Dr. Hasan Nashid

Introduction and Book Overview

In contemporary South Asian English poetry, ‘The Caste of Flowers’ (April, 2026) by Nepali poet, translator, and educator Sushant Kumar B.K. stands as a groundbreaking addition. This comprehensive anthology of 108 pages is not merely a stylistic curation of words; rather, it serves as a profound socio-psychological testament to structural oppression, the caste system, gender-based trauma, and the multifaceted existential crises of human life. As an academician and translator, Sushant Kumar B.K. infuses his verses with theoretical depth while simultaneously capturing the unvarnished reality, repressed indignation, blood, and sweat of his own Dalit community’s lived experiences.

This academic review offers a thematic close reading of the poems within the collection, supported by empirical textual evidence, alongside a comparative evaluation of B.K.’s poetic philosophy against that of globally acclaimed contemporary poets.

Thematic Framework and Close Reading

A) Dalit Consciousness, Subaltern Speech, and Structural Inequality

The bedrock of this anthology aligns seamlessly with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s concept of ‘Subaltern’ studies—the marginalized subject has finally begun to speak in their own vocabulary. The titular poem, “The Caste of Flowers,” operates as a poignant metaphor for South Asian casteism. The poet juxtaposes the parallel journeys of two blossoms budding in a Dalit’s garden: ‘Kali’ (symbolizing the Dalit daughter) and ‘a rose’ (symbolizing the upper-caste paradigm):

“Two exquisite flowers / Budding in a Dalit’s garden, / Kali, a daughter, / and a rose…”

When an educated, affluent man arrives, he safely plucks and takes the rose to his home, while Kali is abandoned outside under the pretext that “an untouchable can’t enter the house.” Through the deliberate deployment of words like “touching,” “plucking,” and “desecrating,” the poet critically maps the historical trajectory of physical and psychological hegemony exercised by upper-caste patriarchy over Dalit women.

“The statue they craft / is put inside the temple, / But they are stopped at the entrance, / Forbidden to worship.”

This discourse assumes a more overtly political dimension in “Dalits’ Dreams Deferring.” Echoing Langston Hughes’ seminal concept of a ‘dream deferred,’ the poet questions whether Dalits are rightful citizens or mere refugees in their own motherland. He exposes a jarring societal and religious hypocrisy:

“The statue they craft / is put inside the temple, / But they are stopped at the entrance, / Forbidden to worship.”

This institutional segregation—where the hands that sculpt the deity are barred from entering the sanctum sanctorum—poses a radical challenge to the rhetoric of modern “inclusive democracy,” exposing it as an inequitable farce.

This repressed wrath reaches its zenith in “Call Me Down,” where the poet deconstructs the orthography of the word ‘DALIT’ as a semiotic site of oppression:

“Look at me: / I’m a five-letter word, / A D-A-L-I-T, / Symbol of injustice.”

Yet, the poem transcends lamentation; it is an anthem of resistance. In the resolution, the poet invokes the myth of the phoenix to herald a subaltern resurrection:

“But remember, / I’m down, a root / I will rise as a phoenix / Awaking with a new revolution.”

Furthermore, in “Dalit and Nature,” the poet illustrates how the dispossession of land forces the subaltern into an existential alignment with nature. The structural poverty of a roofless, dilapidated hut with “a plethora of massive holes” becomes the very window to a cosmic consciousness:

“No mansion, I have, / But a door-less old hut / with a plethora of massive holes / through which / at night I can see the sky…”

B) Re-reading Feminism: Trauma, Motherhood, and Agency

Feminism in B.K.’s poetry is not a theoretical luxury; it is a visceral battle for survival. In “Shadow of Death,” he employs an evocative allusion to the classical myth of ‘Leda and the Swan’ to delineate the predatory nature of carnal violence against female innocence:

“An evil shadow follows her everywhere… / Like Leda and the Swan, a display of human wickedness.”

The ultimate dark irony of the poem materializes when the protagonist, having survived assault outside, is violated within the domestic sphere by her own father, driving her to suicide as the ultimate escape. This represents the most grotesque manifestation of patriarchal tyranny.

