UWB Photo blog: Southern Nepal demonstrations For the record, images from Feb 6.
A Maoist cadre is taken to hospital in Bharatpur. She was injured in a clash with Madhesi Jajaadhikar Forum (MJF) Tuesday (6 Feb). 8 Maoist cadres were injured in the clash that took place in Parasi in the morning. Pics by Chetan Adhikari
A Lathi rally organized by Madhesi Jajaadhikar Forum (MJF) in Parasi.
A MJF rally in Parasi
Chinak Kurmi, a Maoist lawmaker in the interim parliament and Maoist district secretary in Nawalparasi after he was released by Madhesi Jajaadhikar Forum (MJF) Tuesday. MJF cadres had captured 18 Maoist cadres on Monday (5 Feb) at around 8 AM and released them at around 1 PM same day. Maoists had captured half a dozen Forum activists on Monday night.
Maoist affiliated workers’ union organized a lunch program in Biratnagar on Feb 6 where transport workers were fed dal bhat. Those workers were stranded in the middle of no where because of the ongoing strikes in Terai region. Pic by Bhim Ghimire
Children in Birgunj play cricket as the ongoing strike in the region is forcing schools to close. Pics by Subodh Singh
Rajkumari Devi, mother of Dipendra Sah who was killed during a demonstration in Birgunj, with Dipendra’s son in a rally organized by MJF in Ghantaghar Chowk on Feb 6.
Janakpur saw rallies throughout the day (6 Feb) against SPA and Maoist party on the 22nd day of the agitation in Terai. Pic by Shyamsundar Sashi
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10 responses to “Terai Photo News: Madhesi Janadhikar Forum- Maoist Clash, Lathi Rallies”
Awakening of Madhesh:
Silent past,Flaming Present and Uncertain future
by a United Nations Student Alliance member
Nepalese government collects 77% revenue from madhesh and spends only 18% there.
42%madheshi population has less than 9% representation in parliament.
Election constituency are arranged in a manner that allocates minimum seat to terai region inspite vast population.
Madheshi people have suffered discrimination in every way from socio-economic to regarding any oppertunity.
Offending and abusing madheshi people publically is a common sight in Nepal from offices to educational institutions.
Hilly people control all important government positions and posts where as Madhesi people occupy less than 5% with negligible participation in the national security forces.(not because they dont deserve,because they are discriminated)
Madheshi protests are not targeted against any certain community & they have the moral support of intellectual mass in Nepal
Time and again politicians have abbused madheshi rights issues for their super-ficial election agenda.
Further violence sparked because goverment used excessive force to supress the peacefull protests.
They government left no stone unturned and even succeded to defame the protests as backed by royalists or hindu fundamentalist forces which is totally untrue.
The international community including media are looking into the issue from government’s perspective and turned a blind eye and deaf ear.
The Madeshi people are aware enough to take this issue to the International Court of Justice.
In contrary to a common misbelief that madheshi people migrated from India sometime in history,Terai has been their home not only since centuries but since milleniums.Thats far before a country named Nepal or India existed.They are mistaken as minority not because of their portion of population but due to unrepresentation in the administrative and socio-economic arena of the nation.Since centuries Pahadi(hilly) people have supressed and discriminated Madheshi people.It was because the capital city was in the hills where madhesi people had negligible presence.Besides,governance and authority was never decentralised in Nepal outside the capital. Offending and abusing madheshi people publically is a common site in Nepal from offices to educational institutions.Hilly people control all important government positions and posts where as Madhesi people occupy less than 5% with negligible participation in the national security forces.(not because they dont deserve,because they are discriminated)
Madhesh is the bread basket hence the backbone of national economy.Everything from agricultural products to consumer goods is supplied from Terai .Nepalese government collects 77% revenue from madhesh and spends only 18% there.42%madheshi population has less than 9% representation in parliament.Election constituencies arranged in a manner that allocates minimum seat to terai region inspite vast population.Terai people had active participation in the People’s revolution of 2007,2046 and 2063BS(60,90&06AD) .Madhesh acted as the major hideout and planning centre for democratic Leaders.However time and again politicians have abused madheshi rights issues for their superficial election agenda to gain votes. In fact nobody cared about their issues rather tried to supress their voices.Their patience broke when the post April revolution interim consitution failed to address their genuine issues and simply ignored them.Pahadi community backed up by police and government attacked on madheshi people, vandalised and set fire on their shops and houses in the western town of Nepalgung .A few days later a maoist cadre shot a right activist for no reason.When madheshi people stepped to peacefull street protests goverment chose excessive force curfew and bullets to to solve the problem.The government left no stone unturned and even succeded to defame the protests as backed by royalists or hindu fundamentalist forces which is totally untrue.Killing of 19 bare handed citizens and injuring of thousands is a worst political scenario.Human rights watch figured out that most deaths occurd by bullet shots or fatal head injuries during curfew hours slapped in the cities with madheshi Majority.Prachanda stated ,”I am not ready to talk to a strenghthless organisation.He also suggested to mobilize the army against them.He did not consider the united voice of 10 million people to be strength rather seeked military solution to the problem.There is a special reason why Prachanda wants to supress JTTM or MRF,It was him who armoured them for his purpose a few years back.Now he fears this may unstabalise his nascent political image.This is the best example how madheshi people are used and later forgotton by politicians in Nepal. Madheshi protests are not targeted against any certain community & they have the moral support of intellectual mass in Nepal The Madeshi people are aware enough to take this issue to the International Court of Justice .
