RAUTAHAT: All vehicular movements came to a grinding halt due to the chakkajam called by the agitating Tharu Welfare Assembly in Rautahat on Friday.

The protest was launched to draw attention towards the concerns of Tharu community regarding boundary demarcation and setting up a Tharuhat province. Ram Ashish Chaudhary, District Coordinator of the assembly, accused the key leaders of the four major parties of trying to curtail the essential rights of the Tharu community, who he called the aborigines of the plains.

He called for an autonomous Tharuhat province with proper demarcation. Security personnel had to use force to take the agitators under control and resume the vehicular movement along the East-West Highway.

Hundreds of long- and short-route vehicles were stranded for more than one hour. A police team deployed from Area Police Office, Chandrapur, arrested seven demonstrators for their involvement in the protest.