The situation in Ukraine and Russia has been deteriorating rapidly in recent weeks, with both sides taking increasingly aggressive actions that threaten to spiral out of control. The Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014, significantly escalated on February 24, 2022, when Russia attacked and annexed areas of Ukraine with the announcement of a “special military operation”. The situation is now at a critical juncture and requires immediate attention from the world.
The rising tension between Russia and Ukraine has been having a significant effect on the everyday lives of the people, not just in Russia and Ukraine but in other countries around the world as well. The continuous conflict has resulted in worldwide economic instability, homelessness, family loss, and the relocation of numerous people. The situation has even had an impact on people’s freedom of movement, access to necessary commodities and services, and the necessity to obtain healthcare.
On this matter, a thirty-five-year-old businessman, who was born in Nepal but is currently a citizen of Portugal, has expressed his deep concern and has been sending numerous emails, since April of 2022, to various people, embassies, governmental representatives, and the presidents to take immediate action to help prevent a devastating war from breaking out.
Mr. Keshab Prasad Bastola has been in search of humanity in this world. Amidst the ongoing international conflict between Ukraine and Russia, humanity and human rights have been lost somewhere. It has impacted the lives of not only people in Ukraine and Russia but has affected the daily lives of people all over the world.
When asked why he was doing all this and if he was getting paid for all his efforts, he said he was doing it only as a “manav dharma” and not looking for any sort of monetary benefit. He is doing it so that no other person has to suffer. He isn’t connected with any sort of NGO, INGO or governmental body and is doing all this because he thinks that even a small step taken by a person could result in huge changes.
The Ukrainian President, with great bravery, has stood for his nation but it has only been fueling the war. “A true person is a person who thinks not only about himself but thinks for the sake of humanity.”, says Bastola. The bravery of the Ukrainian President was at the cost of the lives of numerous innocent people. He has been fearlessly standing for his people but this might end up resulting in a war between Russia and Ukraine. If Russia and Ukraine do not diplomatically solve this situation, the world will be divided into three parties: ally, opposition, and neutral for a short time until the world is torn apart. It will not only affect the two countries directly involved but will result in the third world war ending every form of life in this world.
All the leaders are ready to show their power and protect their nation. But when no human is left on earth due to the war, who will they protect? Hence, Mr. Bastola has been struggling for over a month, mailing various people. But who would listen to a normal person without any sort of political power?
“Life is non-refundable but land can be negotiated upon. The land was there, is there, and will be there for a long time, but not our precious lives. So, war shouldn’t be a reason for anyone to lose their life. We cannot do anything to prevent natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, but war is a calamity that can be stopped. Everyone who has been born in this world has to die someday. But losing life to war isn’t normal, it is an accident caused on purpose.”, says Bastola when talking about the innocent people who died, got hurt both mentally and physically, lost their loved ones, got displaced due to the war or put up with any sort of loss due to the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Every governmental authority is fighting for its own interests and not helping those in need. The people who sell weapons want the war to happen so they can supply their goods to Ukraine and the ones buying fuel from Russia don’t want the war to stop so they could profit from it. But he neither sells weapons nor directly profits from the fuel sold by Russia and wants nothing more than the end of this conflict.
“Is fuel more important than the lives of the innocent humans?”/ © Axel Heimken / Greenpeace
He talked about having watched the viewpoints of various countries for the past year but only seeing everyone trying to profit from the conflict instead of trying to stop it. According to him, no one is clear regarding their stance and only have eyes on the profit. He wants the matter to be solved peacefully instead of going for something as inhumane as a war.
He talks about how the US has a massive negative impact on Russia and Ukraine and believes that this whole thing was a propaganda started by the US itself as the US already knew that inviting Ukraine to NATO would concern Russia. What the US didn’t realize was that the situation would go out of control like this.
The war has a great impact on countries largely dependent on import trade. For a country like Nepal, there may be a negative impact on trade, remittances, tourism, and assistance such as grants or loans.
Nepal is a land-locked country between two huge masses of land and the neighboring countries, India and China, and since they have different roles in the war between Russia and Ukraine, it will create a huge impact on Nepal’s economy in the near future. For a politically unstable country like Nepal, this war might create huge problems as the Communist Party (UML) of Nepal might support the stances of China while the Congress Party supports the stand of India. This instability will create havoc in Nepal if the war takes a bigger form.
Batola is positive that the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, does not seem to have any humanity left and has let the lust for power and money take control over him. Being one of the most influential political leaders, he has done nothing to try to cease the conflict that might turn into a world war. Shri Narendra Modi has stated that India wants the problem to be resolved through negotiations and diplomacy, but Bastola wonders when the initiative is going to be taken.
There is an annual trade worth billions of rupees between Nepal and Ukraine, among which the supply of edible oil is very sensitive as there is no immediate import replacement option for Nepal. There has been a problem with the import of cooking oil and ready-made clothes from Ukraine, along with the export of carpets, tea, and paintings from Nepal, which has principally stopped.
The increase in the price of petroleum products, after the conflict began, has affected the cost of transportation, agricultural production, and industrial production. He talked about his research regarding crude oil whose price was $100 per barrel but now has touched a high of $139 per barrel after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.
He says it is due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the exchange rate of the Nepali currency against the US dollar has fallen to a new record point. If this keeps up, the low-economy Nepali people will be compelled to suicide.
This is not a matter of concern just in Nepal, the people living in various parts of the world who have it hard to earn their daily bread will be impoverished if the conflict isn’t sorted out as soon as possible.
It is not only the people in Ukraine and Russia that are suffering. With the growing rate of inflation, poor people from all over the world have been dying daily. This is an evil deed and the world needs advocates who will speak the truth and stop this devastating situation from taking a rise.
Bastola states that he just wants the war to stop by any means for which he has written innumerable emails and also sent physical mails to several countries, urging their government to use all of their diplomatic and economic leverage to push both Ukraine and Russia to de-escalate the conflict, and to engage in constructive diplomacy to resolve their differences. This includes calling on both sides to refrain from any further military action and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other.
When asked if he got any replies, he stated, “Of course! Even the representative of Russia replied saying that they have no intention to wage a war on Ukraine and are just trying to protect their people and their land from the threat. They are willing to withdraw if the US and NATO stop interfering… I tried to physically mail Mr. Putin but even DHL wasn’t ready to accept mailing them. Russia is also in a tough spot due to the sanctions and the Ukrainian people are suffering everyday. This needs to stop. I want my words to reach Mr. Putin and Zelenskyy anyhow”.
Photo: PTI
“The powerful bodies should have talked about human rights before this happened.”/ ndtv
According to him, NATO, UNO, America and the European nations should stop holding meetings just for talks without searching for actual solutions. There is no point rattling about human rights when humans aren’t even alive. It is not just a delinquency but a well-planned crime committed by powerful countries for their own benefit. We, the people of the world, should speak against it and ask the presidents to stop.
People from all across the world should speak out against the violence peacefully and put pressure on the western forces to stop supporting and fueling the war for their benefit. Everyone should work for the establishment of peace in the globe. I want to plead to every single human being from all over the world to raise their voices in order to stop the Russo-Ukraine war because no government or organization will do so. The past is already gone but the future of all the people can be saved by taking necessary steps to stop the war from breaking out.
“Where should we go to find humanity at this point? Who is selling peace? Where do the poor people get it? People are dying daily not only due to weapons but due to hunger caused by inflation. The situation of the people globally is ruthless and no one seems to actually be concerned about it.” No one has the right to kill other people for their own benefit. Hence, we have to put a stop to this ongoing conflict and inaugurate peace in the world again.
