Prime Minister KP Oli has called the ongoing protest of Madhesi Morcha in the Tarai as a barbaric act.

Addressing party activists during a visit to the earthquake ravaged areas in Gorkha district on Thursday, the PM said the Morcha leaders wanted violence rather than negotiations.

The government will maintain a conducive environment for talks if the Madhes-based parties stop the demonstrations, Oli said, while issuing a warning that the government will not tolerate unlawful activities in the name of Madhes agitation.

He said the reconstruction works have acquired immediacy after the formation of the National Reconstruction Authority. Announcing a government plan  to build an ‘Earthquake Monument’ in Barpak, the PM assured that the road up to Barpak would be blacktopped within two years. Initiatives will taken to build the roads and resume the Chhekampar border crossing, he added.

Rawal rules out army deployment

DHANGADHI: Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Bhim Rawal has said the government is not in a position to mobilise Nepal Army to quell the protest in the Tarai.

Speaking at a press meet in Dhangadhi on Thursday, Minister Rawal said the government would not deploy army to resume the obstructed border points. But he denounced

the action of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha supporters in Janakpur on Wednesday as unlawful. “As protesting Madhesi leaders are feudal in nature, the demonstrations will not benefit the Madhesi community,” Rawal said.