AMN /
HIMALYAN NATION OF NEPAL today adopted a secular democratic Constitution amid celebrations and protests. The new Constitution was unveiled at a special ceremony in Parliament in Kathmandu by Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav.
The statute was framed after seven years of painstaking deliberations marking Nepal’s transition into a fully secular and democratic republic from a Hindu monarchy.
The new constitution took more than seven years. It defines the majority Hindu nation as a secular republic divided into seven federal provinces.
National flags soared high and firecrackers went off as thousands of Nepalese thronged streets to mark the Himalayan nation’s transition. There were processions at different places in Kathmandu to celebrate the occasion, with people decorating streets and lighting candles.
The demand for a new Constitution in Nepal , which was a monarchy, was raised by Maoist rebels whose 10-year civil war ended with a peace deal in 2006.
Madhesi and Tharu activists have launched a protest against the Constitution which has claimed the lives of 40 people in the Terai region in the past month. People in the Madhes and Tharu belt of the central and western plains of the country are against provincial boundaries demarcated in the new Constitution. They are also opposed to changes to the proportional representation system which they claim will leave them under-represented.
India has extended its best wishes to the people of Nepal over adoption of new constitution. External Affairs Ministry, in a statement, said India has always supported a federal, democratic, republican and inclusive Constitution.
However, expressing concerns over the continued violence in several parts of the country bordering India, New Delhi urged for resolving differences through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence and intimidation for broad-based ownership and acceptance.
Meanwhile, minority Madhesi groups are protesting over a seven province federal structure enshrined in the new constitution while demanding the retention of country’s Hindu character.
Reports say that in the southern town of Birgunj, at least one person was killed and several injured after security forces opened fire on a crowd that defied curfew. Security has been tightened at important government and public institutions in Kathmandu.