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| India-Pakistan |
| Nepal ethnic leader warns of election unrest |
| 2008-01-22 |
| KATHMANDU - Nepal will face fresh ethnic unrest ahead of this year’s elections if the government fails to address the concerns of the Madheshi people living in the southern plains, the leader of the major ethnic group said. Nepal’s government and the Maoists have agreed on elections for a constituent assembly on April 10, a key part of the peace deal with the former rebels who ended their decade-long civil war which killed more than 13,000 people. That body is meant to map the country’s political future, formally declare Nepal a republic and make the country’s laws. But Mahanta Thakur, the 65-year-old former Madheshi minister who quit the government in December to form the Terai Madhesh Democratic Party, said on Monday the polls would not be possible unless the Terai region was turned into an autonomous state. ‘We want the autonomy for the Madhesh just like the American states. The centre can’t interfere in matters relating to the government and administration,’ the soft-spoken Thakur told Reuters in an interview. ‘We want this to be incorporated into the interim constitution.’ |
| Posted by:Steve White |