Pokhara, September 19

Tamu community of Pokhara on Saturday organised a symbolic protest against the new constitution, saying the statute drafted ‘without ensuring rights and identity to the Tamuwan community’ was not acceptable to them.

Tamuwan Joint Struggle Committee had organised a symbolic funeral ceremony of the constitution. The funeral procession, organised as per Tamu culture, started from Mahedrapul and concluded with the statute’s final rites in Prithvichowk. TJSC Coordinator Hum Bahadur Gurung had offered the funeral fire. Gurung described the protest as the community’s natural reaction against the ‘biased’ statute.

“The constitution has failed to enshrine the rights and respect the identity of various classes, castes, ethnicities, gender and indigenous nationalities,” said Gurung. He also urged all and sundry not to celebrate the enactment of the ‘lame constitution’. Dipak Tamang, of the struggle committee, called on the political leaders to review the constitution and its contents, saying any constitution forcefully imposed on them would not be acceptable.