The ‘No Cable Car’ group at Pathibhara declared its second round of protests on Wednesday, reacting to the government’s refusal to form a high-level political dialogue mechanism to address the problem.

Prior to that, the government team and the group had held talks on February 9 as per a previous understanding. The government was determined to hold the dialogue between the government team led by Home Ministry Joint-secretary Prem Prasad Bhattarai and representatives of the protesters.

Soon after the agitating group announced their protest, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak on the same day called them for an informal dialogue. However, Minister Lekhak wanted them to negotiate with the Bhattrai-led team of officials rather than forming a high-level political mechanism to resolve the issue.

“The home minister, during the meeting with us, did not give a positive signal for forming a high-level political mechanism for dialogue,” Ram Maden, a representative of the agitating group, said.

After announcing the second round of protests, the agitating group has been protesting in front of Global IME Bank offices across the Koshi Province. The demonstrations will continue until February 21 against the bank’s board chair Chandra Dhakal, who is the promoter of the cable car project in Taplejung.

Maden claimed that the agitating group is also organising the ‘Mukkumlung Save Walkathon’ from February 18 to 20 as part of the protest. Nine political parties and 11 social organisations will participate in it.

Former deputy-prime minister Rajendra Mahato, chair of the newly formed Rastriya Mukti Party; and former minister Rakam Chemjong, senior vice-chair of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal; and former Maoist leader Gopal Kirati will join the walkathon.

Keshav Jha, a close aide to Mahato, confirmed his participation in the walkathon. “Mahato is scheduled to participate in the event on February 20,” Jha said.

Jha claims that his party supported the movement after being convinced that building a cable car in a place linked to the Kirat community would be an attack on their faith.

Maden said their bottom line is a complete halt to the construction of the Pathibhara Temple cable car project. If the government invites them to talks, they would only be ready to discuss that point.

Although the two-day talks between the government and the protesting ‘No Cable Car Group’ reached a six-point agreement on February 4, the group demanded a high-level political talks team be formed for another round of dialogue. They insisted they wouldn’t sit for the talks with the panel led by a bureaucrat.

With the signing of the six-point agreement, the transportation strike that had been in effect since January 28 in many of the eastern districts was called off.

After intensive discussions between the government and the protesting parties’ ‘negotiation facilitation’ teams on February 3-4, both sides reached a six-point agreement, and another round of talks was scheduled for February 9.

They announced the second phase of protest after informal talks with the Bhattarai-led government negotiating team on February 9 failed to reach an agreement.

The agitating group also accuses the government of not fully implementing the six-point agreement. They allege that the government has conditionally released three people on bail even though the agreement was to release those taken in custody unconditionally.

Violence erupted in the Pathibhara region on January 25 as clashes broke out between the ‘No Cable Car’ group and an Armed Police Force team, resulting in four injuries. The confrontation occurred at Baludanda.

“The government negotiation team has no moral basis for dialogue since they did not fully comply with the previous agreement reached with us,” Maden argued.

However, he claims that informal efforts are being made with the government to resolve the problem.

Bhattrai seconded Maden.

“They are urging the government to stop the construction of the cable car for 15 days and to make a conducive environment for the dialogue,” Joint-secretary Bhattarai said. “The government is also in internal discussions to resolve the problem, so a solution will be found soon.”

The Mukkumlung Struggle Committee, the Cable Car Cancellation Joint Struggle Committee, the Kirat Yakthung Chumlung, and some political forces advocating for identity-based politics including the Rastriya Janamukti Party and the Loktantrik Rastriya Manch have been protesting against the cable car project.

They say that the Mukkumlung area is sacred for the Kirat community, primarily Limbus, based on the Mundhum scripture. The agitators are against the construction of large infrastructure projects at the shrine popularly known as Pathibhara.