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Two Indians killed in Nepal police firing

Two Indians were killed and about 10 people injured on Sunday during a bandh called by people of Indian origin in Nepal to protest against attacks on their establishments during last week's anti-India protests.

A senior police official in Kathmandu said two people of Indian origin were killed and five of them injured when the police opened fire on a group of violent demonstrators of Indian origin at Raj Biraj.

Gajendra Narain Singh, president of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party, told rediff.com that the two men killed were Mahender Chaudhary, 24, and Kushilal Yadav, 34. "Several people have also been injured in the police firing in Terai," Singh, whose party represents people of Indian origin, said on Sunday evening.

According to available information, the police fired on a group of protestors at Raj Biraj on Sunday afternoon. Both Chaudhary and Yadav were killed and at least five injured in the town.

The bandh was called by the All Party Forum of Terai -- the plains -- where almost the entire population consists of Nepali citizens of Indian origin, the Medeshis. The anti-India protests in Kathmandu and other towns was primarily targetted at business establishments owned by Indians.

Singh said the bandh in the plains was called by "Medeshis who returned to their homes from Kathmandu, where they were targets of attacks."

Nepal has a population of about 20 million of whom about 9.8 million are Medeshis. A large number of Indians own businesses in Kathmandu. While most people of Indian origin live in the plains, Nepalis live in the hills.

Ten districts in the Terai region -- Birganj, Dunsa, Gaur Sarlahi, Kalaya, Kapilavastu, Malangva, Mohtavi, Naral Parasi, Raj Biraj and Sabtari -- were "completely paralysed and no commercial activities took place there," said Singh, a three-time minister and MP.

He said his party would observe a hartal in Raj Biraj on Monday to protest the firing. But he said his party is opposed to the two-day nation-wide bandh called by the nine Communist parties from Monday. "We have already made it clear that our party is not supporting their bandh," he said.

Meanwhile, bombs were hurled at 1830 local time at the homes of three senior leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress including a cabinet minister.

According to a Nepali police official, bombs were hurled at the homes of Minister of State for Education Dilendra Badu, former home minister Govindaraj Joshi and general secretary of the Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala. No one was injured in the attack.

Officials feel Maoist groups could be behind the attacks. Maoists have attacked these homes in the past. Joshi, during his tenure as home minister, led the effort to finish the Maoists. Maoist-police clashes have claimed over 800 lives in Nepal.

However, officials do not rule out the possibility of the attacks being linked to last week's anti-India protests which claimed seven lives.

A nine-party Opposition group has called a two-day anti-government bandh from January 1 to protest the police firing on the protestors last week. Desperate attempts to get the Opposition parties to call off the hartal by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Hotel Association of Nepal, the representative organisations of industry and tourism, have failed.

Industry and tourism leaders met almost every important political leader in the country, trying to convince them about the huge losses incurred during the New Year season, a time when business and tourism in Nepal is at its peak.

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