For months now, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-home-minister-vs-the-media">Nepal’s media has been reporting</a> on depositors defrauded of their savings by crooked cooperatives. The spotlight got brighter after<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heads-roll"> Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane was accused </a>of siphoning off savings from two cooperatives and investing it in his television company.
Given a chance to defend his case in Parliament, he resorted to whataboutery and accused the opposition Nepali Congress (NC) of even greater plunder. After the row brought the House to a standstill for over a month, a cross-party probe committee has finally been formed, but without naming Lamichhane personally.
Nearly 30 crisis-ridden cooperatives across the country which have more than Rs60 billion in depositors’ savings at risk will be probed by the committee. Another 500 cooperatives are said to be dodgy, and the government says it will be compensating depositors who had up to Rs500,000 in savings in cooperatives that have gone belly-up.
Economist Pushkar Bajracharya says that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/cooperatives-leave-nepalis-high-and-dry">Nepal’s cooperatives have had problems </a>from their earliest years because of lack of regulation and monitoring which allowed unscrupulous shareholders to invest the savings in questionable real estate deals (best case scenario) or fraudsters to decamp with depositors' savings (worst case).&nbsp;
“The lawlessness in the cooperatives sector meant that the hard-earned savings of depositors were misused or stolen,” Bajracharya says.
At the root of this <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/institutionalised-inequality">pandemic of plunder</a> in cooperatives is the culture of impunity where trusting Nepalis are cheated out of hard-earned savings with the promise of high interest rates. Like pyramid schemes, these are ways for deceitful individuals to cheat gullible depositors because they know they can get away with it.
This is similar to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-s-corruption-carousel">rampant corruption at all layers of government</a> and across the country where the might of those who hold power seem to have the right to extort and defraud the powerless. In many cases shareholders in local cooperatives are even elected local officials.&nbsp;
There is even a sitting MP, Gita Basnet, who is accused of pocketing Rs165.8 million from her cooperative depositors, and she has been on the run. A mayor and his wife in Baglung siphoned off Rs3 billion from 1,500 depositors. Criminal cases have been filed against all of them in the courts.
Ironically, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/till-debt-do-us-part">crisis in Nepal’s banks and financial institutions</a> has turned out to be a bonanza for financially fragile daily newspapers which these days are filled with pages and pages of paid property auction notices by banks. These advertisements are from Class A, B, C or D financial institutions and point to an upsurge in loan defaults.&nbsp;
The Credit Information Bureau (CIB) Nepal monitors 129 financial institutions, and says the number of blacklisted borrowers has grown from 3,609 to 96,331 in the past ten years — nearly half of them made it to the list just this year. Bijay Kunwar of the CIB says the numbers shot up after despositers failed to pay back loans from microfinance institutions.&nbsp;
The real estate slump is at the bottom of this crisis. Those who had borrowed from cooperatives or banks to invest in property speculating, hoping for fast returns, were trapped with huge loans they could not pay back. The crisis began during the Covid crisis and continued with the economic slump in Nepal caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Many defaulters have rallied around businessman Durga Prasai, himself a wilful defaulter who failed to pay back bank loans for a hospital in Jhapa, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/street-politics">held nationwide demonstrations</a> earlier this year. Prasai urged his supporters to stop servicing their loans and to force banks to cancel their debt.
“Prasai’s debt cancellation campaign sowed confusion,” senior economist Keshav Acharya explains. “Some borrowers of cooperatives who wanted to pay back loans were stopped from doing so by activists. And bank borrowers covertly hoped for their loans to be waived.”
Nine months of data from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for the past year shows that the wholesale and retail sectors had the highest proportion of credit (19.9%) and loans to real estate developers made up just 4.92%.
“Many borrowers took loans for business purposes but used a portion to buy property, but since there is a real estate slump it has led to banking defaults,” says Bhuvan Dahal, former president of Nepal Bankers’ Association.&nbsp;
The default crisis in turn has been a factor in record outmigration in the past year as Nepalis leave to earn money overseas to pay loans back home. If there is a way out of this crisis, it will be to henceforth provide loans for projects that create jobs and not in unproductive sectors.
