Ban and Maithripala reaffirm commitment

Ban and Maithripala reaffirm commitment

October 24, 2015 09:30

 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President Maithripala Sirisena have reaffirmed their commitment to work together as Sri Lanka today marked 60 years since becoming a Member State.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the 70th anniversary of the United Nations is an opportunity to highlight its many and enduring achievements — and to strengthen our collective resolve to do more to promote peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.

He said that he is pleased that Sri Lanka joins the UN on this path, as Sri Lanka marks 60 years since becoming a Member State.

“Sri Lanka has contributed significantly to the work of the United Nations, from its peacekeeping operations to its specialized agencies, and Sri Lankan nationals have served with distinction in varied roles. I thank Sri Lanka for its efforts to help realize our shared goals, and I look forward to strengthening our partnership as we work together to overcome shared threats and seize shared opportunities,” he said.

President Maithripala Sirisena said that for the people of Sri Lanka, the occasion marking 60 years since becoming a Member State is of special significance.

“Having reaffirmed our faith at the Presidential election in January 2015, in democratic principles which have guided our nation for long years, Sri Lanka marks the 60th anniversary of its membership in the UN by renewing our engagement and reaffirming our commitment to the UN Charter. In our 60 year journey, many Sri Lankans have contributed to the work of the UN and its agencies including its norm setting process, peacekeeping and development work. At this historic juncture, I reaffirm Sri Lanka’s commitment to continue working with the UN for the benefit of our peoples,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, in his message to mark the occasion, said that through Sri Lanka’s 60 year journey with the UN, Sri Lanka has contributed to the UN system in many ways.

He said that at this historic juncture, when the UN celebrates its 70th anniversary, Sri Lanka draws inspiration from the principles, ideals and values enshrined in the Charter, in Sri Lanka’s own journey towards peace, reconciliation and achieving equitable and sustainable development. (Colombo Gazette)

நெத்தனியாகுவின் பாசிச வரலாற்று மோசடியை முறியடிப்போம்!

ENB Poster

Benjamin Netanyahu

In The House of the Dead the late historian Tony Judt explains how the Holocaust is the formative and foundational event of modern Europe. The unimaginable horrors of the Nazi death pits, death camps and death marches haunted the continent for the next 60 years in unpredictable and unmistakable ways.

Twelve years on, even Judt would probably be surprised by Benjamin Netanyahu hijacking the six million victims of the Holocaust for short-term political expediency.

In a speech on Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister argued that Hitler had no plans for the Final Solution until he was persuaded by an Arab cleric called Haj Amin al-Hussein, who – concerned about the growing number of Jewish settlers in what was then the British protectorate of Palestine – suggested the Nazi leader should “burn them”.

This is such an egregious act of historical revisionism that, were he to repeat this claim as he visits Germany, Netanyahu could be liable to arrest and prosecution. Under the German code of incitement anyone who "denies or downplays" the role of Nazism in the holocaust can face a prison term of up to five years.

READ MORE

Netanyahu blames Holocaust on Palestinian leader

For the avoidance of all doubt, there is no evidence that the Grand Mufti had any impact in Hitler’s long held hatred of Jews, or his plans to eradicate them and other native populations. For the best account of Hitler’s racist imperial vision, Tim Snyder’s recently published book, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, shows the ideological foundations to Nazism were neo-Darwinian theories of racial competition.

The ultimate goal of all of Hitler’s policies was the extermination of all the "subhumans" to the east to create "Lebensraum", or living space for pure German Aryans in a new Reich. The Jews, because of their cross-border ubiquity, were the first targets of Nazi ferocity (after homosexuals and the physically handicapped), as they embodied in their ideology all the diseases of modernity, from modern art and psychiatry, to Bolshevism and Capitalism. But they weren’t alone. The Nazi’s killed an even higher proportion of Central Europe’s Roma population, and had the invasion of Russia succeeded, they had plans to starve most the Slavs under occupation to death.