Similarly, “Soul of a Single Mother” unveils the ruthless underbelly of capitalist, urban spaces. A mother migrates from village to city to secure quality education for her offspring, but finding no economic valuation for her labor, she is forced to commodify her own body:

“One day, / I sold my body to buy life for children / And auctioned my pride / To bargain books for their study.”

The tragic climax unfolds as the mature children scrutinize her choices through the lens of bourgeois morality, subjecting her to linguistic and behavioral abuse. B.K. thus tears away the facade of societal puritanism.

Nevertheless, the female subject is not merely a passive victim; her innate agency is fiercely asserted in “I am a Durga”. The days of being stripped or humiliated like the historical Yogmaya or the mythological Draupadi of the Mahabharata are over; the modern woman has claimed the apparatus of inscription:

“You cannot write / The history of my body. / I am a modern Durga, / Beyond the sword; / I also wield a revolutionary pen.”

C) Postmodern Psychoanalysis, Love, and the Philosophy of Abstraction

Parallel to his socio-political consciousness runs a deep psychological and philosophical investigation into romantic love. For B.K., love resists empirical taxonomy; it is an abstract phenomenon. In “Love is a Beautiful Abstraction,” he writes:

“You cannot truly love your lover / Once, fully understand or know. / Silence, unknown, undefined, discourse love is.”

The poet warns that an over-analytical curiosity regarding a lover’s past or present obliterates the intrinsic, abstract beauty of romance. In “She Is an Abstract to Me,” the elusive, inscrutable nature of the beloved serves as a catalyst for infinite poetic creation:

“Yet she becomes an abstract to me / That makes me write infinite poems / About her for ages and ages.”

However, this postmodern conception of love remains tethered to material realities. In “The Abandoned Letters,” the reader witnesses the premature death of a romance engineered by caste stratifications. The epistolary tokens of affection are rendered waste, discovered as makeshift tissue papers in a upscale café trash bin following the lover’s hypergamous marriage into a higher social stratum:

“Now, you are married / To someone else, / For, in the face of your values, / My caste fails.”

This emotional transmutation strikes a poignant chord. Conversely, *”Mind Not, O My Dear”* embraces the pluralistic iterations of modern relationships, acknowledging love as alternately spontaneous, democratic, or purely biological.

D) Global Crises, Pandemic, and Warfare

B.K.’s poetic canvas expands globally, transgressing domestic boundaries. Poems like “An Abstract Era” and “War or Peace?” capture the existential dread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The poet laments the dichotomy between the mounting casualties and the unvarnished corruption of political elites who embezzle relief funds:

“While estimated budget for corona / Goes to some people’s pockets.”

In “Why Do I Write Poems?”, the poet undergoes a profound meta-poetic interrogation regarding the efficacy of art in the face of geopolitical catastrophes, specifically referencing the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Amidst the smoke of warfare, verses offer no real refuge, resembling fragile paper airplanes:

“My poems are like paper airplanes— / They offer no safe landing for humanity, / Especially in Afghanistan.”

Comparative Literary Evaluation

Placing Sushant Kumar B.K.’s oeuvre within the global contemporary canon reveals compelling thematic confluences and stylistic departures from renowned world poets.

A) Langston Hughes and Sushant Kumar B.K.

Just as Langston Hughes articulated the systemic disenfranchisement and ‘Black Identity’ during the Harlem Renaissance, B.K. gives voice to ‘Dalit Identity’ and subalternity in South Asia. The direct ideological lineage of Hughes’ iconic *”Montage of a Dream Deferred”* is palpable in B.K.’s “Dalits’ Dreams Deferring”. While Hughes interrogates whether a deferred dream sags like a heavy load or explodes, B.K. illustrates how the systemic postponement of Dalit aspirations distances them daily from justice, implying an inevitable socio-political eruption. However, unlike Hughes’ reliance on the syncopated rhythms of jazz, B.K. adopts a more prosaic, declarative, and direct free verse format.

B) T. S. Eliot and Sushant Kumar B.K.

