Nepal Rations Fuel as Political Crisis With India Worsens

ASIA PACIFIC

Nepal Rations Fuel as Political Crisis With India Worsens
By BHADRA SHARMA and NIDA NAJARSEPT. 28, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal began rationing fuel on Monday to cope with a worsening shortage brought on by continuing unrest over the country’s new Constitution and a dispute with neighboring India.

The country imports all of its fuel from India, but tanker trucks carrying fresh supplies have been blocked from crossing the border since late last week. “Things are completely out of order,” said Deepak Baral, a spokesman for the state-run Nepal Oil Corporation. “What we are doing now is just to continue emergency-only services.”

Mr. Baral said strict limits would be imposed on the sale of fuel to taxis, school buses, private cars, motorcycles and scooters. “Despite all these austerity measures, we will run out of fuel within the next 10 days,” he said.

Nepali officials blamed India for the shortage, saying it had ordered its border officials not to let the fuel trucks cross. But Indian officials said the disruption had been caused by mass protests in Nepal against the Constitution.

“It is an economic blockade of Nepal,” said Mahesh Basnet, Nepal’s industry minister. “India imposed it after some of its suggestions raised internally regarding the new Constitution were not addressed.” He added that the move was igniting “anti-India sentiment” in the country.

Demonstrators in Kathmandu shouted anti-India slogans on Monday to protest the fuel shortage.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs denied ordering any blockade, and Indian officials said sit-ins on the Nepalese side of the border by members of the Madhesi ethnic group, who have been protesting the Constitution for more than a month, were disrupting trade across the border.

“There is no blockade from our side,” Vikas Swarup, the spokesman for the ministry, wrote in an email on Monday.

India has expressed concern several times over the protests and violence in Nepal related to the new Constitution, which was adopted on Sept. 20. Concern has been met with anger in Kathmandu, where there is resistance to what is perceived to be Indian interference in Nepalese affairs.

More than 40 people were killed in western Nepal and its southern plains, home to the Madhesi and ethnic Tharu communities, during constitution-related protests this year. The groups have said the Constitution curtails their rights, and they demanded that Nepal’s political subdivisions be redrawn to afford them more political power.

Though the violence has ebbed, the protests appeared to have taken on a new form through sit-ins at border posts.

The impasse has underscored Nepal’s profound economic reliance on India, particularly after April’s devastating earthquake destroyed Nepal’s land trade routes with China.

About 1,000 trucks have been waiting on the Indian side of the border since Thursday, according to Kamlesh Kumar, an Indian customs official in Raxaul in Bihar State.

Hundreds of Madhesi protesters have staged sit-ins at border crossings that have lasted for days, said A. K. Singh, a senior official of the Sashastra Seema Bal, an Indian security force that oversees the India-Nepal border. Mr. Singh said it was impossible for India to intervene because the demonstrations were in Nepal.

Abhay Kumar, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, said truckers were afraid to enter Nepal because of security concerns. “A political solution has to be found to this issue,” Mr. Kumar said.

Nepali officials counter that the sit-ins took place in a “no man’s land” between Indian and Nepalese border posts and that Nepal needed the help of Indian border forces to clear them away.

Mr. Basnet, Nepal’s industry minister, said Indian customs officials had kept fuel trucks from crossing into Nepal even in areas unaffected by the protests and sit-ins, like the country’s far west.

The controversy comes after more than a year of friendly relations between Nepal and India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India visited Nepal in 2014, and India pledged $1 billion for reconstruction after the earthquake.

On Friday, Nepali officials summoned India’s ambassador, Ranjit Rae, to the Foreign Ministry over the fuel crisis, and Nepal’s commerce and supplies minister went to Delhi on Monday to meet with officials.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala of Nepal visited Tharu and Madhesi areas over the weekend to meet with local leaders and security officials, a step many in Nepal had urged him to take during the violent protests. Nepali lawmakers have said concerns over the boundaries of provinces can be addressed through amendments to the Constitution.

In Kathmandu, far fewer cars than usual were on the roads. Drivers waited in long lines hoping to buy fuel, and many filling stations posted signs saying they were sold out.

“I have been waiting for fuel since yesterday morning, and still, 150 vehicles are ahead of me,” said Shukraraj Thing, a Kathmandu taxi driver waiting on Monday at a fuel pump.

“India always objects when Nepal tries to move ahead on its own,” he said. “Nepal should clear its roads connecting to China, instead of relying fully on India.”

Bhadra Sharma reported from Kathmandu, and Nida Najar from New Delhi.

