JHAPA, Dec 11: Despite criticism from various quarters, the UCPN (Maoist) on Friday declared two ´autonomous provinces´ as part of their protests demanding “civilian supremacy”.
The party declared the “formation” of Kochila autonomous province amid a function at Birtamod of Jhapa and Limbuwan autonomous province in Terhathum. [break]
Leaders of the main opposition, who claim to have launched third-phase protests, said they announced the provinces to pile pressure on other parties to restructure the country into a federal model.
During its second-phase protests, the Maoists had to backtrack from its decision to announce the states after political parties, Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Nembang and civil society members, among others, urged them to withdraw the decision saying that doing so would be against the Comprehensive Peace Accord. The parties claim that declaring the states falls on the jurisdiction of the CA, not any political party.
“We have announced the autonomous states to press other political parties, as conspiracies are being hatched against the decision to go for federal system,” Maoist central secretariat member Netra Bikram Chand said at a function organized at Birtamod. The Maoists´ Kochila autonomous state comprises Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari districts.
Chand said the Maoists will gradually announce other autonomous states in other parts of the country.
Thousands of people had gathered at the mass meeting in Birtamod. Traffic movement along the east-west highway was disrupted for five hours due to the gathering.
Kochila region is named after the ethnic communities from Koch group representing Rajbangshi, Dhanuk, Gangai and Tajpuriya. Population of the Koch communities in the three districts is around 125,000.
Meanwhile, in Tehrathum, the party declared Limbuwan autonomous state comprising five districts -- Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Taplejung, Panchthar and Ilam -- amid a function in the district headquarters Myanglung.
Addressing the gathering, Maoist central leader Suresh Alemagar said that the party would run parallel government as during the insurgency. He said Limbus will exercise the political and administrative rights in the Limbuwan state. “If such rights are denied, we will revolt to establish ethnic states,” he said.
Sanghiya Limbuwan Rajya Parishad objects
A regional ethnic organization operating in the eastern part of the country has criticized the Maoist declaration, arguing that the three districts fall in the Limbuwan region, not in Kochila. “The nine districts to the east of Arun River fall in the Limbuwan region,” said Kumar Lingden, chairman of Sanghiya Limbuwan Rajya Parishad, adding, “We won´t accept the Maoist announcement.”
According to a Maoist leader, the party has appointed Purna Singh Rajbangshi as the chief of Kochila autonomous province. Rajbangshi, who headed the Kochila Liberation Front during the Maoist insurgency, is a Constituent Assembly (CA) member. He was elected CA member from Jhapa-3, defeating the erstwhile home minister and NC leader Krishna Sitaula.
Likewise, the Maoist party nominated Shri Prasad Jagebu as chief of the Limbuwan Autonomous State at a mass meeting in Tehrathum.
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