A meeting of the alliance held at the CPN-Maoist head office at Buddha Nagar on Saturday announced protest programs from April 21 to May 14. The alliance has also demanded that the field office of the Indian embassy in Biratnagar be immediately closed. [break]
“We have been compelled to announce protest programs as the president did not respond to our concerns,” said Mani Thapa, chief of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal. The alliance, terming the Regmi-led election government unconstitutional, has already decided that it would hold talks with the president only. Earlier, the government had sent invitation letters to the dissident parties for talks.
The alliance also demanded that the Indian embassy close its “field office” in Biratnagar. The alliance has decided to submit a memorandum to the Indian embassy on April 16 asking it to close the field office, saying the office is no longer relevant and is not in the interests of Nepal. The government has already written twice to the Indian embassy in Kathmandu to close the office that was opened in the aftermath of the massive Koshi floods back in 2008.
The government has maintained that the office, which was opened to facilitate vehicular movement through the Indian territory after a section of road on the Nepali side was disrupted by Koshi floods, is no longer necessary.
The Indian embassy had opened a “field office” near Koshi Barrage to issue “permits” to Nepali vehicles at Kushaha of Sunsari on August 18. The office was later relocated to Biratnagar without the approval of Nepali authorities though the damaged section of the road had been repaired a few months later.
Similarly, the alliance has also demanded that suspicious citizenships certificates be studied before citizenship certificates are issued to the children of such citizenship bearers. The government had distributed citizenship certificates in the Tarai prior to Constituent Assembly polls held in 2008.
“We are not against distribution of citizenship certificates. But we demand that citizenship certificates be issued only after proper study,” added Thapa.
The alliance is also scheduled to submit a memorandum to chief election commissioner on Sunday asking him to halt voter registration and citizenship distribution.
Similarly, the alliance is scheduled to hold an interaction on the issue of election related ordinances on April 27.
The alliance is also scheduled to hold a function at Basantpur in Kathmandu and other industrial cities to mark the International Labor Day on May 1. Similarly, the alliance will hold nationwide Swabhiman Yatra from May 3 to 14 demanding dissolution of the Regmi-led election government and annulment of all unequal treaties with India.
Related story
Early setback for left alliance as Bhattarai decides to quit
