{"id":23425,"date":"2026-08-21T08:20:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T02:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=23425"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:20:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T02:35:01","slug":"growing-presence-of-retired-military-officers-in-balen-government-appointments-how-far-does-the-evidence-support-claims-of-an-invisible-military-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=23425","title":{"rendered":"Growing Presence of Retired Military Officers in Balen Government Appointments: How Far Does the Evidence Support Claims of an \u201cInvisible Military Power\u201d?<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragon Media Correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

The growing presence of retired senior Nepal Army officers in appointments made by the government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah has recently become a subject of political debate. On social media, the trend is increasingly being interpreted as evidence that an \u201cinvisible military power\u201d is operating behind the current government.<\/p>\n

However, Dragon Media\u2019s review of available government decisions, publicly available appointment records, court orders and reports published by various media outlets indicates that two issues must be clearly distinguished. First, it is true that the Shah government has appointed retired military officers to several important public bodies. Second, there is currently no publicly available evidence establishing that these appointments were made at the direction of the Nepal Army or any \u201cinvisible power,\u201d or that the military is effectively running the government.<\/p>\n

Claims have also circulated on social media that four retired military officers were appointed on Thursday as high-level experts in different state bodies. However, as of Friday morning, no publicly available government decision or credible news record had confirmed the appointment of four former military officers on the same day. The 11 decisions publicly released from the Cabinet meeting held on Bhadau 3 also contain no such four-member appointment involving retired military personnel. It remains possible that appointments were made separately by individual ministries or agencies and that official details have yet to be made public.<\/p>\n

What the available records do confirm, however, is that retired military officers have already secured at least three significant appointments under the current government.<\/p>\n

On Baisakh 30, the government appointed retired Nepal Army Colonel Dr Anand Singh Bhat as executive chairman of the High-Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation. Bhat retired from the army in 2019. The controversy surrounding his appointment did not arise merely because he was a former military officer. Questions about transparency emerged after reports indicated that another candidate, Dr Bikash Adhikari, had initially ranked ahead in the evaluation process but that the recommendation order was subsequently altered, placing Bhat first.<\/p>\n

Soon afterwards, retired Nepal Army Major General and senior aeronautical engineer Dr Deepak Prasad Bastola was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of Nepal Airlines Corporation. The Supreme Court later annulled the broader appointment process involving five directors, finding that it had not been sufficiently transparent or merit-based. However, when the appointments were reconsidered in accordance with the court\u2019s order and on the basis of merit ranking, Bastola was appointed again. His military background alone, therefore, cannot be considered grounds for questioning his qualification. His professional experience is directly related to civil aviation and aeronautical engineering.<\/p>\n

Another significant appointment followed on Asar 23, when Prime Minister Shah, in his capacity as chair of the Medical Education Commission, appointed retired Nepal Army Technical Major General Dr Devendra Bahadur Khatri as vice-chair of the commission. Khatri is a professor and former executive director of the Nepal Army Institute of Health Sciences and has extensive experience in military health services. In his case too, therefore, his expertise in medical education and health management is as relevant as his identity as a former military officer.<\/p>\n

There have also been reports that retired Nepal Army Major General Dharmendra Kumar Jha was appointed as an expert adviser to the infrastructure development minister. However, because independent and official confirmation remains insufficient, it would be premature to include that appointment in a confirmed list and draw conclusions from it.<\/p>\n

Another important indication of an expanding role for retired military personnel within state structures can be found in the National Service Corps Bill, 2083, introduced by the government in Parliament. Under the proposed arrangement, the director general of the National Service Corps would be appointed by the Council of Ministers from among retired major generals on the recommendation of the Chief of Army Staff. The bill also proposes deploying serving military personnel as trainers and mobilising trained citizens as volunteers when required for national needs.<\/p>\n

This certainly suggests that the current government is interested in using the experience of retired military officers and the organisational capacity associated with the military in certain non-traditional areas of the state. But there is not enough evidence to equate this with military rule or direct military control over politics.<\/p>\n

Appointing retired military officers to civilian responsibilities is also not a new practice in Nepal. Previous governments have employed former senior military officers in disaster management, the proposed National Defence University, diplomatic assignments and various government committees. The real question is not whether retired military officers should be appointed at all. The relevant questions are whether the selection process is transparent, whether appointees possess qualifications relevant to the positions, whether more qualified candidates are unfairly excluded, and whether the serving military institution itself exercises influence over appointments.<\/p>\n

The debate has been further politicised by recent remarks from CPN-UML Vice-Chairman Ram Bahadur Thapa \u201cBadal,\u201d who claimed that the current government derives its power from the \u201cthree As\u201d: Army, Algorithm and America. Yet there is no consensus within the UML itself over that interpretation. UML Deputy General Secretary Raghubir Mahaseth has said that Thapa\u2019s remarks run contrary to the party\u2019s political line.<\/p>\n

The evidence available so far supports the conclusion that there is a discernible trend of appointing retired military officers. It does not establish the claim that \u201cthe army is running the Balen government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, if individuals from the same institutional background continue to enter important civilian bodies in significant numbers, it is entirely legitimate to demand explanations from the government. Public suspicion could be reduced if the government disclosed the qualifications of candidates, their evaluation scores, the grounds for recommendations and the reasons behind final selections. Conversely, if recommendation lists are repeatedly altered, merit rankings remain opaque or appointments are made through non-transparent procedures, the issue would become a far more serious question of governance than the mere fact that the appointees are former military officers.<\/p>\n

The conclusion that can currently be drawn from the available evidence is therefore balanced but clear. Retired military officers have a notable presence in important appointments made by the Balen government. The government has also advanced policies, including the proposed National Service Corps structure, that would formally provide retired military leadership with significant roles. This demonstrates the government\u2019s confidence in military experience and organisational expertise.<\/p>\n

But appointing retired military officers and having the Nepal Army secretly run the government are two fundamentally different propositions. Establishing the latter would require evidence far stronger than a list of appointments, such as directives from Army Headquarters, institutional military intervention in political decisions, direct pressure over appointments, or military control over the decision-making authority of the civilian government.<\/p>\n

Until such evidence emerges, saying that an \u201cinvisible power has been exposed\u201d may be a political conclusion, but it is not a finding established by investigation.<\/p>\n

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