You and I have to be determined’: New Nepal PM vows to follow protesters’ demands to end corruption

Protests began on Monday sparked by a ban on social media and quickly escalated, with parliament and key government buildings set ablaze, as they fed into long-standing economic woes in Nepal.

“We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation,” said Karki, in her first public comments since taking office on Friday.

A fifth of people in Nepal aged 15-24 are unemployed, according to the World Bank, with GDP per capita standing at just $1,447.Karki held a minute’s silence on Sunday for those killed in the unrest, before meetings began in the key government complex of Singha Durbar — where several buildings were set on fire during mass protests on Tuesday.Workers put up a new signboard for the prime minister’s office in a building within the complex but which was not torched.

Paudel, who swore Karki into office, said late Saturday that “a peaceful solution has been found through a difficult process.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi supported “peace, progress and prosperity” in Hindu-majority Nepal, while Beijing’s foreign ministry said it wanted to “push China-Nepal relations steadily forward.”

Buddhism is the country’s second-largest religion, and the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, wished Karki “every success in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the people of Nepal in these challenging times.”

Paudel called it a “very difficult, complicated, and grave situation” in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people. “I sincerely appeal to everyone to make the most of this opportunity… in making the election on March 5 a success,” he said.

At least 72 people were killed in two days of protests, and 191 injured, the government’s chief secretary Eaknarayan Aryal said Sunday, increasing an earlier toll of 51. It was the worst unrest since the end of a decade-long civil war and the abolition of the monarchy in 2008.

“What this group is demanding is end of corruption, good governance and economic equality,” she added.