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If you have visited the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, in the past year, you might have come across a lovely park. Built on an area of 50,800 square meters, this garden boasts over 150 varieties of plants, trees, herbs, etc. The scientific name of each plant is written on little placard-like tags next to it. A stroll through the garden can be peaceful, relaxing, and educational at the same time.

Before the park was revamped and inaugurated on the New Year of the Hindu calendar (1 Baisakh 2080), it was a dumping site of sorts and also a place where people gathered to partake in illegal activities like drug use, etc. Now, it’s turned into a spiritual haven of sorts. It has seven major spiritual structures that each tell different stories of ancient Hindu texts, including the Vedas, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and other Sanskrit epics.

You have to buy a ticket to enter the park. It costs Rs 50. I bought one and was offered a guide. He led me through all the main sections, explaining the importance and theme of each segment of the park. There weren’t many people and the place had a calming ambiance. It’s an ideal place for those who prefer to spend some time alone. It’s also a good place to meditate. I will go again and I recommend you to visit it too. It’s an oasis of calm in the heart of the city.

Nepal has long been an important contributor to global peace and stability through its involvement in UN peacekeeping missions. Nepali peacekeepers deployed in various conflict zones have consistently earned praise for their exceptional performance, professionalism, and integrity. 

Now, Nepal has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the largest contributor of troops to these missions. According to the United Nations, Nepal is currently contributing 6,247 peacekeepers, ahead of  Bangladesh (6,197), India (6,073), and Rwanda (5,919).

The Nepali Army has been contributing to world peace for more than six decades. During the period, it has served in more than 44 UN missions sending 149,980 personnel. The army’s association in the peacekeeping missions dates back to 1958 when Nepal first deployed five military observers to Lebanon. 

Over the years, Nepal has risen to prominence in global peacekeeping efforts. While this contribution has earned recognition from the international community, Nepal has not been able to enhance its image in the international arena by utilizing it as a soft power tool.

Although politicians and officials often discuss the potential of leveraging Nepal’s peacekeeping capabilities to bolster the country’s influence on the international stage, it has not yet become a central component of Nepal’s foreign policy. While Nepal’s Foreign Policy, introduced in 2019, briefly touches on this issue, it falls short of outlining a concrete plan and policy for projecting this soft power in the international arena.  The policy states that Nepal’s ‘commitment and contribution to world peace shall be continued and the country shall be projected as a peace-loving country.’ 

In a world grappling with multiple crises and conflicts, Nepal has the opportunity to send a powerful message advocating for peace and harmony. To capitalize on this opportunity, Nepal must elevate its position within the UN system. Despite being the leading contributor to peace missions, Nepal’s representation in leadership and decision-making roles within the UN is notably lacking. It is high time Nepal asserted its claim for top positions within the UN to play a more significant role on the international stage. Achieving this goal requires concerted efforts not only from the Nepali Army but also from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. These institutions must actively engage in international platforms, meetings, and negotiations to elevate Nepal’s presence and influence.

Once Nepal secures prominent positions within the UN, it can leverage its soft power effectively. The recognition of Nepal as the largest troop-contributing country presents a significant opportunity that must be seized without delay. Therefore, the foreign ministry, in collaboration with the army, should formulate a comprehensive plan outlining how to project the country’s image through soft power and how to secure top positions in peacekeeping operations. 

After Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022, Nepal joined the chorus of widespread international condemnation against Putin’s Russia. 

Nepal went so far as to vote in the emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly against  Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its forces and abide by international law. 

At the time, many foreign policy watchers said Nepal’s voting in the UN went against the country’s long-standing non-alignment policy. In the subsequent voting process concerning the Russia-Ukraine war, Nepal decided to maintain a neutral position.  The reverberations of the war was felt in Nepal’s economy too, although not as much in many parts of the world. Interestingly, soon after the war, Moscow came up with a new proposal to advance bilateral cooperation with Kathmandu.

Amidst the war with Ukraine, Russia invited Nepali politicians for an official visit. Chairman of National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timalsina paid an official visit to Moscow last year.  The Russian Embassy in Kathmandu also submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing willingness to contribute to Nepal’s connectivity and other areas.

At one point, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal even declared that he was interested in visiting Moscow or hosting Putin in Kathmandu. With its reputation taking a major slide, Russia wanted to create a favorable public opinion, and it had succeeded with the Dahal government. 

But two years after the war broke out, Nepal faces an unpleasant moment with Russia. Lured by good earning prospects, Nepali youths are flying to Russia through unscrupulous agents to join the Russian Armed Forces. The horrors of war have visited Nepal in the form of Nepali youths either dying or missing in the war.    

The official government figure says that 13 youths serving in the Russian army have been killed so far. But it cannot be trusted, since Russia does not give out the casualty numbers of its own soldiers, let alone the foreign soldiers who have joined its army. 

Russia has been recruiting foreign nationals including from Nepal to fight its war with Ukraine. Nepal’s request to Russia to stop the recruitment of Nepali youths has so far gone unheard. The Nepal government has also asked Russia to repatriate the Nepali youths who have joined the Russian Armed Forces and provide compensation to the families of those who have been killed in the war. 

Though Kathmandu and Russia are in constant communication, Russia is yet to respond to Nepal's request. It is not certain how many Nepali youths are currently serving in the Russian army. The government estimates the number around 200 but those who have escaped from Russia say that the number could be in the thousands.

Till now, 13 Nepalis have been confirmed killed, 50 have returned from Russia and approximately 150 families have submitted an application at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting for safe return of their family members.

