Probe Panel Gets 20-Day Extension to Investigate Gen Z Movement Violence

Kathmandu, Jan 22: The Nepal government has extended by 20 days the tenure of a commission probing allegations of excessive use of force during the Gen Z-led protests that culminated in the fall of former prime minister K P Sharma Oli’s government.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Home Minister and government spokesperson Om Prakash Aryal said on Thursday. This marks the second extension granted to the panel, following a request from the Home Ministry, as work on the final report is still in progress. The commission’s earlier term was set to end on Thursday.

The inquiry panel was constituted on September 21 last year by the interim government headed by Sushila Karki. It is chaired by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki and includes former Additional Inspector General of Police Bigyan Raj Sharma and legal expert Bishweshwor Bhandari as members.

The commission is examining the police response to protests in Kathmandu on September 8, when at least 19 youths were killed in police firing. The violence over two days claimed 77 lives across the country and triggered widespread unrest, eventually leading to the collapse of the Oli-led coalition.

Human Rights Watch and other rights organisations have accused security forces of using disproportionate and unlawful force, including the indiscriminate use of live ammunition against protesters.

So far, the panel has recorded written and oral statements from around 170 individuals, including K P Sharma Oli and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak. Lekhak, in his deposition, accepted moral responsibility for the deaths and losses on September 8 but alleged that the violence and arson that followed on September 9 were part of a “planned conspiracy against democracy and the nation,” rather than a spontaneous escalation.