Free Madhes campaigner and coordinator of Alliance for Independent Madhes CK Raut has renounced his secessionist campaign in a function organised at City Hall in Kathmandu on Friday.

An 11-point agreement paper was signed between government and Raut during a joint press meeting held in the presence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa signed the agreement on behalf of the government.

Raut, who was in judicial custody for months allegedly running a secessionist movement in Tarai, was released on Thursday evening following the Supreme Court verdict.

“Our coordinator agreed to the request from the prime minister to announce publicly that we abide by the constitution of the country,” Abdul Khan, spokesperson of the alliance told the Post.

Earlier on Friday, an official at the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to the Post that Raut will announce his departure from the Free Madhes Movement during a joint address with Oli this afternoon. The official also said the Prime Minister’s Office has been in constant negotiations with Raut for the past two months to come to the table and part with the secessionist movement.

Raut, an engineer by profession, started the Madhesh movement in 2006, arguing that a ‘separate Madhes’ was necessary to ‘liberate’ the Madhesi people. That led to the formation of the alliance in 2011, which appealed for a stronger coalition to take the Madhes movement to the global level. Raut and his colleagues were arrested multiple times on charges of holding anti-national activities, but were released each time following the rulings by the Supreme Court.

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