In “Why Do I Write Poems?” and “An Abstract Era,” B.K. transposes the spiritual vacuity of Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ onto contemporary war-torn Afghanistan and the pandemic-stricken world. While Eliot diagnosed the moral degeneration of post-WWI Europe, B.K. maps the fragmentation of postmodern capitalism and military industrialism. Yet, whereas Eliot’s tone remains fundamentally pessimistic, elitist, and steeped in high-classical allusions, B.K. retains a resilient optimism. Even amidst the Sisyphean absurdities of modern existence, he sings of revival and the phoenix.

C) Ocean Vuong and Sushant Kumar B.K.

The thematic intersections of trauma, corporality, and maternal memory found in the works of Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong find a striking echo in B.K.’s “Soul of a Single Mother” and “Before You Go”. Both poets excel at filtering grand historical and structural traumas through the intimate lens of interpersonal relationships. However, where Vuong utilizes highly surreal, lyrical, and fractured syntax, B.K. opts for a style that is accessible, unpretentious, and consciously “sharp as broken glass”.

D) Namdeo Dhasal and Sushant Kumar B.K.

B.K.’s Dalit consciousness shares a radical affinity with the Marathi Dalit Panther movement pioneered by Namdeo Dhasal. Just as Dhasal weaponized the vernacular slang of the lumpenproletariat to subvert mainstream Marathi literature, B.K. integrates the marginalized spaces of Kathmandu’s Thamel nightlife (“Are They Moons?”) and the raw emotional interiority of sex workers (“The Whore”). Yet, where Dhasal’s aesthetic was confrontational and deliberately transgressive, B.K. tempers his outrage with academic erudition and philosophical frameworks (alluding to Plato, Freud, and Shakespeare), thereby translating localized fury into a universal humanistic discourse.

Stylistic Devices and Aesthetics

The defining attribute of Sushant Kumar B.K.’s prosody is its “unfussy yet sharp language”. As the preface astutely notes, his diction avoids superfluous riddles, functioning instead like shattered glass that inflicts a necessary, calculated wound upon the reader’s conscience.

The collection thrives on structural binaries:

Light vs. Darkness: In “The Sun and Me,” the poet equates his temporary societal subjugation with the setting sun, an absolute guarantee of tomorrow’s triumphant dawn.

Confinement vs. Liberation: In “Beauty and Rebel,” domestic confinement is equated to ‘Plato’s Cave,’ which is subsequently shattered by invoking the ancestral legacy of defying restrictions, drawing from the Edenic transgression of eating the forbidden fruit.

The Epistolary Metaphor: In “The Abandoned Letters,” the written word and lipstick impressions serve as motifs for intense romance, while their disposal as garbage underscores the ephemeral nature of human affection within a materialistic world order.

The structural architecture of the poems favors free verse. B.K. eschews dense narrative paragraphs in favor of brief, staccato stanzas, maximizing the conceptual weight of each line and compelling the reader to pause and reflect.

Critical Assessment and Limitations

For a rigorous academic review, it is imperative to address certain aesthetic limitations within the collection. In select pieces such as *”O Government”* or *”Condition Everywhere,”* the poet’s impulse toward immediate socio-political commentary occasionally overshadows poetic nuance. The language in these instances leans heavily toward direct editorial statement or political manifesto, occasionally compromising the layered ambiguity typically valued in postmodern verse.

However, this stylistic choice can be defended as a conscious ideological strategy. To convey the historical, intergenerational trauma of the subaltern, the unvarnished immediacy of speech may be politically and ethically more imperative than the elitist demands for aesthetic obfuscation.

Conclusion

Sushant Kumar B.K.’s ‘The Caste of Flowers’ is far more than an anthology of verse; it is a vital socio-political document asserting the existential validity of the marginalized. Emerging from the peripheral spaces of Nepal, the poet has successfully engineered a universal idiom capable of weaving together global pandemics, warfare, biological love, and caste stratifications into a cohesive tapestry of human resistance. In the contemporary tradition of subaltern literature, this text achieves a significant milestone, validating poetry as an indispensable instrument of truth and social justice.

