Kathmandu, Jan 22
A shopkeeper of Indian origin was killed in southern Nepal as
violence and unrest continued to grip the Terai plains for the
fourth day in a row.
Rajendra Chaudhari, a small-time trader, was killed in Sarlahi
district near the Indian border Sunday evening while closing his
shop and returning home. Reports said the assailants also looted
about Nepali Rs.70,000 from the victim.
This is the second killing in the turbulent plains, inhabited by
people of Indian origin, since Friday when a 17-year-old boy was
killed during clashes between the Maoists and a group calling itself
the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.
Sectarian clashes between Nepal's elite hill community and Madhesis,
who are people of Indian origin, have erupted since Christmas after
a Madhesi party, a junior partner in the government, called a
shutdown in the Terai region. They alleged that the new constitution
has done nothing to resolve the exclusion of the community from
government opportunities.
Since then, violence, looting and arson have been occurring in the
southern districts with shops and vehicles being set on fire.
Forum activists Sunday torched over a dozen government offices in
Lahan town in Siraha and the government imposed a daytime curfew to
bring the situation under control.
The sudden violence fomenting hatred between the two groups is
reminiscent of the riots that shook Nepalgunj town in midwestern
Nepal after Christmas.
Both the government and Maoists have begun expressing fears that the
supporters of King Gyanendra are trying to instigate violence.
Maoist leader Dev Gurung, nominated as a legislator by his party
this month, told the media that royalists trying to protect King
Gyanendra are stirring up trouble in the plains, taking advantage of
genuine problems.
"These are people trying to stop Nepal from becoming a republic,"
Gurung said. "The chaos is aimed at stopping the elections from
being held by June."
Nepal's seven-party government, headed by Prime Minister Girija
Prasad Koirala, has pledged to hold a constituent assembly election
by June when an elected assembly will decide if the 238-year-old
institution of monarchy should be retained or axed for a republic.
The king, who grew highly unpopular after seizing power through a
bloodless coup two years ago, was stripped of all privileges by the
new government formed after the fall of the royal regime.
A new constitution promulgated this month finally removed him as
head of state and put monarchy in suspension till the June
elections.
The flaring violence has alarmed Nepal's government as well as
India. With the violence occurring across the border and involving
people of Indian origin, New Delhi is monitoring the situation
closely.
Besides the sectarian violence, the kingdom is also reeling under an
indefinite transport strike called by the bus owners after arsonists
torched over 20 vehicles during the Terai trouble.
The National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs has called
the strike to demand security and compensation. Called Sunday, the
strike has forced all public buses and trucks to go off the road.
Even the capital has been paralysed.
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