Siraha, June 8 :

Family members of Rameshwor Mandal, of Khirauna VDC-7, Taslim Raain, of Madar-2 and Jagadish Khatwe, of Gamhariya Phulbariya VDC-2, who were killed during the people’s movement of 2036 BS, have demanded that the trio be declared martyrs. They hope the present government, will declare the trio martyrs. Raju Baiju, a relative of Jagadish Khatwe, said he had made efforts to make the establishment declare Khatwe a martyr soon after the success of the people’s movement of 1990, but to no avail. “I sold almost half of my land for the purpose, but to no avail,” Baiju said.

The family members of the trio lamented that the government had not even bothered to erect the statues of the trio. In 1998, the then minister for science and technology Raj Dev Goet and the NC had given written assurances that the deceased would be declared martyrs, but they could not keep their word.