Nepal’s former Chief Justice Sushila Karki has been named the country’s interim prime minister following deadly protests this week that killed at least 51 people, injured more than 1,300, and led to the escape of thousands of prisoners.
On Friday, President Ramchandra Poudel’s office announced the appointment of Karki, the country’s first female head of government. The 73-year-old, the only woman to have served as chief justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court, was sworn in late Friday by Poudel at the presidential residence in a ceremony that aired on state-run television.
Police spokesperson Binod Ghimire said on Friday that those killed so far this week included 21 protesters, nine prisoners, three police officers and 18 others, without elaborating. Another 1,300 people were injured as police fought to control crowds.
Ghimire added that more than 12,500 prisoners who escaped from multiple jails countrywide remain on the run. “About 13,500 prisoners had escaped — some have been recaptured, 12,533 are still at large.”
The dead included prisoners killed during or after their escape in clashes with Nepalese security forces.
Some of the fugitives have reportedly tried to cross into India, where scores have been apprehended by Indian border forces.
Nepal’s army, which has imposed a curfew, said that it had recovered more than 100 guns looted in the turmoil, with some protesters seen brandishing automatic rifles.
“They [Gen Z] want [Karki]. This will happen today,” a constitutional expert consulted by Poudel and Sigdel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters news agency before the announcement.
Karki is “seen as an anticorruption voice, so she’s acceptable to a lot of the Gen Z groups that have been firing up this movement, because corruption has been a big issue,” said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from the capital Kathmandu.
“But while she’s popular with them, she’s not necessarily popular with other groups … so she’s seen as a consensus candidate.”
McBride noted that there was uncertainty about whether Karki could serve as an interim prime minister because she is not a member of parliament. But one Gen Z leader reportedly said an agreement had been made to dissolve parliament, enabling Karki’s appointment.
Still, said McBride, “Nepal is in for a long period of political uncertainty.”
On Monday, 21 protesters were killed during a police crackdown on demonstrations against a government ban on social media, corruption and poor governance.
On Tuesday, protesters set the parliament ablaze, Oli resigned, and the army took charge of the streets.
Wedged between India and China, Nepal has grappled with political and economic instability since the abolition of its monarchy in 2008, while a lack of jobs drives millions to seek work in other countries and send money home.
Shops began reopening on Friday, and cars again filled the streets while police held batons instead of the guns they carried earlier in the week — signs that normalcy may be returning in Kathmandu.
Some roads stayed blocked, though streets were patrolled by fewer soldiers than before.
Authorities began handing the bodies of loved ones killed in the protests to mourning families.
“While his friends backed off (from the protests), he decided to go ahead,” Karuna Budhathoki said of her 23-year-old nephew, as she waited to collect his body at Kathmandu’s Teaching Hospital.
“We were told he was brought dead to the hospital.”
