The CPN-UML has called for the immediate release of its chair KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak, denouncing their detentions as “illegal” and part of a deliberate political persecution orchestrated against opposition leaders.
Following an emergency Secretariat meeting held in the wake of the arrests, General Secretary Shankar Pokharel declared that the party would mount a vigorous challenge through both legal and political channels.
“We express our strongest condemnation of the biased and illegal arrest of our party chair and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, alongside Congress leader and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak, carried out before dawn today,” Pokharel said. “The party maintains that these arrests contravene democratic values and the rule of law.”
The Secretariat has formally demanded the establishment of a high-level commission of inquiry, to be headed by a sitting Supreme Court justice, to guarantee a truly independent investigation into the matter.
Beyond legal recourse, the UML has resolved to build a broad coalition of resistance — joining hands with fellow political parties, civil society organisations, and ordinary citizens to push back against what it describes as “planned and illegal arrests” targeting its leadership. As an immediate step, party district committees across the country have been directed to deliver formal protest letters to the Government of Nepal through their respective District Administration Offices on Sunday.
Pokharel confirmed that the party is actively working with legal counsel to chart its course through the courts.
