The Balen Shah led government, which created a sensation by arresting former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the then Home Minister Ramesh Utkar on charges of duty killing within a few hours of taking oath, has completely stopped the investigation file within five months.
On the completion of one year of Gen-G movement, the government itself has become a new partner in the old political chain of impunity without publishing the reports of the high-level commission that was supposed to bring the culprits to justice for the incident that killed 76 citizens.
Arrested on 14th March 2082, Oli and the author were released on bail on 26th March after spending 13 days in jail after the order of the Supreme Court. Since then, the police have not gathered any additional evidence, nor has the public prosecutor's office made a formal decision to proceed with the case or not.
The current government, which received a majority of two-thirds of the popular vote in the foundation of the movement, has adopted the policy of keeping the investigation reports in the drawer like its predecessors.
The commission of inquiry led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki had recommended criminal proceedings against Oli, the author and officials of the Central Security Committee for negligence in the death of civilians.
However, instead of implementing the report, the government formed another study committee under the leadership of former judge Premraj Karki.
The committee, which completed its study last June, has concluded that the security forces in Baneshwar were panicked and opened fire indiscriminately. However, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung is refusing to understand the report so far under the pretext of adding to the mandate of the committee.
Similarly, the government has also kept secret the 29-page study report submitted by the team led by Lily Thapa, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, for three months.
Both commissions recommended criminal and departmental action against the current Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dan Bahadur Karki, Inspector General of Armed Police Narayan Dutt Paudel, then IGP Chandrakuber Khapung, then Inspector General of Armed Police Raju Aryal, then Head of National Investigation Department Hutraj Thapa and then Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Xavi Rizal.
Similarly, action was recommended against military commanders Manoj Baidwar, Diwakar Khadka, Ganesh Kumar Khadka and Santosh Dhungel according to the Military Act.
The Human Rights Commission has also raised questions on the role of the army, saying that it did not cooperate when it demanded the deployment of the army on August 23 and that it was not clear on the basis of which decision the deployment was made on the night of the 24th.
However, instead of taking action against the high-ranking officials found guilty, the government has kept some of them in place, while some have been removed by changing their general responsibilities.
After the excessive use of force by the state side in Baneshwar on August 23, an angry mob set fire to Singha Darbar, Supreme Court, Parliament House and party offices on August 24. According to the Commission, 175,000 people were seen on the streets during vandalism in 15 districts.
However, instead of investigating the burning of government property and destruction of documents, the Cabinet is looking for a legal way to withdraw the criminal case against the protestors by forming a committee under the leadership of former High Court judge Baburam Regmi.
The course of Nepali politics would have been completely different if there was no Gen-G movement on 23rd and 24th August 2082. Only a day before the movement, there was a seven-point agreement between Oli and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who secured the way to become president for the third time by removing the age limit of 70 years from the second legislative convention of UML, and to hold power until 2089.
However, Oli was taken to Chanwan barracks in Makwanpur by an army helicopter due to the uprising in the streets, and Deuba's dream of becoming the prime minister for the sixth time was destroyed forever. After that, an interim government was formed under the leadership of former Chief Justice Sushila Karki.
The House of Representatives elections held on February 21 gave a historic blow to the traditional parties. In the 275-seat parliament, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RASWPA) won 182 seats, including 125 directly, and formed a government with close to two-thirds.
Congress was limited to 38, UML 25 and CPN 17 seats, while Madhesh-centric parties fell to zero. The Labor Culture Party led by former mayor of Dharan Harak Sampang won 7 seats in the election.
Most of the ministers in Balen Shah's cabinet, who became the country's first Madhesi prime minister at the age of 36, are between the ages of 30 and 50.
Even though the Balen-led government claims to have achieved 87.2 percent progress on the government reform agenda in 100 days, the reality on the ground is different.
Bringing the Ordinance on Constitutional Council and Cooperatives despite having an overwhelming majority in the Parliament, announcing a freeze on 3 percent equalization fee based on posts on social media, and running dozers in slums without alternatives have raised questions about the government's maturity.
Similarly, within a short period of the formation of the government, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung was forced to resign due to his partnership with businessman Deepak Bhatt, while Labor Minister Deepak Kumar Sah was dismissed for abuse of dignity.
Gen-Z leaders are neither completely satisfied with the current situation, nor depressed.
Santanu Dhakal, a Zenji protester, who was injured in a bullet attack in Itahari on the first day of the Zenji movement, said that hope is still not lost.
"We have not given up hope. Let the new forces at least understand the essence of the movement. For us, getting money for medicine is not a big deal, the country has to feel a change," he said.
According to Dhakal, although the government has announced free treatment for the injured of the Gen-G movement, its practical implementation has not yet been completed.
"The main demand is for free treatment, then for education on free scholarship," said Dhakal, "other demands should also be implemented point by point."
According to him, although there has been improvement in some of the government's works, the pace of implementing the demands raised by the protestors is not as expected.
It has improved to some extent. I am of the opinion that we should give time to the government and have a little hope," he said, "but it seems that some of the announced demands have failed to be implemented. There is a situation where we have to work quickly by putting pressure on it.
Dhakal is still undergoing treatment. He said that he is preparing to do another surgery next October. Let's say it's okay now. I am getting ready for the next operation related to my muscles and probably there is a plan to do it in October," he said.