The international community including media are looking into the issue from government’s perspective and turned a blind eye and deaf ear..I fear frustated youths who are fade up of the state’s behavior towards them may turn more violent.If this problem is not solved from its roots nobody can be sure that madheshi people wont fight a war for an independent country in future.Here the state has two options,either eliminate all kinds of discrimination and give them proportional representation now or wait till armed militias are formed and madheshi people turn into tamil tigers and the country turns into hell once again.May peace prevail.
Pankaj Karna
United nations student allience
Why Not?
I have always failed to understand why any government fails to address national issues and only concentrates in Kathmandu and self. Perhaps it is a narrow vision presented to the ministers by their secretaries. So who is at fault for not implementing national issues, Government of Nepal. Atlease I feel that as long as the general adminstration and the dominant ethnic group in the field do not get replaced by diverse ethnic groups, things will remain as it is.
Thus, change should not only be in implementing Federal System but should be implemented in Administration as well. As long as the Government of Nepal remain in the hands of dominant ethnic group Nepal will remain as it is. They will always oppose change. Thus, reservation to minority groups in General Administration should also be in place.
As far as Maoists are concerned, I don’t care even if they are killed. What you seed is what you harvest. They cannot isolate themselves from such isssues and hide behind seven parties. Playing cheapest politics will only take you few steps. People are smart enough to realize what’s going on?
Hello John,
Cheer up !!!!!!!!! Marvelous !
I am quite happy to see the website. It is really very standard and has covered main issues of the Madhesis people. I am still going through it in detail. This is a great success for the people of the Terai to have this site launched and they must be proud of you. Along with the change in the government structure launchng of this project site is quite worthy which can not be explained in words. I would appreciate if you could kinkly add one part of volunteer mobilisation in the Terai. Rest everything is of high quality and hopefully many people would give their opinion to make it further advance of their choice.
Ram Bachan Ray
greetings fellow nepalis what the hell is happening , is this the new propaganda formed by the government . our beloved country is bleeding to death by theese on going atrocities it si sickening to see our country headed towards that direction. but i do not symphatized with the Madhesi beacuse it is our country and the fact calling the natives neplais pahadis offend me and for the fact that the Madhesi people are migrants who hailed from india.
