Violence erupted in several paces in southern
Nepal Sunday as a crippling general strike paralyzed normal life across the
region, dpa reported.
The two-day general strike called by Tharu Welfare Council, a group
representing ethnic Tharu community in southern Nepal, has affected nearly two
dozen districts.
They are protesting the government decision to issue a bill on reservation in
government jobs, including the security forces, which makes provisions for
seats for Madhesi group from southern Nepal.
They say Tharu are not ethic Madhesi and that the government has wrongly
classified all groups living in southern Nepalese plains known as Terai as
ethnic Madhesi.
"We want the Tharu community to be included as the indigenous community of
Terai, not in the Madhesi group," said Raj Kumar Lekhi, general secretary
of Tharu Welfare Council.
On Sunday, Tharu activists enforcing the strike set fire to five vehicles in
Dang district, about 400 kiometres west of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu for defying their strike call. Two more buses were burnt by the activists in
Saptari district in eastern Nepal.
Education institutions, government offices, main markets and shops were
forcefully shut down across southern Nepal while pubic and private transport
came to a grinding halt on a major highway inking eastern part of the country
with the west.
Protestors also took to the streets in several towns across the region and
clashed with police.
In the town of Ghaighat in eastern Nepal, police and protestors fought pitched
street battles in which at least three protestors were injured.
Tharu Welfare Council has warned it would intensify its protests if the
government did not meet their demands.
Last week, the government pushed through three ordinances, including one on
reservation in government jobs, despite opposition from Nepalese political
parties.
The reservation bill would provide 45 per cent reservation in government
services for women, ethnic Madhesis, people from backward region and the
disabled.
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