Nepal parties resume discussions to end political deadlock

Kathmandu, July 8 : The leaders of the three major parties are holding discussions with senior leaders of Madhesi parties at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction here today.

Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal, Nepali Congress (NC) vice president and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) coordinator Upendra Yadav are taking part in the meeting.

The talks resumed after the discussions on Monday ended inconclusively. The Madhesi leaders objected to the plural term 'autonomous Madhes provinces', proposed by the seven parties in the draft bill.

The seven-party leaders, on the other hand, said they were not ready to mention a single 'autonomous Madhes province' in the Constitution.

The two sides have also differed on the issue of Madhesi representation in the Nepal Army.

While the Madhesi parties reiterated their demand for "proportionate representation" of Madhesis in the Nepal Army, the seven parties said they were against proportional representation, but in favour of making the army an inclusive organisation.

CPN-UML general secretary C.P Mainali informed that the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist) haven't shown any clear stance on the demand for proportionate representation in the army, but the UML and other allies are clearly against this demand.

"The SPA leaders proposed some new provisions and terminology in the supplementary bill and these were completely against the wishes of the Madhesi people," said Madhesi People's Rights Forum Chairman Upendra Yadav.

Yadav said the proposed supplementary bill, did not mention any Madhes autonomous province and also did not address the demand of group entry into the army for Madhesis.

"The provision for 'making the army inclusive of all groups including Madhesis, and others as determined by law' which was proposed in the draft bill prepared by the SPA cannot address our demand," he said.

Yadav claimed the provision was clearly a move to betray the Madhesi people as there is no such law in the country.

Because of the protests by Madhesi parties the regular meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) has remained disrupted since past two weeks, Nepalnews reported.

ANI