Nepal has announced plans to establish a committee to review disputed provisions within the country’s new constitution which sparked deadly protests and a crippling border blockade that ended earlier this month.
Demonstrators belonging to southern Nepal’s Madhesi ethnic minority had obstructed a major trade route since September to protest the new charter, sparking debilitating shortages of fuel and other vital supplies across the landlocked Himalayan nation.
More than 50 people have died in clashes between police and Madhesi protesters, who say the federal state borders laid out in the constitution will limit their representation in parliament.
“The cabinet has decided to form a political committee... an 11-member committee (which) will study the demarcation of federal states in the constitution,” Som Prasad Pandey, the minister of industry, said late on Thursday.
“The committee will present its recommendations within three months,” Pandey added.
The decision comes on the eve of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s trip to India, his first foreign visit since becoming premier in October, as he seeks to repair strained ties with New Delhi, which has criticised the charter and urged dialogue with the Madhesis.
But protesting parties said they would not back the new committee without a prior commitment to revise internal borders.
“The government adopted the constitution by force... this committee has also been formed without our support,” said Laxman Lal Karna, vice-chair of the Sadbhawana party that represents the Madhesi minority.
“How do they expect to resolve these issues without involving those who are protesting? Our struggle will continue.”
In an effort to end the deadlock, parliament last month amended the constitution to increase the Madhesi presence in government bodies through proportional representation.
But Madhesis, who share close cultural, linguistic and family links with Indians living across the border, say the amendments do not address their main demand on federal borders.
The constitution, the first drawn up by elected representatives, was meant to cement peace and bolster Nepal’s transformation to a democratic republic after decades of political instability and a 10-year Maoist insurgency.
But ongoing discussions between the government and protesting parties over the charter have failed to yield an agreement.