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Nepali peacekeeper Anil Gurung died in a militia raid in the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 5. The 32-year-old Nepal Army private was serving with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO).

Gurung was born in Gurbhakot Municipality of Surkhet district. When he was 14, he was abducted by the then Maoists and conscripted into the rebel force. When he finally managed to return home, Gurung’s father took him to Kathmandu.

In 2009, Gurung joined the army at the age of 20, and married a year later. 

For several years Gurung served in the army’s Krishna Dal Battalion in Itahari, Sunsari before arriving in Kathmandu in 2021 to participate in peacekeeping training.

He passed the training and was deployed as a UN peacekeeper to the conflict-ridden DR Congo in December 2021.

On April 5, the UN blue helmets came under attack from the militia group Coopérative pour le dévelopement du Congo (CODECO), at Bali of Djugu territory in Ituri province.

Gurung, who was gravely injured in combat, was airlifted to a UN hospital. He died in the course of treatment.  A military ceremony was held at MONUSCO camp to honor Private Gurung, who was remembered as a man “dedicated to the duty, proud to carry the flag of his country”. 

MONUSCO force commander General Marcos De Sá Affonso Da Costa described Gurung as a hero who sacrificed his life for peace in DR Congo.

“With such a heaviest price paid, Private Anil Gurung has honored his country, his family, and the Nepali armed forces,” he said. 

General Johnny N. Luboya, Ituri provincial military governor, said Gurung’s death was not in vain but “a sacrifice for peace to return to Ituri and to Congo.” 

Similarly, Captain Salima Ghale of MONUSCO’s Nepali contingent said Gurung’s death is not only a great loss for Nepal Army but also for the whole peacekeeping force in DR Congo.

“His sacrifice for the noble cause of peace will be ever remembered. The precious life we ​​have lost is a continuation of the glorious history of the United Nations, of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices made for humanity,” added Ghale.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his condolences to Gurung’s family, as well as to the government and people of Nepal. 

Gurung’s body was brought to Nepal on April 12, and the Nepal Army held a tribute ceremony in Shree Birendra Hospital, Chhauni on April 13.

He is survived by his wife and their nine-year-old son.

Birth: 1990, Gurbhakot, Surkhet
Death: 5 April 2022, Bali, DR Congo

Senior communist leader Krishna Raj Burma, who died last month at the age of 93, had played a significant role against the autocratic Rana regime and the partyless Panchayat system. 

Born in Saptari district to an ordinary farming family, Burma learned to read and write from his father, who hailed from Nuwakot district, and later studied in local school. Originally of the Khanal caste, it was his father who had adopted the family surname ‘Burma’.

Burma had a political awakening while working as a schoolteacher during the Rana regime. He had said in an interview that his decision to be part of the anti-Rana movement was inspired by the political literature he had read while working as a teacher. He was only 17 at the time.

At the height of the 1951 democratic movement, Burma left his home to be a part of the revolution. He joined the underground revolutionaries in India where he met leaders like Gajendra Narayan Singh.  

After spending some time in India, Burma returned to Nepal and started mobilizing political activists in Spatari. To resist the Ranas, he formed a loose group of youths from farming and working class backgrounds. 

Burma joined the communist party only after the Ranas were ousted from power.  

According to his own account, though he had joined the anti-Rana movement led by the Nepali Congress, he had joined the cause only to topple the autocratic regime. He had no qualms about joining the communist party.  

As a communist leader, Burma had several run-ins with the Panchayat government and was jailed multiple times. Burma said in an interview that he spent his prison life reading newspapers and books.     

He was initially associated with the Communist Party of Nepal, which later split to become the Communist Party of Nepal (Rayamajhi Group), led by Keshar Jung Rayamajhi. 

Burma was one of the party’s five politburo members. The other members were Rayamajhi, Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar, Kamar Shah and Krishna Prasad Shrestha. Another party leader Manmohan Adhikari, who went on to become Nepal’s first communist prime minister, was in prison at the time.

The party, however, underwent many divisions during the Panchayat-era, and Burma formed his own party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Burma). His party was part of the ‘Unified Left Front’ during the 1990 people’s movement. 

The party merged with the Communist Party of Nepal (United) after the 1991 parliamentary elections, only to split again and reform the old group. In 2001, Burma’s party merged with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). 

Besides politics, Burma was also interested in reading and writing. He has written a book on the political movement in Tarai titled ‘Madhes Ra Madhesi Aandolan’. 

Communist leaders remembered Burma as a great hero whose contributions shaped Nepal’s social-democratic and communist movement.  

