Former Judge Sushila Karki Named Nepal’s Leader After Gen Z Protests

Sushila Karki, a former chief justice and staunch anti-corruption crusader, was named on Friday as the caretaker leader of Nepal, the Himalayan nation whose government collapsed in flames this week.

Ms. Karki, whose appointment was announced by Sunil Bahadur Thapa, a presidential adviser, was the choice of the student protesters whose mass rallies on Monday galvanized an extraordinary sequence of events. Demonstrations against government graft and a ban on social media turned deadly when security forces opened fire on the students, who called themselves Gen Z.

The prime minister resigned to take responsibility for the deaths, and the ban was rescinded. But mobs rampaged across the nation on Tuesday, burning and looting thousands of buildings. Nearly every major state institution was damaged. More than 50 people died in the mayhem, according to the Nepali police on Friday.

Mr. Thapa, the presidential adviser, said that Ms. Karki’s swearing-in and the dissolution of Parliament would take place simultaneously on Friday evening. The Parliament building, like so many others in Kathmandu, the Nepali capital, lies in ruins.

The swearing-in ceremony for Ms. Karki is expected to take place at the president’s office, which was also damaged in the arson attacks. A heavy military presence was nearby, with multiple barricades set up, soldiers and armored vehicles at the ready.

For days, Nepal has effectively been under the control of the army, which set nationwide curfews and sent thousands of soldiers onto the streets. Gen. Ashok Raj Sigdel, the army chief, met repeatedly with both the student protesters and members of the fallen government.