80 held in Nepal as general strike against draft Constitution affects normal life

KATHMANDU: At least 80 people were detained here when they were trying to enforce a general strike for the second day today to protest plans to restructure Nepal as a federal state with six provinces in the new Constitution.

CPN-Maoist-led alliance, Madhesi parties and ethnic groups called for the strike to protest the restructuring plans made by the major political parties, which they say discriminates against historically marginalised communities.

Normal life across Neepal was crippled as the CPN-Maoist, the breakaway faction of the Unified CPN-Maoist and Madhesi parties, enforced the strike.

Public transport, however, remained mostly unaffected today as compared to yesterday when it was paralyzed due to the nationwide strike.

The shutdown remained largely peaceful and no major cases of vandalism or destruction of public property was reported apart from a few minor incidents.

Police detained 80 protesters for trying to vandalize vehicles, said Senior Superintendent of Police Narayan Singh Khadka of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police.

They managed to damage two vehicles here for defying their shut down. The local administration has deployed large number of security personnel here to prevent any untoward incident.

All educational institutions, major markets remained closed during the general strike.

Nepal's Drafting Committee had endorsed the first draft of the long-pending constitution for the first time on June 29.

The four major parties - Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Unified CPN-Maoist and Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum - representing more than 90 per cent seats of the Constituent Assembly, had reached the landmark agreement on June 8 in the wake of the April 25 devastating earthquake.

However, the top leaders of the major parties are yet to formally put their signatures on the deal. Once the deal is signed, the Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee will endorse the deal reached among the parties.