Leaders for embracing voices of all minorities

http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/pdf/pdf.trn.download.php?id=1680

By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, May 21

The Rising Nepal

Leaders of political parties and constitutional experts on Thursday sug-gested that the new consti-tution should incorporate the voices of all the minori-ties and marginalised com-munities in the country.

Stating that the country witnessed serious conse-quences because of ne-glecting the minority and marginalised communities, they said that the new con-stitution should consolidate the issues of dalits, janaja-ties, marginalised and other communities bringing them into the main stream of the development process.

They said that the new constitution should show a clear way forward for the social and economic trans-formation of the country.

Speaking at a model con-stitution-unveiling pro-gramme organised by the Consortium of Constitu-tional Experts (CONCOE) in the capital, they said that the new constitution should guarantee national unity, sovereignty and au-tonomy.

Unveiling the model constitution prepared by Dr. Bipin Adhikari, chair-person of the National Human Rights Commis-sion (NHRC) Kedar Nath Upadhyaya said that the constitution was not only a legal document but also a political one that addresses all sorts of issues of the people in the country.

H e , h o w e v e r , s a i d that the words of the constitution might not address all the issues of the people.

Similarly, Suresh Ale Magar, Constituent As-sembly member and central committee member of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), said that the new constitution should reflect the voices of minori-ties, marginalised and other communities.

He said that the new constitution must address issues of minorities and marginalised gropus re-structuring the state in federal system with proper rights to self determination.

Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Standing Committee mem-ber of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist and Leninist), said that while restructuring the state, the issues of caste identity, economic viability and sharing of available natural resources should be considered.

He further said that the inclusion of all the castes, creeds and communities was another big issue of the new constitution.

Chakra Bastola, Central Committee member of the Nepali Congress, said that the new constitution should be realistic and futuristic.

He said that the consti-tution of 1990 failed due the weaknesses of political parties themselves, as they could not implement it for the welfare of the people.

Bishwokanta Mainali, President of Nepal Bar As-sociation, said that a fed-eral system based on caste would lead the country towards a vacuum.

He said that the caste identity would constitute as the main problem in the new constitution.

Author Adhikari, high-lighting the main aspects of model constitution, said that he had tried his best to cover all the issues to be incorporated in the new constitution.

He said that it was just a model which would provide ample ideas to generate views of the people and parties on the issues open-ing platform for serious deliberations.

The 190-page long docu-ment has 26 parts, 292 sections and seven annexes. Adhikari has envisioned seven states with a power-ful Prime Minister in the centre.