KATHMANDU: Various eight leftist parties, including the CPN-ML and the CPN-Masal, have announced a joint protest programme beginning on October 25.

In a press release issued here today, CPN-Masal General Secretary Mohan Bikram Singh has stated that the protest would be against the joint press communiqué issued on September 16 by Nepal and India in course of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's visit to India, arguing that the joint communiqué contained topics that undermined the national sovereignty.

The eight leftist parties have concluded that certain clauses contained in the communiqué were against the national interests and they came at a time when the need for establishing Nepal as an independent nation by scrapping the 'unequal and anti-national' treaties signed in the past between the two countries had been felt.

As part of their protest programme, the eight parties have decided to jointly issue a leaflet highlighting the need for launching a struggle against the act of betrayal to the nation and organise a demonstration at Sundhara in Kathmandu on October 25.

On the same day, a mass meeting would be held at the Shanti Batika, the press release stated.

CPN-Masal, CPN-Revolutionary Maoist, CPN-ML, CPN-Marxist, People's Front Nepal and National People's Front would take part in the protest programme.