Tags: Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Oct 25 A top leader of a Terai-based Madhesi party today stepped up pressure on the Nepal government to provide greater political and economic rights for the people living in the plains bordering India as he announced an agitation coinciding with protests planned by the Maoists from November 1.

Nepal's former Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav, who is also president of the Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF), said that the party will begin an agitation from November 1 for the implementation of the past agreements with Unified Madhesi Democratic Front (UMDF), which comprises MPRF and two other Madhesi parties currently in the CPN-UML-led government.

The leader of the MPRF, which is the fourth largest party in the 601-strong Constituent Assembly, said he is seeking to implement the eight-point agreement that includes declaring the Terai plains an autonomous region and greater representation for the Madhesi community in the state structure, including the army and the police proportionate to their population.

Yadav was quoted as saying in the local media that MPRF is discussing the nature of the protests and the agitation programmes will be made public soon.

Yadav warned that if the initial phase of the agitation fails to make the government act, the protest would be intensified with strikes and shutdowns.

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