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Amending Constitution For Citizenship And Madheshi Recruitment For Nepal Army
By KTM Metro reporter
March 14, 2012: the current coalition government of UCPN-Maoist and UDMF have decided to opt for amending the Interim Constitution to make room for granting citizenship by birth and for recruiting soldiers from Madheshis for the Nepal Army.
Partners in the UDMF have been putting pressure on the current government to provide the Madheshi people with citizenship certificates and recruit soldiers from the Madheshi people following the four-point deal the UCPN-Maoist and they have reached in November 2011 before forming the current government.
The current government has attempted to provide the citizenships to Madheshis and recruit soldiers from the Madheshi people through the administrative procedures provoking the strong opposition from the NC and CPN-UML leaders, and some advocates to take these issues to the Supreme Court of Nepal that has issued the government directives not to enforce its decisions on these two issues until the ruling of the Supreme court of Nepal.
Amending the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 needs two-thirds votes in the parliament. Whether the coalition partners could garner the votes required for amending the constitution remains to be seen, as the NC and CPN-UML lawmakers and some of the lawmakers belonging to smaller parties will certainly not vote for amending the constitution to suit the need of the Madheshis.
Recently Deputy Prime Minister Bijya Gacchedhar holding the portfolio of home affairs has explained to the Madheshis in public that the government has not been able to provide the citizenship certificates and the group recruitments of soldiers from the Madhehis due to the stay order of the Supreme Court of Nepal.
