Nepal panel to probe violence during anti-graft protests that killed 74

KATHMANDU - Nepal’s interim government, led by former chief justice Sushila Karki, has set up a panel to investigate the

violence during anti-corruption protests in September

that killed 74 people and forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to quit, a minister said on Sept 22.

The demonstrations, which began as a Gen Z-led movement against widespread corruption and a lack of jobs, escalated into the Himalayan nation’s deadliest violence in decades.

More than 2,100 people were injured while protesters set fire to the main office complex that houses the prime minister’s office, the Supreme Court and the Parliament building as well as malls, luxury hotels and showrooms that the demonstrators said were owned by people close to corrupt politicians.

Mr Rameshwore Khanal, whom Mr Sushila Karki put in charge of the finance ministry, said the three-member panel headed by retired judge Gauri Bahadur Karki had been given three months to complete the probe.

“It will investigate... the loss of life and property during the protests, excesses by both sides and people involved in the acts of arson and vandalism during the movement,” Mr Khanal told Reuters.

In a social media post, Mr Oli also demanded an investigation into the violence and said his government did not order police to fire at the protesters. The protests were infiltrated by outsiders and police did not possess the type of weapons which were used to fire on the crowd, he said.

Mr Gauri Bahadur Karki is the former chairman of a special court that hears corruption cases in Nepal and has a reputation for honesty and integrity. REUTERS