Source:  New York Times

Nepal Ambassador: ‘Our Constitution better than (India’s)’

Nepal Ambassador: ‘Our Constitution better than (India’s)’  

The Indian Express reported Wednesday that India has conveyed to Nepal’s leadership the seven amendments it wants in their Constitution to ensure it is acceptable to the Madhesis and Janjatis.

Written by Shubhajit Roy | New Delhi | Updated: September 24, 2015 11:33 am

Deep Kumar Upadhyay in New Delhi Wednesday. (Source: Express Photo by Shubhajit Roy)
With India raising concerns over Nepal’s newly promulgated Constitution not taking care of the Madhesis and Janjatis, Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay Wednesday said his country’s Constitution was the “most progressive in South Asia”, but added that it is an “open document which can be amended”.

His deputy in the Nepal embassy Krishna Prasad Dhakal, meanwhile, said, “Nepal’s Constitution is better than the Indian Constitution since it takes care of minorities as well as women.”
The Indian Express reported Wednesday that India has conveyed to Nepal’s leadership the seven amendments it wants in their Constitution to ensure it is acceptable to the Madhesis and Janjatis.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Upadhyay said that if the Indian side had conveyed the “suggestions or reservations or expectations, and I would have known timely (sic), this situation would have been avoided. This is not a good situation for both countries”.

“If before the public statements, if we had known (about India’s reservations), then something could have changed (sic),” the envoy said.

Praising Nepal’s Constitution, he said it is a “very progressive, very inclusive, participatory, gender equality and human rights friendly” document.

Dhakal, meanwhile, pointed out: “Nepal’s Constitution has both first-past-the-post system as well as proportional representation. This combination of the two ensures that minorities’ representation is taken care of.” He added that the Indian Constitution only ensures the first-past-the-post system.

Dhakal also said Nepal’s newly promulgated Constitution guarantees 33 per cent reservation for women, which is not the case with the Indian Constitution. “In these aspects, Nepal’s Constitution is better than the Indian Constitution, since it takes care of minorities as well as women,” Dhakal said.
Asked if the Constitution could be amended in the wake of protests and suggestions from India, Upadhyay said, “Why not? It is an open document that can be amended, it is just a beginning. But we have to follow certain procedures, the amendments have to be passed by two-thirds of the majority.”
Cautioning that “nothing can be done immediately”, he added, “The only thing that can happen is that there can be a political agreement or understanding between the parties.”

He said Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who was due to leave for New York Wednesday, has decided to cancel his trip and stay back to resolve the situation. “The three major political parties are talking to the Madhesi groups, Hill groups — all those who are dissatisfied — to find an end to the crisis. They will form a peace dialogue committee very soon.”

Describing the current situation in Nepal as “painful”, Upadhyay also refuted New Delhi’s assertion that the Constitution is not broad-based. 

“Almost 90 per cent of members in the Constituent Assembly voted for the Constitution… that is the truth… what more widest possible consensus can you expect,” Upadhyay*  said.

*Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay

Dhakal added that the members included those from Madhes and Terai regions.
Meanwhile, K P Oli , chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) Wednesday said they would not let “naturalised citizens” occupy head of state or any other key constitutional position.

“Under no circumstances shall we amend the constitution to pave the way for naturalised citizens to occupy the post of head of state, head of the government and constitutional bodies,” he said. Nepal has two categories of citizenship — by descent and naturalised — and Madhesis and Janjatis fall in the latter category. With Yubaraj Ghimire in Kathmandu

U.S., India urge restraint in Nepal constitutional debate

World | Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:36am BST Related: WORLD
U.S., India urge restraint in Nepal constitutional debate
WASHINGTON

The United States and India have called for security forces to exercise restraint in responding to protests over the drawing up of a new constitution in Nepal and for citizens to avoid violence.

A statement from the U.S. State Department on Monday said the new constitution should have the broadest possible support and reflect fundamental rights such as gender equality and basic freedoms.

"We urge citizens to engage through peaceful, non-violent means, and call on the Nepali security forces to exercise restraint in responding to protests," the statement said.

Nepal's large southern neighbour India also called for restraint after 30 people were killed since a draft constitution was unveiled last month.

Violent protests against the charter intensified in Nepal's southern plains last week with demonstrators attacking police who shot dead at least four people.

"Horrific violence has once again shaken Nepal's soul," the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement overnight. "Whether the victims are Nepali citizens or government officials, the blood spilt in all the incidents was Nepalese."

