News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal It is not only Tibetans but all 1.3 billion Chinese people are commemorating March 28 as their historic day. This day is marked and remembered as an important day in China’s modern history. It was this day in 1959 when Tibetan people were declared free and emancipated from feudal serfdom of the Dalai Lama. This day reminds of how Tibetans struggled hard to attain their much desired liberation to become free and proud Chinese citizens. This also reminds all how the Tibetan people lived prior to their emancipation under the Dalai Lama’s serfdom and it also showcases how their life has changed in the period of 55 years since Tibet was liberated forcing the Dalai Lama and his clique to flee. On March 28, 1959, the air in Lhasa’s sky had been filled with a new kind of freedom, optimism and jubilation. On this day the central government in Beijing announced the dissolution of the local government of Tibet and decided to replace it with a preparatory committe...

Yuba Nath Lamsal India will have a new government at the center either in May or early June as election to the 16 th Lok Sabha (parliament) has already been announced. Indian Election Commission has announced that the election will be held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12, in which 814 million eligible voters are expected to exercise their voting rights to choose their representatives belonging to more than 500 different political parties. Although latest exit polls suggest a hung parliament with no single party winning the clear-cut majority, Hindu rightist Bharatiya Janta Party ( BJP) or Indian People’s Party is projected to be the leading force in the post election politics of India. BJP leader Narendra Modi is being portrayed as a new prime minister of South Asia’s leading power representing National Democratic Alliance or NDA.   The present ruling secular Congress Party of Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh is likely to be an underdog to trail behind the Hindu...

By Yuba Nath Lamsal Unlike double standards and hypocrisy of some countries in the West as well as in its own neighborhood in the conduct of foreign policy and diplomacy, Nepal always says what it believes and does what it thinks good. When it comes to the relations with its neighbors, this Himalayan Republic does not have any kind of ambiguity and hidden agenda. Nepal is candid and clear enough on its foreign policy and in the conduct of international relations and diplomacy. Nepal is a country located in the highly strategically vital as well as volatile position of Asia surrounded by two giants—China and India.   Perhaps, it is this reason why Nepal’s founder Prithivi Narayan Shah once symbolically described this geo-strategic position as a ‘yam between the two boulders’— the view many of us still continue to subscribe. This view is so apt and practical that it not only indicates the need for handling our foreign policy in a more delicate and tactful manner but als...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Recent developments unfolding in our political spectrum only suggest that Nepal may witness a new but natural kind of political polarization. Its symptoms are already visible in our political horizon. After the results of the engineered election held in November 2013 came out, politics of Nepal has taken a new turn and twist. In the election, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML were declared the winners whereas the UCPN-Maoist was given the place of distant third. Agenda wise, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML are on one side while the UCPN-Maoist and even the CPN-Maoist are in the other camp. The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML are, therefore, natural partners as  their political orientation and agenda almost converge and match. Look at the issue concerning the governance model and federalism. The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML seem to have accepted federalism under  duress and they want to create as little number of provinces as they can. Accordin...