Kathmandu, October 7

A group of Janajati leaders affiliated with Padma Ratna Tuladhar-led Indigenous Nationalities National Movement today met Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae and sought India’s support to their struggle for identity-based federalism.

According Pasang Sherpa, a member of the team, the Janajati leaders told Ambassador Rae that the new constitution had ignored the agreement reached in the first Constituent Assembly on the rights of indigenous nationalities and identity-based federalism.

Sherpa said the new constitution did not ensure preemptive rights for indigenous nationalities and true form of secularism.

“We went to meet the Indian ambassador to seek international support to our strrugle for identity,” Sherpa said, “We told the Indian ambassador that if Nepal continued to witness unrest or conflict, it would affect not only Nepal’s peace and stability but also those of neighbours.”

Sherpa said the team told ambassador Rae that the opponents might criticize them for meeting him but they were seeking India’s help like the big three parties sought its help during the past democratic movements, including the April 2006 uprising.

Sherpa said the indigenous leaders would also meet other foreign envoys to put forth their views.

According to Sherpa, ambassador Rae told the group that India wanted harmony between all forces in the country but that their messages were sometimes wrongly interpreted.