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Nepal

Curfew imposed in southern Nepal Kalaiya

KATHMANDU, Jan 30, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Kalaiya municipality in southern Nepal plains is under curfews on Tuesday.

Local administration office imposed an eight-hour curfew in Kalaiya municipality and surrounding areas of Bara district, which is some 80 kilometers south to Kathmandu.

The curfew, from 10 a.m. (0415 GMT) to 6 p.m. (1215 GMT), is imposed due to the violent demonstrations mainly led by Madhesi People's Rights Forum's (MPRF, also called Madhesi Janadhikar Forum). The Forum claimed that one of its members was shot dead by a cadre of the Communist Party of Nepal (formerly known as guerrilla). MPRF later collided with policemen, which rendered seven people's death.

Many Terai towns have been witnessing curfew, strikes and widespread vandalism of public and private property in the unrest.

The Madhesi activists have been demanding a federal structure of the state and proportional system of elections.