Protests and dialogues to go together

KATHMANDU, May 14: The Undivided Far West Struggle Committee (UFWSC) has decided to continue its protest even as the top leader of three major parties have expressed commitment to have decision on their demands based on the opinion of the people in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts.



The UFWSC made the decision to continue with the protests arguing that the assurance from top leader was merely a conspiracy to thwart their movement.[break]



“We have decided to continue our protest programs and the dialogue with the government simultaneously,” said Pushkar Raj Joshi, president of the Far-West Awareness Forum and a member of the UFWSC talk team.



The top leader of UCPN(Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN UML arrived to take part in the talks with UFWSC on Monday after the committee members insisted that they would sit for talks only in the presence of top leaders.



Talking to Republica, a member of the UFWSC talks team Bahadur Singh Thapa said they have taken the commitment made by the top leaders positively. At a meeting of the UFWSC, held after the talks with the government, members discussed ways to change their protest tactics in view of the hardships faced by ordinary people due to continuing strikes.



“We will sit again with the government talks team Tuesday and try to reach an agreement on some of our demands. We will then decide how to take our protest program forward,” Thapa further said.



In an effort to end the prolonged strikes in far-west region, top leaders of the three major parties expressed commitment to take a decision on UFWSC’s demands after collecting the opinion of the people of Kailali and Kanchanpur—the two districts that supporters of Tharuhat movement want included in a separate Tharuhat province.



The joint statement under-signed by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala nd CPN UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanl has also expressed commitment to secure the rights of ethnic Tharu communities living in the region. “We are equally committed to guarantee and secure the rights to Tharu communities living in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts,” the statement reads.



The leaders asked UFWSC to withdraw its protest programs and find solution to the problems through discussions.

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