The most important thing regarding Madheshis that anyone must remember is that Madhesh region of Nepal is not a sovereign and independent of itself. Let’s take a look. Physically it is a part of Nepal currently but ethnically it is a part of Mithilanchal and was physically too a part of Mithilanchal in past. Mithilanchal is a place where most of the people speak Maithili and infact is a mithila region that ranges from Terai parts of Nepal to northern parts of India, the capital of which is Janakpur which is located in Nepal where King Janak ruled and his palace locates here. So the aspirations of people of madhesh are more directed towards the people of mithilanchal where they have family ties and infact the motherland where people share same culture, customs and brotherhood. Like People born in Rukum have ties with people born in Dolpa culturally, politically and racially even if they don’t know each other but they understand people by culture and they take no time in recognizing each others. Obviously It is a natural phenomenon supported by science and similarly one who is the aborigine of Janakpur and one who is the aborigine of Darbhanga (a city in India in northern Bihar where the great poet Vidya pati was born and is a part of Mithilanchal) and both being the part of same anchal i.e. “Mithilanchal” no one can deny the fact that Mithilanchal is our home (both people living in Janakpur and Darbhanga) by birth like hilly region for pahadis. Its therefore common the internal migration taking place in Mithilanchal (eg. Some migrating from Darbhanga to Janakpur and some migrating from Janakpur to Darbhanga for their easiness and they see it migrating in their own home). Mithilanchal is a territory that occupies both the parts of India and Nepal. Infact Pahadi people want to be identified themselves by the name of Lord Sita and Gautam Buddha in the world but after recognizing they are the part of Terai and Mithilanchal they show their their outrage to madheshi people and infact become jealous at us. Its their judgement that the people of Terai are Indians and they say it because their only source of nationalism is anti-indianism . I don’t think there is any wrong in that because that is a truth because we had been Indians for so long and only before 238 years we physically became a part of Nepal. So there is no need to feel bad for Madheshis if somebody calls them Indian because it is Madheshis right to be called Indians. If people want to hear we calling Indians ourselves, we must tell them and clear them our identity and thus fight for that identity regarding the truth. And remember Truth always wins the battle whatever be the consequences and if not we will prove it so. We are mentally and physically prepared for that though we prefer to resolve the problem through table talk and common consensus rather than violence. But it has now been clear among all madheshis that they are not going to live under such inequality and injustice and with very negligible participation in state of affairs despite the madheshis accounting for half the population .Now we have already known that we are deciding our future and our way of living.
And the Pahadis are fool to think that we Madheshis have forget our motherland , our culture and our social structure and accommodated in theirs because of their feudalistic power and threats under a controlled territory. Pahadis can not tolerate the fact of ties that Madheshis have to Mithilanchal of India. Besides they are always afraid of the future if whole the people of Mithilanchal comes and conquer the power in Nepal and they remain with nothing at all. But they must evaluate the consequences if that really does happen. And till now they have been successful to keep us under control knowing our weaknesses and fooling us in the name of Hinduism. They know Madheshis enjoy simple ,innocent and hard-working life with mutual understanding and brotherhood and thus they take advantage of our innocence and remain in power and utilizing all the resources that madheshis have (75% of revenue generated from terai and madheshi people) for their benefits alone. The reason they praise our valued Deepawali, Holi and chhat festival because they are well aware of our simple ,happy and brotherly life. Infact some kind of jeolosy is always there in their mind and they are aware that once we madheshis are given opportunity in state affairs we always tend to march above them politically and culturally.
So the problem seems to be never ending for now. We must terminate the violence and look for a happy, peaceful and successful life individually. So the question arises on how we can solve the problem? Yes, there is a complete solution for this. I will tell you. There are only two ways. The first one is to fulfill the demand that the terai activists are currently demanding i.e. representation on the basis of population and declaring the Madhesh a separate state. This only ensures the Madheshis rights and their freedom and their right of self-esteem, self-actualization self-determination and self-rule because the history has shown that Madhesh never runs for the welfare of Madheshis if it it in the hand of Pahadis. This way Madheshis can make their life better and obtain a good standard of living because their resources will no longer benefit for others except for themselves and this can be obtained through peaceful revolution and table talk. We become a part of Nepal in this way not only physically but emotionally as well but with our unique identity, our own culture , our own understanding and our own way of life with self-esteem, self-determination and self-actualization. The second way follows the first way if the first way is not fulfilled. If the first way is not fulfilled, we madheshis compulsorily but not by our will have to go for revolution both armed and unarmed and we are determined for our identity and the truth. And we the people of Mithilanchal have always remained truthful and will remain truthful forever. And after complete freedom , its Madheshis who are going to do decide what they are going to do with their land and their motherland with a distinct identity that they are not having at present. So it’s not the madheshis who have to act or suffer now. The madheshis have for now only to look for the responses from Pahadis regarding the first way that the madheshis have sought. Its pahadis who have to act now and on the basis of their performance Madheshis are going to decide what measures they will take in future and they have already pre-decided about the action and reaction. So its better for the Pahadi government to decide on time the needs of Madheshis otherwise they have to repent in the future. Moreover, Pahadi people and Pahadi government have very few time to decide otherwise they will be the ones responsible for the mass destruction of lives and infrastructure.