Read: A humanoid demon in a tree

___________________

Dr. Hasan Nashid is PhD Research Fellow, Faculty of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia.

The post Book: ‘The Caste of Flowers’ first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Kathmandu

Author Rajendra Ojha (Nayan) has launched his psychological thriller, The Gates of Silence, securing a global release across digital, physical, and streaming platforms. Published by independent powerhouse Ukiyoto Publishing, this high-intensity novella clocks in at a lean 104 pages. Designed to be read in a single sitting, the fast-paced narrative dives straight into the fragile mechanics of the human psyche, blending atmospheric tension with a plot that explores the bleeding edge between reality and madness.

The story revolves around Mayalakshmi, the main protagonist, a character whose grip on reality will begin to unravel violently following an encounter with an unearthly voice that sounded like “almost like the voice of a phantom”. From there, Ojha develops a psychologically tense thriller that relies more on internal weaknesses, deep-seated fear, and extreme emotional turmoil among its characters than on conventional spooky scares.

Before the worldwide release, the book received favorable reviews from literary sources, with Sushant Thapa, a critically acclaimed Nepali poet and critic, referring to Rajendra Ojha (Nayan) as “a master of suspense” and praising the high intensity of the story.

He creates that nail-biting journey and takes you to the inner mansion of his characters, Mr. Thapa commented. “With patience and urgency, no reader can deny the thrill of this novella. I will read and re-read just with the fear of hearing myself breathing and losing the momentum.”

However, this is not his first book. Earlier in 2025, he published an anthology, The Paradoxical Civilization, which is also available on platforms such as Amazon Books, Apple Books Stores, Google Books, Ukyioto Books, etc.

________________

The post ‘The Gates of Silence’ launched first appeared on Sindh Courier.

And fragrance to skim

Time caged in clocks.

Sushant Thapa is a poet from Nepal

Sushant Thapa, a poet based in Biratnagar, Nepal, has nine books of English poems and one short story collection to his credit. His poems are published at Sindh Courier, Trouvaille Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Corporeal Lit Mag, etc. He is a lecturer of English in Biratnagar, Nepal.

Stealing Fragrance

Take it close,

Make life large.

Like a mirror

That is a world,

The best reflections are

Better touched.

How can you not feel

This affection

Under your skin.

Cheer the teary eyes,

I shall clap

In amusement.

Life is a swing,

Carry on the trust,

When your feet

Shall not touch

The ground.

I shall seek

Like the sunlight

That filters through

Your eyes.

We hold hands

To disprove

That departures exist.

There is a beloved

Dancing in the twilight,

For the lover who

Blindfolds his eyes

And trusts the journey.

I have known in loneliness

That love is also seeking

Constantly to hold.

A flower vase speaks

Of attention,

I steal a fragrance from it.

Life needs a balance

And fragrance to skim

Time caged in clocks.

***

Subtle Arising

A fluttering bird

Left me blinded.

I never felt peace

Descending over me.

I looked for

Every cranny.

I drowned in every sorrow

To taste the authentic

Mode of survival in life.

Life is bare,

I cover it in holes.

Emotions escape,

Hearts douse

The love.

A stranger knocked once.

I opened my art

To welcome her.

My art has accepted her

But she has not accepted

That she is my art.

Oh what subtle differences

Arising.

In the basement,

I meditate for

Touching the realm

Of my future.

This peaceful heart

Seeks a door.

__________________ 

Read: The setting Sun – Poetry from Nepal

The post Stealing Fragrance – Poetry from Nepal first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Into the distant land

Of unreal eyes

Where I can learn to look,

And not just see.

Sushant Thapa is a poet from Nepal

Sushant Thapa, a poet based in Biratnagar, Nepal, has nine books of English poems and one short story collection to his credit. His poems are published at Sindh Courier, Trouvaille Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Corporeal Lit Mag, etc. He is a lecturer of English in Biratnagar, Nepal.

The setting Sun

Come to take me away

Into the distant land

Of unreal eyes

Where I can learn to look,

And not just see.

I will keep the fire glowing.

The sun will set

With a glow,

We will celebrate

A day of togetherness

Before we depart.

