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Govt committed to ensure representation of all indigenous groups in CA: PM Koirala

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said the government is committed towards implementing the agreement it reached with the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFIN) last year to ensure the representation of all ethnic/indigenous groups in the Constituent Assembly.

PM Koirala made this commitment during a meeting with a team of NFIN who were at his official residence in Baluwatar Friday to submit a memorandum seeking attention to the 'under-representation' of indigenous groups or Janjatis in the Constituent Assembly.

NFIN chairman Pasang Sherpa said during the meeting they demanded that priority be given to 28 ethnic communities left out of the Constituent Assembly while recommending the constitutionally mandated 26 names for it. Sherpa said that the PM also told him that he has been discussing the issue with speaker Subhash Chandra Nemwang and other political parties and a final decision on the matter would soon be made.

Despite the seven party government agreeing to induct at least one member each from all 59 indigenous groups into the Constituent Assembly in the agreement reached with NFIN last year, some 28 marginalized groups are still left out in both Proportional Representation (PR) and first-past-the-post (FPTP) lists.

Sherpa has already threatened that NFIN will take to the streets from the very first day of the CA meeting if the major political parties go back on their words. nepalnews.com ag May 16 08