Birganj is now under curfew. Photo: Suresh Bidari
After more than a month without fatalities in the ongoing Madhes agitation, one Indian protester was killed in Birganj, forcing the local administration in the border city to clamp curfew. The Birganj border checkpoint has now been blocked for more than two months.
An emergency meeting of local authorities imposed curfew from 3 pm Monday, and said it will continue “until situation returns to normalcy”. The meeting was called after violent protests erupted between police and Madhesi protesters in several places of Birganj.
Madhesi protesters burnt down a police post and security forces opened fire in retaliation, killing one person who was later identified as an Indian national.
This is the first death after Madhesi protesters changed their tactic and started staging sit-ins at Nepal-India border points. This gave New Delhi the reason to stop supplies to Nepal, citing security on the Nepal side.
The fatality happened during a day of fast-paced events. After consultations between local India and Nepali authorities, Nepali police cleared the protesters on the Nepal side, allowing Indian cargo trucks trapped on the Nepal side for months to pass through into India. The agreement was to allow the Indian trucks to move into Nepal, but Indian border security refused to let them through. Not a single Nepali truck stranded on the Indian side was allowed to enter Nepal during this brief period.
Soon after, Madhesi protesters reoccupied the road leading to the border. Violence flared up in other parts of the city and police uses tear gas and live ammunition.
Violence returned to the Tarai just a day after negotiators from the government and the agitating alliance made strides towards addressing Madhesi demands to redraw the provincial map in the new constitution.
On Sunday, a panel formed by the government had assured the Madhesi Front that federal boundaries would be redrawn to ensure proportional representation of Madhesi in all state organs. Madhesi leaders actually praised the government’s proactive proposal.
But Monday’s violence has once more cast a shadow over future talks, and Madhesi negotiations in Kathmandu pulled out of talks. However, minister Ram Janam Chaudhary, a member of the government’s negotiation team, told Nepali Times: “The talks will not stall, it will resume when the government takes full shape.”
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Where are the human rights crusaders to raise the issue when the army and police is using live ammunition on its citizens and also killing foreigners. And the media is labeling the foreign visitor as protester just to hide army/police brutality.
Had a Chinese visitor died. Media would have blamed the reasons of death on the protester instead of the security forces.
Here is background info on “rubber bullets” https://joeniemczura.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/what-you-need-to-know-about-rubber-bullet-in-nepal-used-by-riot-police-kill-4-year-old-boy/
Imposing curfew and localised ethnic cleansing is the new security norm by the terror government and secure – terror forces.
Authorities need to be careful, such incidents would just act as trigger for more carnage. So now it’s clear that these set of protesters were blocking the roads in the no man’s land leading to supply issues of essential commodities. The whole of Nepal has been incorrectly blaming India.
हाम्रा भंसारका कर्मचारी पनि उत्तिकै मुर्ख रैछन, बाटोमा दुइटा छेउ छँदै थियो, हामी यताबाट गाडी पठाउँछौं, तिमीहरु उताबाट सँगै पठाउ भन्न सकिंदैन थियो? यताबाट लाटा जस्ता पहिला पठाएर हेरेर बस्ने, अनि पछि उताबाट गाडी नै पठाएन भनेर कराएर हुन्छ? अहिलेको जमानामा यति पनि सोच्न नसक्ने कर्मचारी भएको सरकारले के गर्ला। राजनितिक दलका लद्दु कार्यकर्तालाई जागिर खुवाउन सरकारमा भर्ती गर्ने तालले यसरी नै देश डुब्ने र जनताले दु:ख पाउने हो।
Same recurrent issue of government COMMUNICATIONS they do well but redundance of words. If they communicate in time on indian would be alive.
Again and again this little thing when the airport is not properly working, why I wonder when one thing is missing the whole thing falls apart every day?
For the future you do not want to be hated in India. Chinese newspapers report this fatal incident differently, with less compassion and ‘ understanding’ . Dead is dead it does not matter if it was a journalist or a coock or an indian.
Turning point stop the india hatred as fast as you can. Nepalese police do NOT have a fantastic reputation if I recall history and peoples emotions.
[…] Nepali Times – La situation dégénère à la frontière entre l’Inde et le Népal avec une première victime indienne dans des violences à Birganj entre manifestants de la minorité Madhesi et la police locale. Assaillis par une foule en colère dans un commissariat, les forces de l’ordre ont répliqué par balles faisant un mort de nationalité indienne. Le couvre-feu a été décrété sur la ville mais rien ne semble pouvoir apaiser les tensions actuelles liées à l’adoption d’une nouvelle constitution dans le pays, dénoncée par plusieurs minorités se sentant lésées par le nouveau texte. […]