Maoists vow to give special rights to Muslims in Nepal

The Nepal Maoists, who played a key role in
abolishing the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy and turning the country into
a secular state, have vowed to ensure special rights to the minority
Muslim community in the Himalayan nation.
"It is not enough to provide equal rights to the Muslims but they
should be given special rights as compensation for having been
suppressed," CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda told a gathering of the
Muslim Mukti Morcha (MMM), a mass people's organisation affiliated to the party of the Maoist Revolutionaries.
Prachanda's support for special rights for the Muslims is seen as an
attempt to mobilise the muslim community, which mainly resides in the Terai-plains bordering India and unleash potential for Revolution. Also the aim is to show to oppressed muslim masses the world over that only Maoist led people's revolution is key to liberation and new life! Declaring Nepal a secular nation was one of the 40-point demands put forth by the Maoists in 1996 when they started the peoples war in the country.
Prachanda, who is poised to lead the new government in Nepal, promised
to form a `Muslim Commission' for the welfare of the minority
community and develop historically important pilgrimage sites of the
community as tourist destinations.
MMM leader Mohammad Kasim Miya asked the Terai-based Madhesi leaders not
to categorise Muslims as Madhesis, alleging that the regional parties of
the plains were trying to deny Muslims their rights.