The United Madhesi Democratic Front (UMDF), which has imposed an indefinite strike across the Terai region for the last six days, has refused to hold talks with the Nepal Government to break the impasse.
Kathmandu, Feb 18 : The United Madhesi Democratic Front (UMDF), which has imposed an indefinite strike across the Terai region for the last six days, has refused to hold talks with the Nepal Government to break the impasse.
The UMDF leaders demanded a favourable environment for talks. They said that the police should stop using force to quell the ongoing agitation in Terai, and provide free medical treatment and compensation to those injured during the protests.
The UMDF has also sought a positive response from the government to their six demands, including "autonomous Terai province with right to self-determination."
"No negotiation is going to take place unless the government creates favourable environment," the Nepalnews quoted Mahantha Thakur, a UMDF leader and the Chairman of the Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party (TMLP), as saying.
Thakur said the agitating parties had not forged any working alliance with the armed Terai groups as of now, but he did not rule out possibility of an alliance in future.
"We will ask them (armed groups) to help us," he said.
Meanwhile, shutdown in the Terai region paralysed normal life there and in the eastern region.
Markets, educational institutions and private offices remained closed. Many towns in Bara and Parsa districts faced shortage of food and petroleum products.
The Terai shutdown has also affected the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, where very few passenger vehicles were seen on the roads due to fuel shortage.
ANI