BIKRAM RAI
As 2070 draws to a close, a lone bicyclist pedals on Nepal’s longest pedestrian bridge across the Mahakali River of the country’s westernmost district of Kanchanpur. The Nepali New Year on Monday, 14 April is part of a regional tradition of new year festivals in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Burma, even southern China -- underlining a shared cross-border cultural heritage. In Nepal, the old year will be remembered for an election that reaffirmed the people’s faith in democracy. But sluggish movement on the constitution has cast doubts if it will be finished within 2071. A bill tabled in parliament on Wednesday with blanket amnesty provisions for war criminals defies a Supreme Court ruling and international norms.