The strike was called off following an agreement between the Maoists and Bara District Administration to recommend the government to declare the deceased Maoist cadres martyrs and to provide Rs 150,000 compensation to the families of the deceased, among others. Issuing a press statement in Kathmandu, the Home Ministry also assured that the guilty involved in the killing will be nabbed at the earliest.
Earlier, the banda affected normal life in the three districts. Transport services remained closed in Simara, Nijgadh and Chandranigahapur after the Maoist cadres torched two mini trucks on the Pathlaiya-Nijgadh section of the East-West Highway early Friday morning. Travelers were stranded at various places along the highway.
"They also beat us up, saying ´don´t you know vehicles don´t operate during a banda´?" said Ram Bahadur BK, a conductor, "They then sprinkled petrol on the vehicles and set fire."
BK said that they did not know about the banda called by the Maoists.
An unidentified group had killed three Maoist cadres in Bara on Wednesday. The Maoists have called the banda since Thursday to protest the killings.
The trucks were heading for Lalbandi, Sarlahi to transport vegetables.
Police reached the scene one hour after the incident. A fire engine from Birgunj doused the fire at around 6 am. Two police sub inspectors were injured while dousing the fire.
In the meantime, Maoists cadres have staged a sit-in in front of the Bara district administration office. Even the bodies of the deceased have been brought to the sit-in site.
Bhojpura Rajya Committee of the UCPN (Maoist) in a statement, has condemned the killings, and demanded compensation for the cadres´ families and martyr status for the dead.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the government to punish the guilty and provide compensation to the families of the deceased.
The commission has urged the government to take initiatives to end the banda by holding talks with the organizer of the strike.
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