Nepal Madhesi leaders inspired by Jinnah: CPN-UML

Kathmandu, July 13: A top Communist leader in Nepal has accused the terai-based Madhesi leaders of following in the footsteps of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and LTTE chief Prabhakaran of Sri Lanka as lawmakers began discussions on a key amendment for incorporating greater autonomy for the plains bordering India.

Ramchandra Jha, central committee member of Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) alleged that the Madhesi leaders, whose main demand is to declare Madhes a 'single autonomous region', are following in the footsteps of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who divided the Indian subcontinent on the basis of religion.

The Madhesi parties, who disrupted the proceedings in the Constituent Assembly for 12 days, want terai as a separate state based on the principle of 'one Madhes one region' in an attempt to implement the two nation theory in Nepal, Jha said in an article entitled 'the dream to become Prabhakaran and Jinnah' in the weekly Nepal, a sister publication of the Kathmandu Post.

Jha, who is also chief whip of the CPN-UML, said the majority of the people residing in the southern plains prefer to have multiple region in terai.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the Madhesi parties boycotted the house meeting, claiming their demands were not addressed fully in the new constitution amendment bill tabled today.

The Madhesi parties are demanding a 'single autonomous region' for the community living in the plains while the government's amendment proposal has used the word "autonomous regions for Madhesi, indigenous ethnic communities and people of backward region".

The Madhesi parties have been pressing for incorporating their two key demands -- declaring terai an autonomous region and recruitment of Madhesis in Nepal Army on proportionate basis, while amending the constitut