Tense situation in Nepal by Kul Gautam

Dear colleagues,

Many friends and colleagues have sent me messages of concern and goodwill on the recent huge demonstrations and violence that have engulfed Nepal. Thank you.

This is to let you know that while the overall situation in Nepal has been tense and frightening, all is well with my immediate family, friends, and relatives.

There were massive demonstrations all over Nepal, not just in Kathmandu but also in all cities and provincial and district headquarters on Monday, 8 September. The demonstrations were organized by young people, calling themselves Gen Z. They had 2 key demands:

To restore access to the social media some of which (like Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc) were banned a few days earlier because their parent companies had not registered to operate in Nepal despite multiple requests by the government to do so.

To end widespread corruption, unemployment and some other grievances

The demonstration, dubbed the Gen-Z movement, was announced a few days before the actual day, and only young people below the age of 28 were asked to attend & older folks were specifically asked not to attend. It was not known who the organizers of the movement were, nor their leaders. It was a leaderless, spontaneous movement of young people.

There was no way of knowing in advance how big the turnout would be. The government had grossly underestimated it. In the event, the turnout was massive and nationwide. As requested by the organizers, many students from schools and colleges joined wearing their school uniforms and carried their student identity cards.

The demonstration started peacefully with participants singing, dancing and chanting slogans in support of their demands. As the demonstrators marched towards the parliament building and tried to enter its perimeter, the police first fired tear gas and water cannons to dissuade them. But as the mass surged ahead trying to break the police barricade, the police used gunfire killing 19 youngsters and wounding several hundreds. It was clearly an over-reaction on the part of the police. It inflamed shock and anger and the news spread all over the country and triggered more violent confrontation between the youth and the police.

In response, the protesters and the general public demanded the resignation of the Minister of Home Affairs, and later that of the Prime Minister. The Home Minister did resign but the PM refused to do so. A curfew was ordered that evening and the next Tuesday morning.

But the protestors defied the curfew and started assembling in front of key govt offices, and started to burn those buildings. This time the police did not use force and allowed ransacking and burning the Parliament building, the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace, the main government HQ in Kathmandu and in many provinces and districts. The protestors also torched the private homes of the PM, the President, Ministers and other politicians known to be very corrupt.

Instead of resigning as demanded by the protestors, the PM was initially defiant. It is said that he asked the Army Chief to send in the soldiers to help control the situation, but apparently the Army did not comply citing its operational protocols. (It should be noted that Supreme Commander of the Army is the President, as titular head of state, not the PM). PM Oli is an arrogant, self-righteous leader surrounded by many pliant "Yes men" somewhat in the mold of Donald Trump. Once he realized that he could not mobilize the Army, he finally recognized his vulnerability and tendered his resignation. But it was too late. Things had gotten out of hand and out of control.

It appears that the generally peaceful Gen Z protestors were infiltrated by some other militant youth groups (including some affiliated with political parties). Some were seen carrying the Gurkha Khukuri knives and guns. They vandalized and burned houses of several political leaders known to be corrupt and beat them up. Some private business houses were also vandalized. Several jails were also vandalized and prisoners freed. The loss is massive, and some of it irreparable, like documents of court cases, property ownership, and other historical archival material.

Out of fear for their lives, the PM, the President, Ministers and some opposition political leaders too are apparently being sheltered in military barracks.

The President and the Army Chief have called for restraint. They have called for consultation with the representative leaders of the Gen Z group and a few popular politicians to decide next steps to restore peace, meet some of the demands of Gen Z, form a new transitional government and hold early elections. These talks are apparently going on right now. Meanwhile, the Army has imposed a nationwide curfew to avoid any further violence.

It has been a traumatic 36-hour period for Nepal with so many children and youth killed and public and private buildings burned and vandalized.

The good news is that many of the most corrupt political leaders are now in hiding and humiliated. They are unlikely to come back to power. Major political parties and their top leaders who have been notorious for corruption, nepotism and poor governance are unlikely to make a comeback.

But there is great uncertainty. Will this movement of young people usher an era of better governance as we all hope, or might the country plunge into chaos, as has happened in Libya, Iraq and elsewhere - and as we hear it might soon happen in Indonesia — after one set of authoritarian leaders are overthrown.

Luckily, Nepal remains an open society with a vibrant free press. And the Gen Z have shown how powerful they can be. Although Nepal has made respectable progress in terms of human development indicators, poverty still remains rampant, corruption pervasive, and inequality growing. As we know, these are not problems that are unique to Nepal. In fact, what we are seeing in Nepal now is somewhat of a re-run of what happened in Bangladesh last year and in Sri Lanka three years ago.

One should note that there is also a lot of fake news on social media, some of it, AI-generated. There is also a tendency on the part of some Indian media to misrepresent what's happening in Nepal with imaginary or exaggerated conspiracy theories linking events in Nepal to China and some religious overtones.

I have faith in our young people but also a lot of trepidation in these volatile times.

Please wish Nepal well!

======================

Kul Chandra Gautam

www.kulgautam.orgtwitter.com/kulcgautam

kulgautam@hotmail.com

https://amazon.com/author/kulgautam