Police Officer Beaten to Death in Nepal Amid Protests Over Draft Constitution

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/world/asia/police-officer-beaten-to-death-in-nepal-amid-protests-over-draft-constitution.html

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DHULIKHEL, Nepal — An injured riot police officer was dragged from an ambulance in southern Nepal on Friday and beaten to death, officials said, the latest flash of violence in several weeks of protests over a draft constitution.

The officer, Thaman Bahadur B. K., had been injured hours earlier in the Mahottari District, southeast of the capital, Kathmandu, in clashes with hundreds of ethnic Madhesi protesters, said Dipak Kaphle, the chief district officer. The ambulance was bringing him to a hospital when it was besieged by an angry mob.

At least one protester was killed in a separate demonstration in Jaleshwor, the headquarters of Mahottari, when the police open fired on a crowd vandalizing buildings, according to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Nepal’s proposed constitution would carve the country of 28 million people into seven federal provinces. The constitution was spurred by the need to rebuild the country after a huge earthquake on April 25 left it in shambles.

The Mahottari District is home to the Madhesis, who object to the plans and hope for new demarcations that would allow them to form majorities in two provinces. Ethnic Tharus in western Nepal are also protesting the draft constitution, hoping for their own province.

On Friday, Nepal’s major political parties, including the ruling Nepali Congress, said they would postpone voting on the provisions of the draft constitution, which had been scheduled to begin Friday, in the hopes of reaching an agreement with Madhesi and Tharu political parties. The voting is now scheduled to begin on Sunday.

Laxman Lal Karna, a Madhesi political leader, said talks would not progress unless a curfew in parts of the southern plains was lifted and soldiers, who have been patrolling some of towns, returned to their barracks.

In the past month, at least 36 people have been killed in protests over the draft constitution, including 11 police officers and a 2-year-old child. Schools, workplaces and shops have been shut for nearly a month in many of the southern districts.