Kathmandu, January 17:

The Ganatantrik Sukumbasi Jagaran Morcha said today it would organise hunger strike if the squatters were not represented in the interim legislature.

“We will start a hunger strike from tomorrow if the new government refuses to listen to us,” LB Tamang, the Morcha chairman, said at a press conference.

He also accused the parties of using the squatters only as a “ladder to success”.

The Morcha has handed over copies of its seven-point memorandum to all eight parties. The memorandum has urged the government to provide land-ownership certificates to all squatters.

Addressing the press conference, district secretary of the CPN-M Shailendra said the Maoists had been with the downtrodden section of the society, and pledged continued support to the downtrodden. Chairman of the Human Rights Organisation-Nepal Charan Prasai said demands of the squatters were genuine. The government must take immediate steps to solve the problem, he said.

He urged the squatters to be aware of those who pose as squatters and enjoy all government facilities, while the real squatters were denied their rights.