´After almost eight hours of talks, we finally reached a deal,´ said Upendra Adhikari, joint secretary at the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW). ´As per the deal, Kamlaris have called off their strike.´[break]
According to Adhikari, Kamlaris signed the deal after the government agreed to release all those arrested while enforcing general shutdown in the far west and the mid west regions.
As per the deal, the government will provide Rs 500,000 to the family of Srijana Chaudhary, whose mysterious death had prompted Kamlaris to launch a series of protest programs. Although Kamlaris had put forth the arrest of the accused (in Srijana"s death case) as a precondition for withdrawing their protests, the government persuaded them to let a high-level probe committee to settle the issue.
According to the deal, the government will also provide treatment expenses to all the Kamlaris injured in the police"s baton-charging, revise guidelines for distributing scholarships to Kamlari students and form committees to rescue all Kamalris who are still working as indentured laborers, among others.
Kamlaris had called the strike in all 22 districts of the Tarai after being thrashed by the police while trying to break into a restricted zone in front of Singha Durbar.
Although Kamlaris called the strike across the Tarai, only five Tarai districts of the far-west and the mid-west region were affected by the general shutdown. However, in Kailali, Kamlaris had called off the strike hours before their representatives reached the agreement in Kathmandu.
On May 28, Kamlaris had come to Kathmandu for what they dubbed as their decisive battle for justice for Srijana"s family and emancipation as well as rehabilitation of all Kamlaris. Srijana, 12, was found dead on March 24. Although the police claimed that she committed suicide, Kamlaris claim that she was either murdered or forced to kill herself.
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