Until the dawn of Sept 9, Nepal was set to graduate from Least Developed Country status on 24 Nov 2026, after meeting two of three UN criteria. By the dusk of the same day, the infrastructure and wealth of the nation had been brought to ashes by destructive riots, in the guise of GenZ demonstrations. Now is the time to focus on recovering from the damages, addressing challenges, building economic resilience and reforming policies to enable the country to move forward on its own feet, without relying on foreign aid.
For the time being, India and China seem to synchronize their tunings—we are happy. Chances are high for a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war—we are happy. We are likely to see improved regional connectivity and cooperation across the Himalayas and around the Bay of Bengal—we are happy. Sure, these topics sound high. For Nepal, a country sandwiched between two giant neighbours, more important is whether these developments make our pie larger.
As recently as within a century, Nepal and her sons have tremendously supported both India and China. We participated in the Quit India Movement (QIM). Nepali-origin leaders like Dambar Singh Gurung, Bhim Bahadur Gurung and Dhanbir Singh Gurung supported India’s freedom struggles. Lakhan Thapa Magar inspired resistance. Thousands of Gorkhas joined Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army, contributing bravely to India’s fight against the British colonial rule. At least three major Nepali leaders—BP Koirala, Ganesh Man Singh and Manmohan Adhikari—actively participated in India’s independence movement during the 1940s. They joined protests, supported the QIM and faced arrests.
Nepal sided with the current Beijing-based Chinese government, at a time when the Taipei-based Kuomintang was representing China in the UN. We have unequivocally recognized Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable parts of China. We suppressed the Khampa rebels, who were trying to use Nepali land to stir Tibet. We have supported almost all non-strategic Chinese initiatives. We have asked nothing other than economic cooperation and technical collaboration, from India or China in return.
For almost a century, Nepal has also supported a US-dominated world order. We have actively participated in the UN, stood by resolutions of the UN Security Council and beginning from 1958 provided the largest number of peace-keeping forces, sacrificing 76 volunteers.
Our cooperations with all countries and regions are guided by peaceful and ecofriendly developmental goals. We cooperate with all, against poverty and natural disasters. Nepal is already burdened with natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, landslides, wildfires, vector-borne diseases and lightning. We don’t want to invent or invite man-made problems. We don’t want to produce enemies. We only seek friends. Our friendship with one is not targeted against another.
Our asymmetries in economic size, diversity and quality with both neighbors, inadequacy of trade complementarity and lack of meaningful comparative product or service advantage pose a big challenge to our international trade. We have yet to identify our trade strengths and need to develop technologies that make our resources more valuable. While political non-alignment is the bottomline for survival, the depth of our friendship is gauged by economic interests and technical cooperations.
We want to live in peace, we don’t want to become Kashmir, Gaza or Ukraine. We are a liberal country; domestically we respect the choice of our people. As to the internal issues of other countries, they are none of our business. When it comes to international relations, we only seek friendship and cooperation, and we don’t seek conflicts. We have never been offensive. We have only supplied peacekeeping forces under the UN banner.
The above description is not an exaggeration. We lived by principles. We supported our neighbors unconditionally, even when the then world powers were humiliating them. What comes, we will continue to stick to our policy of prioritizing neighbors. To safeguard our hard-earned sovereignty, we will stick to a non-alignment policy.
We have border issues with India, which has occupied Nepali territories including Kalapani, Lipulek and Limpiyadhura. We have repeatedly informed this to our northern neighbour and asked them not to deal with India on our occupied territory, especially following the 2015 India-China plan to promote their bilateral trade through Lipulek. The infringement on our sovereignty has ignited widespread patriotic sentiments and a renewed demand for diplomatic action and territorial integrity. The deal can become a turning point in our world view, awakening national consciousness and unity, discarding divisive foreign lenses.
As a country, we are confined within current geographical borders. As a nation with a broader diaspora of 5-6m, Nepalis already have become a global society, and Nepal needs to look after the interests of all Nepalis one way or the other. The economy alone can no longer link them all. We need to link through subtler bonds: language, culture, arts, history, religion, genetic heredity, to name a few. Such bonds help strengthen nationality in the long run, as seen in the formation of Israel out of the Jews spread across the continents.
A healthy and constant engagement with diaspora can be the safest and fastest way to acquire high-techs. Look, India’s nuclear program benefited from returnees like Homi Bhabha, who was trained at Cambridge and helped build India’s nuclear infrastructure with support from Indian scientists abroad. Pakistan’s program was significantly advanced by Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist working in the Netherlands, who transferred centrifuge designs and helped develop uranium enrichment facilities. Israel relied on support from the international Jewish diaspora, with scientists like Ernst Bergmann and political figures like Shimon Peres securing French cooperation to build the Dimona reactor. In China, US-trained scientists such as Qian Xuesen returned during the Cold War and played a central role in missile and nuclear weapons development. Nepal doesn’t lack highly skilled patriotic sons and daughters, now working in different world-class technology facilities.
Hitting the streets, shouting slogans and blaming each other or past leaders may bring self-indulgence, but such acts are unlikely to lead the nation to glory. Let us unite, develop Nepali perspectives and move forward. Once we stand on our feet, we are one step nearer to success.
