Nepal’s new interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Sunday described the country’s sudden youth-led uprising as a “revolution that turned everything upside down.”
She spoke as the situation in the Himalayan nation calmed following the brief but violent revolt left at least 72 people dead and thousands injured.
“I feel extremely bewildered,” Karki told senior bureaucrats at an introductory meeting attended by the media. “It has never happened in the world. I don’t know about any revolution that has turned everything upside down in 27 hours.”
She said governance now faces huge challenges, with many state offices and documents destroyed, and hinted at a possible conspiracy behind the burning of key institutions, including the prime minister’s office and the Supreme Court.
Officials said the death toll includes 59 protesters, 10 prisoners and three security personnel. At least 191 people, among them 57 police officers, remain hospitalized, and the number of dead may rise as security forces recover charred bodies from locations like supermarkets that were set ablaze during the unrest.
The uprising erupted Monday after young people took to the streets to protest corruption and a government-imposed social-media ban. Within hours it escalated into riots, jailbreaks and arson attacks nationwide. About 13,000 prisoners escaped as mobs stormed detention centres; 10 inmates were killed in prison riots.
The turmoil forced prime minister KP Sharma Oli to resign on Tuesday.
After days of talks between President Ram Chandra Paudel, youth protest leaders and civil-society figures, 73-year-old Karki was appointed interim prime minister on Friday, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
Karki’s caretaker government has pledged to hold elections by March 5, 2026. On Sunday, it granted “martyr” status to protesters killed, promised compensation to each victim’s family and ordered free treatment for the injured.