Miscellaneous
Violence mars public hearings in Madhes
Scores of people were injured in clashes in the Tarai on Monday as cadres of the Madhes-based parties clashed with police on the first day of the two-day public opinion collection campaign.Post District Bureau
The confrontation was worst in Dhanusha with around 40 people hurt in clashes between the protesters and security personnel in the seven constituencies in the district. Dozens of others were hurt in Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Siraha and Saptari when protesting leaders and activists of Tarai-based parties clashed with police.
District-level and some central leaders of the regional parties as well as law enforcement officers sustained injuries in the incident. Police said they were compelled to fire tear gas canisters and charge batons to contain the situation.
Protesters attempted to disrupt programmes of gathering people’s views and burnt the copies of the draft. The agitators hurled chairs, stones and batons at programmes attended by top leaders of four major political parties.
Meanwhile, a group of some 10 people hurled stones at the houses of Nepali Congress lawmakers Ramkrishna Yadav and Ananda Dhungana in Janakpur.
In Rautahat, the protesting party activists hurled chairs at CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal during a programme in Gaur, the district headquarters. In the programme organised at the conference hall of Gaur Municipality on Monday morning, Sadbhawana Party supporters protested and attacked the former prime minister, hurling stones.
The agitated leaders of Madhes-based parties alleged Nepal of starting the discussion on the draft amid
high security and allowing only a few selected people to participate.
The dissenting parties started chanting slogans soon after deliberations on the draft constitution started. The protesters became agitated after SP Chairman Anil Kumar Jha was allegedly barred from attending the discussion.
The situation escalated after other leaders of Madhes-based parties also demanded seats in the discussion. The police fired some tear gas shells to contain the situation.
Madhes-based parties disrupted opinion collection also in Mahottari.
The protesters vandalised the programme organised in the District Development Committee meeting hall in Jaleshwor. Furniture and mikes were damaged in the vandalism. They were dispersed by security personnel later.
In Siraha, cadres of Madhesi Morcha, the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist and the Matrika Yadav-led Maoist party pelted UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal with stones at Mohan Higher Secondary School in Mirchaiya.
Dozens were injured in the ensuing clash between police and cadres. Police said the exact number of injured is yet to be ascertained. The venue became tense at 2pm after the cadres tore up the copies of the draft and started hurling stones.
Police fired 15 tear gas shells to take the situation under control. More than two dozen people sustained injuries in the clashes across the district.
In Parsa, public consultation was disrupted at all the five venues by the cadres of Tarai-based parties.
A Nepal Police DSP and some protesters were injured after the agitators clashed with the police.
Tension flared in Pokhariya in Constituency-5 where the police fired 14 rounds of tear gas. A team led by Nepali Congress lawmaker Surendra Prasad Chaudhari struggled to conduct the programme amid the violence. However, the programme continued after security personnel chased away protesters.
Constituency-2 also got tense after police baton-charged protesters who tried to obstruct the programme. DSP Yadav Gharti, who was hurt in the clash, required four stitches to seal his cheek wound.
Interaction programmes elsewhere in the district did not go smoothly after activists tried to obstruct the programme by burning and tearing up the constitution draft and damaging tents at the venue.
In Biratnagar, Madhesi party cadres disrupted public hearings on the statute by chanting slogans. In Morang-5, the programme was affected after cadres of the ruling NC and CPN-UML said they had not got enough copies of the draft. They demanded that the programmes be held in open spaces.
According to our Saptari correspondent, nearly 20 people were injured in clashes in various parts of the district. Protesting party cadres obstructed transportation along the East-West Highway, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
Public opinion collection, however, went ahead amid tight security with a small number of people attending the meetings.
In Bara, clashes erupted at several places as the Tarai parties tried to obstruct the campaign. Some people, including security personnel, were injured in clashes.
Most of the regional parties except the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik have been protesting, demanding the new constitution with the names and demarcation of federal states. Meanwhile, the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha has called a banda in the Tarai on Tuesday to protest “police atrocities”.
(With inputs from our local correspondents)
Morcha flays ‘state oppression’
The Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha has accused the state of oppressing the people in Tarai for protesting public opinion collection on the constitution draft.
In a statement on Monday, the front denounced the use of force on their agitation and the arrest of their leaders and cadres. The Morcha has called a banda on Tuesday in protest. “We strongly condemn the arrests of our leaders and cadres and demand their immediate release,” reads a statement jointly signed by Upendra Yadav, chair of Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal; Mahanta Thakur, chief of Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party; Rajendra Mahato of the Sadbhawana Party; and Ram Naresh Rai of the Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana Party. Disgruntled Madhesi leaders have been pressing the major parties to demarcate and name the states before constitution promulgation, as per the Interim Constitution and a Supreme Court ruling.