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Nepal: Gaur Massacre

Categories: South Asia, Nepal, Governance, Human Rights, Politics, Protest, War & Conflict

The unthinkable happened on March 21 in Gaur in the central Terai plains [1]. Two political groups clashed, and violence followed. 29 were dead, more than 40 injured. This incident has shaken Nepal.

Democracy For Nepal [2] condemns the violence but it also takes the Maoists to task for disrupting the MPRF mass meetings earlier in Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj. They have issued a a press statement [3] alongside ANTA, Association of Nepali Teraian in America. DFN concludes by saying Best Option For All: Elections In June [4].

The Terai now has half of all elected seats, after the Gaur incident the Home Minister's resignation issue has switched to becoming a Maoist issue and is no longer a MPRF issue, and Om Gurung's recent hostile interview to Kantipur shows there really is no Madhesi Janajati alliance, so sticking to the completely proportional elections to the constituent assembly for the sake of the Janajatis is no longer valid for the Madhesi Movement.

United We Blog [5] has published an interview with a human rights activists that claims professional criminals were involved [6] in the killings. A Bihar nexus is suggested [7]. The post has photographs of shrouded bodies and links to youtube videos.

Maoists say they didn’t start the Gaur fighting (and a team of human rights activists have concluded that the massacre was perpetrated by the professional criminals), they didn’t fire bullets. Instead, Maoists are demanding that the government should take action against the attackers. Expressing the commitment to the peace process Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, the second in command in the Maoist party, said that such incident would not obstruct the peace process.

INSN has a news update [8]. Madhesi – United We Stand [9] has plentiful coverage.
Nepal – Lessons from Gaur Incident [10]

Over the last several months, these YCL cadres are employed to occupy the houses of various so called landlords and royalists who are blacklisted by the Maoists party, kidnapping the people, forcefully collecting the donations, extorting money, vandalizing the opponents and most importantly confronting with other political parties. Their main targets various Madhesi organizations that are raising their voice for Madheshi freedom.

Nepali Perspectives [11] says US ambassador Moriarty has been proven right [12] that the Maoists have not transformed much.