NEPAL: Nepali government gives more parliamentary seats to ethnic Madhesi people.

Nepal has agreed to give more parliamentary seats to the ethnic Madhesi people after two weeks of anti-government protests that left nine people dead. Nepal has agreed to give more parliamentary seats to the ethnic Madhesi people in parliament, the home minister said on Tuesday (January 30), after two weeks of anti-government protests by Madhesis in which nine people have died. "To restructure the participatory people's democracy was our previous decision by ending the unitary and centralised regime, that was included in the interim constitution itself. To make that clearly redefined, we have agreed to incorporate the federal type people's democracy in the new constitution," said Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Madhesis, who live in the southern fertile flatlands of Terai, say they have been sidelined after a peace pact between the government and former Maoist rebels aimed at ending a decade of civil war in which 13,000 people died. The Madhesi have been demanding more positions in parliament, political parties, the government and security agencies. They say their community is under-represented by "political elites" from Nepal's mountains. The Madhesi want greater autonomy for the Terai, Nepal's breadbasket and industrial hub, which borders India and is home to nearly half of Nepal's population. In new violence on Tuesday, one protester was killed as thousands of Madhesi protesters clashed with police in the southeastern town of Biratnagar, prompting authorities to reimpose curfew there, an official said. More than 100 people were wounded in the unrest over the last two weeks and authorities have placed several towns in Terai under curfew. Despite making up about 30 percent of Nepal's 26 million people, Madhesis occupy only about 15 percent of seats in parliament. They are ethnically, culturally and linguistically closer to people living in the neighbouring Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh than to Nepalis living in the hills and mountains.

ITN Source | January 31, 2007

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