Nepal ethnic leader demands autonomous state
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with PM meeting protesters, writes through) By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The leader of an ethnic group in Nepal whose protests over the last fortnight ended in violence demanded an autonomous state for his people in talks with Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala late on Friday. At least 13 people have been killed in violence after protests by the Madhesi People's Rights Forum, representing people living in the southern plains of Nepal. The group says "ruling elites" dominated by people from the northern hills have kept them out of jobs in the government, police, army and seats in Nepal's interim parliament. "We put our demand for an autonomous Madhesh state with the right to self-determination in a federal system during our meeting," Upendra Yadav, the forum's leader, said after meeting the prime minister. "There should also be a proportional election system to ensure proper representation of the Madhesi people in the constituent assembly ... The prime minister was not negative to our demands." The meeting took place two days after Koirala vowed to turn Nepal into a federal state and increase representation of ethnic groups in an assembly due to be elected later this year to write a new constitution for Nepal. The Madhesi protest has overshadowed Nepal's tentative peace process which began last year after King Gyanendra handed power back to political parties a year after taking it away. Since then Koirala's interim government has been in talks with the country's Maoist rebels, who fought a bitter battle to overthrow Nepal's monarchy -- a conflict which killed more than 13,000 people since in 1996. The former rebels joined an interim parliament last month and came on board Nepal's political mainstream, but the fledgling peace was marred by protests by the ethnic Madhesis. At least three towns in the Madhesi-dominated Terai region were under curfew on Friday. Also a strike by people living in the northern and eastern mountains -- who, too, are demanding more seats in the assembly -- closed public transport, shops and businesses in many districts.
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