What’s fuelling Nepal’s pro monarchy protests? – Southasia Weekly #60
This week in Himal
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This week, Amish Mulmi writes about the recent violent pro-monarchy protests, which reveals Nepal’s incomplete transition from Hindu kingdom to secular republic, fuelled by nationalist myth and India’s Hindu Right.
In a searing essay Harsh Mander writes about how the Narendra Modi-led government will be held to account for its support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, alongside the state-fuelled hate targeting India’s own Muslim, Christian and other minority citizens.
For the next episode of the Southasia Review of Books podcast, host Shwetha Srikanthan speaks with scholar and civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde on ‘ Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, a nuanced biography of Ambedkar that challenges conventional perceptions.
This week in Southasia
Ongoing airstrikes hinder rescue efforts after powerful earthquake in Myanmar
Last Friday, an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude struck Myanmar near Sagaing. A week later, over 3000 people have lost their lives, with 351 people missing and 4515 people reportedly injured as of 3 April. While much of the initial international media coverage focused on the impact in nearby Thailand, the death toll has continued to climb in Myanmar, where heavily damaged infrastructure and patchy communications hampered rescue efforts and information about the extent of the damage. The International Red Cross reported an urgent need for medical care, drinking water and other essentials. Citizen rescuers described digging through rubble with their bare hands, while survivors said they could hear voices of people trapped inside buildings. Aftershocks have also continued since the earthquake.
The ongoing civil war in Myanmar has also exacerbated the damage, with the junta carrying out at least 21 airstrikes since the earthquake, including in impacted areas, and has dismissed calls for a ceasefire from anti-junta groups. The junta also admitted to firing on a Chinese Red Cross convoy carrying aid to earthquake-stricken areas on 1 April, claiming the convoy had not notified them of their travel plans. The head of Myanmar’s junta, Min Aung Hlaing is expected to raise the response to the earthquake at a regional BIMSTEC summit in Thailand; a diplomatic coup for the junta as sanctioned leaders have typically been barred from these events.