NEPAL: Outrage: Maoists declare Kathmandu ‘free’


BY YUBARAJ GHIMIRE

Casting a shadow on the Nepal peace process, Maoists today announced that capital Kathmandu would henceforth be called the autonomous ‘Newa republic province’ where the dominant Newar community would have more rights than others.

Prachanda, chief of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), lit a candle outside the original royal palace to make the declaration of the ‘Newa republic province’, a move other political parties condemned as the “most retrograde step”.

It was seen to be symbolically challenging the political unification of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan Shah who conquered the Kathmandu Valley in 1768 by defeating its Newar rulers.

Maoists have so far declared half-a-dozen “autonomous republic provinces”, ignoring warnings that such moves could lead to fragmentation of the country.

Prachanda said the Newar community would enjoy “special powers” and “in due course of time, all communities will enjoy equal rights”. He raised the ‘Newa Rajya Zindabad’ slogan three times.

Bishwakant Mainali, chairman of the Nepal Bar Association, said: “The move is out and out a retrograde step and against all principles the Maoists have been preaching.”

Prominent leaders from Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) also slammed the Maoists for “appropriating powers of the Constituent Assembly” and making “efforts to sabotage the peace process” through unilateral declaration of such provinces.

source: Indian express