Pinki Sris Rana

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Giving credit where it’s due

On 2 January 2023, Sita Adhikari (pictured above) was sitting in Narayan Chaur in Kathmandu, worrying about the Rs200,000 that she had deposited at Oriental Cooperative. She had saved the money to see through her old age, but it is now all gone. “I think I will die without getting that money back,” she said, chin resting on the palm of her hand. Adhikari is originally from Nuwakot, and spent her life alone and without any support. She was married in 1951 when she was 11 and her husband died three years later. In 1959, she came to Kathmandu, leaving everything behind. Now, she works in a household in Naxal. She had received Rs100,000 as part of her husband’s property, adding another Rs100,000 that she had saved and deposited the total amount in Nepal Bank Limited. After a kin told her that the Oriental would provide her a better interest rate, she deposited her money there. By the time she learned that this was a bad decision, it was already too late. When she needed money for medicine, she reached out to the cooperative. But the branch office was locked up. She has spent a decade since trying to get that money back. “It was all I had, the crooks stole it from me,” she added. Thousands of other depositers had also put their money at Oriental Cooperative, operated by a Sudhir Basnet, who is absconding. According to the office of Cooperative Management Committee, about Rs1.5 billion deposited by about 4,250 people at Oriental remains in limbo. Khagendra Kafle, chair of a victims’ committee, says that the depositors have been struggling financially and a dozen of them have already died.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230324100356_d20b1e6157630a9fcc7c765e073ee4e549975427f74b170efea0ad5547ca8db6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230324100356_d20b1e6157630a9fcc7c765e073ee4e549975427f74b170efea0ad5547ca8db6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Bishnu Bhagat Shrestha"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Chhetra Dhanchhawa of Bhaktapur had deposited Rs2.6 million at Basnet’s cooperative. The money was to take care of her son Bishnu who cannot speak or walk. she died at age 83 in 2021, the loan her family took for her funeral rites remain unpaid, and Bishnu is being looked after by his niece (pictured above). Devendra Prasad Pokharel, chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s Cooperative Department, meets dozens of depositers who have lost all to collapsed <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18430#.ZB121HZByJA">cooperatives</a> daily. “Some have warned they will self-immolate at the department’s office if they do not get their money back,” he says. “It is so depressing I feel like quitting my job right now.” After the department receives complaints, it summons cooperative operators for a discussion. If the operators pay back the money within a certain period of time, the case gets closed. If not, the department sends a letter to the police for an investigation. “So far, we have already sent 2,800 complaints against 56 cooperatives to the police,” Pokharel adds. And of the 1,600 financial institutions in Kathmandu alone, complaints have been filed against 125. Binda Budhathoki, who runs a retail shop in Balkot has Rs40,000 still stuck in Nagarik Bikas Cooperative. On 1 February its officials were asking depositors to visit after a month because it had a cash crunch. Between July and December, the Cooperative Department under the Ministry of Land Management and Cooperative received 451 complaints against cooperatives. Registrar Rudra Prasad Pandit said, “We take complaints if it is under our jurisdiction, if not, we suggest they visit the authorities concerned in local units and provinces.” The <a href="https://lawcommission.gov.np/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Cooperatives-Act-2017-final-Eng-version-Dec-21-2018-1.pdf">Cooperatives Act 2017</a> has divided the work related to cooperatives’ registration and monitoring among the department, and provincial and local governments. There is no concrete data on how many cooperatives have not paid their clients’ money. Meen Raj Kandel, chair of Rastriya Sahakari Mahasangh, the umbrella association of cooperatives, says that as many as 32,000 cooperatives across the country have deposits worth Rs700 billion. But because of the fraud committed by some of them, there is widespread loss of faith in cooperatives.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023032411034_0566f5a5d46ab324ee0d912fc9e71db37b814c4b981f01f8f6fe32d45672aa53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023032411034_0566f5a5d46ab324ee0d912fc9e71db37b814c4b981f01f8f6fe32d45672aa53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="suman nepali"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  “On the one hand, the country’s financial outlook is grim, and the cooperatives have not been able to get returns on their investment,” he said. “On the other hand, all depositors have been thronging to cooperatives to ask for their money back. This is creating problems.” The problem is not new, it has just got worse. In 2013 the government formed a probe commission to investigate cooperatives after many people were left high and dry. It found the operators themselves had been taking large amounts of loans and not repaying the principal and interest for years. According to the commission’s report, 22,170 depositors had yet to receive a total of Rs7,607,995,000 from cooperatives.Including interest, the sum crosses Rs10 billion. That was ten years ago, and the problem has gotten worse since most of the guilty were never punished. The report recommended that cooperatives should be regularly monitored, there should be strong laws to control unruly financial and managerial decisions, and registrations be stopped for new cooperatives. In addition, it also suggested that operators should not invest without collateral and all financial transactions be done through banks or financial institutions. None of this was ever implemented. Lalupate Cooperative in Khotang collapsed without refunding its customers’ savings. The Dhangadi branch office of Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative shut down without refunding depositers. The Credit Information Bureau has blacklisted 11 cooperatives just in the current fiscal year. Gauri Bahadur Karki, chair of the probe commission, blames greed and mismanagement. “The business of collecting money from the public and mobilising it in real estate or other business by a single individual or a family has increased the risk of theft of public’s property, this is a business that should have been strictly regulated,” he said. Civil Cooperative, for example, used at least Rs5.67 billion from depositers, invested it in real estate and other iffy sectors and never refunded it. Investigation has shown that the cooperative loaned Rs1.32 billion to former chair and adviser Ichha Ram Tamang’s Civil Homes without securing any collateral. Cooperatives issued loans again and again without recovering the previous credits. The Department of Cooperatives did issue guidelines related to liquidity, investment, utilisation of savings, and institutional good governance from time to time, but it has failed to monitor and take action against the cooperatives that show reluctance to implement them. There is a provision that the cooperatives should maintain liquidity up to 15%, and invest more than half of the total credit in the production-oriented business