As with all spheres of national life that make up our social and cultural fabric, Nepal’s film industry has also been hit hard. Cinemas are closed, shooting has stopped, and there is even less investment in new movies.As with the global film industry, Nepali producers are also disseminating directly through YouTube and other streaming platforms. Film festivals are being held online.The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/kimff-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">took place virtually</a> from 10-14 December and had 300 entries this year, out of which 12 films were chosen for the Nepal Panorama and 18 for the international competition.“Because we went virtual, many people outside Nepal were able to see the films, and the number of entries was surprisingly high even given the times we’re in,” KIMFF director Ramyata Limbu told Nepali Times.“If you can’t get people to the hall in terms of logistics and time, doing festivals online in this multimedia era would make it more accessible for people who don’t have the time or inclination to make it to the theatres,” says Limbu. “The more accessible we can make it, the more people will take the time to view independent films.A selection of notable films from 2020: <figure><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0284b0ad905ca02eff4jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NISHON SHAKYA</figcaption></figure>The CrematorNishon Shakya’s, documentary which <a href="https://kimff.org/the-cremator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">premiered at KIMFF</a>, follows elderly cremator Gyan Bahadur, who is nearing the end of his professional life at the Bhasmeshwar ghat at Pashupati. Gyan Bahadur’s narration of his life is accompanied by powerful visuals of cremations at Pashupati. Caution: Viewer Discretion Advised. Shakya is uncompromising in his visuals of the dead, in a way a macabre reminder of the times we live in.  Gyan Bahadur cremates the dead, a cigarette held tight between his lips, discusses politics, offers medical advice, and tells the story of his life. Having himself lost two of his sons in their childhood, Gyan Bahadur says he makes money off other people’s losses. At times, he is scathing about the living, who like to send off their dead with style but have no words of kindness to the people who help them pass on. Surrounded by mortality, he speaks matter-of-factly about his own death, accepting that he will eventually find his way back to Pashupati and move on from this world the same way he helped countless others. <figure><img width="1440" height="645" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf02b4b0ad905ca02eff5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Day 33Filmed in the throes of the Covid-19 lockdown, LSM’s (Sailesh RC) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSFRDsh9kX8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relevant short film</a> captures a young man’s increasing agitation as he searches for food in his room on the 33rd day of the shutdown. In the barely furnished space, surrounded by empty food containers and an empty wallet, he doesn’t find any. And so, he must settle for anything that he can find within the space that he can move in.The brevity of the film works in its favour — there are no unnecessary drawn-out scenes that attempt to force more meaning or gravitas to the story. There are no dialogues, no angry soliloquies, not one word from the protagonist. The film doesn’t need them. There is just weariness and resignation. <figure><img width="733" height="620" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf02d4b0ad905ca02eff6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Come Over for a Drink, Kanchhi Sikuma Rai’s documentary played at the Pame Film Festival, NHRIFF, and KIMFF. <a href="https://festival.kimff.org/nepal-panorama/come-over-for-a-drink-kanchhi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Come over for a drink, Kanchhi</a> is a deeply personal narrative of the Rai women of Bhojpur for whom alcohol is woven into the fabric of their daily lives. The women sing and smile and drink in groups throughout the film, even as they hold immense sadness within themselves. Weathered by the loss of children and loved ones to disease and suicide, they make and drink alcohol to deal with grief and trauma. Because alcohol is as much a part of ceremony and celebration as much as melancholy, the women are not apologetic about drinking. “There is a big hole in my heart,” says one of the women, who all suffer from depression. In a country where mental health is stigmatised, the film shines a light on how people deal with depression in rural areas. <figure><img width="1991" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf02f4b0ad905ca02eff7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Snow Leopards CallingTshiring Lhamu Lama was inspired to work for the conservation of snow leopards when she saw how the endangered Himalayan cats were tortured and poisoned by locals in Dolpo in retaliation for killing their livestock. Sonam Choekyi Lama’s award-winning short documentary is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the story of her sister Tshring’s drive and determination</a> to save and protect a part of her world through snow leopard conservation. Tshiring treks across the freezing, harsh but stunning winter landscape of Phoksundo to capture the movement of Snow Leopards, recognising the importance of the footage for conservation as well as much-needed tourism in the area.The film includes heartbreaking footage of snow leopards being dragged by their tails and kicked by locals