Supreme Court, banks set to open; commercial activities gradually resume in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Sep 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court and banks are set to open in Kathmandu with the relaxation in curfew for a few hours, even as business and commercial activities gradually resume in the Nepalese capital on Thursday.  The Supreme Court of Nepal, which was completely damaged during Tuesday’s protest, is set to reopen from Sunday.  The decision to open the court was taken in an emergency plenary meeting of the Apex Court on Thursday, Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut said in a statement.

Raut said that irreparable damage has been done to important court documents during the protests.

"Important documents from Nepal's judicial history are on the verge of destruction," said the statement.

The offices of both the Central Bank and Supreme Court were badly damaged during Tuesday’s violent protests.

Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, has instructed all the commercial banks to resume services from 10 am to 2 pm.  Following this notice, some of the banks started operating till 2 pm from Thursday.  The banks have been shut down since Tuesday due to the protests by the Gen Z group.  A few offices also started operating partially on Thursday.

Meanwhile, some rush was seen in Kathmandu’s major markets like Ashon, Indrachowk and Maru for shopping on Thursday evening between 5 and 7 pm, when curfew was relaxed, due to the upcoming Hindu festival of Vijaya Dashami.  However, public transport services that were halted from Monday afternoon, citing security reasons, are yet to resume.

The Nepal Army has published a new schedule of restrictive orders and curfew for Friday.  As per the notice, the curfew will remain till 7 am on Friday, and then restrictive orders will be in place from 11 am to 5 pm. Then curfew will be imposed from 7 pm to 6 am the next day, according to the Nepal Army notice.

There will be a window for movement for the general public from 6 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 7 pm .

The situation in Kathmandu and other parts of the country remained peaceful, with army troops carrying out patrolling in sensitive areas.  The death toll from two days of violent protests that began on Monday has increased to 34, according to officials. PTI SBP RD RD RD