2 killed, 12 injured in clash over Nepal federation deal

At least two persons were killed and 12 others injured today in western Nepal when police opened fire during protests against the decision to federate the country into six provinces under a new Constitution which was agreed among the four major political parties.
Police said they were forced to fire after hundreds of protesters ignored curfew orders and attacked government buildings and homes in Surkhet district.
The local administration clamped curfew in the district after the protests turned violent.
In Bara district of southern Nepal, Terai Madhes Democratic Party members burnt copies of the agreement reached between the four major political parties and maps of the six-province model, saying the deal was against Madhes and Madhesis.

They shouted slogans against the four parties and their leaders. The agitators vandalised and torched the residences of Nepali Congress central member Purna Bahadur Khadka and lawmaker Hridayaram Thani in the district.
The protesters who resorted to the strike since yesterday demanding undivided midwest region with Surkhet as its federal capital in the new set-up, also stormed the party offices of three major parties and district administration.
Police had to fire several rounds in the air to stop the agitating mob to control the situation.
Top leaders of CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, Unified CPN-Maoist and Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum Democratic (MPRFD) on Saturday reached a landmark deal to divide the country into six provinces, each sharing a border with India, resolving contentious issues of federalism under the new Constitution.