Maoist victims stage sit-in at NC central office

Lalitpur, June 11:

Maoist victims today continued a sit-in protest for the second day, in front of the Nepali Congress central office at Sanepa, to draw the attention of the government towards their demands.

Bhoj Raj Timilsina, coordinator of Association of Victims of the Maoist Atrocities (AVMA), said the government is ignoring their demands. “We did not have any alternative other than to stage sit-in protests in front of the NC office, after we were displaced from Tinkune camp,” he said. “NC is the ruling party, so we thought it would be effective to organise a sit-in here,” Timilsina told this daily.

“After we were chased away from Tinkune, we came to the NC office because Head of the State Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is from the NC. We think it is the responsibility of government to manage shelter for us,” he added.

He said that the Maoists, even after being a part of the government, have failed to create an environment conducive for the displaced people to return to their homes.

“We have been demanding ‘a dignified return to our homes’ but the government has not taken our demand seriously,” he said, adding that the sit-in would continue until the demands were met.

“Either the government should help our dignified return to homes or manage our rehabilitation or declare us internal refugees and resettle us in other countries,” he said.