Security agencies in Nepal have nabbed a group involved in sending Nepali youths to Russia. Similarly, the authorities have tightened the provision of visit visa after it was found that most of the youths were able to reach Moscow using visit visas. Similarly, the provision of no-objection letters has been extended to 10 countries. Work permits to Russia and Ukraine have also been barred.

But many Nepalis continue to reach Russia to join the army. It is said most of the new Nepali recruits joining the war are migrant workers based in the Middle East and other labor destinations.  

According to government officials, Russia has agreed to provide compensation to the family members of those who have been killed in the Russian army, but the two sides are yet to agree on the modality of how the compensation will be distributed. Nepal has requested Russia to send the cash incentives to the families in Nepal, but Russia is saying that family members should travel to Moscow to claim the compensation. 

Nepal has also requested Russia to send the bodies of Nepali citizens who have been identified and kept in the hospitals, but the issue of who will pay the money to repatriate the dead remains uncertain.

It is said the government is also in talks with Ukraine to free five Nepali prisoners of war. But officials say Ukraine has set some conditions to free those hostages. Some of the conditions include legal punishment for freed hostages once they have returned to Nepal and a guarantee that no Nepali shall join the Russian army again.

As more families are coming out claiming that their loved ones are missing in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Nepal government is facing increasing pressure to hold talks with Russia as well as Ukraine to secure the safer return of its citizens.

At the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit recently, Foreign Minister NP Saud met Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Vershinin and asked to stop the recruitment of Nepali nationals and send back those who have already been recruited. The latter assured to communicate Nepal’s concern to the Kremlin, but nothing came of it. Saud has recently expressed his willingness to travel to Russia to talk on the same issue, but Russia has not agreed so far.  

This week families of those who are in the Russian army organized a press conference to air their concerns. Suman Rai, who escaped the Russian army and returned to Nepal said more than 500 Nepali nationals have already died in the war and thousands are still serving in the Russian army. He added that most of the Nepali youths, who do not understand Russian language, have been deployed in the frontline.

According to some media reports, Russia has been providing around Rs 300,000 to Nepali youths. To attract foreign nationals to join the Russian army, the Kremlin has also pledged to provide them with Russian citizenship.  

Nepali youths who reach Russia are said to be paying up to Rs 1m to agents and brokers. The promise of lucrative salary has driven many Nepalis to risk their lives and join the Russia-Ukraine war. Even those people who were holding permanent jobs in Nepal’s security agencies are joining the Russian army. 

A fine documentary film about two lonely, elderly women of Dhorpatan is about to end its splendid month-long run in a cinema theatre this Saturday. There is still time to go watch the lives of Ratima and Kalima, Bisowkarma ladies who guard a village when everyone else has moved down to the ‘aul’ for the winter.

The showing of ‘Dhorpatan – No Winter Holidays’ is at the multiplex on the 8th floor or CTC Mall, Sundhara, next to the Jagannath Temple at the top of the Thapathali slope.

The village of Pakhathar in Dhorpatan’s expansive elevated valley is peopled over the bitterly cold months by just the two women, both widows of a popular local man who died nearly a decade ago. They are adversaries forced by circumstance to support and comfort each other, living in adjacent houses in the company of a cow, a dog, a pet cockerel, and a flock of pitch-black ravens that provide constant background cackle.

And forever there is the accompaniment of clouds surging up-valley to this part of Dhorpatan. The fog bellows up from Bobang, pushed by winds that howl through the window slats and shake the rafters, and at other times bring soft snow that settle on the roof eaves and fences of stone. They also provide lovely shadows on the wide terraces that the women guard, and sometimes darkness at noon.

Dhorpatan entered national consciousness in August 1962, when a Dakota airliner of Royal Nepal Airlines headed from Kathmandu to Delhi crashed here, killing all including the Nepali Ambassador to India, Nar Pratap Thapa. A smaller Pilatus aircraft which went on a search-and-rescue mission met with a similar fate here.

Life has not changed much in Pakhathar Tole in the six decades since, other than a micro-hydro plant that brings weak electricity and a jeepable road that the village folk use for transhumance.

At a time when all the talk is of abandoned terraces and out-migration, the story crafted by documentarists Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey is about two who stayed. Theirs is a barter arrangement where villagers going down to Bobang give Ratima and Kolima grain and produce in exchange for guarding over their properties.

If you believe Ratima, Kolima is crafty, loud and self-centered, a ‘sauteni’ who throws rocks on her roof at nights after altercations. Ratima is unwell, walks with difficulty, and (says Kolima) drinks more raksi than is good for her. Ratima takes strength from the belief that her late husband loved her even after fathering a child with Kolima. In her dreams, she walks together with her husband towards a bridge, he crosses over but she falls into the torrent. ‘Kasto bhainthyo hola’ she wonders—how life would have been had he still been alive.

For a friend, Ratima has a stately red rooster who is tied to his mistress with a long string. When it gets cold, Ratima snuggles him inside a blanket all his own. While the elder woman mostly stays indoors, Kolima is the active one, forever chasing after Mali the Cow, tracing her up-valley from the hoofmarks on the snow. She also has her daughter for company, down in the ‘aul’, with whom she connects on her mobile phone and provides long-distance child-rearing advice.

Both ladies complain about the other to the filmmakers, who remain discreetly off camera. The elder calls the younger (nearly) a slut, and ‘drunkard’ is the counter. But they have no choice but to assist each other through the winter, sharing a hearth, meals and gossip of times past.

Filmmakers Kathet and Pandey report that Ratima is no more, a departure one could see coming in the documentary given her difficult breathing and uneasy sleep. Ratima has crossed the saangu to meet her waiting husband on the other side.