A strike called by family members of a local businessman killed by Maoist fighters, and backed by three mainstream parties, brought life to a standstill in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Schools and businesses were closed and the streets were empty as people, appalled by the murder in the wake of the Maoists becoming the single largest party in Parliament in last month's constituent assembly election, supported the strike call.
"Unlike many strikes called in the past, this is for a good reason," said Khil Bahadur Khadka, who runs a private security company in Kathmandu.
"Everyone must support this strike to exert pressure on the Maoists to abandon violence completely," he said.
The abduction, torture and subsequent death of Ram Hari Shrestha took place earlier this month in a cantonment where Maoist fighters are confined under U.N. monitoring. The Maoist leadership, which is seeking to lead the next government, responded by taking damage control measures.
On Wednesday, Maoist chairman Prachanda issued a statement calling for the formation of a high-level probe commission, demanding tough action against the culprits and urging Shrestha's family to call off the strike to create a conducive environment for the constituent assembly meeting scheduled for next Wednesday.
However, Prachanda said there was no institutional involvement of his party or the army in the incident. "It was perpetrated by some selfish elements hiding in our party," he said.
Maoists fighters have admitted to abducting Shrestha, a Maoist sympathizer, from Koteshwore area in Kathmandu, holding him captive in Shaktikhor cantonment in Chitwan district of central Nepal for several days, and torturing him.
Though the Maoists had said last week that Shrestha died on May 10, a local hospital in Chitwan district said Tuesday he died in the hospital on May 8, a day after being brought there by the Maoists in a badly bruised and battered condition.
Doctors involved in his treatment said he died of extremely low blood circulation to his vital organs, caused by the brutal beatings.
The Maoists reportedly tortured him over a financial dispute.
The Shaktikhor cantonment is one of the several cantonments spread across the country that house nearly 20,000 Maoist fighters waiting for integration into the state army.
The Maoists say that they dumped his dead body in a river.
Protests against the murder have affected traffic in Kathmandu for five days in a row now. Hoarding boards carrying pictures of Prachanda have been pulled down in Kathmandu, and Shrestha's family members have said that they do not want a "murderer president" to rule the country.
The Maoists have been saying that Prachanda will be the first president of the country after the first meeting of the assembly abolishes the monarchy.
As the scandal threatens to weaken the Maoist bid to lead the next government, the Shrestha family is receiving threats from Maoists to tone down their protests.
"We have been receiving threats daily," said Shrestha's elder brother Gyan Kumar. The family has been sleeping in different houses every night.
The U.N. Mission in Nepal that is supposed to keep an eye on activities inside cantonments has condemned the killing and has said that commanders of the Maoist army have acknowledged it was committed by their members.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal is following an investigation that is being carried out by police.