledge of Nepal. The presence of Nepalis in the Russian army was made known by the enlistees through their social media posts.

The government view is that the Kremlin should have stopped Nepalis from joining the Russian Army in the first place. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said recently that approximately 200 Nepalis were serving in the Russian army, but other independent observers who have returned from the country say the number could be much higher. Till date, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the death of six Nepalis. 

Nepal Police recently busted a gang involved in the smuggling of people to Russia, leading to the suspicion that many Nepali youths are currently serving in the Russian army. Minister Saud said the Nepal government will ask Russia to ascertain the number of Nepalis in its army, as well as the number of dead, injured and prisoners of war.

“We are in the process of taking up these issues with the concerned authorities,” he told ApEx.

In recent weeks, there have been increasing reports about the death and hostage taking of Nepalis serving in the Russian army. Videos of some Nepali hostages asking for help have also been released.  

As Nepal and Russia enjoy a cordial relationship and both countries have their residential embassies in each other’s capital, Nepal may not need support of a third country to repatriate its citizens.

 Even in the war-time, Nepali politicians have been visiting Russia. Prime Minister Dahal recently expressed his wish to visit Moscow and to host Russian President Vladamir Putin in Kathmandu.

In April, Chairman of National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timalsina had also visited Russia. Soon after his visit, Russia handed over a paper to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs identifying the areas that Russia wants to engage with Nepal. There have been other high-level exchanges between the two countries as well.  According to some observers, as the two countries have been in constant communication and hosting each other’s delegations, nothing should stop them from talking about the Nepalis joining the Russian army.

Besides issuing a press statement on December 4, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not said anything about the death, injury or captivity of Nepali youths in the Russia-Ukraine war.On December 7, the National Human Rights Commission urged the government to rescue the Nepalis from Russia and Ukraine. But the response from the government agencies, including the Nepali Embassy in Moscow, has remained slow.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin too seems reluctant to address the issue. In response to BBC Nepali Service’s question, Putin’s office recently said that it was unaware about the recruitment of Nepalis in the Russian army.  “Foreign nationals cannot serve in the Russian army,” BBC quoted a senior Russian official as saying. With Russia clearly unwilling to engage, observers say the government should not hesitate to dispatch a high-level team to Moscow to investigate and resolve the matter.

Samrat Upadhyay is a Nepali-born American author whose works are centered on Nepali society and culture. He is the author of acclaimed books, Arresting God in Kathmandu, The Royal Ghosts, The Guru of Love, Buddha’s Orphans, The City Son, and Mad Country. He has received numerous accolades for his books, including the New York Times Notable Book, San Francisco Chronicle Best Book, 2007 Asian American Literary Award, and Society of Midland Authors Book Award. The Royal Ghosts was also a finalist for the Frank O’Connor Int’l Short Story Award. His new novel, Darkmotherland, is being published by Soho Press in 2024. Currently, Upadhyay is a Distinguished Professor of English and Martha C. Kraft Professor of Humanities at Indiana University.

Upadhyay also sponsors and judges Writing Nepal: A Short Story Contest in partnership with La.Lit magazine. Upadhyay, who is currently in Nepal, is due to announce the winners of this year’s La. Lit short story contest on December 21 at 2 pm in Malpi Institute, Baluwatar. Ken Subedi converses with Upadhyay on his affinity towards books, writing, and teaching.

You have written short stories as well as novels. In your experience, what was more challenging, story-story collection or a novel?

I feel more at home with short stories, but novels present more difficulties, perhaps because I feel that I’m not a natural novelist. Apart from the novel’s larger canvas, which presents its own challenges, the writing process is a bit nerve-wracking. You can write for three years or more (Darkmotherland took me about a decade to write) without fully knowing whether the project is going to be successful. But lately I’m finding that my short stories are getting longer and longer, and often they want to veer off into tangents and discursions, so perhaps I’m growing into a good little apprentice of the mighty novel

How has reading books shaped your personality as an author?

Reading is such an integral part of writing for me that at times it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. I am quite impressionable, so I get easily influenced by what I’m reading at the moment. When I’m reading Cormac McCarthy, for example, I wish I could write into my own fiction the kind of dark and desolate landscape he envisions. Currently I’m reading the Argentinian writer Mariana Enriquez and am totally in love with her menacing and morbid stories of dead babies and demons and the occult. Reading her, I feel like I ought to write at least one horror story before I die. I actually like that I can get so excited by new authors I encounter, and I also am delighted when what I teach makes an impression on my students. Recently, after reading the latest Nobel winner Jon Fosse, I taught a chapter of his superb novel Morning and Evening, and I was pleased that Fosse’s free-flowing style with its eccentric syntax empowered a student to discover, in her own writing, a voice that was uniquely her own.

