Nepali Congress leader Farmullah Mansoor has warned of possible disintegration if the country fails to pay heed to the demands of constitution amendment put forth by disgruntled forces.

“If the demands of Madhesis, Muslims and Tharus are not settled through a constitutional amendment, Nepal might face a situation similar to the one that led to the division of Pakistan and Bangladesh was formed,” the lawmaker said, while speaking at the Legislature-Parliament on Tuesday.

“During the 1970s, muslims of East Pakistan had demanded rights to run their state. They were forced to separate to form Bangladesh after they were denied such rights,” he stated. Bangladesh was declared an independent nation in 1971 after breaking away from Pakistan following the Bangladesh liberation war.

Mansoor also said that the three layers of election-local, state and federal—as stated by the constitution were not possible without amending the constitution. “I was among many who had voted for the constitution despite voicing our dissatisfaction in some issues.”

CPN-UML leaders have been claiming that the ruling parties had failed to explain the rationale behind amending the constitution. Former House Speaker Subas Nembang has repeated said that there was no need of an amendment to a constitution that was passed by about 90 percent of lawmakers through the historic Constituent Assembly in 2015.

“To those who boast that the statute was passed by about 90 percent of lawmakers, I would like to remind them that we had put our reservations then but later agreed to vote for the constitution after then prime minister Sushil Koirala, from the rostrum, promised that the first Legislature-Parliament meeting would table an amendment proposal as per the demands put forth by the Madhesis, Muslims and Tharus,” said Mansoor.

Among the long list of demands, the disgruntled forces have reservation on issues such as citizenship, official languages, representation in Upper House and federal demarcation.