Clamour for Nepal minister's ouster, Terai toll rises

India
Clamour for Nepal minister's ouster, Terai toll rises
By IANS, Feb 3, 2007 - 7:45:44 PM

Kathmandu, Feb 3 - Protesters in Nepal's burning Terai plains Saturday demanded the ouster of a senior minister as violence and arson continued with one more person dying in police firing and six more being wounded critically.

Defying daytime curfew in Birgung in Parsa district, protesters continued to remonstrate on the streets and clashed with police who opened fire.

While one Dipendra Shah died in the firing, at least six critically injured protesters were airlifted to Kathmandu and rushed to the army hospital.

With Shah's death the toll in the plains unrest that began last month rose to 15.

Meanwhile, leaders of the protesters said Saturday they would not begin talks with the government unless Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula resigned or was removed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

'We will not sit for talks unless there is a conducive atmosphere,' said Upendra Yadav, president of the Madhes Janadhikar Forum that is leading the protests demanding an autonomous Madhes state in the plains where a majority of people of Indian origin live.

The Forum laid down three conditions for talks.

'There has to be an end to the government's repression in the Terai plains,' Yadav said. 'The discrimination against Madhesis has to end.'

The Forum also wants independent investigations into the deaths so far, most in police firing.

'During the violence in Nepalgunj town, the administration led the attack on houses and shops of plains people,' Yadav said. 'Police fired on unarmed protesters, shooting them in the head. The home minister must accept responsibility for the deaths and go.'

Finally, the protesters want the people responsible for the killing of Ramesh Mahato, an 18-year-old student in Lahan town last month that stoked the violence, to be arrested and tried in court.

Mahato was killed by Maoist cadres who tried to defy the transport closure called by Forum activists. Earlier this week, Maoist supremo Prachanda expressed regret for the incident, saying action would be taken against those involved.

The protesters' refusal to sit for talks unless their conditions are fulfilled comes a day after the government announced a three-member team of ministers to open negotiations.

Koirala had called Yadav for a meeting Friday and urged him to withdraw the strikes and disruptions.

Yadav, however, said the protests and closures in the plains would continue.

This week, the Kathmandu valley reeled under an acute fuel crisis, as oil tankers coming from India were unable to cross into Nepal because of the unrest near the border.

Hundreds of industries, including prominent Indian ventures like Dabur Nepal and Nepal Lever, have been forced to close their factories due to scarcity of raw materials.

But Yadav remained adamant. 'The plains people have been repressed and ignored for 238 years,' he said. 'Compared to their deprivations, this is nothing.'

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