21 January 2023
The International Indigenous Peoples’ Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation joins the call to immediately end the attacks against the Tamang Indigenous Peoples by the Nepal police and state government, and to halt the construction of the Tamakoshi-Kathmandu 220/400 kV Transmission Line Project.
Around 500 families of the Bojheni Village have been opposing the construction of a substation and its transmission line which is part of a web of transmission lines funded by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a United States Government foreign aid agency.
On the first day of this year, the Nepal Electricity Authorities (NEA) forcefully initiated a survey of the land to install a substation and transmission lines that are financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This step was met with protests from the Tamang Indigenous Peoples. At least seven demonstrators have been arrested, including women and minors during the protest.
The current situation in Bojheni village paints a clear picture of how state armed forces become tools of repression when faced with Indigenous Peoples resistance in defense of land, rights, traditions and livelihood.
These waves of attacks show how the Tamang peoples and Indigenous Peoples right to self-determination and right to land are erased as states push for foreign investments and so-called “development projects.”
We demand justice for those injured in the people’s protest and accountability from the police and state government and their international commitments to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Let us support the struggle of the Tamang Indigenous Peoples against development aggression and state repression, echo their calls, and demand to end the police’s violent attacks!
IPMSDL enjoins everyone to stand with the Tamang people and endorse the petition to Stop
the construction of Tamakoshi-Kathmandu 220/400 kV Transmission Line Project in Shankharapur-3, Kathmandu.
We call on our allies, network, and friends to join the Tamang Indigenous Peoples in the fight they are facing.
SIGN THE PETITION: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSc53hYmqMJ01q…/viewform
Source: https://groundswellnews.com/stop-the-attacks-on-tamang-indigenous-peoples/