into holes in the ground. However, Tshiring’s joy and enthusiasm at having captured snow leopards on film end the visually beautiful documentary on a hopeful, optimistic note. <figure><img width="1600" height="592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0324b0ad905ca02eff8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Bare Trees in the MistFilmmaker Rajan Kathet’s Bare Trees in the Mist made its rounds in festivals around the world, including <a href="https://tiff.net/events/bare-trees-in-the-mist" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toronto in 2019</a>, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, the UK, Finland and India before being screened at home during KIMFF 2020. In this stunning drama, Kaali’s son informs his mother that a neighbour’s husband has returned from abroad bearing gifts for the two of them. Kaali, whose own husband has left home telling his wife that he’s going to Arab (“Which Arab?” her neighbour’s husband asks. Kaali doesn’t know) makes the journey to visit them. Kaali’s tense yet hopeful wait in silence, the choice of aspect ratio, everything adds to the film’s atmosphere, underlying urgency and anxiety of the protagonists. <figure><img width="1440" height="773" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0354b0ad905ca02eff9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>BabuIn <a href="http://www.arpafilmfestival.com/short-film-babu-by-eelum-dixit-2020-arpa-iff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eelum Mani Dixit’s film</a>, the eponymous Babu finds his village and home torn apart by the 2015 earthquake that takes the life of his mother, and takes his desperate father away to India in search for work. A story of three generations of men in post-earthquake Nepal, the film brims with a young boy’s anger and heartbreak, a father’s helplessness, and a grandfather’s sorrow.Dixit packs a lot of emotion into subtle gestures throughout the film, like when Babu’s father hands him sweets before he leaves for India. Or when Babu gives a marble to the girl he likes-- someone he is probably never going to see again-- as she and her family move away to India. And especially when Babu buys his grandfather, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship, a pen for his journal with the money he had painstakingly saved up working to bring his father back home sooner. The film is not only emblematic of the mass exodus of Nepali men and women to foreign lands, but also a look at how out-migration can be a ‘trend’ that turns working-class Nepalis into hard-bitten cynics unwilling to work their own land, even when it is available and possible.  <figure><img width="734" height="543" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0384b0ad905ca02effajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Song of CloudsAnkit Poudel’s film is an ethereal, empathetic, abstract story of life and death shifting from this world to the next as the dead communicate with the living they leave behind. Described as a fever dream, there is no plot or narrative structure to the film. There are long stretches of silence punctuated by sudden disjointed communications about regret and longing. A story without direction or an end told through still photographs.Premiering at Sundance earlier this year and making rounds in <a href="https://www.sundance.org/projects/song-of-clouds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">festival circuits around the world</a>, Poudel’s film has garnered multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Split Film festival in Croatia and the Best Fiction award in Nepal Panorama at KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="1422" height="794" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf03a4b0ad905ca02effbjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Winter Tap In the hills of Sankhwasabha, a young man has undertaken the solo task of building a water tap that will take water right to his home during the dry winter. Working methodically in silence, he cuts bamboo into pipes and tree branches to prop up the bamboo against. He then cuts strips out of some more bamboo and ties the pipe and the branches to make a long and winding canal wrapped around the hills.  As with Day 33, words are unnecessary, the only sound is the wind blowing across the hills as the man lays his bamboo pipe, the rhythmic thwack of his khukuri as he cuts branches to support his canal, and the final, musical sound of the water flowing through the pipes toward his home. Simple, meaningful, and immensely satisfying, this film by Aashish Limbu and Debin Rai won Best student film at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/film-southasia-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film South Asia 2019</a> and was screened during KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="500" height="260" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf03d4b0ad905ca02effcjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Big-headed Boy<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/17008744-6908-4c0a-bbee-b06b148431a6/the-big-headed-boy-shamans-samurais" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Big-Headed Boy, Shamans &amp; Samurais</a> was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam this November. Made by Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet, award-winning creative minds behind The Contagious Apparitions of Dambarey Dendrite and Dadyaa, the black-and-white travelogue is an account of the filmmakers’ quest to find an actor for their movie. When they do find an actor, the village Shaman is reluctant to let him go.

