Kathmandu: Hundreds of protesters blocked a major trading checkpoint between India and Nepal yesterday, cutting off vital supplies to the landlocked Himalayan nation, as anger deepened over the country’s new constitution.
The protesters, who belong to the Madhesi community, are angry about plans to divide the country into seven federal provinces under the charter adopted on last Sunday.
More than 40 people have died in weeks of clashes between police and protesters from the Madhesi and Tharu communities, ethnic minorities who say the new internal borders leave them under-represented in the national parliament.
“We blocked the crossing overnight and we will not budge until the government listens to us and makes changes to these new borders in the constitution,” said Shiva Patel, general secretary of the regional Sadbhawana party.
The blocked checkpoint in Birgunj town, 90km south of the capital, serves as the key hub for oil and food imports into Nepal.
“Normally hundreds of trucks would pass through this checkpoint overnight but not even one turned up last night,” Patel said from Birgunj.
“The blockade is our last resort to make the government understand our demands,” he said.
Fears of a fuel shortage saw dozens of commuters line up at gas stations in Kathmandu while the ongoing protests have sparked concern in India, which has traditionally exerted significant political influence in Nepal.
“Our freight forwarders and transporters... (have) voiced complaints about the difficulties they are facing in movement within Nepal and their security fears, due to the prevailing unrest,” said New Delhi in a statement released Friday.
“Nepalese leadership needs to address the causes underlying the present state of confrontation credibly and effectively. Issues of differences should be resolved.”
A senior official in Nepal’s customs department told AFP the movement of cargo through other border checkpoints had also declined, due to enhanced Indian security measures.
“Things have slowed down because Indian customs and security officials are carrying out more checks than usual,” said Shishir Dhungana, director-general of customs.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala this week cancelled plans to visit the United States and address the United Nations General Assembly so he could hold talks with protesters, underscoring the severity of the situation.
The fertile southern plains account for the bulk of Nepal’s rice production and are home to half of the country’s population.
Former Maoist premier Baburam Bhattarai said he supported the protesters and attacked the government for not taking their concerns into account while drafting the constitution.
“I urge the government to create an environment so meaningful talks can take place,” Bhattarai said in a statement released late last Thursday.
The charter, Nepal’s first to be drawn up by elected representatives, is the final stage in a peace process that began when Maoist rebels laid down arms in 2006 after a decade-long insurgency aimed at creating a more equal society.
Work on the document began in 2008 after the Maoists won parliamentary elections and abolished the monarchy. But power-sharing squabbles between parties stymied progress on the draft.
Lawmakers finally reached agreement in June this year, spurred by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake two months earlier that killed nearly 8,900 people and destroyed more than half a million homes. AFP
Kathmandu: With hundreds of Nepal-bound cargo-bearing trucks halted at the border, Indian Ambassador here Ranjit Rae yesterday assured the Nepali authorities that India had not imposed any restriction on trade with the Himalayan nation.
After hundreds of freight-carrying trucks and fuel tankers remained halted on the Indian side of the international border following concerns about violent protests in Nepal in the wake of the promulgation of the new constitution, the Nepal government summoned the Indian envoy yesterday at the foreign ministry.
At the meeting, the envoy said India has no intention to block trade tied with Nepal. He also clarified that the obstruction to the Nepal-bound cargo was due the unrest, protests and demonstrations on the Nepali side.
The envoy also held separate meetings with top leaders of major political parties of Nepal, including K P Oli, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the country's former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Ambassador Rae expressed the hope that the tension and violence in the southern plains of Nepal would be resolved ahead of the Bihar assembly polls in India beginning next month.
The Indian envoy said the government's deputing Forest Minister Mahesh Acharya, a close confidant of Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, for talks with the agitating Madhes-based parties was a welcome step, aides close to Oli and Nepal said.
IANS
