By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : A series of strikes, blockades and other disruptive demonstrations scheduled to start in Nepal’s Terai from Friday were called off after the Nepal government managed to cobble a last-minute pact with one of the biggest protesting groups in the southern plains.
“We have called off our protest programme after the government agreed to our major demands,” Upendra Yadav, chief of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, emerging as one of the most influential parties in the Terai, told IANS.
“However, we will watch closely through a monitoring committee formed with the government to ensure that the state is implementing the agreements.”
On Thursday, the Forum signed a 22-point agreement with the government, primarily agreeing to restructure Nepal as a federal country with autonomous states, and to give proportional representation to Madhesis – people from the Terai plains – in all state agencies.
Protests in Terai erupted this year to wrest equal rights for Madhesis, who have little access to education, healthcare and state jobs though they form over 30 percent of the population and provide the lion’s share of Nepal’s food crops.
Calling the agreement “historic”, Yadav said it would pave the way for other oppressed groups to get their rights.
The pact includes providing compensation to the Madhesis killed during the unrest in the plains, with the toll crossing 100 since January. The eight-party government has agreed to withdraw cases against all Forum leaders and cadres.
Besides Nepali, the government would also adopt regional languages for official work and education while English would be used for international communication.
Yadav said the Forum would now focus on taking part in the November election and would soon kick off its campaign from Biratnagar, the hometown of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
However, though the government and the Forum expressed jubilation over the pact, there was criticism from other quarters that Yadav had “surrendered” to the state.
Jayaprakash Gupta, a former minister and leader from the Terai plains, is alleging that the Forum is trying to reach an understanding with Koirala over fielding candidates during the Nov 22 polls and that the pact is the outcome of the assurance that it would be given 30-35 seats.
“There is nothing new in the pact,” said Rajesh Ahiraj, editor of Madheshvani, a Madhesi publication.
“Most of the state concessions had been made during earlier talks. The pact is a ploy to break the spine of the Madhes movement.”
There are also reports in the Nepali media that the pact was pressured by India.
“India wants peace in the Terai,” said a Madhesi activist who didn’t want to be named. “The armed groups operating in Terai have been creating disturbances in Indian states across the border as well with their kidnappings and violence.
“The Indian government pressured both the Forum and Koirala government to patch up so that the other armed groups can be reconciled now.”
With the Forum wooed away from protests, the government now has to deal with two major bands of former Maoists in the plains – the two factions of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha that have called for protests from mid-September to disrupt the election.
There are also half a dozen small, armed factions creating violence in the Terai.
The chief of the UN Mission in Nepal Ian Martin during his visit to Biratnagar Thursday said that law and order still remained fragile in three Terai districts – Sunsari, Saptari and Siraha.