- Joint panel formed to coordinate protests
KATHMANDU, March 8: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has assured Tharu activists of addressing their demands at cabinet meeting Monday. Dahal gave the assurance to a delegation of Tharu leaders who met with him Sunday afternoon. [break]
“Our friends appraised the prime minister about the demands we have been raising,” said Raj Kumar Lekhi, general secretary of Tharu Kalyankarini Sabha, a group leading the protests across the country. “The prime minister has told our friends that he would address the demands at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting.”
Besides prime minister, Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Peace Minister Janardan Sharma and Labor Minister Lekha Raj Bhatta were present at the informal meeting with Tharu leaders.
Earlier, a gathering of leaders of 60 indigenous nationalities expressed solidarity with the ongoing protest of Tharu community in the Tarai and inner Tarai districts. They also formed a joint panel — Adibasi Janajati Andolan Samyojan Samiti (Indigenous Nationalities’ Movement Coordinating Committee) – comprising all Tharu organizations to coordinate the protests. Loktantrik Tharu Sangh, Tharu Kalyankarini Sabha and Tharuhat Swayatta Parishad are some of its members.
The Tharu organizations have been hitting the street for the past two weeks demanding that the government withdraw recently promulgated Some Public Service Operation Ordinance that has listed 22 indigenous groups from the southern plains under Madhesi category. They are also demanding that the government declare two people killed in Chitwan as martyrs, and provide compensation to their family and treat the injured.
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