Remembering the Holocaust

Of course, Netanyhu’s revisionism has nothing to do with actual history, and everything to do with the political demands of the present. By overplaying the role of an Arab cleric, he is trying to use the Jewish dead to undermine Palestinians, who have recently become locked in a deadly back and forth with Israelis on the streets of Jerusalem. Some are already calling the violent cycle of retributions that are taking place on the streets the "third intifada".

This misuse of history is a desperate gamble to turn the various separate conflicts over land rights, property ownership, access to water and the al Aqsa Mosque, into a binary conflict of good against ultimate Swastika-bearing evil. By making Muslims the original proponents of genocide against the Jews, both revenge and pre-emptive retaliation are justifiable. By claiming that Palestinians were responsible for the Final Solution, Netanyahu can gather all his enemies under single banner of evil, and kill or expel them with moral authority.


READ MORE

Germany forced to clarify it was responsible for the Holocaust

The reality of Israel and the occupied territories is somewhat different. Most Jews do not live in Israel. Many Israeli citizens aren’t Jewish. And many Palestinans aren’t Muslim. But demagoguery always requires summoning up a last apocalyptic battle. Traducing history is the least of Netanyahu’s concerns.

Strangely, the importance of history, and learning the lessons of the past, is best exemplified by what was once the worst example: Germany

In response to Netanyahu’s bizarre claim, the German chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to wrest back “full responsibility” for the Holocaust: “This is taught in German schools for good reason, it must never be forgotten,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffan Seibert said on Wednesday: “And I see no reason to change our view of history in any way.”  He added: “We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own.”

Once famed for Prussian militarism, brutal secret police and a surly sense of national victimhood, Germany has now become a beacon of liberalism. As Merkel spokesman has pointed out, a lot of this has to do with education. That the realities of history, however unpleasant, should be taught in all schools was a principle established in the 50s by the then German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. The rise of Nazism has been a compulsory subject ever since because, as Judt puts it “the health of German Democracy required that Nazism be remembered rather than forgotten.”

Any visitor to Germany can witness this openness about the past. While Brits are now embarrassed to bring up the subject of Hitler, Berlin cab drivers with raise the subject without apology. To Germans, the past is a nightmare which needs constant analysis and recollection to stop it recurring.

Netanyahu’s intervention shows, at least at the top of its political class, Israel is doing a very bad job at learning the lessons of the past. As the saying goes, it will therefore be condemned to repeat them, while Palestinians are accused of crimes they’ve never committed. As far as cases of mistaken identity go, it could well be one of the worst.

``விதைத்தோம் தமிழினியின் வித்துடலை``

``விதைத்தோம் தமிழினியின் வித்துடலை``

முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் யுத்த ஒய்வுக்குப் பின்னால், சிங்களத்தின் போர்க் கைதியாக இருந்த சூழ்நிலையின் விளைவாக, புற்று நோய் பெருகி சாவைத் தழுவிய விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் முன்னாள் மகளிர் அரசியல்துறைப் பொறுப்பாளர் தமிழினியின் (சிவகாமி ஜெயக்குமரன்),  வித்துடல் இன்று பிற்பகல் பரந்தன், கோரக்கன்கட்டு மயானத்தில் விதைக்கப்பட்டது.

முன்னதாக, பரந்தன், சிவபுரத்தில் உள்ள தமிழினியின் இல்லத்தில், ஆயிரக்கணக்கான  பொதுமக்கள், அவருக்கு அஞ்சலி செலுத்தினர்.

இதையடுத்து, தமிழினியின் வித்துடல், பேரணியாக கோரக்கன் கட்டு மயானத்துக்கு எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டது.

அங்கு அவரது கணவன், இறுதிக் கிரியைகளை மேற்கொண்ட பின்னர், வித்துடல் (20-10-2015) அன்று விதைக்கப்பட்டது.

