Nepal, June 15 -- In the past week, we've seen multiple instances revealing vulnerabilities in our democratic system-and a complete absence of political leadership.

The first case is that of journalist Dil Bhusan Pathak, against whom the police issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday. The police were quick to act after they received complaints from Jaiveer Deuba, the son of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba, over a YouTube video alleging Deuba's meteoric rise as a businessman at a young age.

In Pathak's case, the Police invoked Article 47 of the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA), a clear effort to censor freedom of expression. In the video, Pathak uses the example of Deuba to argue that the govern...