Kathmandu: Nepal's Maoists want to change the national flag away from what they say is its monarchist past when the nascent Himalayan republic adopts a new constitution, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.
A specially elected assembly is due to complete drafting the constitution by May next year, as part of a 2006 peace deal with the former rebels after ten years of civil war.
The Maoists want to change the flag, believed to be up to 2,500 years old and which has a white moon and sun printed onto two red triangles, to reflect Nepal's changed political reality, local daily Nagarik reported.
"The flag with the moon and the sun gives the reflection of the monarchy and cannot be the symbol of a multi-ethnic republic," it quoted a Maoist member of the constituent assembly, Dev Gurung, as saying.
"The flag must be changed in the inclusive, proportional democratic republic," he said.
The Maoists abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and emerged as the biggest political party in the post-war election.
They briefly led a coalition government but resigned in May in a conflict with the president over the firing of the national army chief.
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