Tharus closed down terai region for martyrdom

KATHMANDU – The Tharu Struggle Committee has announced a banda or general strike in 22 districts of the Tarai, including Chitwan, today.

The committee called for the general strike demanding that the government declare Dhana Bahadur Thanet who died in course of treatment a martyr. Thanet sustained injuries in course of a protest demonstration held by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities and the Tharu Joint Struggle Committee on May 9, 2012 in Nawalparasi.

He succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday while undergoing treatment at the TU teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.

The committee has been calling for declaring late Thanet as martyr, providing government jobs to the members of his family, among others. President of the Tharu Kalyankarini Sabha, a Tharu organization, Bishwaram Mahato, said that they would not take Thanet’s body until their demands were fulfilled.

The shutdown organizers have assembled at local Pulchowk and eastern Chitwan and holding protest demonstrations. RSS