in order to minimise the investment in the real estate, but this has never been enforced. Rudra Prasad Pandit says cooperatives and real estate businesses have become co-dependent. In fact, cooperatives start facing problems when cracks appear in the real estate sector. Real estate transactions are now down to half in the last six months of the current fiscal year compared to last year. Last year, 394,307 properties were purchased and sold, but the number is now barely 189,937. This means cooperatives that had speculated on land have not been able to recoup the money. Complaints lodged at the Cooperative Department show that almost all the cooperatives invested in real estate plotting or land transactions. Savings schemes and cooperatives have become the tool of money laundering due to the lack of regulation. Economist Keshav Acharya says that cooperatives that should have been established for the public good have been infiltrated by the land mafia who collect the wealth of the public and gamble on real estate. The 2013 probe committee states in its report that the operators who were found involved in misappropriation responded that they were unaware of the laws. ‘The cooperatives should have been opened after thorough research. There is no one to formulate operation rules,’ the report states. For instance, investigation into Oriental Cooperative found that Basnet had taken most of the loans in the name of fake depositers, even establishing more than half-a-dozen sub-cooperatives in order to collect money from the public. The Auditor General’s report in 2023 notes that many cooperatives have failed to establish a system to identify suspicious transactions and to conduct a detailed study of the high and abnormal financial dealings from their own members. In addition, cooperatives have become the hotbed for people blacklisted by banks and other financial institutions. In fiscal year 2021/22, of the total 2,401,714 financial transactions above Rs1 million, 274,113 were done by cooperatives. And, although the details of all transactions above Rs1 million and all suspicious transactions should be sent to the Financial Information Bureau, the implementation is lacking. Adds Dipak Raj Pokharel of the Money Laundering Prevention unit, “There is little investigation into suspicious transactions through cooperatives.” A high-level task force led by the National Planning Commission in 2066 concluded that cooperative organisations were a risk-factor for the economy. ‘A great disaster could be on the cards due to the weak monitoring/regulatory organisational system and legal provisions,’ the report states. Adds economist Acharya: “The government has failed in its responsibility to protect the wealth of the citizens. The government became helpless in refunding the savings of the public and taking action against the fraud even though the crime continued in the name of cooperatives.” A former colleague of Acharya’s committed suicide after he did not receive the Rs5 million he saved in a cooperative. Even a former executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank has been cheated of Rs20 million he saved in a cooperative. Although the 2013 probe commission found 162 cooperatives, including their branches, as problematic and recommended for property management, the government has declared only 12 as such. No action for management of property and liability has been taken against many cooperatives that have failed to refund the savers’ money and have disappeared.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023032411034_8b8f53546869197478909c0d19bdb0945afa82e54f81c691915bfdc82c92cf8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023032411034_8b8f53546869197478909c0d19bdb0945afa82e54f81c691915bfdc82c92cf8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="suman nepali"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Trilochan Pangeni, suggests that that the risk has increased due to the politicisation of the cooperatives. He argues that law has been deliberately weakened by people in power so that the cooperatives could be let free. “While formulating the Cooperatives Act in 2017, a stern legal action against those committing irregularities in the cooperatives was proposed, but the political nexus derailed those provisions,” he added. In 2016, Nepal Rastra Bank drafted a bill making fraud in cooperatives subject to punishment as banking offence. During discussions in the Parliament, the bill was taken to the Finance Committee which had cooperatives campaigner Keshav Badal, Civil Cooperatives chairperson Ichha Raj Tamang and other persons associated with cooperatives as members. The conflict of interest in the Committee limited the definition of the cooperative organisation to include only the organisations licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank. As per this definition, the Act would incorporate only 15 cooperatives that had obtained permission from the central bank. As a result, the fraud committed in other cooperatives could not be brought to action for banking offences. Says Tol Raj Upadhyay of the Department of Cooperatives: “The power to regulate the cooperatives could be developed at the local and provincial levels. Even the federation has only 20 staff. The long-standing deterioration that crept under the lack of institutional regulation has flourished now.” <a href="https://cijnepal.org.np/how-nepals-cooperative-are-leaving-customers-high-and-dry/">Originally published</a> by Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ).

Cooperatives leave Nepalis high and dry

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdc29c7e80680e0a0c01jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="661"/><figcaption>Photo: TOH EE MING / NEPALI TIMES</figcaption></figure>The one-size-fits-all regulatory policy does not seem to work for savings and loans (S&amp;L) cooperatives in Indonesia, and the country could benefit from Nepal’s experience with small and medium enterprises.In Indonesia, a small S&amp;L cooperative which has less than Rp10 million (approximately $690) of assets has to complete on the same accounting report structure as larger institutions with more than $690 million of assets. To give context to the figure, an average labourer in 17 essential sectors in Indonesia makes about $290 a month.If we are to enforce the same regulation and supervision for all the S&amp;L cooperatives, the smaller businesses would not survive. On the other hand, if the rules are too lenient, they could undermine market discipline with middle and large savings and loans cooperatives taking advantage of it.Indonesia needs to learn from the success stories of the cooperatives’ movement in other countries, notably Nepal, with its similar culture and socio-economic conditions to that of Indonesia.According to a 2013 Kathmandu University study by Nav Raj Simkhada ‘Problems and Prospects of the Cooperative Sector in Nepal for Promoting Financial Inclusion', more than three decades after the first cooperative was established in Nepal in 1956, the country saw minimal progress in the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises.Nepal’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&amp;p_isn=39064&amp;p_country=NPL&amp;p_count=118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cooperative Act 1992</a> however specified that the government would no longer directly promote cooperatives, shifting its strategy from a top-down to a bottom-up approach. Additionally, it also prevented cooperatives from any political interference, they are forbidden from making a