Maoist held for Hindu leader’s murder in Nepal

KATHMANDU - Police Monday took into custody a local Maoist leader from southern Nepal to question him about the murder of the chief of a militant Hindu organisation.

Zamil Mian was arrested from Birgunj town in Nepal’s turbulent Terai plains for questioning about the murder of Kashinath Tiwari, whose Hindu Yuva Sangh came into prominence last month after attacking the Maoists for calling an indefinite general strike.

The Sangh has called an indefinite general strike in Birgunj since Sunday to protest against the killing of Tiwari, who was gunned down by two pairs of motorcycle-borne assailants Saturday.

On Monday, the second day of the protest, educational institutions had reopened in defiance and there was some public transport on the roads.

Shops and markets, however, remained largely closed.

Sangh followers continued demonstrations at a public square where they have brought the body of Tiwari, vowing not to cremate it till the killers are arrested.

The Maoists, who had killed an anti-Maoist vigilante leader in 2007 triggering a huge backlash, have come under suspicion for Tiwari’s murder though their local leaders have denied any involvement.

Saturday’s killing revives memories of the gunning down of Moin Khan in 2007 in Kapilavastu in southern Nepal. The murder of Khan, who had led anti-Maoist attacks during the insurgency, fuelled arson and violence in which nearly two dozen people were killed and over 5,000 displaced. The violence caused the elections to be postponed.

The Sangh alleges Tiwari had received death threats after he attacked a camp housing Maoist cadre in Birhunj last month. The cadre had been brought to take part in an indefinite general strike.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)