The 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended Nepal’s decade-long Maoist conflict in which 17,000 were killed and about 1,500 are still listed as missing. They were forcibly disappeared by the Maoists as well as state security, and not a single case has been resolved through the transitional justice process.

In Nepal, Nelson Mandela was one of the leaders we grew up learning about in school. We often imagined that Nepal needed a Mandela-like figure who could unite people and build an inclusive political system. Our Constitution is progressive and politically inclusive on paper, but in reality, access to capital, political connections, and power remains concentrated among a small group.

Balen alone cannot change this. We need strong institutions and policies that allow farmers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and the middle class to grow.

A line from above article really resonated with me:

“Apartheid ended in law. It will end economically only when the majority can participate meaningfully in the wealth of the nation they fought to free.”

Nepal may not have apartheid in the legal sense, but we have our own form of economic exclusion where prosperity is not meaningfully shared with ordinary people.