donation or providing financial assistance to organisations working for a political party, religion or community.This allowed for the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/cooperatives-replacing-money-lenders,1172" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> independent growth of cooperatives in Nepal</a>. There are now over <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18437#.YSJP4y1w3OQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30,000 small, medium and large cooperatives </a>in Nepal with over 45 million members.The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18430" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">role of women</a> was particularly crucial in developing credit cooperatives in Nepal. For example, Women Awareness Centre Nepal (<a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/build-women-savings-and-credit-cooperatives-nepal/updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WACN</a>) has successfully established 41 microcredit organisations consisting of 30,000 women members.Another study conducted by Nepal Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Ltd (<a href="http://asia.procasur.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2.-Khairhani.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NACCFL</a>) shows that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Nepal-land-of-our-daughters,2901" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">empowerment of women </a>through cooperatives had benefited not only the individuals but their families and communities, financially as well as socially.Indonesian small S&amp;L cooperatives should similarly focus on building community-based members only, instead of giving in to the temptation of rushing to expand the business.A few reliable members who know each other well can better manage the cooperative than thousands of those who are virtually strangers. Moreover, a large number of members create a large span of control wherein self-control and self-regulation are difficult to achieve.As a collectivist culture, Indonesians would choose to deal with their S&amp;L co-operative where they are comfortable and are treated as a family rather than with commercial banks. Members could become loyalists if they have a voice and are heard. This is fundamental for an S&amp;L cooperative to grow sustainability.Grants and direct subsidisation by authorities often create a beggar mentality and increase financial dependency, which is at the heart of the problem.Irsyad Muchtar in his recent book Indonesia’s 100 Largest Cooperatives revealed that some large cooperatives tend to avoid publishing results, and are closed to the press -- worried that it will shine a light on their tax evasion.<a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/06/23/who-should-supervise-savings-and-loans-cooperatives-in-indonesia.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Thus, the concept of </a>a two-tiered rules and supervision institutional framework for S&amp;L cooperatives is more suitable for the Indonesian context. In the first tier, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) should regulate and supervise medium and large S&amp;L cooperatives at the national level to protect large members from any potential fraud by managements and create sound business competition among credit institutions to avoid regulatory arbitrage.In the second tier, the small S&amp;L cooperatives should not be supervised prudentially by OJK. They need more empowerment programs conducted by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and local governments. The policy aims to increase opportunities for those to graduate to a level where they can compete with other financial institutions. We understand that small S&amp;L cooperatives exist because they serve mainly the poor who have little or no access to formal financial services, especially since they lack collateral and a stable income.However, the empowerment programs from the government should not be financial aids or subsidies. Robby Tulus, the former regional director of Asia Pacific International Co-operative Alliance, says that when initiating a business, the source of seed money is often the starting point for people.In the case of Indonesia, their first choice is to look for special subsidies from the government. This is in line with some Asian governments favouring direct control and subsidisation to the small S&amp;L cooperatives.Tulus suggested that cooperatives must learn to focus on their competencies and deliver the best services to their members, instead of setting up the business only to get financial aids from the government and make quick money from the members.The Indonesian government can still play an important role, it can provide continuous and intensive support programs to cooperative members, such as training on management and entrepreneurial skills, risk management, bookkeeping standards and intellectual property rights. It can also promote micro-entrepreneur members of small S&amp;L cooperatives to potential customers as well as Indonesian-made products to empower micro-enterprises.While undertaking these strategies collectively, Indonesia can learn from Nepal to gradually cut down on financial schemes such as interest subsidies, credit guarantee funds, and grants to small cooperatives and their members.This will in the longer term empower the cooperatives while also reducing their dependency on the second or third parties.<a href="http://whistleblowing-indonesia.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bitra Suyatno</a> is a senior policy analyst at Indonesia's Ministry of Finance focused on financing service business issues. Currently, he is a team member on formulating Draft Law on Development and Strengthening of Financial Sector. The views expressed are personal.

Indonesia can learn from Nepal’s cooperatives

After a week of violent and destructive protests, Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday appointed <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/justice-in-chief,804">former Chief Justice Sushila Karki</a> as a caretaker Prime Minister to lead an interim citizens' government.&nbsp; Poudel had been in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-next-nepal">closed-door discussions since Thursday</a> with youth members who spearheaded the protests, constitutional experts, the House Speaker, and the Army Chief. There was a consensus on the choice of Karki as candidate for interim prime minister, but her swearing-in was stalled due to a disagreement about Constitutional processes for her appointment.&nbsp; Youth delegates and Karki demanded that Parliament be dissolved before the appointment of the caretaker prime minister, while President Poudel had been arguing that Parliament would be automatically dissolved once the new council of ministers announced elections. Representing the GenZ movement, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-or-what-is-hami-nepal">Sudan Gurung</a> (pictured, below) is said to have insisted that dissolution of Parliament first was non-negotiable because he did not trust the political parties. He is said to have added that he would call his supporters out into the streets, and the President relented. The military’s warning earlier that an emergency would be declared if there was no agreement tonight clinched it.