“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”
PRESS RELEASE
“Dr. CK Raut was attacked by Police during peaceful mass assembly”

Jhapa, Nepal 4th April, 2015, Saturday, Nepal police intervened in a peaceful mass assembly of Madheshi activists around 14:00 at the aboriginal place of Madheshis in Rajgadh Market of Jhapa district, used excessive force on Dr. CK Raut along his supporters. Police arrested him along five dozen of activists working for freedom of Madhesh.
Later, Dr. Raut was admitted in hospital due to injury. Police have disrupted the peaceful assembly by unlawfully arresting Dr. Permeshwor Murmu, Dr. Sanjay Sah, Ram Bilash Mehta, Soren Sharma, Bishweshwor Mandal, Tabrej Alam, Tapeshwor Lal Karn, Asha Jha, Ashok Mehta, Jiban Gupta, Shyamanand Sharma, Shotelal Shoren and a dozens of other civilians. Nepal police blocked members to attend the assembly who were coming from villages based on black skin color.
Thousands of supporters who came from villages to participate in the peaceful assembly were harassed by the police on their way. Anyone of dark complexion who looked like Madheshi, an ethnic minority group of Nepal, going for the general assembly were harassed and physically manhandled by the Nepal police. This is a racially motivated aggression of the police towards the minority ethnic group and it exposes the color discriminating mentality of Nepal Police. The Government of Democratic Republic of Nepal is using excessive force to disturb the peaceful assembly of aboriginal ethnic minority civilians.

The Government of Nepal (GoN) shows no concern or support for the legitimate case of the peaceful participants like Dashrath Mukhiya, an aboriginal of Jhapa who has become landless in his own native place. We need to be aware and proactive on these issues, otherwise people like him, and many more ethnic minorities of Madhesh will become landless refugees very soon in their own native land.

In the peaceful assembly, Dr. Raut asserted that the five districts of Madhesh (plain), naming, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Kailali, Kanchanpur should not be merged with the Pahad (hill) districts because it defies the geographic logic and the desire of the majority of civilians living in those regions. Further, he challenged for a referendum on independence of Madhesh in the 22 districts of Madhesh.

Huge number armed forces are operating to disrupt the peaceful assembly since yesterday. The GoN has been using excessive force to disturb, harass, arrest and fire at civilians in the peaceful meetings since long time. GoN has been arresting the supporters and participants without any arrest warrants or on false accusation.

They have already falsely convicted Dr. Permeshwor Murmu, Hareram Mandal, Ram Bilash Mehta, Abdul Khan, Irfan Sheikh, Binod Sharraf and Pradip Thakur on false accusation of creating public unrest. Similarly, Santosh Patel (Journalist) of Birgunj, Rajesh Yadav, Rameshwor Sah and Saroj Karn etc are being threatened for their life or harsh consequences by the state security mechanism.
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Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM) is an alliance of Madheshi people, activists, parties and various organizations working for the independence of Madhesh, through non-violent and peaceful means following the principles of Buddha, Gandhi and Mandela. The alliance advocates an end to Nepali colonization, racism, slavery and discrimination imposed on Madheshis. It stands for three pillars: (a) Independent Madhesh (b) Democratic System, and (c) Peaceful and Non-violent Means.
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Acknowledging that the rights to freedom of speech, movement, peaceful assembly and association are the fundamental rights of all human beings everywhere, as also mandated by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Nepal is a signatory, we expect acknowledgement and assurance of our rights from the state and its agencies. We also appeal to all the state and non-state agencies, human-rights organisations, journalists, political parties, diplomats and international communities to oppose any violation of human rights by the state and its agencies.

Contact
Ass. Prof. Kailash Mahato
Sub-Coordinator Alliance for Independent Madhesh
Phone: +977-9847038322
email: save.madhesh@gmail.com