Shristi Karki

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2020 vision

As with all spheres of national life that make up our social and cultural fabric, Nepal’s film industry has also been hit hard. Cinemas are closed, shooting has stopped, and there is even less investment in new movies.As with the global film industry, Nepali producers are also disseminating directly through YouTube and other streaming platforms. Film festivals are being held online.The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/kimff-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">took place virtually</a> from 10-14 December and had 300 entries this year, out of which 12 films were chosen for the Nepal Panorama and 18 for the international competition.“Because we went virtual, many people outside Nepal were able to see the films, and the number of entries was surprisingly high even given the times we’re in,” KIMFF director Ramyata Limbu told Nepali Times.“If you can’t get people to the hall in terms of logistics and time, doing festivals online in this multimedia era would make it more accessible for people who don’t have the time or inclination to make it to the theatres,” says Limbu. “The more accessible we can make it, the more people will take the time to view independent films.A selection of notable films from 2020: <figure><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be93b9c7e80680e0878abjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NISHON SHAKYA</figcaption></figure>The CrematorNishon Shakya’s, documentary which <a href="https://kimff.org/the-cremator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">premiered at KIMFF</a>, follows elderly cremator Gyan Bahadur, who is nearing the end of his professional life at the Bhasmeshwar ghat at Pashupati. Gyan Bahadur’s narration of his life is accompanied by powerful visuals of cremations at Pashupati. Caution: Viewer Discretion Advised. Shakya is uncompromising in his visuals of the dead, in a way a macabre reminder of the times we live in.  Gyan Bahadur cremates the dead, a cigarette held tight between his lips, discusses politics, offers medical advice, and tells the story of his life. Having himself lost two of his sons in their childhood, Gyan Bahadur says he makes money off other people’s losses. At times, he is scathing about the living, who like to send off their dead with style but have no words of kindness to the people who help them pass on. Surrounded by mortality, he speaks matter-of-factly about his own death, accepting that he will eventually find his way back to Pashupati and move on from this world the same way he helped countless others. <figure><img width="1440" height="645" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be93f9c7e80680e0878acjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Day 33Filmed in the throes of the Covid-19 lockdown, LSM’s (Sailesh RC) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSFRDsh9kX8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relevant short film</a> captures a young man’s increasing agitation as he searches for food in his room on the 33rd day of the shutdown. In the barely furnished space, surrounded by empty food containers and an empty wallet, he doesn’t find any. And so, he must settle for anything that he can find within the space that he can move in.The brevity of the film works in its favour — there are no unnecessary drawn-out scenes that attempt to force more meaning or gravitas to the story. There are no dialogues, no angry soliloquies, not one word from the protagonist. The film doesn’t need them. There is just weariness and resignation. <figure><img width="733" height="620" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9429c7e80680e0878adjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Come Over for a Drink, Kanchhi Sikuma Rai’s documentary played at the Pame Film Festival, NHRIFF, and KIMFF. <a href="https://festival.kimff.org/nepal-panorama/come-over-for-a-drink-kanchhi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Come over for a drink, Kanchhi</a> is a deeply personal narrative of the Rai women of Bhojpur for whom alcohol is woven into the fabric of their daily lives. The women sing and smile and drink in groups throughout the film, even as they hold immense sadness within themselves. Weathered by the loss of children and loved ones to disease and suicide, they make and drink alcohol to deal with grief and trauma. Because alcohol is as much a part of ceremony and celebration as much as melancholy, the women are not apologetic about drinking. “There is a big hole in my heart,” says one of the women, who all suffer from depression. In a country where mental health is stigmatised, the film shines a light on how people deal with depression in rural areas. <figure><img width="1991" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9449c7e80680e0878aejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Snow Leopards CallingTshiring Lhamu Lama was inspired to work for the conservation of snow leopards when she saw how the endangered Himalayan cats were tortured and poisoned by locals in Dolpo in retaliation for killing their livestock. Sonam Choekyi Lama’s award-winning short documentary is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the story of her sister Tshring’s drive and determination</a> to save and protect a part of her world through snow leopard conservation. Tshiring treks across the freezing, harsh but stunning winter landscape of Phoksundo to capture the movement of Snow Leopards, recognising the importance of the footage for conservation as well as much-needed tourism in the area.The film includes heartbreaking footage of snow leopards being dragged by their tails and kicked by locals into holes in the ground. However, Tshiring’s joy