Publication

This paper discusses the origins and current state of the Madhesi ethnic conflict in the Terai region in southern Nepal and outlines possible solutions. The author agues that before and during the civil war, Madhesi demands for equality in Nepal transformed into an ethnically exclusive drive to consolidate Madhesi autonomy in Terai through a political violence campaign against the central government elites and other Terai-based ethnic groups. The author concludes by outlining several factors that need to be addressed to prevent the escalation of the ethnic conflict and to constructively address the ethnic imbalances that fuel it.