Kathmandu, August 16, 2006

Indigenous women activists today said that neither the indigenous women nor the Jana An odolan-II had demanded 33 per cent reservation for women.

Speaking at an interaction organised by the All-Nepal Indigenous Journalists, the women said the government announcement of providing 33 per cent reservation for women does not address the concerns of the indigenous women.

“The announcement was made as per the demands made by the ‘feminists’, who are mostly from the so-called high castes,” said Dr Chunda Bajracharya, an indigenous activist. According to her, the right to self-determination, language, promotion of indigenous skills and technology, not 33 per cent reservation, were the major concerns of the indigenous women.

“The issues facing the indigenous women are different from that of other women,” she said, adding, “For instance, property rights was never our issue as a Newar woman inherits property of her mother while the son inherits the property of his father,” she said.

“All government decisions are made on the basis of Hindu norms,” she said,adding, “Such decisions won’t be relevant to the indigenous women. We want modifications in the national policies towards the indigenous people. We want their inclusion in policy-making bodies.”

Sumaya Rai, a member of the Kirant Yayokha, said, “Rather than 33 per cent reservation for women in general, there should be a proportional representation of all the castes.”

Statute drafting process stalled

The interim constitution drafting process has been stalled after the government and the Maoist talks teams delayed their suggestions on major issues to the Interim Constitution Drafting Committee (ICDC) headed by former Supreme Court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal.

“Though the government and the Maoist talks teams have told us that they will provide us their common stand on the major issues as soon as possible, they are yet to do so,” a member of the ICDC, Chandeshwor Shrestha, told this daily today.

“Since this is the case, we are wondering how to go about completing the document,” he said. Confusion among the panelists on five major political agendas — the King, interim parliament, interim government, the number of Constituent Assembly members and the provision on citizenship — still reigns supreme. The draft panel has already completed it’s tenure on August 9.

It is, however, still doing its job. The ICDC and the government and the Maoist talks teams had agreed to complete the job only after both the talks teams made suggestions on the issues. The task force of the seven party alliance is doing serious homework to provide suggestions to the ICDC. However, it is yet to reach a conclusion.