Do you agree that only a handful of writers from Nepal are able to produce fiction in English? Why is Nepal’s representation in English fiction negligible?

If the recent Writing Nepal contest is an indication, there is a lot of talent in fiction writing in English. In this year’s contest, I was impressed not only by the craft these writers showcased but also the risks they took. So, they might not be publishing, but they are certainly making wonderful creations. And, judging from the crappy books published every year—in America, in India—publication isn’t necessarily the only sign of the health of literature. But yes, we do need more good fiction to be published in Nepal. Radha: Wrath of the Maeju by Rishi Amatya, is a good example of quality fiction rooted in our culture that’s been published with an amazing editorial care by Safu.

Can you tell us more about your life as a creative writing professor?

I teach primarily fiction writing at Indiana University, in a department with a national reputation. Our competitive MFA program attracts students from all over the world, so I work with writers with amazing talent. Most of the time I am teaching graduate and undergraduate fiction workshops, and I find my teaching life very rewarding. Not only do I love teaching but I’m teaching the stuff I love. Sometimes I feel like I have the best job in the world. I have the opportunity to shape future writers, keep my own creative faculties sharp, and also learn a lot in the process. My students inspire me with their talents and their insights.

So, does this mean that creative writing can be taught?

I think people need to think of the teaching of writing as the teaching of, say, music, or tennis. Even if people have natural talent, that talent needs to be developed and nurtured. A good coach or a mentor, or even an intelligent peer, can provide guidance and inspiration that can lead to breakthroughs.

Do you suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do to overcome it?

I wouldn’t be a writer if I didn’t suffer from writer’s block. I’ve also discovered over the years that thinking of it as a “block” is counter-productive. A ‘block’ also implies a ‘flow,’ which is then supposed to be the ideal state of writing. But perhaps we should stop thinking of it as such a strict binary. When there’s a block, our brain might be trying to find ways to move to a higher level of creativity. Similarly, it’s quite possible that a good flow doesn’t necessarily lead to good writing. So, when faced with a block, I allow myself the freedom to explore. I do a lot of free writing, granting myself liberty to create work that might be useless or crappy. Often, in this exploration, I discover an opening that then leads to breakthroughs. A disciplined writing practice can also help. When you force yourself to write daily, blocks and flows recede to the background.  A writer’s block can be also cured by doing something physical–play a sport, go swimming or running etc. Sometimes watching a smart movie can trigger creativity in interesting ways.

It’s been more than two decades since you published your first book, Arresting God in Kathmandu. You’ve written three story collections and three novels. In what ways have you grown as a writer? Any advice to writers who are at the beginning of the process?

When I was first starting out, I used to think that all I had to do was write my first book and everything would be hunky-dory after that. I thought that a first book would mean that I had “arrived,” and I would no longer have to struggle with writing. How wrong I was! Each book has presented a different challenge, and each book has been more difficult to write than the previous one. My forthcoming novel, Darkmotherland, was the most challenging of them all. It’s a book of experiment and absurdity and dark humor, and it’s unlike anything I’ve written before. So I’ve grown in the sense that I’ve become more experimental, and I want to take even greater risks in my writing. I’m writing more than ever before–I have several books in various stages of completion, including a book about a talking dog.

My advice: there are no short-cuts in this business. Writing is hard, and it’ll get harder as you become better. You have to stick with it, you have to be disciplined. Don’t look for easy success. Don’t follow literary trends. Allow your writing to come from the depth of your being. Read voraciously, including books from far-flung places that might be very different from where you live. Make reading and writing such a part of your daily life that they become as natural as breathing.

Amid rising geopolitical tensions and escalating international conflicts, North Korea has successfully launched its first ever ‘Spy Satellite” into space to monitor the military activities of its adversaries—the US and its allies—in the Korean peninsula in real-time. More importantly, it would help in making its nuclear plan more precise. Earlier, Pyongyang closed dozens of its embassies, including in Nepal. North Korea has recently pledged to support Hamas in its war against Israel, while the US has blamed it for supporting Russia in the Ukraine war. North Korea is perhaps preparing for a nuke war with the US by claiming that the US could enter the Korean Peninsula with a ‘war-mongering’ attitude following the inducement of chaos in Eastern Europe and the Mideast. The US has deployed a ‘guided-missile submarine’ (nuclear submarine that can contain Ballistic Missile and Cruise Missile) in the Mideast with a message to Iran to not get involved in the Israel-Palestine war. If the flames of the Mideast war, unfortunately, spread to the Arab World, the Korean Peninsula, and to Taiwan, finally, the turmoil will exponentially outstrip beyond imagination or control of any of the superpowers.