It is not customary

To lose your soul

In a jingle of lies.

I can dance

To the joy of ceremony.

I will keep up the beats.

I was just roaming

And I learned from you

That love is not literal

For the smile,

But figurative for the fights.

We learn by quarrels

In love and by mistakes

In life.

Put on your attire, 

The setting sun is your bindi.

***

Those Memories

I take a walk,

It is me

Who appreciates

My steps

Instead of counting them.

I feel blessed

To keep up

The sky,

To not judge the clouds

For being too low.

I ring your heart

Like a telephone.

We walk away

Leaving behind

A lot of space

Like memories.

The air feels heavy

I send my kisses

Like Poet Pablo Neruda,

In the poem here I Love You,

Those memories

Wash my boat.

_____________________ 

Read: Tune at a Glance – Poetry from Nepal

The post The setting Sun – Poetry from Nepal first appeared on Sindh Courier.

It is a divinity at joy.

I play this tune

To sacrifice a disharmony.

Sushant Thapa is a poet from Nepal

Sushant Thapa, a poet based in Biratnagar, Nepal, has nine books of English poems and one short story collection to his credit. His poems are published at Sindh Courier, Trouvaille Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Corporeal Lit Mag, etc. He is a lecturer of English in Biratnagar, Nepal.

 Tune at a Glance 

A second glance

Is not a mistake

If the look is not wasted.

I keep along

The watchtower

By my side.

I read your eyes

By the stream

The water tasted divine.

Come close

Or I will have to go.

Wake me up

When you leave,

I shall send you an invitation

Again when the world

Speaks louder

Than the heart.

Art is a festival

It is a divinity at joy.

I play this tune

To sacrifice a disharmony.

_________________ 

Read: Entanglement – Poetry from Nepal

The post Tune at a Glance – Poetry from Nepal first appeared on Sindh Courier.

It is sweeter

Than the edibles.

Sushant Thapa is a poet from Nepal

Sushant Thapa, a poet based in Biratnagar, Nepal, has nine books of English poems and one short story collection to his credit. His poems are published at Sindh Courier, Trouvaille Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Corporeal Lit Mag, etc. He is a lecturer of English in Biratnagar, Nepal.

Entanglement

I look at the cobweb.

It has its approach.

I figure out the riddle

And become a part of it.

The riddle never knew me.

I taste the hunger,

It is sweeter

Than the edibles.

The low art hangs high

On my wall.

This mass culture

Has no time

To look at me.

I father simplicity

And teach it

How to appreciate

The morning

Before it becomes

The darkest night.

***

Holding

I descend from the castle,

I wake up for the stars,

An embrace,

A shiny agony.

Making up for passion,

I play with forgiveness

To be myself in the mirror,

Before it shatters

Like the crack in the pot.

Distances measure my truth,

It is immensely missed

Like a lunatic lover

Waking up in a wintry survival.

Take away the perfection,

Life can be simply true.

Meet me where my arms

Don’t hold a lie in you.

__________________

Read: When I Desire – Poetry from Nepal

The post Entanglement – Poetry from Nepal first appeared on Sindh Courier.

And drift towards you

When I desire.

Sushant Thapa is a poet from Nepal

Sushant Thapa, a poet based in Biratnagar, Nepal, has nine books of English poems and one short story collection to his credit. His poems are published at Sindh Courier, Trouvaille Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Corporeal Lit Mag, etc. He is a lecturer of English in Biratnagar, Nepal.

When I Desire

When I desire

I forgive.

When I desire

I destroy myself.

I rebuild,

When I desire.

You come,

You go.

I have the road,

The path to you

Covered in roses,

And forgetfulness.

Love is only a metaphor;

True liking

Is in the soul

And sacrifices,

And in being the world

For the one

We desire.

I seek

When I desire.

I dream

When I desire,

I forget myself

And drift towards you

When I desire.

__________________

Read: Nothing to Hide – A Poem from Nepal

The post When I Desire – Poetry from Nepal first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Like an artful recollections.

Let the hours pass,

Let the sky sink

And the dawn arrive

Like a sketch.

