New Delhi, Sep 14: Nepal’s newly-appointed interim prime minister Sushila Karki has said she will serve in office for no longer than six months, pledging to hand power to a new government after elections scheduled for 5 March next year.
“I did not wish for this job. It was after voices from the streets that I was compelled to accept,” Karki told reporters in her first public remarks since being sworn in on Friday, according to the BBC.
She stressed that her priority was to respond to the demands of the youth-led protests that forced a change of government.
“We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation. What this group is demanding is the end of corruption, good governance and economic equality,” she said.
Her appointment comes after weeks of nationwide unrest in which more than 70 people were killed.
The protests, initially triggered by a controversial ban on social media platforms on 8 September, quickly spiralled into one of the worst episodes of violence in Nepal’s recent history.
Demonstrators vandalised politicians’ homes and set fire to parliament, while security forces clashed with crowds in Kathmandu and other major cities.
Officials have confirmed that among the 72 killed were three police personnel.
Nepal has faced cycles of political turmoil since the abolition of its monarchy in 2008.
Corruption scandals, weak coalitions, and public disillusionment with political elites have repeatedly sparked unrest.
The latest protests, driven largely by students and young professionals, mark a new phase of agitation, often described locally as the “Gen Z movement,” with demands for transparency, accountability, and greater economic opportunity.
Speaking on Sunday, Karki expressed regret at the destruction of state property during the protests.
“I feel ashamed. If they were Nepalis who destroyed these essential structures, how can they be called Nepalis?” she asked.
Karki, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court, is widely regarded as having a clean image, though her judicial tenure was marred by an impeachment attempt that cut short her 11-month term.
Her interim cabinet now faces daunting challenges: restoring law and order, rebuilding parliament and other key institutions damaged during the unrest, and reassuring both the protesters who demand sweeping reforms and a wary public still recovering from the violence.
