DHANGADHI: Members of the Tharu community in Kailali have decided to return their citizenship certificates as a symbolic protest against the government's alleged apathy towards their demands for a separate Tharuhat province.

According to former lawmaker and UCPN-Maoist Kailai district Secretary, Krishna Kumar Chaudhary, the Tharu protesters have decided to submit their Nepali citizenship certificates to the state after the government did not heed to the demands put forth by them.

He informed that as many as 5,000 Chaudharys of Kailai Constituency No. 4 will submit their citizenship certificates amid a programme on Sunday.

Accusing the government of treating them as second class citizens, Chaudhary said that they have decided to submit their citizenship certificates at the constituency level in the first phase.

He warned that if the government did not address their demands, a programme would be organised to submit their citizenship certificates at the district level in the next phase.

Chaudhary informed that the citizenship certificates would be submitted through the District Administration Office.

The Tharuhat/Tharuwan Struggle Committee has been staging demonstrations for nearly a month demanding a Tharuwan Tharuhat Pradesh incorporating Tharu-dominated areas in the southern plains of western Nepal.

Seven security personnel were lynched by a mob in Tikapur of Kailali during violent demonstrations staged by the supporters of Tharuhat province on August 24. One two-year-boy was also killed, while an injured policeman died later.