The indefinite bandh (general strike) called on by the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) has continued to affect south Nepal's Terai plains for the 14th consecutive day on Tuesday.
Situation is still tense in Bara, Parsa and Saptari districts, southeast of Nepali capital Kathmandu, and districts of Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu, southwest of Kathmandu. Local administration has clamped curfew in parts of these districts, according to local leading media group's website Nepalnews.com.
In the region between Birgunj and Pathlaiya, some 90 km south of Kathmandu, the road is under curfew as the administration is preparing to transport essential goods to the Kathmandu valley and elsewhere in the country.
The district headquarters of Saptari, Rajbiraj, some 190 km southeast of Kathmandu, is also under curfew with tensions rising a day after one person was killed in clash with security personnel.
Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, the leaders of UDMF are said to be preparing to hold another round of talks with the government.
After the government refused to postpone the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, its talks with UDMF had been suspended. The UDMF leaders are said to be in internal discussions to prepare for negotiation with the government.
UDMF is an alliance of three major agitating Madhes-based parties --- Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF), Terai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Sadbhavana Party. It has put forth a six-point demand to the government and required that to be met and included in amended Interim Constitution before the CA elections. The demand includes an autonomous Madhes state with a republican order and right to self-determination.
The CA elections are slated on April 10, and the CA is to decide the future political set-up of Nepal and the fate of monarchy.
Madhesi people are the Nepalese mainly living in south Nepal's Terai plains, who are socio-culturally close to the bordering Indians.
Source: Xinhua
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