Sushant Thapa, a poet from Biratnagar, Nepal, shares his poem 

Sushant Thapa, a poet based in Biratnagar, Nepal, has nine books of English poems and one short story collection to his credit. His poems are published at Sindh Courier, Trouvaille Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Corporeal Lit Mag, etc. He is a lecturer of English in Biratnagar, Nepal.

Nothing to Hide

I wake up,

A force in design,

The sipping life

Is not empty

Of its cup.

Talk of the day,

The remaining hours

Are passing by.

I am blessed to live

Like an artful recollections.

Let the hours pass,

Let the sky sink

And the dawn arrive

Like a sketch.

With you by my side,

The distances could

Solve the equation

Of detachment.

In telling,

There is nothing

To hide.

_______________________

Read: Expensive Humanity – A Poem from Nepal

The post Nothing to Hide – A Poem from Nepal first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By Lee Sang-ki

AsiaN reporter, former president of the Korea Journalists Association

SEOUL

Democracy in Nepal is once again in turmoil. The eruption of fierce protests and the collapse of the government are not merely political events. They are the visible consequence of long-standing structural corruption, frustrated promises, and the despair of a generation that feels robbed of its future.

When Nepal abolished the monarchy in 2008 and declared itself a republic, politicians pledged redistribution of wealth and equality. Yet, more than a decade later, those promises have proved empty. Power and wealth became monopolized by entrenched elites, whether Maoists or parliamentary parties. Citizens grew tired of waiting, and especially Generation Z began to expose corruption through social media, demanding change. When the government responded by shutting down platforms like YouTube and restricting digital voices, anger erupted into flames. Parliament, ministries, banks, and even prisons were set ablaze, leaving scores dead and thousands injured.

The resignation of the prime minister was a symbolic victory for the protesters, but politics was thrown into a dangerous vacuum. The emergence of figures like the young mayor of Kathmandu and a former female chief justice known for her integrity reflects the yearning for leadership untainted by the past. What is striking is that the protesters’ demands are concrete: dissolution of parliament, abolition of provincial governments, direct election of the prime minister, and a full investigation of corruption cases dating back to 1990. This is not a mere outburst of anger but a roadmap for institutional reform.

For South Korea, this crisis carries profound lessons. Korean youth, too, face job insecurity, housing inequality, and political distrust. The phrase “Hell Joseon” has long expressed their disillusionment, and public confidence in politics remains fragile. What is happening on the streets of Nepal is not just a distant tragedy; it is a warning close to home. Unless Korea addresses the frustrations of its younger generations, it may one day witness similar turmoil. Political polarization, endless power struggles, and structural inequality erode the foundations of trust. Nepal’s flames send a sobering message: if politics refuses to change, young people will eventually march into the streets.

The diplomatic dimension should not be overlooked either. The frustration of Nepali youth has extended toward foreign embassies. In particular, the strict visa policies of the Korean embassy fueled unnecessary resentment, damaging Korea’s image. Unless Korea ensures fairness and transparency in its interactions with foreign youth, its diplomatic credibility may also be undermined.

Nepal’s crisis is thus a warning for all of Asia. The anger of a young generation cannot be suppressed indefinitely. The real challenge is to transform that anger into energy for reform rather than destruction. Korea, too, must give hope to its youth, or else its democracy will remain vulnerable. Democracy cannot be sustained by institutions alone. It requires the trust of the people—especially the trust of the young, who carry the nation’s future. Nepal’s turmoil is a stark reminder of why governments across Asia must listen carefully to the voices of their youth.

Here I want to speak directly to the young people of Nepal. First, under no circumstances should violence be the path forward. Violence only breeds more violence and deeper wounds. True democracy is achieved through persuasion, participation, and institutional change, not through destruction. Second, embrace the spirit of patience and perseverance, what in Korean we call Husaenggawe—a belief that today’s hardships will become the foundation of tomorrow’s strength. Third, remember that those you now condemn and struggle against also rose to power more than a decade ago under the banner of reform. The old saying holds true: absolute power corrupts absolutely. Unless the new generation remains vigilant, today’s reformers could become tomorrow’s oppressors. Fourth, Nepal, home to the Himalayas, is not just another country. It embodies the coexistence of nature and humanity, tradition and modernity, spirituality and democracy. If you move forward carefully, step by step—even if slowly—Nepal can become a role model for the world.