We want peace but we don’t want peace where lies injustice and inequality, negligible participation in state affairs and lack of self-determination, self-esteem and self-actualization and avoidance from utilization from our own resources and don’t want Pahadis representation in Madheshi areas. Above mentioned paragraph is my independent thought without being pressurized from Pahadis thought of unity in diversity but I love diversity in unity and this is the “aawaaz” and the general feelings and aspirations of Madheshi people. Hope the first way works.
People blessed with “Madheshi” when they land in the unjust land of Nepal, the pain of being Madheshi reminds me the pre-slavery abolition stage of United States. Caste system – the excuse of chaos and divisional hatred bond created by our society never fails to prevail anywhere. What if the degree of this deepness is exercised heavily? Countries, especially in the third world, are lagging behind because of their own creation. Why a Pahade cannot stand with Madheshi and vice-versa – the lack of one can be filled by another’s presence, why we don’t move to make the nation prosperous. A garbage cleaner – referred as “Khali Sisi and Purano Kagaz” – in my opinion, works well in cleaning society, leaving all the bars created. Diverse environment leads better production. Why not let Nationalism prevail. I often wonder, is this situation a geographic division or a hatred of caste and culture. Why not Yadav, Goit, Bhagat, and so forth be the ethnic societies of Nepal. Will including them leave pahade unemployed or they can lead the race. This twenty first century race does not stay in the boundaries. It should cross the borders and say “We Nepalese are here to compete this world; we no longer would be the third world”. If Madheshis are kicked out, who will collect khali sisi and purano kagaz. Madheshis, along with all have the same capabilities. Many pahades are employed by the Madhehis and not to mention all the industrial giants are from Madhesh. Major industries provide Nepal government major income. Will it be better if Madhesis are excluded. Why are pahades unwilling to embrace Madheshis and others. Madheshis are no minority; they have equal population as Pahade do. If a garbage cleaner can clean the society, why not you all educated ones? It is said, no work is smaller or bigger, why garbage cleaner is made fun? Are pahades jealous of the achievements, I expect not. Then why are Madhehis not Nepalese? Every citizen has the right to fight for Nartion and so does Madheshi. Pahades dominate madheshi and often they are center of fun. Who will sell vegetables? Does it make a pahades happy? I remain unanswered. Madhehsis could do same with pajade in Terai. Do they? Nepal – the second most poor country in the world, is not poor because of the 90% illiterates; it is because we 10% educated ones do not want our country to champion. War has never been a solution, but in Nepal, recent devastation has made a history. Of course, people will follow the successful trends, that’s human nature. The brave sons of Gurkhas forgot the saying of Unifier Shah. Gurkhas had not shot to fame by killing their own brother, rather the enemies. A true Gurkha should never forget that. I am not comparing Nepal with developed countries, but needless to say, Nepal – as a very small country can excel overnight, if left in best hands. Will this discrimination lead Nepal to a better shape? I doubt.
A leader of MJF in Biratnagar recently said this:
All madeshi, whether they migrated from bihar, yesterday or two year back should be given citizenship certificate and all pahades from madesh should be kicked out.
Well i beleive, all migration to the terai should be stopped, and all persons living in the teari for the past 60 years should madeshi, not the new migrants, whether they are from the pahad or neighbouring country.
i am very glad to see that madhesis has awakened and they are fighting for their rights.
it ‘s excellent
pahadis should be dragged out of terai
and there sould be one madhes government from east .akarvtitta to west Mahendranagar
Samagra Madhes Ek Prades
Jay Madhes
Do you think, kicking out Pahadis from Madhesh is the solution? Have you ever realized that so many Madheshi leaders also cheated people of Madhesh by not raising concerns of Madhesh on time, as they were corrupt and favored napotism. Mishra jee, how would you feel if Dalits and downtrodden section of Madhesh say that upper caste people like you are the dominant group and should be kicked out? Do you think, your family would allow a Dalit from Madhesh to enter your kitchen. First change your attitude and behavior and then point on others.
Instead of saying Jay Madhesh, I would prefer to say Jay Ho Nepal Ko Madhesh. Because, it is also a part of my country and feel proud of being raised in Janakpur.
farend ricoist