While President Xi Xinping and President Joe Biden met face-to-face in San Francisco this week, as two largest economies and great powers of the world, China and the US should not only focus on their bilateral relations, but also think about global issues, including international peace, stability and the world order.

Previously, when the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome near Vladivostok, the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met Chinese President Xi Xing Ping in Beijing, while both Xi and Putin avoided the recent G20 meeting hosted by India. North Korea has been close to China and Russia and is constantly threatening the west, particularly the US, by repeatedly testing modern ballistic missiles. The G20 nations were contentious to logically end the Ukraine crisis, while the summit officially remained reluctant to condemn Russia that could have boosted Putin’s morale to further strategize the war. Putin is perhaps optimistic regarding the outcome of US election-2024 hoping that the incoming administration in the White House would revise the US strategy on Ukraine—that could favor him winning the war in Ukraine. China, on the other hand, is widely garnering support for its global political march, while the US is desperately making alliances to counter China. The nuke and superpower’s irrational competition on illicit supremacy is inducing global disorder.

Equally, various terrorist organizations are contributing to making the international system more anarchic and fueling social disorder. Samuel P Huntington remarked in The Clash of Civilizations 

that “Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault-lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future”, which remains relevant even today.

The diplomatic sneering between Saudi Arabia and the US in the past following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi perhaps played a key role in altering the diplomatic courses in the Gulf. Subsequently, the Arab World got united after China brokered a diplomatic deal, thereby solidifying its presence in the Mideast. The flaring tension in bilateral relations between India and Canada following the killing of Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar could now change the “politico-diplomatic strategies” in the Indo-Pacific, while the said intelligence sharing by the US ambassador to Canada regarding the killing of Sikh separatist leader Nijjar could not only deteriorate India-US relations, but could also dilute the US presence in the region by jeopardizing the future of the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). This could subsequently help reinforce China’s clout in the region and beyond.

Bilateral matters are internal affairs of nations, but the “hate crimes”—embedded in religious beliefs—can have spillover effects and cause ethnic war, instigating huge losses to human civilization, if not handled with utmost sense of rationality.  The religious radicalism—that is emotionally rooted to socio-cultural belief—could not only divide communities, but also largely rift humanity. It could also create space for the emergence of additional terrorists and criminal groups. The historical records or incidents of various civilizational clashes show that religious conflicts have always resulted in lose-lose outcomes. 

Conversely, both the states and their regimes want to cash in on ethnic nationalism for immediate political gains. However, both the state and their democratic strength suffer in the long run. 

South Asia is highly sensitive to religious or ethnic violence because the region is believed to be a Hindu-dominated civilization along with mixed minority religious groups, including Muslims and others that have been often witnessing domination from the former since ancient times, blame the critics. The minority groups sometimes outburst with grievances, ego or prejudice and encounters with the majority ones, which subsequently could escalate to civilizational clash leading to ethnic cleansing.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been constantly witnessing ethnic violence or terrorist attacks that are deep-rooted to religious radicalism. Nepal has also been witnessing instances of social and ethnic differences, particularly hatred sentiments or pursuits against Hindu beliefs or Hinduism, in recent times. Some internal and external actors are trying to sow the seeds of social disharmony in the Nepali society in the name of globalization of culture, perhaps, with shrewd hidden interests. On the other hand, social order is being constantly challenged due to social irresponsibility of some so called communally recognized individuals including people’s representatives, social frontrunners and Opinion makers. Various studies show that the major source of knowledge or information to the new generation has become ‘short clips’ or ‘posts’ from social media— that rarely have depth of information, facts or evidence, data or statistics, and data analysis regarding the content. Likewise, some Opinion makers in mainstream media dig deeper only into the problems just by criticizing, blaming and inducing negative emotions to the general public for the sake of immediate popularity, instead of identifying possible solutions, ideas, innovations and sense of socio-emotional cohesiveness by incorporating facts, data, discussions, critical analysis and integrity. Accordingly, the inheritance of superficial knowledge or disinformation could induce misperception leading to adverse incitements in the mind of young readers, which could result in substantial ‘knowledge deficit’ when knowledge is transferred from one generation to another. Consequently, this could weaken ‘national knowledge power’ causing huge loss to the nation in the long run.