உறைந்த உயிர்: மனையில் தமிழினி

தமிழினி:வாசல் தாண்டி

வீதியில் தோரணம்

வழியனுப்ப வழி நடப்போர்

மண்குழி நோக்கி

மயானத்தில்  மக்கள் திரள்

போர்சுமந்த தமிழினியை தோள் சுமக்கும் தேசம்

வித்துடல் விதைப்பு

இயற்கை மரணங்களா? இன அழிப்புக் கொலைகளா?

Migrant Labourer Hung Upside Down And Beaten To Death In Punjab Factory

ENB Poster Punjab Migrant Murder
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தற்கால நிகழ்வு:
பொற்கோவில் பூமியில் கற்காலத் தண்டனை!
=================================
Migrant Labourer Hung Upside Down And Beaten To Death In Punjab Factory, Video Of Murder Goes Viral

Deepu Madhavan India Times
October 18, 2015

What is more punishable, a crime or to encourage one? What is more cruel to beat a man to death or to watch the ordeal and egg on the murderer.

In a shocking video, that will make us question the existence of humanity among us, a poor migrant labourer was tied up, hung upside down and brutally beaten to death inside a Punjab factory.

The original 34-minute video of the ordeal and many shorter clippings have since gone viral.

The video was shot by someone on the scene who apparently didn't do anything to stop the killing. During the video at times, you can hear a voice telling the assaulter to release the victim but noone physically intervenes.

Morever these pleas are lost among the Punjabi abuses hurled at the victim and his own screams that will surely haunt your conscience. One of the onlookers can be seen smiling uncontrollably as the victim, identified as Khankot resident Ram Singh, spun around when he was hung upside down from a pulley. The main accused has been identified as Jaspreet Singh and he is on the run.

Wife of deceased Raji said that her husband Ram worked in a foundry at Focal Point. She said that few days back there was a theft in the factory for which her husband was being blamed. "Some people even came to our house and threatened my husband," she said. "On Thursday, a few people came to our house in Khankot village in an car and forcibly took away my husband. They beat him mercilessly and threw him on road. Later his body was recovered from T Point at Mehta Road," she added.

One of the resident of Khankot, Navpreet Singh said that they saw some men coming into village and forcibly bundling Ram Singh into car and later they received information that his body was recovered. "We are horrified by the incident and want strict action against those responsible for his death," said Singh.

SHO, police station Mohkampura Narinder Kaur said that they had booked a case under section 302, 365 and 34 IPC against Jaspreet Singh and two unidentified persons. She said all the accused were absconding.

(With inputs from Yudhvir Rana, TNN)

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Hung upside down, migrant labourer mercilessly beaten to death
Yudhvir Rana, TNN | Oct 17, 2015, 10.11AM IST
Times Of India

A grab from the video that has gone viral.

AMRITSAR: A shocking video of a migrant laborer being mercilessly thrashed, even as some people smile at him and hurl abuses in Pujnabi, has surfaced . The man identified as Ram Singh apparently died of unbearable pain and injuries caused by the beating.

The 34 minutes video of Ram Singh being given thrashing with iron pipes shows him hanging from a pulley, apparently in the same factory where he worked. The incident was openly recorded by someone present at the spot and later parts of it were leaked. The main accused in the case has been identified as Jaspreet Singh.

Wife of deceased Raji said that her husband Ram worked in a foundry at Focal Point. She said that few days back there was a theft in the factory for which her husband was being blamed. "Some people even came to our house and threatened my husband," she said. "On Thursday, a few people came to our house in Khankot village in an car and forcibly took away my husband. They beat him mercilessly and threw him on road. Later his body was recovered from T Point at Mehta Road," she added.


One of the resident of Khankot, Navpreet Singh said that they saw some men coming into village and forcibly bundling Ram Singh into car and later they received information that his body was recovered. "We are horrified by the incident and want strict action against those responsible for his death," said Singh.

SHO, police station Mohkampura Narinder Kaur said that they had booked a case under section 302, 365 and 34 IPC against Jaspreet Singh and two unidentified persons. She said all the accused were absconding.

