Kathmandu, July 09: The Nepal Maoists, who played
a key role in abolishing the 240-year-old Hindu Monarchy and
turning the country into a secular state, have vowed to ensure
special rights to the minority Muslim community in the
Himalayan nation.
"It is not enough to provide equal rights to the
Muslims but they should be given special rights as
compensation for having been suppressed," CPN-Maoist Chairman
Prachanda told a gathering of the Muslim Mukti Morcha (MMM),
an organisation affiliated to the party of the former rebels.
Prachanda's support for special rights for the Muslims
is seen as an attempt to garner the sympathy of the minority
community, which mainly resides in the terai-plains bordering
India where the Maoists suffered setbacks in the April
Constituent Assembly polls.
Declaring Nepal a secular nation was one of the
40-point demands put forth by the Maoists in 1996 when they
started their insurgency in the country.
Prachanda, who is poised to lead the new government in
Nepal, promised to form a 'Muslim Commission' for the welfare
of the minority community and develop historically important
pilgrimage sites of the community as tourist destinations.
In the past, the Maoist cadres were known to slaughter
cows in remote villages and even punish people for celebrating
Hindu festivals like Dussera and Diwali.
Despite being a Hindu nation, the government provided
equal opportunity to the Muslim and Christian minorities.
MMM leader Mohammad Kasim Miya asked the terai-based
Madhesi leaders not to categorise Muslims as Madhesis,
alleging that the regional parties of the plains were trying
to deny Muslims their rights.
Meanwhile, seven Muslim members of Constituent
Assembly belonging to the seven major parties, including
Cpn-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, appealed for
enlisting the minority community in the constitution through
an amendment bill so as to protect their identity and preserve
their cultural and religious rights.
The three million Muslims of Nepal should have the
right to live while maintaining their identity, they demanded
at a press meet yesterday.
The lawmakers from the community also warned they
would take to the street if their demands are not fulfilled.
For the first time, 17 members from the Muslim community are
represented in the special assembly tasked to frame a new
constitution for Nepal after the abolition of the Monarchy.
Bureau Report