The experience of the injured Dhakal shows how complicated the issue of treatment and rehabilitation of the injured is even after a year of the movement.
Yujanraj Bhandari, the leader of the Zenji movement, also said that the real issues raised during the movement have not yet been addressed. According to him, the main question of the movement was not only to change the government, but to change the style of state management and to establish accountability.
Bhandari said that looking back after a year, he felt that the current government's working style has somewhat deviated from the issues raised by the movement. There is a comment that the current government was born out of the movement. But the government seems to have gone off track," he said.
According to him, good governance and corruption control has not been done as expected. However, he says that the government is trying to be closer to the citizens.
"It seems that the current government is preferred by the people and closer to the people than the previous government," Bhandari said, "but saying that, the issues raised in the movement have not been resolved yet."
Bhandari raised the issue of non-implementation of the agreement related to the movement as a serious question. According to him, a fair review of the behavior of the citizens who sacrificed in the movement, the injured and the protestors is necessary.
"If the government takes ownership of this movement, it should be implemented in law," he said.
He said that all those arrested during the protest should not be viewed from the same point of view and investigation should be done by distinguishing between those arrested on the basis of organized vandalism and violence and those arrested on the basis of participation in the protest.
"Those who are innocent, those who have been arrested for going to the protest or for pelting stones in anger, those who have been caught on the basis of finding photos, they should be looked at separately," Bhandari said, "That is not happening now."
He also said that this government should not only take political advantage of the movement but also establish its real values.
Another Gen-G activist, Majid Ansari, said that the demand for action against those responsible for firing, injuring and killing civilians in the protest has not yet been met.
According to him, the inability of the government to make special legal arrangements for the treatment of the injured when it can bring ordinances on other matters is also a matter of question.
"The government that can bring an ordinance to appoint the Chief Justice can't bring an ordinance to make special arrangements for treatment?" Ansari asked, "Why not, you should ask them too."
He reiterated the demand for an investigation into the role of the security apparatus during the agitation and action against the responsible officials. "From the then Home Secretary to the IGP, CDO, SSP and others, action should be taken," he said.
Ansari raised a question saying that the officials recommended for action by the Karki commission report were promoted. "Instead of taking action, AIG is promoted to IGP. Whose justice is it?' he asked.
He said that police reform, crowd control training, police services and facilities and citizen-friendly security system were also important issues raised by the movement, since there should be a fair investigation on the people responsible from shooting to the administrative level during the protest.
Genji activist Miraj Dhungana said that the political structure created after the movement has not been able to move forward according to the spirit of the movement. According to him, although the current government has a mandate, it has not been able to understand the depth of the political and social issues raised by the movement.
Now this political force of action has not followed the right political path. "It has been derailed," said Dhungana, "it is necessary to bring it back on track."
He said that although the current government should be accepted as a mandated government, the right of citizens to question its functioning will be preserved.
He suspects that the internal conflict of the government may cause problems in the future. According to him, without understanding the idea and purpose of the movement, the expected political change was not possible because the election was only promoted as an exit.
"We called exit elections, if we had moved forward by creating an environment by consensus, we could have gone much further," he said.
Jenji activist Tanuja Pandey said that the state should be serious about the sacrifices of the youth who lost their lives on August 23 and 24. According to him, the youths who participated in the movement came to the streets with great hopes, but it is sad that even after a year, they have not received a full answer to the incident.
"Even till today, there is no answer as to how this incident happened, what happened," said Pandey, "The victimized families are demanding justice. There is a complaint that the injured friends are still undergoing treatment and the state did not help them.
According to him, the issues of good governance, transparency, corruption control and social and economic justice raised by the movement are still relevant.
"We are not asking for any new big thing. There had to be transparency, the state had to be serious, corruption had to be controlled,' she said, 'the tax money paid by the people had to be used for the good of the people.'
She expressed her concern that even if the current government fulfills what it has written in its election manifesto, it will do a great job, but the trust of the citizens should not be turned into distrust while keeping hope on the government.
There is hope, there is hope. There is great hope in the people," she said, "but let that hope and people's trust not turn into distrust. Do not deceive the people and the protestors.
Raksha Bam, the leader of Genji movement, said that there is no fundamental difference between the behavior of the state a year ago and the current silence.
He says that in the past, instead of giving answers to the citizens who asked questions, the state sometimes used force and sometimes chose the path of silence.
"It is our understanding that bullets and silence are two different weapons with the same intention," Bam said. It lives on from generation to generation. It keeps beating until the answer comes.
She said that the questions raised during the August 23 movement are still alive and the state should stop looking at the citizens who ask questions as enemies and become accountable.
"The day when this state stops considering those who ask questions as enemies and starts answering them, the struggle of August 23 will probably be meaningful to some extent," she said. "No power can be more valuable than people's lives," Bam said, and this is the main question that remains even after a year of the movement.
A year into the movement, the common complaint of Gen-G activists seems to be the same. The movement has changed the government, but the participants in the movement are saying that there is no expected change in the style of state management.
A year into the movement, the injured are waiting for treatment, the families of the martyrs are looking for justice and the protesters are waiting for an agreement and the implementation of their demands.
Published: 23 Bhadra 2083 19:33 Tuesday