===============================================================

Daily Mail UK
Migrant worker dies in India after being strung up by his hands and feet and beaten for 34 MINUTES by his boss while other workers filmed on mobiles... but did nothing 

Shocking video purports to show a migrant worker being beaten to death

Filmed in northern India, he is seen hanging chained by his legs and arms

A group of men stand around him, while one strikes him with a bat

Police have confirmed they are investigating, and have identified suspects

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 15:38, 18 October 2015 | UPDATED: 18:29, 18 October 2015
   
A shocking video has surfaced of a migrant worker being beaten to death in India following allegations of workplace theft.

The film purports to show migrant worker Ram Singh held captive and hanging chained by his hands and feet after he was accused of stealing.

While most the people seen in the video stand by doing nothing, one man, armed with a bat, repeatedly strikes him while he cries out in pain.

The video purports to show Ram Singh being held captive during an in ordeal that ended in his death

The video purports to show Ram Singh being held captive during an in ordeal that ended in his death

The unedited version of the video, filmed in the city of Amritsar and which lasts for 34 minutes, is too distressing to publish.

It is not clear who filmed the brutal assault, but it was alleged to have been a punishment inflicted by an employer following an allegation of workplace theft.

The country's north is home to a large population of migrant workers, where human rights abuses are often reported among workers.

The Times of India reported the video was filmed in the factory where Ram Singh worked.
His wife explained there was a theft at the factory and her husband was blamed, with a group of men turning up at the couple's home to threaten him.

She said: 'On Thursday, a few people came to our house in Khankot village in a car and forcibly took away my husband.

'They beat him mercilessly and threw him on [the] road. Later his body was recovered.'
Her account of the events matched that given by a nearby resident, who also described seeing him being bundled into a car.

India Times reported bystanders can also be heard hurling abuse at him in Punjabi.

A spokesperson at the nearby police office confirmed it had opened a case report against three people, who had not yet been found.

The incident occurred at a factory in the city of Amritsar, northern India, which is famed for its Golden Temple (pictured)

==================

Video of Amritsar labourer’s brutal murder goes viral, no arrests yet
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Amritsar |  Updated: Oct 18, 2015 10:38 IST

A video grab showing Amritsar factory worker Ram Singh being beaten up. (HT PHOTO)

A video of the brutal murder of a Nepalese migrant, who was hung upside down and attacked with iron rods, has gone viral, sending shockwaves among city residents.

Ram Singh, a cleaner at a factory in the Focal Point area, was found murdered on Friday. The police are yet to make any arrest in the case.

The video shows Ram Singh being brutally thrashed with iron rods by his assailants as he pleads them to let him go. Sources said the accused, who are believed to be the owners of the factory where Ram Singh worked, suspected his involvement in a theft case ago and wanted him to confess to it.
Police have booked three persons under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder),365 (kidnapping) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) on a complaint filed by Ram Singh’s wife Raji.

One of the accused has been identified as Jaspreet Singh, a resident of New Focal Point.

Raji has alleged that the accused had come to her house on Thursday and threatened her husband with dire consequences.

She said the accused then forcibly took away Ram Singh with them.

She said her husband’s body was found dumped at T-point Mehta Road.

ADCP City Harvinder Singh said the probe has revealed that the accused belonged to Nepal. But he had been working in Amritsar for the past 15 years. He said raids were being conducted at different places to arrest the accused.

பஞ்சாப் தொழிலாளி அநுபவித்து மாண்ட துயரின் பயங்கரம்!

On Camera, Factory Worker Hung Upside Down, Beaten To Death

Amritsar | Reported by Anand Kumar Patel, Edited by Divyanshu Dutta Roy | Updated: October 17, 2015 19:10 IST

On Camera, Factory Worker Hung Upside Down, Beaten To Death

Click to Play

The video shows the factory owner Jaspreet Singh and two others take turns to beat the man, laughing and hurling abuses in Punjabi.

