Kathmandu, April 7

The United Democratic Madhesi Front is preparing to launch another agitation, as the ultimatum given to the government to address its 11-point demands ends in five days.

Ashok Kumar Rai, Parliamentary Party leader of the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal, a constituent of UDMF, said launching another movement had become a compulsion for the front, as the government had been indifferent to the front’s demands.

Front leaders said their movement would be peaceful and Kathmandu-centric. When asked if the front would impose blockade of border entry points again, Rai said imposing blockade was also a form of peaceful protest but that would depend mainly on how the state would react to the protesters. “The government continues to harass UDMF cadres by indicting them in false cases,” Rai added.

He said senior leaders of the party were travelling to major cities of the country to prepare the lower chapters of the party for the next movement.

He said the senior leaders would complete the campaign by mid-April, when the ultimatum served to the government to address UDMF’s demands would end.

Senior leader of Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana Party Nepal Ram Naresh Ray said the front would announce its protest programmes in the third week of April but their movement was continuing even today.

“We have national and international support for our demands. The international community has been saying that our constitution is incomplete and discriminatory,” Ray said and added that they would announce protest programmes that could force the government to fulfill their demands.

Sadbhawana Party General Secretary Manish Kumar Suman said all the constituents of the UDMF had held their party meetings in their attempts to prepare for the next movement.

He said Sadbhawana Party would launch an awareness campaign in all the constituencies and VDCs of Madhes on April 15.

Suman said his party would print leaflets, banners and hold corner meetings to make the public aware of the constitutional concerns of Madhesis. He said the party would normally run a 10-day programme in Madhes but in some areas the programme could go on for two weeks.

Prime Minister’s Political Adviser Bishnu Rimal said the government would ask the UDMF as to why it had not sent its representatives yet to the political committee formed by the government to settle questions of provincial boundaries.

He, however, said the High-Level Political Coordination Committee formed under Unified CPN-Maoist Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal would decide about holding dialogue with the agitating forces.

Rimal said the government would abide by the decisions of Dahal-led committee as far as holding negotiations with the agitating forces was concerned.

An NC leader told THT that NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba would intensify efforts to settle UDMF demands. He said the agitating Madhesi forces were also pinning hope on Deuba to resolve the Tarai crisis.