Madhesi Student's Society Tribhuwan University has organized a rally in Kathmandu on Monday against the deployment of Army and excessive use of force by the police during recent demonstrations in Tarai. The rally started from Maitighar Mandal and converged into a corner meet at New Baneshwor. Speaking at the program, coordinator of the program and professor of Tribhuwan University Ram Babu Singh demanded an end to the ongoing excessive use of force by police in Tarai. He also urged the government to withdraw Army from Tarai and call the dissident Madhesi parties for talks. Also speaking at the same program chairman of Sadbhawana Anandi Devi party Sarita Giri said that the constitution drafted by enforcing a curfew in Tarai would not be acceptable to the Madhesi people.

------------------------------------------------ Hundreds of people, especially youths, on Monday participated in a Citizen’s Pressure rally taken out to draw the attention of the government towards rights violations and killings in Tarai. Participants flashing placards urging the government to keep the door open for dialogue walked all the way from Maitighar Mandala to Baneshwor. They urged the agitating groups to sit for talks and maintain social harmony. The youth-filled crowd also criticised the government for not making enough effort to bring the agitators to the table for dialogue. A group of artists also briefly joined the rally but left halfway once ‘the crowd chanted political slogans’, at which they disagreed on. Actress Karishma Manandhar, Priyanka Karki, comedian duo Deepak Raj Giri and Dipa Shree Niraula, including Kedar Ghimire and Raja Rajendra, participated in the rally. “This is high time to promulgate a new constitution, but the slogan people used was more provocative and against the new constitution. That is why we had to abruptly leave the rally,” said Karki. “It was a public event,” said Yubraj Dahal, one of the organisers. “We could not be selective while inviting the public,” he said in response. The crowd demanded an immediate end to violence in the plains. The southern belt has remained shut for almost a month due to ongoing protests, adding to the woes of the general public. “But we didn’t feel it like a citizen’s pressure rally. It seems that people came there with their own interest rather than for the country and for people’s need,” said Deepak Raj Giri. ------------------------------------------------