KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) central member Dr. Shekhar Koirala has said that the issue of citizenship is not just the problem of Madhes and rumors were spread by linking the issue with Madhes.
Addressing at a virtual program ‘Madhes Manthan: Nepali Congress and Madhes’ Saturday, Koirala urged all not to develop unnecessary doubts on the issue of citizenship.
Giving the statistics of citizenship distributed in Nepal after 2006/07, he said that 2.617 million Nepalis received citizenship across the country. Of that figure, 1.3 million citizenships were distributed to people living in hilly and mountainous regions.
“Only 1.2 million was distributed in Madhes and Terai and many of the 1.2 million also migrated from the hills to the Madhes. The remaining 117,000 have been given to the children of citizens who have lived in Nepal for 15 years on the basis of birth certificate.” He added, “but the rumor was spread that 2 million citizenships were distributed solely in Madhes.”
Koirala was of the view that it was natural for the Supreme Court (SC) to block the implementation of the citizenship ordinance brought by the government. “Was it right to bring sensitive issue like citizenship from the ordinance knowing that the SC will stop it?” he questioned. “It was only brought to ensure participation of some Madhesi leaders in the government,” he clarified.
Leader Koirala said the NC understood and supported that the demands of the Madhes: identity, representation and access.
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