AMRITSAR:  Strung up by his legs and hands from the ceiling, upside down, and brutally beaten with an iron rod, a factory worker has died in an incident in Amritsar after its video went viral on social media.

The 47-minute video clip believed to be shot by one of the factory workers on a mobile phone shows the man, identified as Ram Singh, being thrashed mercilessly. Police are trying to find out who filmed it.

Ram, a native of Bihar, was accused of theft by the factory owner and taken away by his henchmen on Thursday. Ram's body was found the next day with injuries all over.

The video purportedly shows the factory owner Jaspreet Singh and two others take turns to beat the man, laughing and hurling abuses in Punjabi.

"They came for him at around 8 in the morning and took him away in a car. He thought they had come to take him to work," Ram's wife Rajji said.

Police have filed charges of murder against the factory owner and two others. All three are absconding.

"We will catch them soon," Narinder Kaur, the investigating officer, said.

Story First Published: October 17, 2015 18:57 IST

Former LTTE Women's Political Wing Leader Thamilini Dies Of Cancer Featured

Former LTTE Women's Political Wing Leader Thamilini Dies Of Cancer Featured

Sunday, 18 October 2015 12:56

Subramaniam Sivakamy Alias ‘Col’ Thamilini, the ex-leader of the LTTE Women's Political Wing died of cancer at the Maharagama cancer hospital in the early hours of this morning, at the age of 43.

Thamilini, who joined the LTTE in 1991, she took part in some battles in her early years in the LTTE. Then she was transferred to the Political Division.

She surrendered to the security forces at the end of the war in 2009 with her family, disguised as a civilian. However, she was soon located and arrested.

She was ''rehabilitated''  and released in 2013.

After her release there were speculations that she may contest the Northern Provincial Council Elections, perhaps under the then governing UPFA ticket.

But its not materialized.

NEPAL FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT INDIA, TALK OVER FUEL CRISIS

NEPAL FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT INDIA, TALK OVER FUEL CRISIS
NewsmediaOct 16, 2015World News

“I am looking forward to my meeting with the external affairs minister of India”. Speaking in parliament after his election as the Prime Minister, Oli said the undeclared blockade was an act by India against the bilateral treaties and international covenants, and India should lift it. The Madhesis, along with several other small ethnic groups, also want the states to be larger and to be given more autonomy over local matters.

Nepal is sandwiched between India and China, which themselves have a festering border dispute. He said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will receive him and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is to call on him.

Since the protests began in southern Nepal with the Madhesi ethnic group, neighboring Indian has restricted fuel supplies, causing severe shortages.

The main border point at Birgunj, which handles 60-70 percent of India-Nepal trade, remained closed Tuesday while protesters continued to rally on the Nepalese side.

The Nepal government had formed a panel headed by Thapa to take diplomatic initiatives with India to ensure normal supplies of fuel and other essential commodities.

Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli shakes hands with his predecessor Sushil Koirala after being administered the oath of office on Monday. “The visit will provide us an opportunity to discuss all issues of mutual concern as well as to review and further strengthen the India-Nepal relations”, Swarup added.

BIRGANJ, Nepal (AP) – The line of parked cargo trucks stretches at least 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the Nepalese border. As and when the disruptions have slightly eased we have tried to send supplies through.

Clarifying his point, he said of the nine crossing points for carrying commercial cargo on the border, five to six points have been constantly in use.

Giving the latest position on truck movement, he said 733 commercial vehicles moved through seven crossing points in the past 24 hours. Some have been waiting on the Indian side for 45 days.

He said nearly 2,500 trucks – 1,500-2,000 at Raxaul and 750 at Sanauli – were waiting to cross over.

“The China-Nepal Jilong border crossing that was damaged during the Nepal earthquake at present has reopened”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.

But India insists the problem is Nepal’s, and that Indian truck drivers won’t resume their deliveries because they are afraid to cross into the middle of a protest camp.

