Kathmandu, April 1:

Speakers at a programme held today demanded that Khawas people be recognised as a separate indigenous group.

Addressing a press meet, Tilak Chandra Chaudhary Khawas, president of the Khawas Social Council, Nepal, said, “The national census 2001 did not categorise the Khawas as a separate indigenous group. The state should immediately make a list of indigenous nationalities that were left out in the census.”

“As the government has not come up with a census of the group, we do not know the exact population of the Khawas living in Nepal.”

It is estimated that around 1,50,000 are living in Nepal. There should be two Houses in the parliament, Khawas said, adding that one House should be for the indigenous nationalities.

Prakash Mandal, deputy president of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), said, “The written documents in Nepal have left out the listing of many of the indigenous groups. The state should start listing all of them.” He assured that the NEFIN will help the Khawas people get the recognition of a separate ethnic group.