National
Funeral rites of victims of Saptari protest held
Funeral rites of the four protesters killed during a clash with police in Saptari were performed in the district on Saturday.Funeral rites of the four protesters killed during a clash with police in Saptari were performed in the district on Saturday.
The agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) led a funeral procession up to Lahan in Siraha and back to Rajbiraj, the Saptari district headquarters. The bodies had been kept at Gajendra Chowk for people to pay their last respects.
A large number of people from Rajbiraj and various villages in Saptari attended the programme. Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav, Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato and Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana Party Chairman Mahendra Raya Yadav attended the event.
Birendra Ram, Nageshwor Yadav and Dilip Sah were killed in violent clashes between the security forces and protesters who were obstructing the East-West Highway last week. Shiva Shankar Das had died of an electric shock as he was in the barbed wire while fleeing the clash. The bereaved families received the bodies on Friday after the local administration recommended their names to the Home Ministry for martyr status and compensation to their families.
Rallies organised
BIRATNAGAR: Madhesi intellectuals took out a rally in Biratnagar on Saturday, urging the government to address the demands of Madhes through talks. They accused the government of using excessive force to suppress the Tarai agitation. The rally organised by Swatantra Madhesi Samaj, Morang converged into a meeting after going round the city. The participants waved black flags. Doctors, engineers, journalists, professors, artists, teachers and people from other walks of life joined the cause. Meanwhile, in Janakpur, the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation of Nepal and National Pabsan took out a students’ rally. Children from 125 schools attended the event held to pay “tributes to the martyrs”.
NC corner meet disrupted
BIRGUNJ: The Madhes-based parties disrupted a corner meet organised by the Nepali Congress in Birgunj on Saturday. The protesters intervened in the NC’s meeting in front of Maisthan Temple. They seized NC flags and burnt them.
(With inputs from our local correspondents)