Kathmandu, September 13- Nine members of Constituent Assembly (CA) and 50 other activists affiliated with National Dalit Liberation Front of Nepal (NDLFN), a sister organization of Maoists Party have been arrested today by the Police for staging a sit-in program demanding end to discrimination to Dalits as well as for protesting against ‘unconstitutional move’ of President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.

Those arrested included Ram Lal Bishwokarma, former chairman of National Dalit Commission, and Maoist lawmakers Tilak Pariyar, Binod Pahadi, Tej Bahadur Mijar, Hari Shripali, Santoshi B.K, Jhudki Devi Paswan and Min Kumar Sunar. All the arrested Maoist lawmakers come from Dalit community.

In the sit-in protest program, NDLFN front put forward its demands for ensuring special rights for Dalits with provisions of full proportional representation of Dalits in all organs and agencies of the state as well as provision of 7 percent compensatory reservation for historical state-led discrimination meted out to Dalits for centuries, and for the state declaring untouchability and caste discrimination as the grave crime against humanity, which must be penalized with tough law, in addition to other demands including ‘civil supremacy’.

Today’s protest was in a series of agitations carried out by the Maoist party against the President’s move reinstating the sacked army chief, which led to the fall of the Maoist-led government.

Police intervened as soon as the Maoist cadres started sit-in protest at the southern gate of Singha Durbar where the local administration has banned protest rallies.

The Maoist lawmakers were released within a couple of hours while other Maoist cadres were detained a few more hours.

News sources: Binay (NDLFN) and www.nepalnews.com report: