Govt talks team ‘verbally agrees’ to some of Janajati demands

The second-day talks between the government and the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFIN) on Monday ended without any conclusion, although NFIN negotiators said the government team had “verbally agreed” to their demands for fully proportional electoral system and fair representation of Janajits in the constituent assembly (CA).

“We reiterated our demand for a third amendment in the interim constitution to ensure fully proportional electoral system and equitable representation of indigenous nationalities in the CA. The government side verbally agreed to these demands,” NFIN’s talks coordinator Dr Om Gurung said, adding, “But there was no formal agreement as they said they needed time to forge consensus in the eight-party alliance on these issues.”

He said that every indigenous group should get at least one seat in the CA and that the NFIN was opposed to the “mixed proportional electoral system” as stated in the interim constitution.

Gurung said today’s meeting also discussed another key demand – the federal structure of the state on the basis of ethnicity, region and language.

Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, who leads the government team, and state ministers Gyanendra Karki and Ram Chandra Yadav represented the government in the three-hour long meeting.

The talks will resume at 2:30 pm on Wednesday at the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry in Singh Durbar. nepalnews.com mk June 11 07

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