Nepal Sets up Talks Team to Address Terai Unrest

Feb 2: In a bid to bring down tensions in the Terai region, the government of Nepal today set up a ministerial level talks team committee to hold dialogue with the agitating Madheshi community to resolve the Terai unrest. A meeting of the Counsil of Minister today morning set up the 3-member committee under the coordination of Agriculture Minister Mahanta Thakur. Likewise the meeting elected Minister for Local development Rajendra Pandey and State minister for Water Resource, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki as the other members of the committee. According to Minister for Law, Narendra Bikram Nemwang, the newly formed talks committee has been directed to immediately begin dialogues to address the demands of the Madheshi people. The government, however, has no plans to go into talks with ethnic groups and janajatis to address their longstanding demands for autonomy and self-governance at the moment. (more)