National
Govt accords martyr status on 190 individuals
The Home Ministry on Wednesday published a list of additional 190 martyrs who were killed in various incidents during the Panchayat era, including the Chhintang massacre in Dhankuta, and before 1996 ahead of the Maoist rebellion.The Home Ministry on Wednesday published a list of additional 190 martyrs who were killed in various incidents during the Panchayat era, including the Chhintang massacre in Dhankuta, and before 1996 ahead of the Maoist rebellion.
Some notable persons killed during the Panchayat era, who have now been accorded martyr status, are Mahesh Kumar Koirala, Pashel Kumar Dahal, Keshav Kumar Koirala and Yadav Nath Alok. According to a Home Ministry, a recent Cabinet meeting had decided to update the martyrs’ list by including the individuals killed during the Panchayat era and other political struggles that followed until 1996.
The government has also set a separate criteria for compensation and state facilities to the families of martyrs who died during the Maoist’s civil war.
No such criteria will be applied in case of those people martyred before 1996, said an official at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.
Families of individuals killed during the Panchayat era and during various other political struggle before 1996 had long been demanding the government to provide them with martyr status, saying that they had equally contributed to restore democracy in the country.
The Home Ministry will soon table a proposal in the Cabinet regarding the compensation and facilities to be provided to the newly recognised martyrs, an official said.