Korean youth should reflect on these messages as well. Express your grievances, but do not let them descend into violence. Face history honestly, but do not lose sight of the future. Voice despair, but never abandon hope. The fate of democracy ultimately rests in the hands of the younger generation.

Nepal’s crisis is a mirror for Korea and for Asia as a whole. In that mirror, we see the essence of democracy. Power grows when shared, and the future opens when hope is given to the young. I sincerely hope that the youth of Nepal will turn their anger into a driving force for reform and a spark of hope. In doing so, they will illuminate not only their own tomorrow but also the future of every young generation across Asia.

Read: Protecting Citizens Abroad: Korea’s Obligation

________________

Lee Sang-ki is the Founder of Asia Journalists Association (AJA); AsiaN CEO

Courtesy: The AsiaN 

The post Nepal’s Democratic Flames: Asia’s Wake-Up Call first appeared on Sindh Courier.

• Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, resigned after the bloodshed citing ethical responsibility
• Situation remains volatile. Streets across the nation remain tense under curfew

Monitoring Desk

Kathmandu, Nepal

At least 19 people were killed and over 100 injured in clashes with security forces after thousands of young people in Nepal took to the streets on Monday to protest against corruption and a government ban on social media websites.

A curfew was imposed in parts of Kathmandu after protesters entered the Parliament building in the capital and faced off against the police.

The protest began at 9am on Monday. The demonstrators gathered in Maitighar, a neighborhood in Kathmandu. It includes a busy road intersection, featuring the Maitighar Mandala monument — one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.

Growing dissatisfaction among the youth with corruption in the country materialized into the demonstration on Monday.

The government’s September 4 announcement that it was blocking several social media platforms, including Facebook, added to the anger. The government blocked 26 social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. The ban came into effect after one week was given to these social media websites to register with the Nepali government. The websites had until September 3 to register with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

According to the government, users with fake IDs on these platforms are committing malicious acts and cybercrime, disrupting social harmony. About 90 percent of Nepal’s 30 million people use the internet, according to a 2021 NTA report.

As of 2021, about 7.5 percent of Nepal’s population was living abroad, reliant on platforms such as Meta’s Messenger to communicate with families back home. Many Nepalis have switched to Viber to communicate with their families and friends who are working abroad as migrant workers.

The mass movement against the corruption of government in Nepal led by the Generation-Z, has brought a surge of national emergency.

The other agendas of the movement include the demands for basic human rights, the freedom of speech, end to political corruption and societal inequity, resolving the issues that have long eroded public trust in Nepal’s leaders.

Protesters, who were mainly students, chanted slogans such as “Enough is enough” and “End corruption, not free speech”, holding placards denouncing political nepotism and advocating for democratic expression. The government’s response has been forceful.

Riot police, backed by the army, used tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets, and live rounds to disperse crowds attempting to breach Parliament’s barriers. Clashes in Kathmandu were especially deadly, but violence also flared in other cities, including Itahari, Pokhara, Butwal and many more

In the response of today’s violence, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, resigned after the bloodshed citing ethical responsibility. Meanwhile, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli faces mounting pressure at home and abroad, with critics accusing his administration of authoritarianism and failure to address the root causes of public discontent.

As of now, the situation remains volatile. Streets across the nation remain tense under curfew, yet youth groups continue to organize through alternative digital channels and offline networks. The death toll may rise as more information emerges from hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. The movement has already marked a defining moment: a collective voice demanding accountability, transparency, and freedom. Whether it results in genuine political reform or deeper repression remains uncertain. But one thing is clear, the youngest generation has forced its country, and the world, to pay attention.

________________

Read: Conspiracy in any Kingdom – A Poem from Nepal

The post Nepal reels as Gen-Z protests turn deadly first appeared on Sindh Courier.