Janakpurdham: Landless squatters staged a protest in Karmahiya of Bagmati Municipality, Sarlahi demanding housing rights and an end to forced evictions.

The demonstration was organized by the Land Rights Forum and the All Nepal Squatters Federation. Protesters chanted slogans such as “Stop the bulldozer terror,” “Ensure the right to housing,” and “We do not want such a government.”

According to the All Nepal Squatters Federation, Bagmati Municipality alone has around 9,000 landless squatters.

Senior Nepal Communist Party NCP leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha also participated in the protest and addressed a corner assembly afterward.

Speaking at the gathering, Shrestha accused the government of treating landless people in an inhumane manner.

“If the government believes squatters are not human beings or citizens, then squatters should also be able to say you are not a government either,” he said.

He argued that the Constitution guarantees every Nepali citizen the right to housing and claimed that evicting squatters from their settlements without proper alternatives is unconstitutional.

Shrestha also urged landless communities to launch a resistance movement against the government, saying that truth and justice may appear weak temporarily but ultimately prevail.

“Most authoritarian regimes emerge through elections; history around the world has shown this,” he said. “Modern society will not accept authoritarian rule that ignores public trust.”

He further stated that, except in situations where the state urgently requires the land, squatters should be granted land ownership certificates for the places where they are currently living.

“State land also belongs to the landless people. The land they have cultivated and struggled on should be provided to them,” Shrestha said.