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025091216098_cdd409c5824b578a04f05a43280e3f475d92bf7123d3a4565b4d720768fcc1b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2025091216098_cdd409c5824b578a04f05a43280e3f475d92bf7123d3a4565b4d720768fcc1b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="600" loading="lazy" alt="Sudan Gurung"> <figcaption>Sudan Gurung of Hami Nepali during negotiations.</figcaption> </figure>  With this, Karki becomes Nepal’s first female prime minister, exactly a decade after she became the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/a-woman-is-as-capable-sushila-karki,3375">country’s first female chief justice in 2016</a>.&nbsp; Nepalis, still shocked by the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-8-september-massacre">death and destruction of the past week</a>, heaved a sigh of relief at the announcement, which was greeted as a victory of youth power for political reform led by the GenZ movement. Its initial anti-corruption protest on 8-9 September <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-burns-despite-pm-resignation">spiralled out of control into violence and arson</a> nationwide that claimed at least 51 lives. Several other candidates were floated for the caretaker prime minister’s post. Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah and former head of the electricity utility Kulman Ghising were being considered, but both declined possibly because they want to contest the next national elections. Given her experience in the judiciary and zero tolerance for corruption, Karki was the favourite of various groups within the GenZ campaign.&nbsp; The site of the negotiations moved to the official residence of the president in Shital Niwas from the Nepal Army Headquarters on Thursday. The Army had come under criticism on social media and from civil society for detaining the President and not letting him speak or be a part of the negotiation.&nbsp; This fuelled public perception that the military had a soft spot for a return of the monarchy. There were widespread rumours on Thursday that king Gyanendra, who was ousted after the abolition of the monarchy in 2008, was trying to stage a comeback by piggybacking on the agitation. Writing on X, senior journalist Kishore Nepal revealed that the Chief of Army Staff Ashokraj Sigdel had allegedly asked Poudel to step aside and pave the way for the military to negotiate, to which the President is said to have replied: “I will not resign. Kill me instead and blame it on the protesters. Then you can do whatever you like.” Live broadcast of swearing in of Sushila Karki:&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/53go4OxuOa0?si=Zd89QGIAX8-7Bm75" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025091219094_41b0f97a5925ab6969e1413636bf073ae43262893a55d9c177cb1312dea52f0d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2025091219094_41b0f97a5925ab6969e1413636bf073ae43262893a55d9c177cb1312dea52f0d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="851" loading="lazy" alt="Sushila Karki swearing in"> <figcaption>President ram Chandra Poudel swearing in Sushila Karki as the 42nd Prime Minister of Nepal.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025091303098_8f2b6f98898c4cd73c271caa51b8e29d679a7385c249380aeb96d7cc2c3f6dba.png" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025091303098_8f2b6f98898c4cd73c271caa51b8e29d679a7385c249380aeb96d7cc2c3f6dba" data-rendition-name="original" width="1480" height="924" loading="lazy" alt="Sushila Karki PM"> <figcaption>GenZ representatives with new Prime Minister Sushila Karki after her swearing in.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025091301098_470dbca4f4d34ca4533ce4d160045ffe8e525e98380f6f1e20eb24a6236c6029.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025091301098_470dbca4f4d34ca4533ce4d160045ffe8e525e98380f6f1e20eb24a6236c6029" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Sushila Karki PM"> <figcaption>Sushila Karki with supporters including Genz representative Sudan Gurung of Hami Nepal and Sumana Shrestha of Rastriya Swatantra Party.</figcaption> </figure>  COURAGE AND INTEGRITY Sushila Karki served as the chief justice between 11 July 2016 to 6 June 2017, and has been known for her frugal ways. She was a firebrand judge unafraid to ruffle powerful feathers, and as chief justice was behind ruling to impeach for abuse of office a powerful head of Nepal’s anti-graft body in 2016. She wrote that he had ‘<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/the-end-of-karkistocracy,827">neither the moral character nor qualifications for the post</a>’. Even before she became Chief Justice, Karki was one of the two judges on the bench that convicted the sitting Minister for Information and Communication, Jaya Prakash Gupta, of corruption in 2012. Then in 2016, a bench including Karki ruled against granting amnesty to former Maoist lawmaker and convicted murderer Bal Krishna Dhungel. Karki was born on 7 June 1952 in Biratnagar. She completed her undergraduate studies at Mahendra Morang College in 1972 before obtaining a postgraduate degree in political science from Banaras Hindu University in India three years later. This was followed by a Bachelor's in Law in 1978 from Tribhuvan University, and she started her law career as an advocate a year later. In 1985, Karki worked as a teacher at Mahendra Multiple Campus in Dharan, and was jailed for participating in the 1990 People’s Movement to overthrow the Panchayat absolute monarchy. She became a senior Advocate at the Nepal Bar Association in 2008 and was appointed an Ad-Hoc Justice at the Supreme Court in January 2009.&nbsp; On Thursday, there were supporters for other candidates for the post sloganeering against Karki’s nomination outside the Army Headquarters. Some on social media were also skeptical of her connection to the Nepali Congress (NC) party. Growing up in Biratnagar Karki was close to the family of B P Koirala, Nepal’s first elected prime minister in 1960. Her husband Durga Subedi was part of a group of underground Congress activists who hijacked a Royal Nepal Airlines plane in 1973, flying it to India to snatch cash belonging to Nepal Rastra Bank in the cargo hold.&nbsp; The money was used for the party’s pro-democracy campaign. Karki has no love lost for the political establishment. In April 2017, the governing coalition under Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/lady-justice-sushila-karki,3693">submitted an impeachment motion against her</a> after the Supreme Court overturned his decision to install a favoured police chief, violating succession based on seniority. It was a political move backed by Dahal’s coalition partner Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC who was waiting to become prime minister for the 4th time. CHALLENGES AHEAD With Karki now in charge of the interim government, she has the daunting task of forming a council of ministers made up of amorphous and disparate groups from the GenZ, technocrats, and current politicians. Karki has said she will not prevent members of her cabinet from contesting elections, which means those with electoral aspirations like Kulman Ghising, Balen Shah and Sumana Shrestha could be asked to join. Karki has her work cut out as she has to get her team members to pull in the same direction to hold free and fair elections. She also has to make sure she has the support of the military without giving the generals too much say, while also smartly maneuvering Nepal’s precarious geopolitical ties with its giant neighbours, China and India. But most of all, the new prime minister must lay the foundations to not just physically rebuild the judiciary, executive and legislature but also ensure that elections will produce a more accountable and efficient government. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/trial-by-fire">Trial By Fire</a>, Editorial

