BIKRAM RAI
HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT: Elephants try to flick the ball past each other at the 10th Chitwan Elephant Festival in Sauraha on Monday.
The new year marks two war centennials in Nepal. 200 years ago, an expanding Gorkha Empire clashed with the East India Company and lost almost half of its territory and kept its sovereignty.
And a century later in 1914, over 200,000 Nepali men set sail to Europe after Kathmandu’s elite gambled on British victory in a European war. Gurung, Magar, Rai, and Limbu heartlands in central and eastern Nepal were emptied of their young men as the British shipped them from Flanders Field to Mesopotamia and Gallipoli to Palestine.
In the 100 years since, more Nepalis went and fought wars for the British in Europe (again), Burma, Malaya, Borneo, Iraq and Afghanistan, as history came a full circle from the Anglo-Afghan wars in which Gurkha regiments took part.
As our special military coverage shows, the lessons from 200 years ago are just as relevant for Nepal today as it was then. If empires went to war over tea and cotton in the past, today’s prime commodity is labour that migrates outwards from poorer countries. And unless a state protects its citizens and provides for their future, the world outside will continue taking advantage.
Unfortunately for us, Nepal’s diplomatic acumen and foreign policy remain much the same.