Nepal’s Capital Is Choked With Smoke and Gripped by Fear

Asia Pacific|Nepal’s Capital Is Choked With Smoke and Gripped by Fear

The Hilton hotel was still in flames. Carcasses of government buildings gaped, their innards exposed. The few motorcycles and cars that dared to break a curfew had to navigate a series of checkpoints patrolled by soldiers, their fingers on the triggers of their rifles.

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is normally a city of noise and commerce, where gods survey the jammed traffic from brightly lit roadside temples. On Thursday, soon after clashes between security forces and protesters claimed at least 37 lives and ripped the institutional heart out of the city, much of Kathmandu was swaddled in suspense and silence, save the crunch of shattered glass underfoot.

Nepal is now a country without a functioning government. No one seems to know where the president is. The prime minister has resigned. The army is talking with the young protesters, who are known as Gen Z and have proposed Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, to step in as interim leader of the country. They say that she could be sworn in as early as Friday, but it’s unclear who has the legitimate power to appoint her and what kind of government she could even assemble.