By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Six dissident ethnic groups started enforcing an indefinite shutdown in Nepal Wednesday in a bid to foil the upcoming election, even as the government began a last-ditch meeting of top parties to avert a deadly clash with Maoists that could derail the polls.
The Sanghiya Ganatantrik Rastriya Morcha, an umbrella of six ethnic communities that includes former Maoists, began closing down the Terai, where they have a strong base, and east and far-western Nepal, vowing it would not enter into negotiations with the government any more.
Protesters set a school bus on fire in Saptari district in the Terai, blocked the key highway that links Nepal with India and clashed with security forces in Morang district near the Indian border, leading to the arrest of over two dozen people.
Three days ago, the alliance had called a shutdown in the Terai to warn the government that it meant business.
However, the Girija Prasad Koirala government, currently running without six ministers, has remained preoccupied with the Maoists, trying to persuade them to call off their anti-poll stir and return to the cabinet.
The Morcha includes five groups that had held several rounds of talks with the government earlier and finally walked out of the negotiation table.
Besides a band of former Maoists, it includes the splinter of a powerful group from the Terai plains, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.
Ironically, the government succeeded in cobbling an agreement with the Forum last month and persuaded it to call off its anti-election stir only to have a dissident faction breaking away and resuming the protests.
Kishore Biswas, who heads the rebel group, said the shutdown had been called to demand a fully proportional representation system in the election, autonomous states for the different communities and a federal republic.
Though several groups, including the Maoists, are making the same demands, the Koirala government has not been able to address them in one go.
The fresh disruption comes with just 49 days left for the historic constituent assembly election.
Besides the protest, the government has to also face the threat of the Maoists launching a stir of their own if there is no understanding with the rebels within the next 48 hours.
The fear of a Maoist attack made the government postpone the dates for filing nominations.
However, the Election Commission has warned the government that it would not condone a second request for postponing the dates.
The new date for filing the first set of nominations is Friday.
Even if the government manages to reach an understanding with the Maoists, it has to still grapple with the ethnic alliance whose protest is bound to affect the nomination process in the Terai.