Nepali activists holding lit candles as they celebrate the country's new national Constitution in Kathmandu. The Constitution endorsed in Parliament this week is the first to be drawn up by elected representatives of Nepal's people after centuries of autocratic rule. It is the final stage in a peace process that began when the Maoists laid down their arms in 2006 after a decade-long civil war with state forces and turned to politics, winning parliamentary elections two years later and abolishing the monarchy.