Kathmandu, 10 Sep: Because of the arrogance of a single person in power, today’s generation no longer needs to read history to understand how a country can be destroyed. They no longer need to look at the news of other nations. Right before our eyes, on the 23rd and 24th of Bhadra(8 and 9 Sep), in just two days, all of Nepal’s governing structures collapsed to zero. They turned to ashes.
The physical structures of the state’s three organs—executive, legislative, and judiciary—were burned down and destroyed. All the records of Nepal’s governing structures, preserved since history, turned into smoke and vanished.
The ousted Prime Minister had said that Gen Z are just kids, that they must have come to play with slingshots. He dismissed the Gen Z protesters as a group that had come merely to play with slingshots.
A horrific incident has occurred, one that Nepali society had neither seen nor experienced before. As a result, there is shock and silence everywhere.
Protesters set fire mainly to government buildings, party offices, leaders’ residences, properties of controversial businessmen, and even media offices. There were also physical attacks on political leaders—something never witnessed before.
The ousted K.P. was extremely arrogant, and the Congress Party too was complicit
The youth who took to the streets against the shutdown of social media also strongly raised questions about corruption and mismanagement. Ignoring this, the government resorted to repression, resulting in 19 deaths in a single day on Monday. So far, 24 people have lost their lives.
Even after these deaths, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli refused to resign, continuing to display arrogance and pride. As a result, from early Tuesday morning, the situation spiraled out of control. Protesters began targeting leaders’ homes and launching personal attacks, causing the nation to suffer irreparable damage.
When the government was moving toward shutting down social media, the public, journalists, and other political parties continued to request, yet it went ahead and enforced the shutdown. Many had urged Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur not to allow the closure, but he ignored the calls. As a result, today their political journey has come to an end.
Even though the Nepali Army was deployed for security, it did not stop the protesters
Across the country, the streets and all government institutions have fallen into the hands of the protesters. In the process, when security forces found themselves unable to protect them any longer, they left everything to the protesters.
The situation has become so dire that no fire engines have been able to reach the burning sites, and no ambulances are available to transport the injured.
In the capital, major government hospitals are overflowing with patients and the wounded. On Monday itself, the Civil Service Hospital had appealed to other hospitals, warning that even providing essential services for humanitarian and medical purposes was becoming impossible.
Outside Kathmandu as well, all kinds of government structures, as well as leaders’ and party offices, were targeted. This shows that every level of governance has come under attack.
The main executive office of the country, Singha Durbar, which also stood as a historic landmark of Nepal, has been destroyed. Protesters set fire to the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar, after which the army took the Prime Minister to a safe location for security reasons.
Even President Ram Chandra Paudel, the head of state and the Supreme Commander of the Nepal Army, was forced to flee. The President’s Office at Sheetal Niwas has fallen into the hands of protesters and has been destroyed. The Nepali Army has also taken him to a secure location.
Protesters specifically targeted leaders who have been entrenched in government structures for years, resulting in many leaders being injured.
Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, who is also the Foreign Minister, Arju Deuba, were physically attacked by protesters at their residence in Budhanilkantha. Both were injured and bleeding, and security personnel had to help them climb over the walls of their home to get them to safety. The protesters raised questions against them regarding corruption and other issues that allegedly occurred during their tenure in government.
Apart from the Nepali Army, protesters also set fire to the offices of other security forces and police posts. They seized and detonated police weapons. Prisoners escaped from jails in places like Nakkhu, Kailali, Mahottari, Tanahun, and Pokhara. No boundaries of legal governance remain intact.
