Madhesi leaders compromised on Madhes issue
KATHMANDU, Nov 20: Leaders of the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), an alliance of five Madhes-based political parties, said on Saturday that they agreed on the formation of State Restructuring Commission for the cause of peace and constitution.
Senior Vice-chairman of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D), Rameshwor Raya Yadav termed the two-point agreement reached between the political parties on Friday “a result of unavoidable
circumstances”.
“Despite our unwillingness, we agreed on the formation of the commission instead of an expert panel so as to complete the task of constitution writing and peace process,” Yadav told Repulica.
He, however, called the UDMF´s decision to support withdrawal of the bill seeking 11th amendment to the Interim Constitution as “unpopular decision”.
Joint General Secretary of the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) Jitendra Sonal said they are suspicious about the two-point agreement.
“Truly speaking, the UDMF was against the formation of the commission. However, we were compelled to accept the government decision as our leadership wanted to end the current deadlock,” said Sonal.
MPRF-R General Secretary Atmaram Sah said they agreed on the formation of the commission as they were assured that the task of state restructuring will be concluded before the promulgation of the new constitution.
“We were never against the formation of the commission. Our main concern was the terms of reference (ToR) for the formation of such a commission,” Sah said, “The terms of reference are in favor of the constitution and the report the commission will submit will not be compatible to the previous reports prepared by the thematic committee on state restructuring.
Talking to Republica, Sadbhawana Party (SP) Vice-chairman Laxman Lal Karna argued that the status of the proposed expert committee on state restructuring would have been on par with the Constituent Assembly (CA) had it been formed by the CA.
TMDP-N General Secretary Dan Bahadur Chaudhari, who is also the minister for women, children and social welfare, said the Madhesi alliance sacrificed for the cause of peace and constitution.
Asked if the Madhesi alliance rolled back its previous stance, Chaudhari argued, “In fact we have succeeded in making the major political parties address our line to finalize the ToR and timeframe of the State Restructuring Commission before its formation.” From REPUBLICA
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