Madam Prime Minister of Nepal

Many had never heard of <a href="https://www.haminepal.org/">Hami Nepal</a>, the organisation that is part of the GenZ movement that did not just topple the government this week, but <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-next-nepal">pushed Nepal’s political system into new, uncharted territory</a>. It was part of an organic coming together of various youth groups fed up with Nepal’s corruption, mismanagement and lack of accountability. Hami Nepal and its GenZ comrades are now part of the negotiations with the Army to form an interim government. Hami Nepal is a non-profit dedicated to supporting communities and individuals in need, guided by its motto ‘For the People, By the People’. Its core mission is to assist individuals and communities in need, particularly during emergencies and crises, with a focus on directly connecting donors with recipients, and delivering aid efficiently and transparently. It was set up after the 2015 earthquake, but was formally registered and gained recognition in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hami Nepal is led by 36-year-old civic activist Sudan Gurung who started the organisation after he lost his own son in the 2015 earthquake.&nbsp; Leading up to the events this week, it played a central role in guiding the demonstrations, using its Instagram and Discord platforms to circulate protest information and share guidelines. Other GenZ groups used their own WhatsApp groups and other fora.&nbsp; Among the 20 or so volunteers is Ronesh Pradhan, who spoke to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-gen-z-protest-turns-deadly">Nepali Times on 8 September </a>morning during the GenZ rally, before the violence escalated.&nbsp; “The voices of young people matter. We can’t keep being ruled by the same old men,” Pradhan said. “Our generation is the future and if there are older leaders in government, they need to be competent and accountable. We are ready to lead this country forward.” Hami Nepal’s earliest visible campaigns include donating more than 400 blankets to Bir Hospital’s Covid unit in 2022, creating a plasma and oxygen bank during the pandemic, and distributing school jackets to children in rural districts. More recently, it mounted a relief effort in response to the 2023 Jajarkot earthquake, reaching over 13,000 families with shelter, food, and medical support. The organisation was also associated with the two-month ‘Save Ghopa’ campaign, demanding effective and smooth administration of the BPKIHS (B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences) in Dharan. The organisation was also actively engaged in providing rescue and relief during the Kagbeni and Sindhupalchok floods this year. It even sent aid to Turkey after its 2023 earthquake. After the Kavre floods last year, Hami Nepal donated solar lights. Funding for Hami Nepal comes directly from public donations, with a policy of channeling 100% of received funds for aid distribution. Volunteers self-finance administrative costs, and the group publishes detailed expenditure figures, regularly sharing updates and transparency reports through their social media and website which it launched at its Annual General Meeting in Bhaktapur last year.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250911090920_cd40c472bd7e06cc038a2d77a431cba777b6f53e4374a0216c9af2c4feb56c88.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250911090920_cd40c472bd7e06cc038a2d77a431cba777b6f53e4374a0216c9af2c4feb56c88" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="719" loading="lazy" alt="Who, or what, is Hami Nepal?"> </figure>  Following the death of Nepali student Prakriti Lamsal at KIIT University in India earlier this year, Hami Nepal advocated for justice using its Instagram account, raising concern about the safety of Nepali students. Its advocacy platform started with rescue and relief, and Hami Nepal managed to develop a track record for efficient campaigns and transparency in Nepal’s humanitarian landscape. But its work pushed the group to realise that there was a deeper malaise in Nepali society. Its #youthsagainstcorruption campaign on social media platforms gained rapid momentum, and that led to the rally on 8 September. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-8-september-massacre">Nepal’s 8 September massacre</a>, Shristi Karki The international #Nepobaby trend on TikTok propelled the rally even more, and young Nepalis used it to expose the scions of powerful politicians and politically-connected influencers who were exhibiting their flashy lifestyles on social media while citizens struggled with joblessness, corruption and poor service delivery. Public anger reached a tipping point when the UML-NC coalition led by Prime Minister K P Oli announced a sweeping ban on major social media platforms citing tax revenue, cyber security, and lack of content moderation. Netizens, civil society and media, however, saw it as the latest authoritarian attempt by the government to clamp down on free speech, increase surveillance of citizens and constrict Nepal’s open society. Susmita Khadka, 22, told us at the rally: “Politics is everywhere. Gen Z has the most platforms, and we want a revolution.” Leading up to 8 September, the GenZ movement disseminated information and reassured participants with volunteers readily available for help, medical support, and assistance. It put up a protest support helpline so that students needing assistance could get help. As the protests intensified, leaving at least 20 dead outside Parliament, and forcing Prime Minister K P Oli to resign, Hami Nepal shifted into a mediator role, engaging in talks with officials and seeking GenZ’s views on future leadership.&nbsp; Influencers like TikToker Nimesh Shrestha publicly backed the group, amplifying their voice in ongoing negotiations with the Nepal Army alongside other GenZ representatives. However, as the protests escalated on 9 September, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-burns-despite-pm-resignation">resulting in massive arson and vandalism of public and private property</a>, many GenZ activists disavowed association with the attackers, saying their movement had been infiltrated. The group backtracked, with Gurung saying he was not the leader of the protests.&nbsp; Meanwhile, others accused Hami Nepal for singlehandedly speaking with the Army chief, and said that they did not represent GenZ’s collective voice. Most GenZ supporters backed <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/justice-in-chief,804">Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki</a> as their candidate for interim prime minister in an online group. Not everyone in the GenZ movement agrees with that choice, with support for Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah, even though he has endorsed Karki’s appointment. Dharan Mayor Harka Sampang rushed to Kathmandu on Wednesday to push his own candidacy. Hami Nepal has supported Balen Shah to lead the country for the next five years, not just during the interim period, and have called on the public to share their posts supporting Shah to amplify the message. With the old guard gone, there is a power vacuum with multiple actors with competing interests to fill it. GenZ’s youth-led activism has brought new energy for political reform, but its real test begins now — whether it can unite Hami Nepal and other sections to negotiate with the Nepal Army.&nbsp;

Who, or what, is Hami Nepal?

