Posted on 07/09/2008 12:27:31 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Kathmandu, July 09: The Nepal Maoists, who played a key role in abolishing the 240-year-old Hindu Monarchy and turning the country into a secular state, have vowed to ensure special rights to the minority Muslim community in the Himalayan nation.
"It is not enough to provide equal rights to the Muslims but they should be given special rights as compensation for having been suppressed," CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda told a gathering of the Muslim Mukti Morcha (MMM), an organisation affiliated to the party of the former rebels.
Prachanda's support for special rights for the Muslims is seen as an attempt to garner the sympathy of the minority community, which mainly resides in the terai-plains bordering India where the Maoists suffered setbacks in the April Constituent Assembly polls.
Declaring Nepal a secular nation was one of the 40-point demands put forth by the Maoists in 1996 when they started their insurgency in the country.
Prachanda, who is poised to lead the new government in Nepal, promised to form a 'Muslim Commission' for the welfare of the minority community and develop historically important pilgrimage sites of the community as tourist destinations.
In the past, the Maoist cadres were known to slaughter cows in remote villages and even punish people for celebrating Hindu festivals like Dussera and Diwali.
Despite being a Hindu nation, the government provided equal opportunity to the Muslim and Christian minorities.
MMM leader Mohammad Kasim Miya asked the terai-based Madhesi leaders not to categorise Muslims as Madhesis, alleging that the regional parties of the plains were trying to deny Muslims their rights.
Meanwhile, seven Muslim members of Constituent Assembly belonging to the seven major parties, including Cpn-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, appealed for enlisting the minority community in the constitution through an amendment bill so as to protect their identity and preserve their cultural and religious rights.
The three million Muslims of Nepal should have the right to live while maintaining their identity, they demanded at a press meet yesterday.
The lawmakers from the community also warned they would take to the street if their demands are not fulfilled. For the first time, 17 members from the Muslim community are represented in the special assembly tasked to frame a new constitution for Nepal after the abolition of the Monarchy.
Some pigs are more equal than others................
Wow! Just wow!
So, it’s not just the West, but it is still the marxists.
Marxist and muslims work for the same Dark Prince.
That’s exactly what I meant!!
Just wish more people got it.
“Saddam Hussein would never have supported Islamic terrorism. Iraq was a secular state and would never have cultivated a friendly relationship with Muslim extremists.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.