In my post of 1st February I referred to the cover up over the pogrom that had taken place in Kapilvastu, south Nepal, last September. In what was a clear case of ethnic cleansing, extremists from the ethnic Indian (Madhesi) population had committed atrocities against the immigrant Nepali hill people (Pahadi) who have been living on Nepal's southern plains for the last couple of generations. The inquiry into the violence passed this off as just having been caused by criminal elements with no recognition of it having been inter communal strife. Today, as Nepal celebrates the declaration of a republic, I regret to have to write that this ethnic cleansing continues largely unreported.
The Esther Benjamins Trust has a major project activity in Bhairahawa, Rupendehi District, which is one along from Kapilvastu. I am reliably informed by a local contact in Rupendehi that Madhesi terrorist activities are being intensified there. Over the past week or two four Pahadis were killed in Rupandehi and over a dozen abducted, to be released only after payment of substantial ransoms. On 24th May the newly elected president of Bhairahawa's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Mahendra Kumar Shrestha (a Pahadi) received a letter from one Madhesi faction (JTMM) demanding almost £20,000 as a "Terai Tax". It was mentioned in the letter that Shrestha should pay the amount within 72 hours as a tax for running business and owning property in the Terai. According to the letter every Pahadi who wishes to remain in the Terai should pay a Terai Tax or expect physical punishment or death. The letter has been followed up with phone calls to Shrestha, threatening his life if he didn't pay immediately.
This is a huge challenge to the new Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, with Madhesi rebel outfits demanding their own Pahadi-free province running right along Nepal's southern plains. This would cut across possible future federal boundaries that might run north south in an attempt to delineate Nepal's farrago of other ethnic groups. And whoever controls that southern strip can put a stranglehold on the country given imports from India must cross this troubled territory.