As this story is being uploaded on Wednesday evening, sloganeering is going on outside the gates of the Nepal Army headquarters in Kathmandu between various GenZ groups about who should be the caretaker prime minister.&nbsp; The GenZ campaign includes Hami Nepal and several other groups that spearheaded the anti-government rally this week against corruption and neoptism. Thirty people died as the protests in Kathmandu turned violent on Monday and Tuesday. After Prime Minister K P Oli stepped down on Tuesday, Nepal has existed in a power vacuum, with no one really in charge. The Nepal Army took over security management from Monday night, and President Ram Chandra Poudel appealed to Nepali youth to come to the negotiating table.&nbsp; Thousands of GenZ youth held hours long discussions on Discord and other online fora on Wednesday, and voted to endorse former Chief Justice Sushila Karki to lead the transitional government. The group informed Chief of Army Staff Ashokraj Sigdel about their choice, but he has also been meeting leaders of at least 12 other groups claiming to be the genuine GenZs. Among them are royalist and other groups that many saw as having infiltrated the GenZ rally on Monday in which 20 people were killed while trying to storm Parliament.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910170936_4efefa67f54228154d316ca692838c3d0c078f5f9ec96ea68cfc4ca740f4df4d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250910170936_4efefa67f54228154d316ca692838c3d0c078f5f9ec96ea68cfc4ca740f4df4d" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="387" loading="lazy" alt="Sushila Karki"> <figcaption>Photo: SHAHIDUL ALAM</figcaption> </figure>  On Tuesday, disparate groups joined the arson and looting that ended up gutting Singha Darbar, the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings and attacks on party offices, media, schools and private residences across the country. The original GenZ disavowed involvement.&nbsp; 'Nepal's 2015 Constitution does not envision any transitional or emergency provisions to address a state of political and constitutional vacuum. For now, the President, per Article 273 of the Constitution, can exercise emergency powers in light of the current situation,’ wrote former National Human Rights Commissioner Mohna Ansari on social media on Wednesday evening. The President can declare a state of emergency per Article 273 of the Constitution, but that must be endorsed by a two-third majority of Parliament within a month, after which it will be in effect for three months. ‘Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki is the best option to address the adverse circumstances prevailing in the nation. The President must heed the Constitution and take the next steps in a manner that is transparent, keeps the public informed, and is in the national interest,’ Ansari added.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910140912_019d62de4b62a366299a27d1276e931a7dadefcc674441e7fb3acd503970efaf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250910140912_019d62de4b62a366299a27d1276e931a7dadefcc674441e7fb3acd503970efaf" data-rendition-name="original" width="8000" height="5760" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal in ashes"> <figcaption>Photos: KAMAL PRASAI</figcaption> </figure>  The Gen Z movement itself appears fragmented and without distinct leadership, both before the anti-corruption protests on 8 September and in the aftermath of the two-day protests.&nbsp; Various groups are said to have met or waited to meet the Gen Sigdel on Wednesday. The Army told others claiming to be GenZ and raising slogans against Karki’s candidacy to appear at the army headquarters on Thursday.&nbsp; Nepalis had floated the names of some of Nepal’s more acceptable public figures to lead a caretaker government, including Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah. But Shah told the Army chief he endorsed Sushila Karki’s nomination. <div class="embed-block"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FbalenOfficial%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02M9CBZiWETz4qocKaYUG6ZSZ4ARNcq231V8edJJVGQhPLmpSRMdv1mTWM2q7mJijjl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="256" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div> The names of former NEA chief Kulman Ghising and ex-education minister Sumana Shrestha of the RSP had also been proposed.&nbsp; Polls conducted on social media to gauge public sentiment show a significant number are open to Sushila Karki taking charge of a transitional government. Both Shah and Shrestha are not so keen, and are probably waiting to contest elections.&nbsp; Meanwhile, Nepal’s young reform campaigners largely seem to reject the idea of handing leadership to RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane who was retrieved by supporters on Tuesday from Nakhhu jail after eight months of incarceration for embezzling depositers of cooperatives. But even as GenZ held discussions with the Army chief to decide on the interim government, other interest groups have continued to engage as well. Erstwhile royalist businessman Durga Prasai, posted a photo of himself with Sigdel on social media and professed that he has 'no interest' in leadership and would accept whomever GenZ youth chose. The job of the caretaker government, whoever leads it, will primarily be to hold free and fair elections for a new leadership which will then face the challenge of reestablishing Nepal’s democratic institutions.&nbsp; “The course of events showed that the movement has gone beyond Constitutional remedy,” political analyst Krishna Khanal told BBC Nepali following erstwhile Prime Minister Oli’s resignation on Tuesday. “There needs to be a middle-ground solution that will be acceptable to the people who took to the streets while upholding the existing constitutional process.” Various GenZ collectives have issued demands that include the dissolution of Parliament and the formation of a new civilian government, which analysts say are antithetical. Constitutional experts have suggested that the youth opt for a solution that allows for new leadership to move forward under the current Constitution.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910140912_e6bf05bfe95f519e05ab8d9016587211b241340fd23a0f9ae728e74747fc5f29.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250910140912_e6bf05bfe95f519e05ab8d9016587211b241340fd23a0f9ae728e74747fc5f29" data-rendition-name="original" width="8064" height="6048" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal in ashes"> </figure>  One option, they say, is for the President to appoint any prime minister from the existing Parliament under Article 76(5) if all other measures fail, who would then have the authority to appoint up to 25 non-elected ministers for six months. This can be a way for that temporary leadership to hold elections within the mandated time frame. The existing Constitution can then be amended to accommodate the aspirations of the Nepali youth after the election.&nbsp; But any conditions put forward by GenZ youth that requires a new Constitution might set Nepal back years, warn some experts. The 2015 Constitution was the result of nearly 10 years of negotiations and strife, and the formation of another charter will mean that Nepal will head into decades more of rotating governments and political instability. For now, Nepali youth need to unite to decide by Thursday who leads the country into the next phase.&nbsp;

What next, Nepal?

