Indigenous leaders seek role in consensus building
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, July 11: Ethnic leaders and activists have reiterated that any political consensus on major issues reached without consulting them would not be acceptable to them.
Speaking at a meeting of Aadibasi Janjati Rastriya Utthan Pratishtan, Professor Om Gurung said that political parties must take the indigenous communities into confidence in any effort at forging consensus on major issues.
"Political consensus is a must, but the boundary of the consensus building process must be expanded to accommodate indigenous, Dalit, Madhesi, Muslim among other marginalized communities," he added.
Chairman of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) Rajkumar Lekhi stated that the consensus reached among the three major political parties--UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, failed to make a breakthrough. He added that the leaders who were responsible for the dissolution of the CA should be punished.
A leader of CPN (Maoist) Suresh Aale Magar stressed on the need for formation of an alliance among indigenous leaders to exert pressure for their common cause, saying that the issues of ethnic communities has not been addressed yet.
Addressing the program, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayankaji Shrestha said that the process of change would not get momentum until the issues of indigenous communities are addressed.
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Indigenous Leaders Seek Role In Consensus Building
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