Nepal, which emerged from civil war in 2006, is in the final stages of preparing a new constitution that would carve the country of 28 million people into seven federal provinces.

Many people in the southern plains bordering India oppose the plan which would split their narrow region and merge the pieces into larger provinces with other ethnic groups.

New Delhi said all political forces should show flexibility so that "any outstanding issues are addressed through dialogue and widest possible agreement, in an atmosphere free from violence."

Proponents of the new constitution say it is needed to increase political stability and boost economic development in the Himalayan nation, still reeling from two devastating earthquakes that killed 8,900 people this year.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine in New Delhi; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Any act that amounts to undermining Nepal’s sovereignty is not acceptable: Prachanda

Any act that amounts to undermining Nepal’s sovereignty is not acceptable: Prachanda

Written by Yubaraj Ghimire | Kathmandu | Published:September 23, 2015 1:05 am

Prachanda

Two Senior Communist leaders from Nepal — one a former orime minister, and another one aspiring for the top post — on Tuesday said the promulgation of the new Constitution in Nepal was a “matter of conscience and self-respect” for the Nepalese

people an assertion of the country’s sovereign right, and it was not a move directed against India.
Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal said: “Any act from anywhere that amounts to undermining our sovereignty is not acceptable to the Nepalese… By promulgating our own Constitution, we have only asserted of our sovereign rights, something that is not directed towards any country,” he added.

“We cannot bow down before anyone’s pressure or persuasion. It is a matter of our conscience and self-respect. This time Nepalese people have realised their 70-year-old dream of writing their own Constitution by themselves,” he said. The promulgation of the Constitution will not go against any country, he said. He was speaking at a reception hosted by the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), to celebrate the promulgation of the new Constitution on Sunday.

Over the last week, India has given a cold response to the promulgation of the Nepalese Constitution, and has given warnings that containers and truck drivers supplying goods to Nepal were fearing their safety, indicating that it may lead to some form of blockade. Prime Minister Modi’s special emissary S Jaishankar had conveyed India’s concern to Nepali leaders over the situation in the Madhes region, adjoining India, and asked to accommodate their view points on federalism and other issues before
the promulgation.

Perhaps under Indian pressure, Nepal PM Sushil Koirala met Mahanth Thakur, a prominent Madhes leader in the morning which was followed by meeting between Koirala, Oli and Prachanda on one side, and Bijay Gachedar, leader of the Forum Loktantrik, to explore peace ownership of the Constitution.-with PTI inputs

Make seven changes to your Constitution: India tells Nepal

Make seven changes to your Constitution: India tells Nepal
These “amendments” have been conveyed to Nepal’s leadership by the Indian government through official channels Ranjit Rae, India’s ambassador to Nepal.

Upset over Nepal’s newly promulgated Constitution, New Delhi wants Kathmandu to carry out “seven amendments” to ensure it is acceptable to the Madhesis and Janjatis, South Block sources told The Indian Express Tuesday. These amendments are at the heart of the protests and violence in Nepal which have left at least 40 dead.

These “amendments” have been conveyed to Nepal’s leadership by the Indian government through official channels — Ranjit Rae, India’s ambassador to Nepal, is in New Delhi for consultations — after South Block reviewed the new Constitution.

The proposed amendments are:

(1)

* Article 63 (3) of the Interim Constitution provided electoral constituencies based on population, geography and special characteristics, “and in the case of Madhes on the basis of percentage of population”. Under this provision, Madhes, with more than 50 per cent of the population, got 50 per cent of seats in Parliament. The latter phrase has been omitted in Article 84 of the new Constitution. “It needs to be re-inserted so that Madhes continues to have electoral constituencies in proportion to its population,” a government source told The Indian Express.

(2)

* In Article 21 of the Interim Constitution, it was mentioned that various groups would have “the right to participate in state structures on the basis of principles of proportional inclusion”. In the new Constitution (Article 42), the word “proportional” has been dropped — Delhi wants it re-inserted.

(3)

* Article 283 of the Constitution states that only citizens by descent will be entitled to hold the posts of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker of Parliament, Chairperson of National Assembly, Head of Province, Chief Minister, Speaker of Provincial Assembly and Chief of Security Bodies. This clause is seen as discriminatory for the large number of Madhesis who have acquired citizenship by birth or naturalisation. Delhi says this should be amended to include citizenship by birth or naturalisation.

(4)

* Article 86 of the new Constitution states that National Assembly will comprise 8 members from each of 7 States and 3 nominated members. Madhesi parties want representation in National Assembly to be based on population of the Provinces. This, Delhi says, should be done to address concerns.