and enthusiasm at having captured snow leopards on film end the visually beautiful documentary on a hopeful, optimistic note. <figure><img width="1600" height="592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9479c7e80680e0878afjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Bare Trees in the MistFilmmaker Rajan Kathet’s Bare Trees in the Mist made its rounds in festivals around the world, including <a href="https://tiff.net/events/bare-trees-in-the-mist" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toronto in 2019</a>, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, the UK, Finland and India before being screened at home during KIMFF 2020. In this stunning drama, Kaali’s son informs his mother that a neighbour’s husband has returned from abroad bearing gifts for the two of them. Kaali, whose own husband has left home telling his wife that he’s going to Arab (“Which Arab?” her neighbour’s husband asks. Kaali doesn’t know) makes the journey to visit them. Kaali’s tense yet hopeful wait in silence, the choice of aspect ratio, everything adds to the film’s atmosphere, underlying urgency and anxiety of the protagonists. <figure><img width="1440" height="773" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9499c7e80680e0878b0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>BabuIn <a href="http://www.arpafilmfestival.com/short-film-babu-by-eelum-dixit-2020-arpa-iff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eelum Mani Dixit’s film</a>, the eponymous Babu finds his village and home torn apart by the 2015 earthquake that takes the life of his mother, and takes his desperate father away to India in search for work. A story of three generations of men in post-earthquake Nepal, the film brims with a young boy’s anger and heartbreak, a father’s helplessness, and a grandfather’s sorrow.Dixit packs a lot of emotion into subtle gestures throughout the film, like when Babu’s father hands him sweets before he leaves for India. Or when Babu gives a marble to the girl he likes-- someone he is probably never going to see again-- as she and her family move away to India. And especially when Babu buys his grandfather, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship, a pen for his journal with the money he had painstakingly saved up working to bring his father back home sooner. The film is not only emblematic of the mass exodus of Nepali men and women to foreign lands, but also a look at how out-migration can be a ‘trend’ that turns working-class Nepalis into hard-bitten cynics unwilling to work their own land, even when it is available and possible.  <figure><img width="734" height="543" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be94c9c7e80680e0878b1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Song of CloudsAnkit Poudel’s film is an ethereal, empathetic, abstract story of life and death shifting from this world to the next as the dead communicate with the living they leave behind. Described as a fever dream, there is no plot or narrative structure to the film. There are long stretches of silence punctuated by sudden disjointed communications about regret and longing. A story without direction or an end told through still photographs.Premiering at Sundance earlier this year and making rounds in <a href="https://www.sundance.org/projects/song-of-clouds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">festival circuits around the world</a>, Poudel’s film has garnered multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Split Film festival in Croatia and the Best Fiction award in Nepal Panorama at KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="1422" height="794" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be94f9c7e80680e0878b2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Winter Tap In the hills of Sankhwasabha, a young man has undertaken the solo task of building a water tap that will take water right to his home during the dry winter. Working methodically in silence, he cuts bamboo into pipes and tree branches to prop up the bamboo against. He then cuts strips out of some more bamboo and ties the pipe and the branches to make a long and winding canal wrapped around the hills.  As with Day 33, words are unnecessary, the only sound is the wind blowing across the hills as the man lays his bamboo pipe, the rhythmic thwack of his khukuri as he cuts branches to support his canal, and the final, musical sound of the water flowing through the pipes toward his home. Simple, meaningful, and immensely satisfying, this film by Aashish Limbu and Debin Rai won Best student film at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/film-southasia-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film South Asia 2019</a> and was screened during KIMFF 2020. <figure><img width="500" height="260" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9529c7e80680e0878b3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Big-headed Boy<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/17008744-6908-4c0a-bbee-b06b148431a6/the-big-headed-boy-shamans-samurais" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Big-Headed Boy, Shamans &amp; Samurais</a> was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam this November. Made by Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet, award-winning creative minds behind The Contagious Apparitions of Dambarey Dendrite and Dadyaa, the black-and-white travelogue is an account of the filmmakers’ quest to find an actor for their movie. When they do find an actor, the village Shaman is reluctant to let him go.

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;

the-cremator-33days

2020 vision

2020 vision

Madam Prime Minister of Nepal

Who, or what, is Hami Nepal?

What next, Nepal?

Raising Nepal from the ashes