Nepal has been thrown into a new era of political turmoil after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on September 9, just hours after nationwide protests left at least 19 people dead and more than 400 injured. His resignation comes less than three months into his fourth term and underscores the fragility of Nepal’s political order, which has been under growing strain from youth-led demonstrations, economic stagnation, and entrenched corruption.

The scenes of unrest in Kathmandu and other major cities bore a striking resemblance to the upheaval in neighboring Bangladesh just a year earlier, where a youth- and Islamist-driven uprising forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down. In both countries, Generation Z has taken center stage, channeling long-festering anger against political elites into mass movements that have already reshaped South Asia’s political landscape.

The protests that toppled Oli began on September 8 when thousands of young Nepalis, many of them students, poured into the streets to demand accountability for decades of corruption and misrule. Organized largely through social media platforms, the demonstrations were initially peaceful, echoing the youthful energy seen in Bangladesh’s anti-government uprisings.

But the state’s response proved decisive. Police fired live ammunition at demonstrators in Kathmandu and several other cities, killing 19 people, most of them students and young activists. More than 400 others were wounded. The brutality of the crackdown shocked the nation, galvanized public outrage, and spread the protests further. Images of bloodied students quickly went viral, fueling a sense of solidarity among the youth and drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

For Oli, the deadly events marked the........

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