Nepal Rations Fuel as Political Crisis With India Worsens

ASIA PACIFIC

Nepal Rations Fuel as Political Crisis With India Worsens
By BHADRA SHARMA and NIDA NAJARSEPT. 28, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal began rationing fuel on Monday to cope with a worsening shortage brought on by continuing unrest over the country’s new Constitution and a dispute with neighboring India.

The country imports all of its fuel from India, but tanker trucks carrying fresh supplies have been blocked from crossing the border since late last week. “Things are completely out of order,” said Deepak Baral, a spokesman for the state-run Nepal Oil Corporation. “What we are doing now is just to continue emergency-only services.”

Mr. Baral said strict limits would be imposed on the sale of fuel to taxis, school buses, private cars, motorcycles and scooters. “Despite all these austerity measures, we will run out of fuel within the next 10 days,” he said.

Nepali officials blamed India for the shortage, saying it had ordered its border officials not to let the fuel trucks cross. But Indian officials said the disruption had been caused by mass protests in Nepal against the Constitution.

“It is an economic blockade of Nepal,” said Mahesh Basnet, Nepal’s industry minister. “India imposed it after some of its suggestions raised internally regarding the new Constitution were not addressed.” He added that the move was igniting “anti-India sentiment” in the country.

Demonstrators in Kathmandu shouted anti-India slogans on Monday to protest the fuel shortage.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs denied ordering any blockade, and Indian officials said sit-ins on the Nepalese side of the border by members of the Madhesi ethnic group, who have been protesting the Constitution for more than a month, were disrupting trade across the border.

“There is no blockade from our side,” Vikas Swarup, the spokesman for the ministry, wrote in an email on Monday.

India has expressed concern several times over the protests and violence in Nepal related to the new Constitution, which was adopted on Sept. 20. Concern has been met with anger in Kathmandu, where there is resistance to what is perceived to be Indian interference in Nepalese affairs.

More than 40 people were killed in western Nepal and its southern plains, home to the Madhesi and ethnic Tharu communities, during constitution-related protests this year. The groups have said the Constitution curtails their rights, and they demanded that Nepal’s political subdivisions be redrawn to afford them more political power.

Though the violence has ebbed, the protests appeared to have taken on a new form through sit-ins at border posts.

The impasse has underscored Nepal’s profound economic reliance on India, particularly after April’s devastating earthquake destroyed Nepal’s land trade routes with China.

About 1,000 trucks have been waiting on the Indian side of the border since Thursday, according to Kamlesh Kumar, an Indian customs official in Raxaul in Bihar State.

Hundreds of Madhesi protesters have staged sit-ins at border crossings that have lasted for days, said A. K. Singh, a senior official of the Sashastra Seema Bal, an Indian security force that oversees the India-Nepal border. Mr. Singh said it was impossible for India to intervene because the demonstrations were in Nepal.

Abhay Kumar, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, said truckers were afraid to enter Nepal because of security concerns. “A political solution has to be found to this issue,” Mr. Kumar said.

Nepali officials counter that the sit-ins took place in a “no man’s land” between Indian and Nepalese border posts and that Nepal needed the help of Indian border forces to clear them away.

Mr. Basnet, Nepal’s industry minister, said Indian customs officials had kept fuel trucks from crossing into Nepal even in areas unaffected by the protests and sit-ins, like the country’s far west.

The controversy comes after more than a year of friendly relations between Nepal and India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India visited Nepal in 2014, and India pledged $1 billion for reconstruction after the earthquake.

On Friday, Nepali officials summoned India’s ambassador, Ranjit Rae, to the Foreign Ministry over the fuel crisis, and Nepal’s commerce and supplies minister went to Delhi on Monday to meet with officials.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala of Nepal visited Tharu and Madhesi areas over the weekend to meet with local leaders and security officials, a step many in Nepal had urged him to take during the violent protests. Nepali lawmakers have said concerns over the boundaries of provinces can be addressed through amendments to the Constitution.

In Kathmandu, far fewer cars than usual were on the roads. Drivers waited in long lines hoping to buy fuel, and many filling stations posted signs saying they were sold out.

