Nepal MPs exhort government to ensure basic rights to Madhesis

July 16, 2006

Members of Parliament (MPs) in Kathmandu today slammed the government for apathy towards giving citizenship to Madhesi people or to children whose mothers are foreigners� wives even after the declaration of the House.

Nepali Congress MP Surendra Prasad Chaudhary said Madhesis should be treated as citizens as they are deprived of their rights since long. He said Madhesis have been discriminated against by the state with malafide motives.

�It is a very grave matter the state is discriminating against people who have been lving in the Terai since such a long time,� Chaudhary added.

MP Ram Janam Chaudhary lashed out at the government for not providing basic rights to the Madhesi people even after a declaration by the parliament.

�This not merely a the flaw in policy. It is also a flaw of intention of the leaders,� said RPP MP Renu Kumari Yadav. She also warned that the Madhesi people have grown conscious and if the leaders do not get ready to settle the issue they might launch a protest.

�If the Madhesi people impose a month-long highway blockade, the people in Kathmandu won�t even get food,� she added.
UML MP Birodh Khatiwoda regretted the agreement between the government and the Maoists for making an interim parliament after dissolving the reinstated House.

�Without informing parliament, why did the talks teams decide to dissolve the House,� he asked. He also sought a clarification from the government as to why it agreed to dissolve the House without taking the House�s consent.

Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said that the government was doing serious homework in order to settle the citizenship problem and also working to implement the declarations of the House.

Source: The Himalayan Times.

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