Sushila Karki, a former chief justice and staunch anti-corruption campaigner, was named on Friday as the caretaker prime minister of Nepal, the Himalayan nation whose government collapsed in flames this week.
Ms. Karki, who is Nepal’s first female leader, was the choice of the student protesters whose mass rallies on Monday galvanized an extraordinary sequence of events. Demonstrations against government graft and a ban on social media platforms turned deadly when security forces opened fire on the students, who call themselves Gen Z.
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned to take responsibility for the deaths, and the ban was rescinded. But mobs rampaged across the nation on Tuesday, burning and looting thousands of buildings. Nearly every major state institution was damaged. More than 50 people died in the mayhem, according to the Nepali police on Friday.
Sunil Bahadur Thapa, a presidential adviser who announced Ms. Karki’s appointment before she officially took her oath, said that Parliament had also been dissolved. The Parliament building, like so many others in Kathmandu, the Nepali capital, now lies in ruins.
Ms. Karki will form a cabinet in the coming days and will eventually call for elections, Mr. Thapa said, “most likely after six, seven, eight months.”
The swearing-in ceremony for Ms. Karki took place at the president’s office, which was also damaged in the arson attacks. A heavy military presence was nearby, with multiple barricades set up, soldiers and armored vehicles at the ready.
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The post Anti-Corruption Campaigner Named Nepal’s Leader After Gen Z Protests appeared first on New York Times.
