Nepal, Oct. 28 -- The argument over police reform in Nepal did not begin with the Gen Z movement of September 2025. It did not begin with the return of democracy in 1990, the peace agreement of 2006 or the Constitution of 2015 either. It is much older, and it is easy to say out loud. How does a state move from a police that protects the ruler to a police that protects the people, their rights and the constitutional order?

That question runs through almost all of modern Nepali history, from the Rana palaces to the streets of Baneshwor. The path leads to one uncomfortable conclusion. Nepal has changed its political system again and again, but it has never fully rebuilt the idea behind its policing. An institution can outlive a regime and q...