Nepal | Pakistan

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday expressed his deep grief over the tragic loss of lives and extensive damage caused by the floods and landslides in Nepal.

Landslides and floods triggered by heavy downpours in Nepal and neighbouring India have killed more than 60 people, officials said on Sunday, as rescue workers raced to reach cut-off communities in remote mountainous terrain. Torrential downpours have lashed Nepal since Friday, leaving rivers in spate and many areas in the Himalayan nation inundated. At least 44 people have died in rain-triggered disasters and five are missing, Shanti Mahat, spokeswoman for Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, told AFP. At least 37 were killed by landslides in the worst-affected eastern district of Ilam. “Heavy rains overnight caused the landslides,” said local district official Sunita Nepal. “With roads blocked, some areas are difficult to reach. Rescue workers are heading there on foot.” Rivers in the capital Kathmandu have also swelled, inundating settlements along their banks. Security personnel were deployed to assist rescue efforts with helicopters and motorboats. “There is some damage, but...

Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel has dissolved parliament and called for fresh elections on March 5 following a week of deadly violence that culminated in the appointment of the country’s first woman prime minister. The statement from Paudel’s office late on Friday came just hours after he announced former chief justice Sushila Karki would lead the country on an interim basis following the deadly “Gen Z”-led anti-graft protests that forced former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign. According to the statement, the president has “dissolved the House of Representatives” and fixed March 5 next year for the elections. Karki was appointed after two days of intense negotiations between Paudel, army chief Ashok Raj Sigdel and the protest leaders behind Nepal’s worst upheaval in years, in which at least 51 people were killed and more than 1,300 injured. Nepal’s southern neighbour, India, said it hoped that the developments would help foster peace and stability. “Heartfelt congratulations to the Honourable Sushi...

NEW DELHI: Protesters in Nepal ousted the prime minister and set parliament ablaze over the government’s ban on social media and corruption allegations, but in India the violence is being misrepresented online as something else entirely: a religious uprising. While some claim that the demonstrations are a demand for a “Hindu state”, others say the opposite — that they are an attack on the faith. Fuelling the narrative are allegations from Indian broadcasters and politicians that rioters vandalised Nepal’s Pash­u­pa­ti­nath temple, a revered Hindu site. “Some rioters, hiding within the crowd of protesters, attempted to vandalise the temple, and it was only after this incident that the army was deployed,” an anchor for the right-wing Zee News channel said in a report featuring a clip of people climbing onto the temple’s gate and violently shaking it. Jivesh Mishra, a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar state, which shares a border with Nepal, told reporters on Wednesday: “An attack on...

Nepal’s former chief justice Sushila Karki was sworn in on Friday to lead the transition as the country’s next prime minister after deadly anti-corruption protests ousted the government. The 73-year-old Karki, Nepal’s first woman chief justice, was sworn into office by President Ram Chandra Paudel, after the previous prime minister quit on Tuesday as parliament was set ablaze. “Congratulations! We wish you success, wish the country success,” Paudel said to Karki after the small ceremony in the presidential palace, attended by diplomats and some former leaders. The Himalayan nation of 30 million people was plunged into chaos this week after security forces tried to crush rallies by young anti-corruption protesters. At least 51 people were killed in the worst violence since the end of a civil war and the abolition of the monarchy in 2008. The military took back control of the streets on Wednesday, enforcing a curfew. The appointment of the judge, known for her independence, comes after two days of intense negot...

Soldiers guarded Nepal’s parliament and patrolled deserted streets on Wednesday amid a curfew in the capital Kathmandu, after two days of deadly anti-corruption protests forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign. The upheaval in the Himalayan nation was unleashed by a social media ban that was announced last week, but was rolled back after 19 people were killed on Monday as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to control crowds. The death toll from the protests had risen to 25 by Wednesday, Nepal’s health ministry said, while 633 were injured. Burnt-out vehicles and twisted metal littered the area around parliament, where army firefighters battled to douse a blaze in the main hall, while the building’s exterior was charred after protesters set it ablaze on Tuesday. TV footage showed youths cleaning up some damaged buildings and clearing debris from roads and the areas near parliament. “I have been informed by the (parliament) security chief that the fire has destroyed the entire infrastructure. Nothin...

Nepal was plunged into political uncertainty after its prime minister resigned on Tuesday following widespread anti-corruption protests, triggered by a social media ban, that killed at least 19 people. As the poor Himalayan nation once again stands at a crossroads, here is a look at what could lie ahead: What is the immediate next step? The army has asked protesters to take part in talks to reach a solution. With the protesters — most of them young people belonging to “Generation Z”, implying they were born between 1997 and 2012 — having no single leader, however, it is unclear exactly who authorities can talk to. “Gen Z should set up a negotiation team,” constitutional expert and former Supreme Court judge Balaram K.C. said, adding that the president should then hold talks with the team and others, including civil society members and the army. What does the constitution say? Under Nepal’s 2015 constitution, a successor must be appointed from the party that has a majority in parliament. If no party has a majo...

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was forced to resign on Tuesday by angry young anti-corruption protesters who defied a curfew and clashed with police, a day after 19 people died in the violence. The outrage was sparked by a social media ban, which Oli’s government lifted after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament, and 100 people were injured, alongside the 19 dead. But there was no let-up in the protests on Tuesday, which plunged Nepal into fresh political uncertainty. The unrest is the worst in decades in the poor Himalayan country, which is wedged between India and China and has struggled with political and economic instability since protests led to the abolition of its monarchy in 2008. Young Nepalis have for years been frustrated at the lack of jobs, and millions have gone to work in the Middle East, South Korea and Malaysia, mainly on construction sites, and send money home. “In view of the adverse situation in the country, I have resigned effective today ...

Unrest killed at least 19 people in Nepal on Monday, authorities said, as police in the capital fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament in anger at a social media shutdown and corruption. Some of the mainly youth protesters forced their way into the parliament complex in Kathmandu by breaking through a barricade, a local official said, setting fire to an ambulance and hurling objects at lines of riot police guarding the legislature. “The police have been firing indiscriminately,” one protester told the ANI news agency. “[They] fired bullets which missed me but hit a friend who was standing behind me. He was hit in the hand.” More than 100 people, including 28 police personnel, were receiving medical treatment for their injuries, police officer Shekhar Khanal told Reuters. Protesters were ferrying the injured to the hospital on motorcycles. Another two people were killed when protests in the eastern city of Itahari turned violent, police said. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli cal...