Nepal, Oct. 31 -- To belabour the obvious, a VIP culture-that puts certain people ahead of the rest of the population and accords them undue privileges-is wrong. But it continues to be a staple of whoever is in charge of running the country-no matter which party they belong to. Just last month in September, the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai was reprimanded by irate passengers, after he and his aides purposefully delayed a Buddha Air flight from Nepalgunj. And last week, a Shree Airlines flight preparing to fly to Bhadrapur was delayed at Kathmandu airport for nearly an hour, sparking protests from the passengers again.

Apparently, a notice to airman (Notam) was given wherein the pilot was told to shut ...