Several lawmakers today drew the attention of the government and the Legislature-Parliament to incidents in which Tharu women have been subjected to misbehaviour in different parts of the country. This is apparently in reprisal against the killing of security personnel in Tikapur. MJF-Nepal Lawmaker Janak Raj Chaudhary, whose house was torched in Kailali, said many houses of Tharus were torched during curfew, but the government had not answered the parliament despite repeated requests. He warned that the Tikapur incident would be repeated if the forces continued to misbehave with Tharu women, arrested Tharu youths and filed fake cases against them. Chaudhary demanded that the government declare the child killed during the Tikapur incident as a martyr and provide appropriate compensation to his family members. Lawmaker of Tharuhat Tarai Party Gopal Dahit warned of another incident in the Tarai if security forces continued misbehaving with Tharu women, attacking them and torching their houses. He also said the human rights bodies and the government were informed about the incidents against the Tharu community in detail but to no avail. He said things should be resolved through dialogue. Lawmaker Shivaji Yadav, speaking at the Parliament said forces have been attacking Tharu people. Chief whip of the Unified CPN-Maoist Giriraj Mani Pokhrel urged both the government and the agitating parties to maintain restraint and resolve the issues through dialogue. Addressing the parliament today, Pokhrel said there is an urgent need of fruitful talks as negotiators have been complaining that their dialogue with the government has been futile. He said the problem won’t be resolved by force.

Lawmaker Surendra Jaiswal said addressing the appropriate demands of the agitators would defeat those wanting to derail the constitution drafting process. Another lawmaker Dimple Kumari Jha said she wondered why the government was not taking initiative to hold dialogue and was instead shooting at hospital premises. She said Dilip Chaurasia and Dharma Raj Singh were killed during peaceful protests. CPN-ML lawmaker CP Mainali said the problem arose due to the arbitrary division of the Pradeshes by leaders. Keshav Badal of CPN-UML said logical demands of the agitators should be addressed. He warned that even the achievements of the previous movements could go to waste if the nation failed to resolve the issues. Lawmakers, including Rajendra Amatya and Kunti Kumari Shahi, also demanded that the government resolve the issues of agitators through dialogue.