(5)

* Five disputed districts of Kanchanpur, Kailali, Sunsari, Jhapa and Morang: Based on the majority of the population, these districts or parts of them may be included in the neighbouring Madhes Provinces.

(6)

* Article 154 of the Interim Constitution provided for delineation of electoral constituencies every 10 years. This has been increased to 20 years in Article 281 of the new Constitution. Echoing the Madhesi parties, India wants this restored to 10 years.

(7)

* Article 11(6) states that a foreign woman married to a Nepali citizen may acquire naturalised citizenship of Nepal as provided for in a federal law. Madhesi parties want acquisition of naturalised citizenship to be automatic on application. This also finds favour with Delhi.
====================

Sources said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up counterpart Sushil Koirala on August 25. He appealed to the government, all political parties and the people of Nepal to eschew violence and maintain social harmony.

“During the August 25 phone call, the PM told Koirala that the political leadership of Nepal should resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue with all political parties and through the process of widest possible consultation, including with the public… to strengthen the climate of trust and confidence across and between all sections of society, and arrive at solutions that reflect the will and accommodate the aspirations of all citizens of a richly diverse society within a united, peaceful, stable and prosperous Nepal,” an official said, quoting from a statement of the Ministry of External Affairs.
In the last one month, New Delhi repeatedly asked Kathmandu — this included sending Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar as the PM’s envoy — to accommodate concerns being expressed by Madhesis and Tharus but that did not happen.

Former Indian ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad told The Indian Express Tuesday: “The situation seems quite difficult in Nepal. The triumvirate of the political parties should realise the enormity of the mistake committed by them. They, simply, will have to address the concerns of Madhesis and Janjatis.”
=================
Editor’s note: 
MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup has reacted to the report: “The article is incorrect. Government of India has not handed over any list of specific Constitutional amendments or changes to the Government of Nepal. 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 reporter replies: The Indian Express has confirmed from its sources that these amendments/changes were communicated by New Delhi to Kathmandu. It stands by the report.

Nepal's Constitutional Crisis Involves Its Giant Neighbors

Nepal's Constitutional Crisis Involves Its Giant Neighbors

Harsh V. Pant

Nepal is hit by constitution crisis – India is viewed as interfering and China expands its influence

 Yale Global, 15 October 2015

LONDON: Nepal has been in turmoil in recent weeks because of the promulgation of a constitution that, according to its critics, discriminates against the Madhesis and the Tharus, who account for 70 percent of the population living in the Terai region bordering India, as well as against the country’s indigenous groups, the Janjatis. These groups, making up nearly half of Nepal’s population, were marginal to the larger constitution-making process, controlled by upper caste elite. The marginalized protest that their political power is reduced with the redrawing of political subdivisions, and the Indian sympathy they enjoy makes their protest part of a greater geopolitical struggle with China, Nepal’s other giant neighbor.

After taking charge last week, the new prime minister of Nepal, Khadga Prasad Oli, had said that normalizing relations with India is a top priority. Yet India is also viewed as a problem, too involved in Nepal’s domestic politics, and China is exploiting Nepalese insecurities vis-à-vis India to serve its own interests. Ongoing disagreements over the constitution will not only mar relations with India, driving the government closer to China, but also challenge Nepal’s transition to a healthy democracy. What could have been a defining moment for Nepal is mired in internal conflict and regional posturing.

The country is still struggling to come to terms with its political evolution. Since 2008 when the king was forced to give up his emergency powers and restore the elected parliament, politics have yet to settle. Fighting between the Maoists and the Nepalese government lasted a decade with an estimated 13,000 lives lost. Fighting ended in 2006 with the signing a peace accord and a framework for moving forward. Immediately following the conflict, there were some promising steps: Legislation was proposed to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission; an interim constitution was adopted in 2007 with the intent of forming a Constituent Assembly; elections to that assembly were held in 2008, and during that year Nepal became a democratic republic with abolition of the monarchy.

The peace process for Nepal has been protracted – with political instability and six prime ministers in six years.

But the peace process has been protracted due to a climate of political instability – the country has had six prime ministers in the last six years. Such turmoil severely limits the country’s recovery, with the most fundamental example being Nepal’s failure to draft a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly was elected in 2008 with a two-year mandate, but this was extended four times as the parties could not agree on the country’s federal structure. The new constitution is a step forward, but once again fails to provide a lasting solution. More than 40 have been killed in protests in the country since August when the draft constitution was made public.

