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Members of the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the UCPN (Maoist), have padlocked party offices in the Far-Western region, demanding facilities on a par with PLA combatants.
The Maoist party offices in nine districts of the region were shut for an indefinite period on Monday. The YCL has threatened to step up protests if its demands are not addressed by the party leadership.
The Maoists' youth wing has also demanded relief and rehabilitation packages for its disabled members and integration of "interested" YCL members in the
Nepal Army.
The members claimed that their role was no different than that of the PLA during the insurgency. Secretary of the YCL Tharuwan State Committee Lalit Thapa said they will not allow the party's central members to visit the region until their demands are met.
YCL activists, meanwhile, seized a car carrying Maoist Standing Committee member Lilamani Pokharel at Mahendranagar in Kanchanpur.
The YCL cadres briefly detained Pokharel, who was on his way to Dhangadi airport.
According to Thapa, 359 of them had left the PLA seventh division camp in Kailali to join the YCL and that the party leadership had promised them relief and rehabilitation packages that the PLA combatants would be getting.
"We resorted to the protest as the party leaders reneged on their commitment," Thapa said.
The YCL protest comes a day after disqualified Maoist combatants disrupted the farewell process of retiring combatants in the PLA sixth division camp in Surkhet. In Surkhet, the cheque handover ceremony resumed on Monday amid tight security. Disabled combatants, however, refused to receive the cheques, demanding the government also provide them with free treatment and free schooling for their children.