Burma had for long been suffering from a nerve disease. Lately, he was being treated for pneumonia in Hams Hospital, Kathmandu when he passed away. He is survived by his wife and their three sons and three daughters. 

Birth: 1929, Saptari

Death: 3 March 2022, Kathmandu  

Radheshyam Saraf, luxury hotel pioneer of Nepal who established Yak & Yeti and Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu, passed away on March 22. He was 92. Born in the city of Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam, Saraf made his name and fortune in Nepal.  

Saraf, who lost his father at the age of 12, entered the world of business after moving to Kalimpong, West Bengal. In 1947, he and his brothers inherited their aunt’s trading business—when Saraf was only 17.

The brothers traveled through the Himalayan region selling goods like clothes, watches, cement and steel to Tibetan traders and customers. They later expanded their trade to Kolkata and Sikkim in India as well as in Bhutan.

Saraf wanted to travel far and wide from a young age. He loved visiting new places and learning about foreign cultures and traditions and had developed a special love for Tibetan culture and language.

In 1963, he moved to Kathmandu, which would become his home for the rest of his life. Within six years of his arrival, Saraf was trading internationally in countries like Korea, China and Japan.

He launched Hotel Yak & Yeti in Kathmandu in 1977, in what was the first World Bank-funded private-sector project in Nepal. Saraf also founded Asian Hotels Ltd. and Saraf Hotel Enterprises, both consortiums involved in hospitality and tourism around the world.

Saraf Hotel Enterprises initiated the opening of Hyatt Regency in New Delhi, India, in 1980. Then, in 1996, the group also launched the construction of The Grand, New Delhi, which was known as Grand Hyatt New Delhi then. The construction of Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu, began in 1997.

The group also opened Hyatt hotels in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Raipur in India.

In over seven decades of his career, Saraf played a significant role in bringing foreign investment to Nepal through his contributions in hospitality and tourism. He was twice conferred the Gorkha Dakshin Bahu—first by king Birendra and later by king Gyanendra—for his works.

Saraf was a noted educationist as well, founding the Modern Indian School at Chobhar, Kathmandu in 1979. Today, the school is considered one of the best in Kathmandu valley.

Saraf had been suffering from some health issues of late and was being treated at Medanta Hospital in New Delhi, India, where he died of a cardiac arrest. His body was brought to Kathmandu and cremated at the Pashupati Aryaghat.

He is survived by his wife and their two sons and three daughters.

Born: 13 October 1930, Guwahati, India

Death: 22 March 2022, New Delhi, India

Birth: 1949, Kathmandu
Death: 16 March 2022, Kathmandu

At a time when most Nepali professors, intellectuals and civil society leaders like to attach themselves to political parties to curry favors, Prof. Dhruba Kumar, who died aged 73 on March 16, was a rare exception.  

He was an inspiration for the advocates of democracy and human rights. Prof Kumar was among the few intellectuals in the country with vast knowledge in foreign, defense, geopolitical and strategic affairs. Crucially, he possessed the rare knack of explaining these complex topics to the public with clarity and simplicity. 

All his life, Prof. Kumar was an ardent champion of equality and social justice. He was against all kinds of discrimination and never used his surname in his journals, books and columns.

Despite being a profoundly learned man, he never had an air of self-importance. 

A retired professor of Political Science at the Center for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS), Tribhuvan University, he was a passionate researcher on the politics of South Asian countries. 

More recently, Prof. Kumar’s columns focused on relations between Nepal, India and China, where he discussed India’s ‘hegemonic tendency’ and China’s ‘silent tactics’.

Prof Kumar began as a China scholar at CNAS and gradually expanded his study and research in other South Asian countries, becoming one of the authorities on the region’s strategy, diplomacy, security and geopolitics. 

His fellow professors at CNAS remember Prof. Kumar as an inspiration for all scholars.

“He was the one to start the culture of academic research on security affairs,” says Krishna Khanal, who had worked with Prof. Kumar at CNAS. “He was also a pioneer in the study of Chinese politics.”

In his academic career, Prof. Kumar wrote many books on foreign affairs, conflict and security. He also participated in fellowship professor exchange programs in universities around the world. He was a FCO Fellow at the Department of War Studies in King’s College London, England; Ford Visiting Scholar at the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security in University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, Illinois, USA; and Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Asian and International Studies in Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

Prof Kumar worked as a full-time professor at the School of International Development and Cooperation (IDEC) in Hiroshima University, Japan. In 2002, he was a member of the SEAS 2002 Conference that was jointly sponsored by the US Commander-in-Chief Pacific (USCINCPAC) and the Department of State for Security Professionals of the Asia/Pacific Region.

He is survived by his wife and three daughters.