Martyrs’ Day was marked across the country on Sunday by paying tributes to those who sacrificed their lives for the guarantee of people’s rights.

On the occasion, President Bidya Devi Bhandari stressed the need for institutionalising democracy so that nobody would have to lay down their life for the same in future.

Addressing an event organised by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and the National Martyr and Peace Memorial at Gokarna in Kathmandu on Sunday, the head of state said: “Only the right kind of democratic practices strengthen the roots of democracy.”

True tributes to the martyrs would only be paid when an environment is created in which no person would have to sacrifice his/her life (for democracy and freedom), the President said. She hoped the day would inspire all the parties to move ahead in consensus.

Stating that the government had declared 2014-2024 as the Forest Decade, she remarked that measures taken in the period would contribute to lessening the impact of climate change. “All should pay their attention to the fact that our forefathers started the tradition of planting the Bar [banyan] and Peepal trees to maintain an environmental balance,” she added.

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Sitadevi Yadav said construction of the martyr memorial would do justice, however little, to the freedom fighters. She said a taskforce had been formed to provide relief for the conflict victims who did not get any aid in the past. She added that the ministry would also expedite post-conflict reconstruction.

Construction works for the memorial that started five years ago have been over 71 percent. The martyrs’ memorial park is being constructed on 650 ropani land inside the Jagadol Community Forest at Gokarna.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal laid a wreath at the Martyrs’ Memorial in Lainchaur to mark the day. During the ceremony held on the final day of the Martyrs’ Week, Speaker Onasari Gharti, Ministers Hitraj Pandey and Nabindra Raj Joshi, Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi, Chief of the Army Staff and Inspector General of Nepal Police, among other top officials, offered garlands at the martyrs’ monument.