> At a Glance
> – Mukesh Awasti, 22, lost his leg to a police bullet after ditching an Australian study plan to join Nepal’s September uprising.
> – 76 dead, 2,300 injured in five days of protests that toppled the government and installed Sushila Karki as Nepal’s first female PM.
> – Promised anti-corruption purge has produced only one minor case, with no arrests for protest shootings.
> – Why it matters: Young Nepalis risked everything for systemic change but now face an election many already call meaningless.
A single gunshot on September 8 rewrote Mukesh Awasti’s future. Instead of flying to Australia for an engineering degree, the 22-year-old woke up in Kathmandu’s National Trauma Center with his left leg amputated-collateral damage in a youth-led revolt that has since stalled.
From Protest to Parliament-Then What?
Within 48 hours of the first shots, tens of thousands of mostly Gen-Z demonstrators overran police lines, torched the prime minister’s office and forced the cabinet to flee by army helicopter. By September 12 the army brokered a deal: Sushila Karki, a retired Supreme Court judge, would head an interim government and deliver March 5 elections.
Karki insists the ballot will proceed:
> “As the world is looking forward to a smooth change in government through our elections on March 5, I want to assure that we will deliver these elections.”
Yet the only tangible anti-graft action so far is a single corruption charge that leaves out every senior politician the protesters named.
Broken Promises, Fresh Protests
Injured survivors have returned to the streets. Suman Bohara, still on crutches, sums up the mood:
> “We are back here because the government has failed to live up to their promise… we are compelled to.”
Their demands now splinter:
- Direct election of prime ministers
- Scrap the current constitution
- Jail all previous office-holders
- Cancel the March vote until justice is served
No Roadmap, No Clear Mandate
Analysts blame the stalemate on the movement’s own ambiguity.
Abeeral Thapa, journalism college principal, says the constitution never anticipated an interim government, giving Karki only one legal task: holding elections. He likens the uprising to “deer hunting that killed a tiger”-an unplanned outcome with no follow-up strategy.
Key Takeaways
- 76 families of the dead and 2,300 injured have received no state support.
- Politicians accused of graft are campaigning for the same March ballot meant to replace them.
- With no unity leader and clashing endgames, Gen-Z momentum is dissolving into social-media debates.
- Election day may arrive, but trust in the process is already hemorrhaging on Kathmandu’s streets.
Awasti, learning to walk with a prosthesis, puts it bluntly: “Zero achievement… they have failed us.”