Nevertheless, the innovative technology, advanced society or antique democracy alone cannot bring significant transformation in human life, civilization or political affairs, a “conscious and responsible behavior” is essential in every human being including tech users, technocrats, policy makers, social and political actors. The tech, diplomatic and political policies and strategies should reflect democratic values that advance liberty and humanity, and respect human rights as well as people’s personal sovereign dignity. The AI, big tech and social media first need to be democratized so that they can contribute to a democratic order. Most importantly, a trustful multilateral (diplomatic) channel should be established so as to enable countries to develop responsible and ethical technology, while honest and ethical use (or practice) of AI technology, social media, or cultural beliefs will indeed advance people’s life, society, democracy and state-to-state relations. Technology however has brought about great transformations in human life, economy and the state of affairs; social media undeniably is one of the momentous entities of liberal world order when it complies with ‘ethical norms’, ‘comity’ and ‘civism’.

Primarily, domestic issues are entirely sovereign internal affairs of nations, while no foreign nationals or government can perhaps raise objections against their domestic laws and constitutional provisions. Yet, the concerns—tech, social and democratic—are highly sensitive due to the impact they may have on the region and beyond. Thus, it’s high time to restore trust and harmony among nation-states and nationals of distinct communities by initiating “rational civic dialogue”. The stronger and cohesive the social accord in a country, the higher the prospect of political stability, economic prosperity and democratic enlivening. 

Essentially, nation-states require truthful, collaborative and cooperative action among governments, civic community, multilateral organizations, universities, NGOs, think tanks and creative individuals to inject a specific ‘gene’ consisting of ‘harmony, humanity and civility’ into political leaders in the generations to come. 

The leadership endowed with this gem of a gene, let’s hope, will be able to course through a complex techno-socio-democratic order.  

This is the last piece of a three-part series

The author is a geopolitical analyst

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” - Seneca

Suicide is a public health concern that affects individuals, families and communities across the world. Suicide means causing one’s own death intentionally. A person thinks about committing suicide because they do not see an alternative and think giving up their life is going to bring relief for them and their loved ones. Feeling of hopelessness, isolation and sadness triggers it. They may not ask for help but they need it urgently. Suicide prevention begins with noticing the warning signs and talking about it.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1m people commit suicide every year and for each suicide, there are many more individuals who attempt self-harm. These alarming statistics underscore the urgency of addressing suicide as a significant public health issue.

There are some common factors that increase the risk of committing suicides and can range from a variety of trauma or recent losses to mental illness or terminal illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, chronic pains and previous suicide attempts along with the individual’s family history.

The first step in negating the risk of suicide is to recognize the warning signs the individual may be showing even though they may be masked in the tireless strivings of every day. The indicators of suicidal tendencies are listed below:

Ranked 7th by suicide rate globally in 2015 according to a WHO report, Nepal witnesses 6,840 suicides (estimated) annually or 29.4 percent suicides per 100,000 people. Suicide is currently the leading cause of death for Nepali women, aged 15- 49, according to a study conducted by Nepal Health Sector Support Program. 

One of the major obstacles in addressing suicide is the persistent stigma surrounding mental health. People often hesitate to discuss their struggles due to fear of judgment or societal misconceptions. Breaking the stigma involves fostering a culture that encourages open dialogue, empathy and understanding.

If you are suffering from suicidal intentions, there are few ways to cope with it, which are:

• First and most important, talk about it to someone. Share your feelings to that person every day.

• Make a note of contact numbers of friends, family and your therapist for emergencies

• Exercise regularly and go out in the sun every day for 30 minutes, as it will make you feel fresh and positive.

• Make some time to do things that make you happy like indulging in any of your hobbies or talking, listening to music, playing with your pet, etc.

• Try to make a routine for yourself and stick to it. You can include positive goals like reading, owning and playing with a pet, learning a new hobby, volunteering, moving to another place and so on. Make your personal goals.

• Avoid being alone and cutting off from family, friends or loved ones.

• Don’t go for alcohol or drug abuse as it’s going to worsen the situation and decrease your problem solving abilities.

• Avoid things that make you sad like reading old letters, seeing old photographs or listening to sad music or going to a loved one’s grave.

So these are a few ways through which you can help yourself or someone else. Suicide awareness is a collective responsibility that requires a shift in societal attitudes, policies and support systems. By promoting open conversations, breaking down stigmas and implementing effective preventive measures, we can work toward creating a world where individuals facing mental health challenges feel understood, supported and empowered to seek help. If you or someone you know is struggling, don’t hesitate to seek help—your story matters and there is hope. 

Remember suicide is not the solution to any problem. Call, talk and share!