Edited: The paragraph about K P Oli's whereabouts has been deleted. On Wednesday morning, orange flames are still leaping out of the windows of Singha Darbar. Fire trucks which could finally make their way in, were trying to douse the fires. Most of the ministries inside Singha Darbar, including the Prime Minister’s Office, are charred hulks. Singha Darbar’s imposing west facade built by Chandra Shumsher Rana 117 years ago and the hall where he met visiting foreign envoys was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake. It was restored last year to its original splendour with stained glass windows and an ornate ceiling. After demonstrators entered the central government secretariat on 9 September they set the entire complex on fire. Dozens of SUVs and cars that were smashed and burnt litter the parking lot.&nbsp; Across to the south at the Supreme Court, a fire truck belonging to Kathmandu Metropolitan City is trying to put out the flames. The building is still smoking, and hundreds of case files have gone up in flames. There is now also a threat from escaped prisoners from jails all over the country.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100936_fd21ff82606c8ab6ec729b3758edb70e7f4498004d71ba7a857a86c9fb75f786.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250910100936_fd21ff82606c8ab6ec729b3758edb70e7f4498004d71ba7a857a86c9fb75f786" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1066" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>Supreme Court sustained heavy damages following Tuesday's arson.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100932_6c36bde0847f90934f6a40086a92573c1eec8f2967a4ddc59d79a56c08495628.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250910100932_6c36bde0847f90934f6a40086a92573c1eec8f2967a4ddc59d79a56c08495628" data-rendition-name="original" width="7008" height="4672" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>Nepal Army cleaning up the debris outside the main gate of Singha Darbar.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025091010098_f4c7d857ae1111968223d20ad02bda6ac0127a3fe4caaa779b35d0e8f07b3529.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025091010098_f4c7d857ae1111968223d20ad02bda6ac0127a3fe4caaa779b35d0e8f07b3529" data-rendition-name="original" width="7008" height="4672" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>The grand staircase leading to the upper balcony of the Parliament building.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100916_39154c14faa25b5a8838f75c9cb4aa7505f228bd344e19c8e29209cebfb25d46.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250910100916_39154c14faa25b5a8838f75c9cb4aa7505f228bd344e19c8e29209cebfb25d46" data-rendition-name="original" width="6526" height="4350" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>Nepal Army armoured car guarding the Baneswor intersection outside Parliament.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100916_1dabfef07b909c916aa462b7c0bb62a1db96ebe4f0b52d61f71140edffd429f4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250910100916_1dabfef07b909c916aa462b7c0bb62a1db96ebe4f0b52d61f71140edffd429f4" data-rendition-name="original" width="6677" height="4451" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>The row of electric vehicle showrooms in Thapathali were all torched with the cars inside.</figcaption> </figure>  Interestingly, the under construction Supreme Court, and the newly-built Parliament Complex are untouched. The current Parliament is housed in the Birendra International Convention Centre (BICC) built by the Chinese in 1993, and was the first target of protesters on 8 September. Outside its gates was where 20 students were shot and killed as they tried to storm the gates. After Tuesday’s mayhem, Kathmandu’s streets are now under control of the Nepal Army which has imposed a nationwide curfew. K P Oli was whisked out of his official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday.&nbsp; Tuesday and Wednesday saw additional 8 casualties, including policemen who were lynched in Tinkune and Budanilkantha.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100916_1e93335333741ec809cff95e27e7b714bfea6af527c94c6f74f7cbd311562bbf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250910100916_1e93335333741ec809cff95e27e7b714bfea6af527c94c6f74f7cbd311562bbf" data-rendition-name="original" width="6539" height="4360" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>The parking area of the Department of Roads with a row of charred cars (also below).</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100920_a3e5a54cf11411c8b81a7b2a01c0f43bff451f343b7b2ce35de70d5719f35d30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250910100920_a3e5a54cf11411c8b81a7b2a01c0f43bff451f343b7b2ce35de70d5719f35d30" data-rendition-name="original" width="7008" height="4672" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250910100920_e75830d7d0e87dc8c451be3caccf1f00ef858b8299a20fe8c7dc8805d83a82aa.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250910100920_e75830d7d0e87dc8c451be3caccf1f00ef858b8299a20fe8c7dc8805d83a82aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="6726" height="4484" loading="lazy" alt="Raising Nepal from the ashes"> <figcaption>A police vehicle set on fire by demonstrators at Patan Darbar Square on Tuesday.</figcaption> </figure>  The Army is negotiating with the president and representatives of the GenZ campaign that includes Hami Nepal group that organised the protests to form a new government. Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Karki have been named as potential candidates to lead the new government The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has decided to keep Kathmandu airport closed for all domestic and international flights ‘until further notice’. Update: The video of a flight attendant speakling on social media has now been found to be fake. The error is regretted.&nbsp;