Probe panel on Gen Z movement violence gets 20-day extension in Nepal

Kathmandu: The Nepal government on Thursday extended by 20 days the tenure of a panel investigating the alleged excessive use of force during the Gen Z movement that led to the ouster of prime minister K P Sharma Oli.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Home Minister and government spokesperson Om Prakash Aryal said.

The extension has been granted for the second time at the request of the Home Ministry, as preparations for the final report are still underway, despite the three-month deadline initially given to the panel.

The commission's previous term was due to expire on Thursday.

The Sushila Karki-led interim government had constituted the commission on September 21 last year under the chairmanship of former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki.

Former Additional Inspector General of Police Bigyan Raj Sharma and legal expert Bishweshwor Bhandari are its members.

At least 19 youths, who were demonstrating against the Oli government in Kathmandu, were killed in police firing on September 8, with the total death toll from the two days of unrest reaching 77 people nationwide.

Human Rights Watch and other bodies have alleged that security forces used disproportionate and unlawful force, including firing live ammunition indiscriminately at protesters.

The agitation had led to the ouster of Oli’s coalition government. The commission has recorded written and oral statements from around 170 people, including Oli and then home minister Ramesh Lekhak, in connection with the alleged suppression of the two-day movement.

In his statement to the panel, Lekhak had accepted full moral responsibility for the deaths and other losses of September 8.

However, he claimed that the vandalism and arson on September 9 across the country were not a spontaneous escalation but the result of “a planned conspiracy against democracy and the nation”.