KATHMANDU, Feb 28 - The government and the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) on Thursday afternoon sealed an eight-point agreement, bringing an end to the nation-crippling indefinite strike in the Terai.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on behalf of the Seven-Party alliance (SPA) coalition government and top leaders of the three Madhesi parties affiliated to the UDMF, Nepal Sadhbhawana Party, Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) and Terai-Madhes Democratic Party, signed the agreement at Baluwatar today.

The two sides smoothed out the finer details of the deal including the mass recruitment of Madhesi people into the Nepal Army (NA) following decisive talks earlier this afternoon.

The eight-point agreement includes declaring those killed in the Madhes agitation as martyrs, providing treatment to the injured and immediate release of those in police detention and providing one million rupees to each victim’s family.

Madhes to be autonomous

The agreement states that Nepal will be a federal democratic republican state complying to the demands of regional autonomy and a federal system of governance including the Madhesi people’s demand for an autonomous Madhes Pradesh. There will be distinct power sharing between the centre (Kathmandu) and the region (pradesh). The region will have complete autonomy and authority. The elected Constituent Assembly will devise a way to apply the formation of such states and the rights attributed to the region and the centre while keeping national sovereignty, unity and integrity intact.

The compulsory appointment, promotion and nomination of Madhesi, indigenous communities, women, Dalit, backward areas and minority communities to ensure proportional participation in security bodies and all organs of the state will be carried out.

The entry of Madhesi and other groups into the Nepal Army will be ensured to give the army a national and inclusive structure.

The government along with the UDMF urged all armed agitating groups in the Terai to join the peaceful political process and come to talks to resolve all problems. They also appealed to everyone to conduct the April 10 elections in a peaceful, fair and terror-free manner.

The government has agreed to immediately implement the agreement reached with the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) on August 13 last year including releasing those under police detention, annulling cases against MRPF leaders and activists.

The two sides agreed to form a high-level monitoring committee comprising of government and UDMF representatives to implement the agreement.

Following the agreement, UDMF called off all protest programmes and their indefinite strike, which had entered its 16th day today.

It further states that the current 20 percent legal provision mentioned in Article 7, sub-article 14 of the Constituent Assembly Member Election Act-2054 will be increased to 30 percent.

As per the agreement, Chief Secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire on behalf of the government sent an official letter to the Election Commission this evening asking the commission to undertake the necessary preparations for the nomination of candidates under the first-past-the-post electoral system and submission of the closed-list of candidates for the proportional system.

According to sources, the election commissioners have initially agreed to give time for the submission of the closed-lists for the proportional system on March 2 and the nomination of candidates under the first-past-the-post electoral system on March 5.

A meeting of the election commissioners is underway and is expected to come up with a formal decision today, the sources added.

Last edited: 28-Feb-08 09:52 AM