SURKHET, August 12

Local people, who have been agitating to keep the mid-west region intact in the federal set-up, defied the curfew clamped by the Surkhet District Administrative Officer and continued staging their protest on the third consecutive day in Birendranagar on Wednesday.

Surkhet DAO imposed curfew from 11:00am to 6:00pm on Wednesday after the protest turned violent. Earlier, three persons were killed and 15 persons were injured in police firing on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Three of the injured have been sent to Kathmandu for treatment.

Major parties’ representatives met Surkhet CDO Baldev Gautam and protested the clamping of curfew.

UCPN-Maoist Surkhet Chairman Nar Bahadur Bista said they had asked the CDO to lift the curfew. CDO Gautam, however, said curfew would not be lifted unless it was guaranteed that agitation would be peaceful.

Apparently, no political party is leading the agitation. After the protest took a violent turn, no one claimed responsibility for it. Major parties alleged that anti-federalist and anti-constitutional elements had infiltrated their agitation.

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Meanwhile, DAO has not taken any initiative to hand over the bodies of those killed to their families. Bodies have been lying in Mid-western Regional Hospital.

Jajarkot bandh also continued on Wednesday, seeking to keep mid-west region intact and Surkhet as its provincial capital. Government offices in headquarters Khalanga were forcibly shut. The agitators also staged a sit-in in front of Jajarkot DAO, demanding undivided mid-west. The agitation to keep entire Rukum in Province No 5 was intensified on Wednesday. Hundreds made a round of Khalanga Bazaar with national flags. Market places, schools, shops and businesses remained shut in Khalanga Bazaar, Salle. UCPN-Maoist leader Subodh Raj Sherpali said they submitted thousand signatures for keeping Rukum in Province No 5 to DAO on Wednesday.