Kathmandu, March 12

Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal lawmaker Mahendra Raya Yadav and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Indu Kumari Sharma today urged the House of Representatives to pass the Nepal Citizenship (Amendment) Bill immediately.

The bill has been stuck at the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the HoR.

Yadav said children of citizens by birth were facing livelihood problems due to non-enactment of new citizenship law. He said the government was trying to delay enactment of citizenship law to deprive citizens from their rights. “This session of the Parliament must pass the bill,” he said.

NCP lawmaker Sharma said if all-party consensus could not be reached at the HoR panel the bill should be presented to the full House, which should take a call on the citizenship issues immediately. She said non-enactment of citizenship laws rendered many citizens stateless.