Sarlahi, February 5:

No untoward incidents were reported in the Terai today, reports said.

The situation in Sarlahi, which had been tense for the last two weeks due to the agitation of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF), was relatively normal today.

The local administration had clamped indefinite curfew in Malangawa yesterday. No demonstrations were held today. Last rites of Ashique Ali Mikrani, Ram Narayan Shah and Dinesh Rai, who were killed during demonstration in Malangawa yesterday, were performed. The local administration continued the indefinite curfew in Malangawa. Curfew was clamped from 8 am till 7 pm from Karmaiya to Ranigunj along the Mahendra Highway.

A meeting held in Hariaun VDC formed a 150-member committee to promote social harmony. The committee will go to villages to spread the message of communal harmony from Wednesday.

In Biratnagar, security situation was improving due to continuous curfew, Morang chief district officer (CDO) Mod Raj Dotel said. The local administration clamped curfew in Biratnagar from 10 am till 5 pm today. Demonstrators and police briefly clashed at Haatkhola Chowk, the Morang district administration office said. A report from Itahari said the situation in Inaruwa, the headquarters of Sunsari district, has relatively normalised. The local administration relaxed curfew for five hours from 5 am today.

Curfew was again clamped from 10 am till 4:30 pm. MJF activists held a peaceful bicycle rally in Inaruwa after curfew was relaxed. The local administration had clamped curfew from 6:30 pm today till 5:30 am next morning.

Situation in Duhabi and Sonapur of Sunsari remained tense. MJF cadres plonked a log on Duhabi Bridge, disrupting traffic.

In Birgunj, the local administration issued prohibitory orders. Parsa CDO Shambhu Koirala said security forces have been given shoot-at-sight orders to control ongoing vandalism, arson and looting. However, MJF activists kept on staging peaceful protests.

In Mahottari, sister organisations of eight political parties, MJF cadres, Madhesi Dalit Struggle Committee, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Mahottari, Rastriya Janashakti Party and Nepal Teachers’ Union staged rallies. Local youths torched effigies of PM GP Koirala and Maoist chief Prachanda.

In Siraha, demonstrators vandalised the statue of Adikabi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya situated at Siraha-8. Professionals, human rights activists, media personnel and civil society members held a peace rally in Lahan.

In Bara, Madhuban, Prasauni, Gunjbhawanipur, Bariyarpur and Jeetpur bazaars, remained closed.

NSP (A) held a sit-in in front of the District Administration Office urging the government to meet demands of the MJF.

Locals of Sottarejhoda in Sunsari and the Sunsari district police office accused cadres of the MJF of turning back fire engines heading towards Sottarejhoda last night to douse a fire from Gadan Bridge at Inaruwa-10.

A dozen houses were burnt to ashes last night as MJF cadres turned back the fire brigade, locals charged. MJF Sunsari coordinator SN Mehta claimed MJF cadres did not block the way of the fire brigade.

RSS reports: The Home Ministry today urged all political parties, civil society, social organisations to observe patience to help maintain law and order by ending violent activities in the Terai.

Rally for the Terai people

Kathmandu: The Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) and NSP led by Badri Prasad Mandal today joined a rally held at the Maitighar intersection on Monday to press the cause of the Terai people.

Leaders of the NSP (A) and NSP leaders could be seen rubbing their shoulders at the rally.

Meanwhile, the Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) on Monday issued a statement saying the main political parties have not been honest in dealing with the Terai crisis.

The statement signed by RJP spokesman Sarvendra Nath Shukla has accused the main political parties and their leaders of diffusing the issue and embarking on ill-defining the movement, which has swept the Terai. — HNS