Kathmandu, January 22

Tarai Madhes Democratic Party today accused the government of committing genocide against the Madhesi people.

Organising a press conference here today, Vice Chair of TMDP Hridayesh Tripathi said the killings in Rangeli and Dainiya yesterday by the police and blatant violation of human rights by the police were indicative of the fact that the government was hatching a conspiracy to provoke communal tension in the region and sabotage the process of finding a negotiated settlement to Tarai unrest.

Tripathi said the incidents of Rangeli and Dainiya were designed to sabotage the ongoing negotiation between the agitating UDMF and the government/major parties. “The Prime Minister is not serious about negotiation. He told us yesterday that the government wanted to move the bill on constitution amendment without changing anything therein,” Tripathi added.

He, however, appealed Madhesis and Khas Arya people to maintain communal harmony. Whenever positive momentum builds for negotiated settlement, the government resorts to brutal suppression of the agitation, Tripathi said and added that CPN-UML youth wing also attacked United Democratic Madhesi Front cadres yesterday.

The Madhesi leader demanded a high-level mechanism to probe into the killings in the Tarai. “If the government wants to find a negotiated settlement to Tarai unrest, it must refrain from such acts of violence and suppression,” he added. He further said the government had failed in all fronts and in order to mask its failure, was trying to provoke communal tension.