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No sacred cows in rhino row
15/12/2006 15:08 - (SA)
Kathmandu - Nepal's peace process has
been disrupted by a row over whether the country should retain
the cow as its national animal or replace it with the
rhinoceros.
Cows are sacred in Hindu Nepal while the now rare rhinos
live in protected reserves popular with tourists.
The dispute has bogged down political parties and Maoist
rebels during meetings this week to discuss a roadmap for
lasting peace.
The talks are aimed at preparing the draft of an interim
constitution ahead of next year's planned elections for a
special assembly, which will write a permanent constitution for
Nepal.
During the dialogue, the Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party
(NWPP), a member of the ruling seven-party alliance, proposed
Nepal abandon the cow and choose the rhino as its national
animal.
"The rhino is an endangered animal and is unique to Nepal,"
NWPP chairperson Narayan Man Bijukuchhe, told Reuters.
But that view triggered stern opposition from other parties
of the alliance.
"It (the cow) is the most common domestic animal and is
liked by Hindu and non-Hindu families alike," said Prakash
Sharan Mahat, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress
(Democratic) party.
"There should be no problem in retaining this as the
national animal," he added.
The Maoists say the issue should be decided by the interim
government that would include them.
Last year, there were 372 rhinoceroses, also known as the
great one-horned rhinoceros, in Nepal's biggest reserve,
Chitwan National Park. Their only other home is in neighbouring
India's northeastern state of Assam.
- Reuters
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