“I have been waiting for fuel since yesterday morning, and still, 150 vehicles are ahead of me,” said Shukraraj Thing, a Kathmandu taxi driver waiting on Monday at a fuel pump.

“India always objects when Nepal tries to move ahead on its own,” he said. “Nepal should clear its roads connecting to China, instead of relying fully on India.”

Bhadra Sharma reported from Kathmandu, and Nida Najar from New Delhi.

Source:  New York Times

Nepal Ambassador: ‘Our Constitution better than (India’s)’

Nepal Ambassador: ‘Our Constitution better than (India’s)’  

The Indian Express reported Wednesday that India has conveyed to Nepal’s leadership the seven amendments it wants in their Constitution to ensure it is acceptable to the Madhesis and Janjatis.

Written by Shubhajit Roy | New Delhi | Updated: September 24, 2015 11:33 am

Deep Kumar Upadhyay in New Delhi Wednesday. (Source: Express Photo by Shubhajit Roy)
With India raising concerns over Nepal’s newly promulgated Constitution not taking care of the Madhesis and Janjatis, Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay Wednesday said his country’s Constitution was the “most progressive in South Asia”, but added that it is an “open document which can be amended”.

His deputy in the Nepal embassy Krishna Prasad Dhakal, meanwhile, said, “Nepal’s Constitution is better than the Indian Constitution since it takes care of minorities as well as women.”
The Indian Express reported Wednesday that India has conveyed to Nepal’s leadership the seven amendments it wants in their Constitution to ensure it is acceptable to the Madhesis and Janjatis.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Upadhyay said that if the Indian side had conveyed the “suggestions or reservations or expectations, and I would have known timely (sic), this situation would have been avoided. This is not a good situation for both countries”.

“If before the public statements, if we had known (about India’s reservations), then something could have changed (sic),” the envoy said.

Praising Nepal’s Constitution, he said it is a “very progressive, very inclusive, participatory, gender equality and human rights friendly” document.

Dhakal, meanwhile, pointed out: “Nepal’s Constitution has both first-past-the-post system as well as proportional representation. This combination of the two ensures that minorities’ representation is taken care of.” He added that the Indian Constitution only ensures the first-past-the-post system.

Dhakal also said Nepal’s newly promulgated Constitution guarantees 33 per cent reservation for women, which is not the case with the Indian Constitution. “In these aspects, Nepal’s Constitution is better than the Indian Constitution, since it takes care of minorities as well as women,” Dhakal said.
Asked if the Constitution could be amended in the wake of protests and suggestions from India, Upadhyay said, “Why not? It is an open document that can be amended, it is just a beginning. But we have to follow certain procedures, the amendments have to be passed by two-thirds of the majority.”
Cautioning that “nothing can be done immediately”, he added, “The only thing that can happen is that there can be a political agreement or understanding between the parties.”

He said Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who was due to leave for New York Wednesday, has decided to cancel his trip and stay back to resolve the situation. “The three major political parties are talking to the Madhesi groups, Hill groups — all those who are dissatisfied — to find an end to the crisis. They will form a peace dialogue committee very soon.”

Describing the current situation in Nepal as “painful”, Upadhyay also refuted New Delhi’s assertion that the Constitution is not broad-based. 

“Almost 90 per cent of members in the Constituent Assembly voted for the Constitution… that is the truth… what more widest possible consensus can you expect,” Upadhyay*  said.

*Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay

Dhakal added that the members included those from Madhes and Terai regions.
Meanwhile, K P Oli , chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) Wednesday said they would not let “naturalised citizens” occupy head of state or any other key constitutional position.

“Under no circumstances shall we amend the constitution to pave the way for naturalised citizens to occupy the post of head of state, head of the government and constitutional bodies,” he said. Nepal has two categories of citizenship — by descent and naturalised — and Madhesis and Janjatis fall in the latter category. With Yubaraj Ghimire in Kathmandu