War comes to Southasia - Southasia Weekly #108

It’s been quite a week. Pakistan has effectively declared war on Afghanistan, and Southasia is feeling the repercussions of the US-Israeli assault on Iran. Amid all of that, on 5 March, Nepal went to the polls, marking the first election since youth-led protests led to the fall of the government last September. 

At Himal, we’ve been following the election closely, publishing a podcast conversation and analysis that unpacks this crucial vote. Our latest piece starts to make sense of the verdict as the results roll in.

We’ve also reported new data from Ukraine on the number of Southasians killed fighting for Russia in the Ukraine war, with figures much higher for some countries than previously known. We also broke the fact that Sri Lankans top the tally of deaths by a very wide margin. 

For all this and more, scroll on. We bring you the latest news from across Southasia and top-notch independent journalism on the region, week on week. And if you value our coverage, please sign up to our Patron programme to support our work.

This week in Himal

Pranay Rana writes that early results show the Rastriya Swatantra Party taking the lead in the 5 March election, the first after the Gen Z protests, sweeping out the old political establishment and leaving Balendra Shah and Rabi Lamichhane as the new faces of Nepali politics.