By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, Sep 28 (IANS) Nepal’s Maoists, who left the coalition government earlier this month, called a two-day general strike in Mithilanchal, Nepal’s Terai region, Friday to protest against the murder of their leader, Birendra Prasad Yadav, who was killed Monday.
This fresh disruption of normal life comes less than a fortnight after violence engulfed the Terai region resulting in the death of 33 people and causing thousands to flee their homes.
Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha and Saptari districts were affected by the Maoist’s shutdown call.
A second strike was called Friday by a six-member ethnic organisation, Sanghiya Ganatantrik Rastriya Morcha, protesting the murder of Mohammad Abdul Moit Khan, a powerful landlord with links to the palace and Nepal’s ruling party, the Nepali Congress.
Kishore Biswas, a Terai leader from the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, said the Morcha would enforce an indefinite general strike from Oct 3 if the Koirala government failed to address their demands.
The Morcha, which is demanding autonomous states with the right to self-determination for different ethnic communities, abolition of monarchy, and a fully proportional electoral system for the November election, has also announced protests on Sunday, when the first lot of nominations for the elections are to be made.
In the past, the government had to defer the polls twice due to the deteriorating security situation, especially in the plains where nearly 200 people have been killed this year.