Leaders agree on citizenship through father or mother

Subcommittee to table the proposal at CPDCC today

KATHMANDU, June 11: Ending long-standing dispute, leaders from major political parties have agreed on issuance of citizenship by descent either through father's or mother's identity.

Earlier, political parties and lawmakers were sharply divided over whether the constitutional provision should require the names of both "father and mother" or "father or mother" to acquire citizenship by descent.

The issue was settled at a meeting of the subcommittee formed by the Constituent Assembly's Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (CPDCC) at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.

As the subcommittee couldn't settle the issue on its own, it briefed on the issue at the CPDCC meeting held earlier. Then, the subcommittee invited chiefs of four major political forces -- Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist) and Madhesi People's Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) -- at its meeting to discuss the matter later in the evening.

"The subcommittee in the presence of top leaders has now decided to use the wordings "father or mother" in the citizenship provision," CPN-UML Secretary Gokarna Bista told Republica.

The subcommittee is headed by NC joint general secretary Purna Bahadur Khadka. Krishna Bahadur Mahara of UCPN (Maoist), Gokarna Bista of UML, Dilnath Giri of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, Gopal Dahit of Tharuhat Tarai Party and Prem Singh of Socialist People Party are its members.

"In principle we have agreed on issuance of citizenship by descent either through mother's or father's identity. But some conditions apply," Khadka told Republica. He, however, didn't divulge the details saying the subcommittee is yet to finalize its draft, which will be presented and discussed at the full committee. He said they will finalize the report and submit it to the CPDCC meeting on Thursday.

Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who also heads the CPDCC, however, has already hailed the decision. He said termed the decision a "leap forward".

If the subcommittee's proposal is passed by the CPDCC's full committee and later endorsed by two-thirds majority of the 601-member CA full House, any individual can acquire citizenship through his/her mother's or father's name. The aspirant can acquire citizenship just by producing identity of either mother or father.

Some of the leaders are for making it mandatory to produce the names of both father and mother to qualify for citizenship. They argued that if the constitution gives the "or" option, it will allow "a large number of foreigners" to acquire Nepali citizenship.

They were particularly against giving citizenship by descent to the children of Nepali women who are married to foreigners. Some of the leaders were for giving naturalized citizenship to such aspirants if the 'or' option is to be included in the constitution.

But a large section of the people had strongly protested against the "and" option saying it was discriminatory to women and that it undermined women's identity.