The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has alerted the top leadership of the country about the growing anti-India sentiment in Nepal following the protests by the Madhesi community in that country.
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However, Nepal’s Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahant refuted the reports that Nepal was to redirect trade with China after undeclared blockade by India, saying “We can’t fully redirect our trade with India to China due to geographical difficulties”. Speaking at a seminar organised at the Universal Peace Federation on “Recent Developments in Nepal and India-Nepal Relations” held on October 4, Dhakal gave a Nepalese perspective on the background leading to the consultations up to the Constitution, its “progressive” aspects, flexibility for adjustments in the immediate and near term and the advanced stage of consultation with regional parties on their respective demands.
They are also demanding new demarcation of boundary in the region.
Kathmandu: The Madhesi parties, who have been protesting against the newly-promulgated Constitution, have agreed to hold talks with the Government on Tuesday to find end the impasse and find a resolution to the conflict.
The ethnic Madhesis are upset that the new constitution divides Nepal into seven new states, with a few borders slicing through their ancestral homeland in the southern plains.
Long queues in front of petrol pumps, shortage of essential commodities resulting in price rise, lack of public transportation and cramped buses are common sights across Nepal since the new constitution came into being on September 20.
The Indian Foreign Ministry has reportedly directed its agencies to allow a few trucks to pass through with fuel and perishable goods. Officials feel an anti-India feeling among the Nepalese people on the sensitive subject could be a setback for relations between the two countries.
The activity in southern Nepal bordering India has stalled normal life in the area for several weeks and halted the flow of fuel and supplies to the country’s north, including the capital.
Madhesis, along with several other small ethnic groups, want the states to be larger and to be given more autonomy over local matters.
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Another 800 and 200 trucks are stranded in Jogbani (Bihar) and Bhairaich (Uttar Pradesh) respectively.
