Lalitpur, August 6 :

Nepali Congress (Democratic) leader Nabin Chitrakar today said the rights of the indigenous nationalities would be secured only through an agitation.

Addressing a roundtable discussion on “Constituent Assembly and Restructuring of State” organised by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities Students (NEFINS) to mark the World Indigenous Day-2006, Chitrakar said, “A movement is inevitable. The indigenous nationalities cannot achieve their goals without having to struggle for them,” he said.

Chitrakar, who also represents the Indigenous Nationalities Joint Struggle Committee (INJSC), said various interest groups have been making attempts to revert the declaration of Nepal as a secular state. “We also need to struggle against them”, he said.

He further said an interim constitution should decide on the future of monarchy in the country.

Former general secretary of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) Bal Krishna Mabuhang proposed 13 different federal states with several autonomous units in them for the smaller indigenous groups. “None of the parties have accepted federal states in the country except Maoists who talk of nine autonomous states,” he said.