Nepal

Members of the minority Sunaha community in western Nepal have called for recognition as indigenous nationalities.
 
The Sunahas have been residing in Bardiya and Kanchanpur districts. Their exact population is not known. With elections approaching, they have been demanding that the Sunahas be recognised as an indigenous nationality community by the state.
 
"We have so far not got the state recognition as a separate ethnic identity. The party leaders only give us assurances in each and every election. But they forget it once they get elected. We have been demanding with the election candidates to take initiatives for giving a separate ethnic identity to the Sunaha community," said Kalu Sunaha, a local.
 
He also demanded that the Sunahas be provided reservation quotas in all the state services as the Sunaha is a minority community. He added that the government has recognised the Raute community that is on the verge of disappearance as a separate ethnic minority group and is providing allowances.
 
But he rued that the Sunaha community is deprived of such state allowances as it has not been recognised as a separate ethnic group. Meghadevi Sunar complained that the political parties have been using the Sunaha community merely as a vote bank at the time of the election.
 
"The political parties and their candidates only make false promises to us at the time of election that they will resolve burning problems. There is nobody to speak for us after the election is over," she said.
 
According to her, although they have demanded time and again that the government to recognise the Sunahas as a separate ethnic community, their demands have not been heard. The Sunaha people eke out their living by collecting gold from sand on river banks.
 
The Sunahas traditional occupation is also on the verge of disappearance in recent years. Ghanashyam Sunaha called for providing free education to the Sunaha children.
 
"Sunaha is also a separate tribe like the Raute. The government should provide quotas to Sunaha like it is providing to other indigenous nationalities. We should also be recognized as having a separate ethnic identity," Ghanashyam said. -RSS