Follow due process

The government should have faith in the legal apparatus to handle Gen Z protest prosecutions.

With Balendra Shah assuming office as the 40th prime minister of Nepal, there is palpable excitement in the air. The de facto leader of the Gen Z uprising back in September 2025 now has a resounding mandate to govern the country. He has formed a neat 15-member Cabinet, and his government has published a 100-point reform agenda that ranges from boosting the flagging economy to reducing politicisation of universities and bureaucracy. If even half the pledges are implemented, Nepal will be a much better place to live and work in. Moreover, the new Shah government seems intent on making a strong start so that people can immediately feel the change. Yet, with a mandate to govern for the next five years, there is also no need for it to rush or to take shortcuts, especially on due process. Just a day after Shah assumed office, former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested. Yet the Gen Z uprising probe report on which these arrests were based has yet to be made public. The arrests also appeared selective, with other top security officials named in the report spared.