Nepal's ex-ministers held over Terai riots-The Times of India

KATHMANDU: Three former ministers of Nepal's erstwhile royal Cabinet have been arrested for inciting riots in the Terai region of the Himalayan Nation.

While former Forests Minister Salim Miya Ansari was arrested from his house in the Capital on Tuesday morning, two other ex-ministers Kamal Thapa and Badri Mandal were taken into custody on Monday night hours after Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Sitaula said stern action would be taken against those fanning the violence in Terai, the southern plains of Nepal.

Former District Development Committee chairman of Morang Ballav Dahal was also arrested on Tuesday in the same connection, police said.

A senior home ministry official confirmed the arrests and said the three ministers were being questioned by police.

Minister for Physical Planning and Construction Gopalman Shrestha has said that the government will round up at least two dozen ministers of the ex-royal regime and King Gyanendra's advisors.

Violent protests erupted on January 19 in a town in Terai and have since spread to the entire region, claiming eight lives till now.

Nepal's Minister for Industries, Commerce and Supplies Hridayesh Tripathi resigned yesterday accusing the government of not doing enough to defuse tension at the southern plains.

Meanwhile, Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FJN) has issuing a statement condemning the attack on news persons in Birgunj on Sunday and on Monday. The government has been asked to provide security to them.

Several journalists have left the southern Nepal town after the agitators targeted them. They attacked a local radio office and beat up few journalists. A dozen newspapers being published from Birgunj have stopped their publications as they were threatened by the agitators.