Guwahati: Kathmandu is bracing for a new political chapter after former chief justice Sushila Karki was sworn in on Friday night as Nepal’s interim Prime Minister, following days of unprecedented protests that forced the resignation of KP Sharma Oli.
The appointment came after President Ramchandra Paudel, representatives of the Generation Z protest movement, and Nepal Army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel reached a rare consensus in the wake of mounting unrest.
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Karki, 73, is not a career politician but earned national prominence as Nepal’s first woman chief justice, serving from July 2016 to June 2017. Known for her uncompromising stance against corruption, she built a reputation as a jurist unafraid to challenge powerful interests, a record that helped propel her into the political spotlight at a moment when protesters demanded leadership untainted by misrule.
Her elevation has already drawn comparisons to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who was invited to lead Bangladesh’s interim government last year after student-led protests unseated Sheikh Hasina.
Born in 1952 in eastern Nepal, Karki pursued higher education in India and Nepal, earning a master’s degree in political science from Banaras Hindu University before obtaining a law degree from Tribhuvan University in 1978. She began her career in legal practice in Biratnagar and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2009, rising to chief justice in 2016. Her tenure was marked by landmark corruption rulings and a dramatic impeachment attempt in 2017, which was withdrawn following public protests and judicial intervention.
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Her personal life is also linked to a significant episode in Nepal’s modern history. While studying in Varanasi, she met Durga Prasad Subedi, later her husband, who played a central role in the 1973 hijacking of a Nepal Airlines flight carrying funds meant for the state bank.
The cash was reportedly diverted to finance the Nepali Congress’s armed struggle against the monarchy, and Subedi served time in an Indian prison before returning to Nepal.
Karki’s appointment comes against the backdrop of violent demonstrations that convulsed the country this week. At least 51 people were killed and more than 1,300 injured after police opened fire on crowds defying curfews imposed during the protests.
The casualties included protesters, police officers, prisoners, and bystanders. The unrest began after the Oli government introduced a nationwide social media ban, widely seen as an attempt to stifle dissent. Although the ban was later revoked, the protests escalated until Oli resigned.
By Friday evening, parts of Kathmandu showed tentative signs of normalcy. Shops reopened in several areas, soldiers began pulling back from the streets, and police officers carrying batons rather than rifles maintained a watchful presence at key intersections.
Families of the victims, meanwhile, have only begun recovering the bodies of their relatives from hospitals across the capital.
Karki’s swearing-in marks an extraordinary moment in Nepal’s political history, raising hopes among protesters for a break from corruption and entrenched power. How she navigates the turbulence ahead will determine whether this rare experiment in consensus can restore public trust in a country long shaken by political instability.