Nepal, that beautiful country nestled in the Himalayas, home to the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest — God’s greatest gift to the Nepalese people — is today engulfed in its worst political unrest in years.

Triggered by a controversial social media ban and deep-rooted anger over corruption, Gen Z-led protests have exploded into violent uprisings that forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign. In a matter of days, demonstrators stormed government offices, parliament, and private residences of top leaders. The homes of at least five former prime ministers, including Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Madhav Nepal, and Jhalanath Khanal, were torched. Tragically, Rajyalaxmi Chitrakar, the wife of former Prime Minister Khanal, perished from burn injuries when their Kathmandu house was set ablaze.

The violence has been harrowing. Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba, were assaulted. Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel and parliamentarian Eknath Dhakal were stripped and paraded in public. Protesters even set fire on Nakkhu Central Jail, freeing Rastriya Swatantra Party chief and Former Deputy Prime Minister Rabi Lamichhane. The Nepal Army has stepped in to restore order, appealing for calm, while India has placed its borders on high alert.

As an old friend of Nepal, we can only express deep sadness over the chaos gripping the country. Nepal has already endured more than a decade of bloody civil war that ended in 2006, costing thousands of lives and displacing countless people. Yet out of that tragedy, the Nepalese achieved a remarkable threefold transition — from war to peace, from monarchy to republic, and from a unitary to a federal system of government. It was an achievement rare in Asia and in the world.

We remember with fondness our visits to Kathmandu, the last in 2016 when we addressed an international conference hosted by then Prime Minister Oli. For years, Nepalese leaders, including former Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Jhalanath Khanal, have been close colleagues in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), an organization composed of some 352 political parties from 52 countries in Asia and which we founded and launched in Manila in September 2000. Together, we shared the dream of building bridges of peace, understanding, and cooperation across Asia.

Today, it is painful to see that same Nepal once again drenched in violence and bloodshed. For the sake of the country and its brave people, this cycle of unrest must stop.

We urgently appeal to the United Nations, international organizations, and the community of nations to step in — not to intervene politically, but to help stop the killings, the arson, and the destruction. Nepal’s youth, who are demanding reform, deserve to be heard, but their grievances must be addressed through dialogue and peaceful democratic processes, not through fire and blood.

Nepal’s history is one of resilience. We fervently pray that this storm will soon give way to calm, and that the Nepalese people will once again find the unity, wisdom, and courage to restore peace in their beautiful land beneath the shadow of Everest.