RAJBIRAJ-The Janatantrik Terai Liberation Front (JTLF), a Maoist splinter group, has been increasingly involved in killings, abductions and extortion, which is spreading terror in the tarai. JTLF activists, who consider the Pahadis (hill migrants living in the terai) their main enemy, have even started to target Madhesis. Bijay Jha and Mahendra P Yadab were shot dead in cold blood on 5 July in Chinnamasta VDC while returning from a village party. Now, locals and Maoists have joined hands to avenge the killings. The next day, the two groups protested in Saptari with the corpses of the two youths and hundreds of people participated.
Maoist acting district secretary Bimal and people's government chief Umesh Kumar Yadab called the victims their activists and declared them martyrs. They accused the JTLF of intensifying violent activities with the support of the administration and vowed that they would avenge the killings. JTLF eastern commander Jwala Singh said by phone that the youths were killed trying to escape JTLF activists who had accused them of spying on their activities. He claimed that the JTLF seized two homemade pistols, ammunition and a khukuri from the Maoists. But local residents denied that. They said the youths had been feuding with JTLF district coordinator Ranabir Singh, who lives in Chinnamasta VDC, and had a dispute with the leader of a temple committee over the use of temple funds.