Kamal Ghorui
Less than 24 hours after Balendra “Balen” Shah, 35, took oath as Nepal’s prime minister, his govt Saturday ordered the arrest of former PM KP Sharma Oli, 74, and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak over Sept 2025 crackdown on Gen Z protesters.The govt in Kathmandu said it was acting on a key campaign promise and on the “leaked” Gauri Bahadur Karki commission report that recommended a criminal probe into their role in violence that followed the agitation last year in which 76 people died.Police detained Oli from his residence in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, and picked up Lekhak separately. Scores of policemen were deployed outside Oli’s residence after Shah’s first Cabinet meeting decided to act on the panel’s recommendations.On the new administration’s first major act in office, home minister Sudan Gurung said, “Promise is promise. No one is above law. Former PM Oli and former HM Lekhak are taken under control. It’s just the beginning of justice.”The leaked Karki report went beyond broad criticism of the crackdown. It said Oli, as the “executive head”, “should be held responsible for anything, good or bad” that happened under his administration, and concluded that “no effort was made to stop or control the firing”. In one of its strongest findings, the commission said that because of “their negligent conduct”, “even minors lost their lives”.The panel also criticised the wider state response as the protests spiralled. It held Lekhak responsible for failing to mobilise the security apparatus effectively and for not pursuing a political response as the unrest escalated. It also recommended action against former police chief Chandra Kuber Khapung and other senior officials.Oli rejected the move and told his lawyers and party colleagues, “This arrest is retaliatory. I will fight it legally, prepare yourselves.” Lekhak also opposed the action and said he would fight the case “politically and legally”, while leaders of UML and Nepali Congress described the report as “incomplete and biased”.Supporters took to the streets, and some scuffled with police outside Oli’s residence. Roads were blocked, tyres and copies of the commission report were burned, and demands for his release grew louder through the day. Oli was later taken for medical examination because of existing health conditions, while Lekhak remained in custody.Among those who saw the arrests as a first step, not an end point, was Amrita Ban, 23, a Gen Z activist who had joined the protests and attended Shah’s oath ceremony on Friday. “Seeing Oli and Lekhak being arrested gives me hope that justice is indeed finally beginning,” Ban said. “This is what many of us in the movement had demanded. But it cannot stop here…”
