Nepal Maoists declare two more states on Monday

KATHMANDU, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nepali main opposition party Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) declared two more states on Monday, taking the count of ethnicity and region based autonomous states to six.

According to the nepalnews.com report, UCPN-M Chairman Prachanda declared Sherpa autonomous state amid a special ceremony organized in Solukhombu in northeastern Nepal Monday afternoon.

Similarly, UCPN-M politburo member Gopal Kirati inaugurated the temporary headquarter of Kirant autonomous state in Diktel of Taplejung, endorsing a declaration for Kirat autonomous states made by the party about a month ago.

The party has already declared Kochila, Limbuwan, Seti-Mahakaliand Tharuwan autonomous states since Dec. 11.

The party now set to declare seven more autonomous states in the next four days.

The UCPN-M had on Nov. 25 unveiled its plan to declare 13 autonomous states based on ethnicity and region within Dec. 11-18.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has said the UCPN-M's decision to declare federal states would invite political confrontation and urged the party to withdraw the decision if they wanted timely drafting of constitution.