The protests against the six-province federal model have spread across the country in recent weeks. The official response to the protests has been a cause of concern. Last week, security personnel in Surkhet killed three protestors. And on Tuesday, one protestor, Rajiv Raut was shot dead by the police in Saptari. Seven other people received bullet injuries in the incident. The official version says that the police fired in self-defense as the protestors shot at the police first. But there are other versions of the story too. There is a long history of the police killing people in ‘encounters’, which are falsely justified as acts of ‘self-defense’, in Nepal. Human rights groups need to undertake an independent investigation into the matter, and the National Human Rights Commission has claimed that according to preliminary findings it has no recorded evidence yet that the protestors first fired a gunshot, as claimed by some officials.

These are obviously sensitive times and further protests could take place. The police should learn from recent events and do their utmost to prevent the killings. Senior police officials should instruct their juniors against the disproportionate use of force and urge restraint whenever possible. In most cases, police should use rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the agitators. The use of live bullets should be prohibited against large groups of unarmed people.

The government’s response to the Saptari incident on Tuesday has been inadequate. It is a well known fact that murder by security forces often leads to great outrage and anger among the entire community. The killing of a single individual, Ramesh Mahato, sparked the Madhes movement of 2007. It is clear that Raut’s death fueled the anger in the Tarai. It is important that the government take immediate steps to prevent the anger from turning into a major conflagration. Politicians, especially from the ruling coalition and also the UCPN (Maoist), should visit the Tarai and reach out to people there. The idea is to convince the mass that they are willing to listen to the genuine public grievances. Madhesi parties and civil society leaders, for their part, will do well to appeal for restraint and calm.

Most importantly, the politicians who are negotiating the constitution in Kathmandu should realise that the protests reflect anger against the manner in which the federal map has been drawn. While the parties are currently working on redrawing the map, there is growing perception in the Tarai that only the voices of those constituencies (such as the Undivided Mid-West movement) that have powerful representatives within the major parties have been heard. And that Madhesis and Tharus that lack adequate representation in the major parties have been ignored. The death in Saptari and the protests in the Tarai indicate that the discontent needs to be taken seriously. If the demands of alienated communities continue to be ignored, there could be even greater upheaval in the days to come, and that could seriously endanger the constitution project long term.