KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 16

The Ministry of Home Affairs has formed a five-member study committee to address the citizenship issue. It was formed under the coordination of Tokraj Pandey, the head of the policy, planning, monitoring, and evaluation division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Rishiram Tiwari told THT that the committee was formed to investigate current issues concerning citizenship laws and regulations. 'The committee is expected to submit the report in 15 days,' he said.

The committee comprises the under-secretary at the Prime Minister's Office and the Council of Ministers, the under-secretary of the Ministry of Law, a representative from the Law Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the under-secretary of the Citizenship and National Identity Card Management Branch. The committee has been given until October 1 to submit its study report. The committee has been tasked with identifying the current problems that citizens face.

Furthermore, it has been tasked with analysing the existing legal system in order to solve the problem and recommending laws, regulations, and procedures that should be improved. The committee may invite people with citizenship issues as well as subject matter experts as needed.

On Monday morning, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak presided over a discussion at the Ministry of Home Affairs on the draft procedure 2024 for issuing and managing Nepali citizenship certificates.

Executive Director of the Forum for Women, Law, and Development, Sabin Shrestha, welcomed the Home Ministry's decision to set up a task force to address citizenship issues. He said that despite amendments made to the Citizenship Act last year, many eligible citizens were still deprived of citizenship, and the task force was expected to identify those restrictive procedures of the Citizenship Directives and suggest remedial measures.

Shrestha further said, 'Many eligible citizens whose fathers were not traced or who were abandoned by their fathers and orphans who were raised by their relatives are still deprived due to restrictive provisions of Citizenship Directives framed in 2007, long before the amendment made to the Citizenship Act.'

Previously, the Parliament amended the Nepal Citizenship Act last year with the goal of granting citizenship to eligible citizens, but in practice, many eligible citizens continue to face difficulties, red tape, and delays.

'Bhojpur District Administration Officers went to Prakash Tamang's house to issue his citizenship after a 'Herne Katha' depicting his sufferings went viral, but numerous other people who were going from pillar to post and still not receiving citizenship,' he added.

He stated that many eligible citizens who won court battles had been waiting for seven to eight years, but the Home Ministry had yet to decide on their citizenship applications.

Kumar Joshi, who lacks both his father's and mother's documents, claims that he has been going from pillar to post for the past 21 years in order to obtain a citizenship certificate, but his ordeal is far from over.

'I won the court battle after 11 years, and the full text of the court verdict arrived after a year. I went to the Kathmandu District Office to obtain my citizenship, but the Kathmandu DAO directed me to the Lalitpur DAO. Lalitpur DAO later informed me that my case was under Kathmandu DAO's jurisdiction and that I should go there to obtain my citizenship certificate,' he said during an interaction organised by News Agency Nepal.

Sabin Shrestha said, 'The citizenship directive enacted in 2007 remains unchanged, despite the fact that an amendment to the Citizenship Act last year proved to be the primary barrier for eligible citizens such as Neha Thapa.'

He stated that citizenship directives were incompatible with the new amendments to the Nepal Citizenship Act and Regulations.

Neha Thapa wanted to study MBBS, but she was unable to do so due to a lack of citizenship. She won a court battle two years ago, but Kathmandu DAO informed her that it cannot grant her citizenship solely on the basis of a court decision.

'I have passed a bachelor's degree, and yet I cannot do anything due to a lack of citizenship,' she said. Neha's father abandoned her, and she does not have any identity documents for her father.