Seven Nepal police killed in clashes with anti-charter protesters

At least eight policemen, including a senior officer, were killed as thousands of Nepalese protesting against the proposed new Constitution today attacked security personnel with axes, spears and bricks in western Nepal.

“So far I can confirm that eight members of our security forces have been killed, including two paramilitary personnel”, home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said.

Monday’s violence erupted as police attempted to prevent protesters from entering restricted areas and from vandalising government offices in the town of Tikapur, 260 miles west of Kathmandu, the home minister, Bam Dev Gautam, told parliament.

“The number of casualty may rise and there might be some civilian casualty also, but detail report has not yet come”, the official said. “Inspector Ram Bihari Tharu of the Armed Police Force was burnt alive”, he said. Four protesters have died in the past two weeks in violent protests across Nepal.

The protesters from the Tharu ethnic group are demanding a separate federal state for them in the new constitution, which is being given final touches in the Constituent Assembly.

Under the constitutional proposals due to be finalised this month, the district will form part of a hilly province in the far western parts of Nepal.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has appealed to the agitating Madhesi parties to sit for dialogue to resolve the current deadlock over incorporating an appropriate federal model in the new constitution.

Regional parties have long pushed for new provinces to be created along lines that could favor historically marginalized communities.

But hundreds of demonstrators have campaigned against the proposed internal borders, saying they fail to ensure political representation for marginalised communities, including the Madhesis and Tharus.

Sitaula presented the bill amidst obstruction posed by Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal whose members chanted slogans demanding restoration of Hindu status of the country in the new Constitution.

Nepal’s main parties struck a breakthrough deal on the charter in June after April’s devastating quake helped end years of wrangling that had left the impoverished Himalayan nation in political turmoil.