Maoists 'Peoples War' phrase in Nepalese constitution rejected

The committee entrusted to draft the 'The Constitution of Nepal-2010,' on Saturday rejected the Maoist proposal to change the national flag and to incorporate the phrase 'People's War' in its preamble.

The committee entrusted to draft the "The Constitution of Nepal-2010", on Saturday rejected the Maoist proposal to change the national flag and to incorporate the phrase "People's War" in its preamble.

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The 63 member Constitutional Committee adopted voting procedure to sort out 11 headings related to different provisions including national anthem, national flag, provision of emergency, name of the constitution, state authority and political parties.

The new constitution will be called "The Constitution of Nepal-2010" with the approval of the majority of members. The Maoist proposal to put the words "People´s war" in the preamble has been rejected through majority votes while the proposal to incorporate the words 'Madhes movement' has been endorsed through a majority of votes.

The Maoists claim that their decade long war that claimed 15,000 people was mainly responsible for abolishing monarchy and establishing a federal democratic republic in Nepal, while the other political parties argue that the 19 day peaceful movement was the main thirst behind it.

Most of the Maoist agenda were defeated by the alliance of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. The proposal on press freedom and pluralism as unchangeable provisions was also voted with a majority despite the opposition by the Maoists.

The schedule for drafting the constitution has been amended for eighth time. But the deadline to complete the draft of the Constitution, May 28, 2010, has not been changed.