Police have arrested Akram Khan, chair of the Save Lumbini Grand Campaign, over a protest against the appointment of Ani Choying Drolma as vice-chair of the Lumbini Development Trust.
Police said Khan and Wajiuddin Musalman, a resident of Pipara in Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality-9, were detained at around 10:30pm on Monday while burning a photograph of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Khadak Raj Paudel.
A police team deployed from the Area Police Office in Lumbini under Inspector Homnath Regmi took the two into custody and handed them over to the Rupandehi District Police Office for further investigation.
Superintendent of Police Janak Bahadur Shahi, Rupandehi police chief, said the two were detained over the incident and were being investigated.
Earlier on Monday, the campaign had staged a protest at Parsa Chowk in Lumbini at around 5pm, demanding that Drolma’s appointment be revoked. Police said they were searching for those involved in burning the minister’s photograph during the earlier demonstration.
Ram Bikash Chaudhary, the campaign’s co-coordinator, accused the authorities of using arrests to suppress opposition to the appointment. He demanded Khan’s immediate release.
The government appointed Drolma vice-chair of the Lumbini Development Trust on October 16, filling a post that had remained vacant for nearly five months. The appointment, made on the recommendation of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, triggered protests the following day, with campaigners demanding that the decision be revoked.
The Save Lumbini Grand Campaign and local community leaders have questioned Drolma’s suitability for the post, citing a 2018 investigation into $1.65 million transferred to her bank account from Hong Kong and allegations concerning her Nepali citizenship. Drolma has maintained that the issues have been resolved, while the Department of Money Laundering Investigation shelved its case in 2019, saying at the time that no further investigation was needed. Protesters say the government should have considered local scholars and people with expertise in Buddhism for the position.
