Foreign Secretary Jaishankar Arrives in Kathmandu

During his meeting with President Ram Baran Yadav at the Rastrapati Bhawan, Jaishankar, who is here as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy, underlined the need to address the concerns of all sides while promulgating the new statute, President’s press advisor Rajendra Dahal told PTI.

The new Constitution of the Federal, Democratic, Republic Nepal would institutionalise the achievements of the Peoples Movement of 2006, Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey had said on Tuesday.

The constitution was pushed through the assembly despite protests by ethnic minority groups.

There have been weeks of protests against the draft in southern Nepal, some of which have turned violent, with at least 40 people killed in clashes between protesters and security forces. These commissions have a mandate to receive complaints or recommend changes in the laws, policies, and practices of areas that discriminate against or deny rights to their respective communities.

The ruling NC-UML and the main opposition UCPN (M) had invited the Madhesi and Tharu leaders for talks before beginning clause-wise vote on the constitution.

Elijah BrownElijah Brown, chief of staff with the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, had spearheaded an worldwide coalition-with significant Baptist involvement-calling on Nepal’s 601-member Constituent Assembly to reject language in the constitution that criminalizes “any act to convert another person from one religion to another”.

The government of Japan has also welcomed the recent development of Nepal made in the field of the constitution writing process. The six previous constitutions were instead drafted by boards of crown-appointed experts.

Political leaders counter that no deal would have pleased all groups, and point to the urgency of ending the long stand-off over the constitution so that the country can start rebuilding after a devastating natural disaster in April.

Work on the bill began in 2008 and was initially supposed to finish by 2010, but the Maoists were unable to secure enough support for the two-thirds majority needed to push it through parliament.

During his meeting with Nepalese leaders, Jaishankar is also learnt to have expressed India’s concern over the escalating violence in the southern Nepal bordering Indian states over the issue of federal structure. The leadership will have to decided how to handle the agendas and activities of both the extreme right and left. “We call upon the people of Nepal, in particular the courts, to continue to build a country that allows for people of all faiths to live in peace and well-being”.