Kanak Mani Dixit is right in suggesting that India should apply principles of Panchsheel and give the Nepali people space.
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“The Kathmandu elite, in its wisdom, ignored [India’s] advice… and India decided that if that was to be the case, the possibility of strife and confrontation at the border would increase and the constitution would not have Indian support”, Prashant Jha, a journalist and author of Battles of The New Republic: A Contemporary History of Nepal, told VICE News. “Without being prescriptive on specific clauses, and as already stated earlier, we continue to urge that issues on which there are differences should be resolved through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence, and institutionalised in a manner that would enable broad-based ownership and acceptance”, the Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said.
Officials say almost 400 Nepalese protesters clashed with police in Birganj, a town on the border with India, on Thursday. Nepal is a buffer state between India and China.
Before that, Mr Koirala planned to consult with the leaders of the country’s three major political parties, he added. This is the first sign that a solution may be in sight.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala today cancelled his plans to visit the U.S. to attend the UN General Assembly session amid a raging political crisis in the country over the new Constitution that has triggered deadly protests in areas bordering India. More than 40 people have died in southern and western Nepal where Madhesi parties and Tharu ethnic groups have been protesting for more than a month over splitting the country into seven provinces. The government must talk to all parties, try to address the demands and resolve it politically, he said. Upadhyay said, “The government of India is not directly involved in this, it’s a purely internal issue of Nepal”. There may have been some kind of misunderstanding.
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“India being a matured and largest democracy should not have displayed immature and irresponsible behavior towards Nepal after the promulgation of the constitution”, Madhav said.
