"Allot 26 PR seats for marginalized communities"

Chairman of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) Pasang Sherpa on Wednesday called on the political parties to help draft an inclusive constitution by reserving 26 CA seats for marginalized communities.

"Parties have again shown their greed for seats by not allocating enough seats for indigenous people. They should show generosity by reserving the 26 seats for the marginalised communities," he said at a workshop on the indigenous community and biodiversity.

Sherpa said he had withdrawn his name from the proportional representation list of the CPN-UML because the party failed to keep its promise of sending an inclusive team to the Constituent Assembly.

"I withdrew my name to protest the domination of the Bahuns on the PR list," he said.

Thought the Interim Constitution has stressed that all people, including ethnic groups, should be involved in the drafting of a new constitution, big parties have gone against the spirit of the constitution.

Sociologist Dr Krishna Bhattachan accused the government of not bothering to secure rights of the indigenous people. "We urge the government to be sensitive towards the rights of indigenous people while preparing another report on Convention of Biodiversity," he said.

Lok Bahadur Thapa Magar, member-secretary of the National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities, said indigenous people had been nurturing biodiversity for thousands of years.