Nepal: Gen Z activists demand arrest of ousted PM Oli and former home minister over September 8 shootout

The youth-led Gen Z group called for the immediate arrest of ousted Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and ex-Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak on Saturday, citing their alleged responsibility in a fatal shootout during anti-government protests on September 8.

Speaking at a press briefing at Sambad Dabali, Dr Nicholas Bhushal, an adviser to the Gen Z movement, urged authorities to also detain Kathmandu Chief District Officer Chhabi Rijal, saying all three were directly accountable for the Naya Baneshwor incident, where 19 activists lost their lives.

The group further demanded the establishment of a high-level commission to probe the wealth of senior political leaders and officials dating back to 1990.

Separately, Gen Z activists staged a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala near the Singhdurbar Secretariat, retracing the route of their September 8 protest rally.

The recent protests, sparked by accusations of corruption and a short-lived social media ban, left at least 72 people dead, including three police officers, highlighting the intensity of the unrest.

On Friday, the former prime minister denied that he had given any shooting orders during the Gen Z demonstrations, saying bullets were fired at protesters from automatic guns that the police did not possess and called for a probe into the matter.

In his first public statement since his ouster, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) chairman blamed the infiltrators for the violence during the ”peaceful protest” by Gen-Z.

“The government didn’t order to shoot at the demonstrators,” 73-year-old Oli said in a message issued on the occasion of Constitution Day.

“The bullets were fired at the protesters from automatic guns, which were not possessed by the police personnel, and this must be investigated,” Oli said.

Oli quit on September 9 shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut on Saturday said that the apex court had not issued an order to ban social media sites.

“The Supreme Court had not ordered the government to shut down social media sites,” CJ Raut said while talking to the media in Kathmandu.

The apex court had urged the government to regularise the social media sites through formulating necessary laws which is a normal international practice, he said.

The Oli-led government had banned 26 social media sites citing the Supreme Court’s order, which sparked protests from the Gen Z group on September 8. The ban on social media was lifted on the night of September 8.

On September 12, former chief justice Sushila Karki took oath as Nepal’s first woman prime minister to lead an interim government.

With inputs from agencies