Madhesis die in Nepal police firing

Ahead of planned protests today, the Secretary-General further stresses the importance of dialogue and non-violence, as well as respect for peaceful protest and the freedom of assembly.

An indefinite curfew has been initiated in the Saptari district, which is located a few 280 kilometres southeast of the capital, after the two protesters were shot Saturday night on the East-West Highway, according to The Times of India.

However, Laxman Lal Karna, a senior leader of the Sadbhavana Party that is organizing the protests, said Sunday, according to Reuters, that the protesters were shot while they were sitting peacefully to blockade a road.

“Two were killed in the police firing”, district police chief Bhim Dhakal told AFP.

Saturday’s violence was the latest in a series of clashes that began in August when key political parties began to finalise the drafting of a Constitution that would divide the country into provinces.

Ethnic Madhesis have been protesting against Nepal’s new constitution, saying it unfairly divides the Himalayan country into seven states with borders that cut through their ancestral homeland. More than 40 people, including 25 police, were injured.

On Friday, the Madhesi Morcha said it would allow trucks carrying medicine into Nepal via a border crossing in the country’s east. Hours later, however, its cadres set a medicine-laden truck ablaze in Birgunj. Nepalese officials accuse India of imposing an unofficial blockade because of its objections to the process that led to the passage of the Constitution, which India considers not inclusive enough. India denies this accusation. Upadhyaya also urged India to expedite re-routing of trucks, carrying essential commodities to the energy-starved nation.

Indian External Affairs Minister Vikas Swarup said that his government was “distressed at (a) loss of lives in police firing”, citing that a political solution was needed.

But several rounds of talks between the government and the protesting parties have failed to reach an agreement.

Simultaneously, a few dozen Nepali-Americans from the Terai region held another peaceful protest rally against the Nepalese government alleging it was engaged in brutal use of force against innocent people and had ignored the “just demands” of the Madhesi people, treating them as “second-grade citizens”.