Kathmandu, November 23

Leaders of United Democratic Madhesi Front today said that finding a solution to the Madhes agitation was delayed because the government was not taking their concerns seriously and calling the agitators for talks without any agenda whatsoever.

At an interaction organised by National Human Rights Commission, the Madheshi leaders said a solution should be sought through meaningful talks at the earliest. They claimed that their supporters did not vandalise or burn an ambulance and truck carrying medicine, according to NHRC member and spokesperson Mohana Ansari.

The Madheshi leaders requested NHRC to probe into the incidents and make the facts public, she said.

UDMF leaders blamed the police of using excessive force against the Madhes movement and it included manhandling by entering the houses of the people, using date-expired tear gas and shooting at the heads and chests of agitators.

They urged the NHRC to instruct the government to stop such acts, Ansari said.

Stating that police suppression against the movement had increased, the Madhesi leaders drew the NHRC’s attention to the danger of social harmony being jeopardised if the problem was not settled at the earliest.

NHRC Chairman Anup Raj Sharma said NHRC had taken the incidents in various Tarai districts seriously and urged the government to find solution through meaningful talks. He said that no one had the right to shoot at the head and chest of agitators.