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Over the past week, Nepali media outlets have been flooded with accounts of Nepalis working in Israel worried about their personal safety. Hamas, the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group, has been dropping rockets on neighboring Israel and more than 10 Israelis have already been killed. People living there are justifiably afraid. Yet such accounts have also helped paint, if inadvertently, a misleading picture. They make it seem like Hamas is largely to be blamed for the current conflict. Such accounts also make Israel, rather than Palestine, the victim party.

The truth is the exact opposite. In the latest instance, Hamas started propelling rockets into Israel because the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu refused to stop building Jewish homes in the Palestinian territory in the West Bank. This is the area that Israel illegally occupies by displacing Palestinians who have been living there for generations. Israel has also closed vital crossings into Palestinian territories and stormed a place of worship. Cornered, some Palestinians retaliated.  

This is not to justify any kind of terrorist activities. Hamas is wrong to use rockets on civilians. But what about Israel? It labels Hamas a terrorist organization but itself employs even more brutal tactics. While around 10 Israelis were killed by Hamas bombing as of this writing, Israel had indiscriminately killed at least 120 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including women and children.

It has also refused to talk to the ‘terror group’. In fact, such disproportionate use of force has been the preferred Israeli modus operandi in recent times as the government in Tel Aviv comes under pressure from far-right Zionists to bulldoze the Palestinian aspiration for their own homeland. 

The government of Nepal, which likes to weigh in on events from around the world, often unnecessarily, has maintained complete silence on Israeli actions in Palestine. Perhaps the fear is that any such statement will hamper the prospect of lucrative jobs for Nepalis in Israel. Plus, Nepal is an old friend of Israel—it was the first South Asian country to host a resident Israeli embassy.

Precariously placed countries like Nepal have little margin for error in the international arena. But it could, at the least, urge restraint on both the sides and ask Israel to come up with a roadmap for a viable two-state solution.  

The Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal (JSPN) came into being a year ago to thwart Prime Minister KP Oli’s bid to split Upendra Yadav-led Samajbadi Party. Oli’s intent was to lure seven Samajbadi Party lawmakers into his government and thereby cement his hold on power. At that time, he also had an eye on a likely future split in the ruling Nepal Communist Party, with the ex-Maoist faction under Pushpa Kamal Dahal walking away. In that case, he would need Madhesi support to retain his parliamentary majority.

Besides this proximate reason for the merger, the combined Madhesi force could better lobby for Madhesi rights in the new constitution. On the national front, the JSPN presented a much-needed alternative vision for Nepal, with greater emphasis on ethnic and regional rights. (The two other major actors, the Nepali Congress and the then Nepal Communist Party, agreed on most vital constitutional issues.)

Yet the 2020 merger of the two Madhesi parties was always going to be tricky. The biggest obstacle to party unity would be top Madhesi leaders’ portfolio management. This was a headache even in the pre-merger RJPN, itself formed with the merger of six different Madhesi parties. With the RJPN combining with Samajbadi, the number of big egos at the top only multiplied. As expected, they have tussled bitterly post-merger. Now, the combined JSPN is once again on the verge of a split.

It is clear that the JSPN came together and could now split for no other reason than the failure to accommodate the outsized egos of its leaders. Whatever they say in public, they seem incapable of collectively fighting for the Madhesi people. This brings us to a vital question: Why do we need a strong Madhesi force if it is to be no different to other traditional parties that already have strong presence in Tarai-Madhes? This question will only get louder as the rift in the JSNP deepens over whether to help KP Oli retain power. Madhes, meanwhile, will be ripe for another uprising.

Nepal is on the cusp of a Covid-19 catastrophe. As of this writing, daily reported new infections have climbed to 7,500, with nearly 3,500 total deaths. The actual numbers, on both counts, could be much higher. This is the time for every conscionable Nepali citizen and organization to help the country tackle the deadly virus and prevent unnecessary loss of lives and livelihoods. The private sector, in this regard, has failed its duty. A part of it may also have been involved in a criminal act of disrupting vital vaccination supplies. 

Asked about the delay in import of Indian vaccines, Health Minister Hridesh Tripathi had replied some time ago that at least a million more doses of the Covishield would already have been imported if not for some meddlesome ‘middlemen’. These people were using their clout, both in India and Nepal, to disrupt supplies. They wanted to import the vaccines at a 10 percent mark-up, an offer the ministry declined. So, a bunch of selfish businessmen has been denying life-saving vaccines to hundreds of thousands of Nepalis. 

If so, these unconscionable middlemen who wanted to profit from the misery of their brethren must be brought to book and barred from all future government-related contracts. A dangerous precedent could be set if no action is taken against such blatant disregard of people’s health and wellbeing. That said, Minister Tripathi’s admission also suggested the weakness, if not collusion, of our state mechanisms. The reality is that the federal government has failed in Covid management right from the start of the contagion in Nepal back in March 2020. 

Prime Minister KP Oli must clear the bottlenecks in the import of vaccines and save further embarrassment to his government. It is upon him to back his thoughtful speech to the country on April 29 on corona-control with urgent action. On the line is not just his political legacy, but also the lives of millions of Nepalis.  

Soon after the announcement of anti-pandemic prohibitory orders, people started hoarding petroleum products. There were long lines outside gas stations as vehicle owners jockeyed to fill their petrol and diesel tanks. Not just that. Many of them had brought along big jerry-cans, each soon filled brimful with fuel. Hoarding is natural human behavior in times of crisis, but also a dangerous one. For people are not just hoarding fuel. They are stocking up on vital medications. More dangerous, fearing the worst, hospitals and even some private businesses are now holding oxygen-filled cylinders. 

The private suppliers of oxygen and the hospitals with their own oxygen-making plants assure that with their collective daily capacity of supplying 8,000 cylinders, they are well-placed to meet Kathmandu valley’s current demand of just under 6,000 cylinders. But they admit they could be stretched thin if the rate of infections continues to increase. And again, we are only talking about Kathmandu. Of the 185 hospitals in the country, only 26 have oxygen plants of their own, and unlike inside the valley many hospitals outside it have no dedicated source of supply. 

The federal government is exploring importing at least 20,000 additional oxygen cylinders. (Apparently, oxygen production will not be a problem as much as supplying it in cylinders.) With India struggling to meet its own cylinder demand, Nepal is looking at China for fresh supplies. The pandemic is expected to peak in Nepal after around three months. The country cannot be prepared enough to forestall perhaps thousands of preventable deaths. No, this is not being alarmist. Time really has come to prepare for the worst. This includes preventing the hoarding of life-and-death substances like oxygen. The ability to pay should not decide who gets to live and who not. Right now, nothing is more important than a mechanism that ensures oxygen cylinders go to those who most need them the most.