Kathmandu, 28 Mar

Nepalese political parties on Saturday criticised the newly formed Balendra Shah government over the arrest of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for the 2025 Gen Z protest crackdown.

Oli and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak have been arrested on charges of their involvement in suppressing the Gen Zmovement of 8 and 9 September last year, in which 76 people, including around two dozen youths, were killed.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Lennist) Secretary, Mahesh Basnet, called the arrest of party chair Oli a "political revenge" and said that the Balendra Shah-led government is displaying prejudice.

 Hours after Oli's arrest, CPN (UML) called an emergency Central Secretariat meeting to decide the party’s next course of action.

The Secretariat held a meeting to clarify the party's position and decide on the program of the upcoming struggle following the vindictive arrest of Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Basnet said in one of the several posts on social media.

In the meeting, the party demanded theimmediate release of KP Sharma Oli, it said.

CPN (UML) has also decided to hand over protest letters to the Chief District Officers (CDO) of all 77 districts across Nepal on Sunday.

The party said it will launch a political and legal battle against the arrest in collaboration with civil society members and the general public.

Senior Nepali Congress leader and House of Representatives member, Arjun Narsingha KC, said that the investigation of any incident should be done in a neutral and transparent manner, adding that due procedures should be followed.

He called for an investigation into the events of the attack on many government offices, including the Supreme Court and the Government Secretariat Singhdurbar, during the Gen Z protest.

He termed the investigation into the killings during the Gen Z protests last year in September as "insufficient".

There should not be any type of prejudice while making such an investigation, he added.

"No doubt it was essential to implement the report of the probe commission, but due process should be followed," said former Science Minister Ganesh Shah.

"It seems that the government has taken action in a hurry," he added.

Nepal's former Home Minister and Rashtriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPP-N) leader Kamal Thapa also criticised KP Sharma Oli's arrest and said that the government seems to be on the path of prohibition, revenge, and prejudice.

The Balen government was formed with the goal of good governance and economic prosperity, he said in a social media post.

"Conflict and confrontation should not be anyone's priority in the current era," Thapa said, adding that adherence to the rule of law, mutual reconciliation, and unity are the first conditions for good governance and prosperity.

Dozens of UML cadres and supporters on Saturday organised a demonstration at the Chabahil area of Kathmandu, demanding the immediate release of Oli.

Earlier on Friday, the first Cabinet meeting of the newly formed government, chaired by Prime Minister Balendra Shah, decided to immediately implement the report of the high-level commission's investigation into the Gen Z movement in September last year.