Nepal can ill-afford this crisis especially after April’s devastating earthquake which caused an estimated $10 billion of damage in the $19.6 billion economy and from which the country has yet to fully recover. As of May, China’s post-earthquake aid was nearly double that from India.
Though a number of countries including China welcomed the new constitution after years of impasse, India’s reaction was terse, pointing out “that the situation in several parts of the country bordering India continues to be violent …We urge that issues on which there are differences should be resolved through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence and intimidation, and institutionalized in a manner that would enable broad-based ownership and acceptance.”

India raised concerns over Nepal’s constitution through back channels to avoid being accused of interfering.

India had raised concerns over Nepal’s constitution through back channels to avoid being accused of interfering with the process. There was a sense that Nepalese parties ignored the concerns, along with a suggestion to delay promulgation for a few days in view of protests.

India conveyed a list of seven amendments to make the constitution amendable for alienated groups living mostly in the Terai region bordering India. The Nepalese government argued that “Nepal’s constitution is better than the Indian constitution” and “the most progressive in South Asia.” Communist leaders in Nepal have taken a strong anti-India line underlining that the new constitution’s promulgation is a “matter of conscience and self-respect” for the Nepalese people and “any act from anywhere that amounts to undermining our sovereignty is not acceptable to the Nepalese.”

Indo-Nepal relations have taken a nosedive with Kathmandu blaming India for growing fuel shortages, implying that India had imposed an informal blockade by not allowing fuel trucks to cross the border into Nepal. New Delhi blamed this disruption on the mass protests. Nepal imports almost all its oil from India, and road links to China through the Himalayas have been blocked since the April earthquake. As tensions with India mounted, China reopened its border with Nepal in Tibet. The disruptions underscore the Himalayan kingdom’s profound economic vulnerability, further inflaming anti-India passions. China is likely to be a beneficiary of this turmoil in India’s periphery.

Political uncertainty in Nepal has fueled anti-Indian sentiment, and China enlarges its presence.

Historically, Nepal has had close ties with India. The political uncertainty in Nepal has fueled anti-Indian sentiments, allowing China to enlarge its presence and even offer financial assistance for drafting the constitution. China overtook India as Nepal’s biggest foreign investor in 2013 with its funding of a $1.6 billion hydropower project – one of country’s biggest outside investments.
Against this backdrop, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made Nepal a priority. He visited in August 2014 and also pledged $1 billion for reconstruction after the earthquake. It was the first bilateral visit to Nepal by an Indian prime minister in 17 years. Nepalese polity, cutting across party lines, had welcomed the assumption of power by Modi, with most expressing hope that Nepal would be a beneficiary of his developmental agenda.

The Nepalese parliament invited Modi for an address, the first by a foreign head of state to that body since 1990, and the Nepalese gave him a rousing welcome. Modi’s speech was a graceful reflection on the trials and turbulence that have shaped Indo-Nepalese ties in recent years with a promise of a change of course.

Modi also concluded three memoranda of understanding, including one on the 5600-MW Pancheshwar project, a bi-national hydropower project to be developed in Mahakali River bordering Nepal and India. Most significantly, he promised prompt implementation of Indian projects in Nepal, a cause of needless irritation in this bilateral relationship and viewed as symptomatic of India’s lack of seriousness by most Nepalese. India also promised review of the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship within two years on the basis of recommendations from a group of eminent representatives from both countries.

The Modi government had an opportunity to reshape the contours of New Delhi’s relations with Kathmandu at a time when India seems to be losing ground in Nepal to China. The Himalayan kingdom faces a crisis and blames India for pulling strings from behind the scenes. China has long been suspicious of the Madhesis' sociocultural and economic ties with India as the region has historically been part of India's larger Mithila region.

New Delhi could have better handled this relationship, but ultimately the Nepalese polity must pursue its own resolution. Otherwise, anger and mistrust between the entrenched elites in the valley and marginalized groups will only grow, challenging governance over the long-term. It is crucial for the Nepalese polity to ensure that those who feel left out of the constitution-making process to develop a sense of ownership in the new document. Anti-India sentiment, understandable though it may be, will not resolve the underlying tensions. Nepal must confront those demons on its own, and India should leave its neighbor alone as it works out its own domestic equation.

 Harsh V. Pant is professor of international relations at King's College London and the author of India's Afghan Muddle (HarperCollins).     

India Welcomes Nepal's New Constitution With Blockade!

India Welcomes Nepal's New Constitution With Blockade! 
Nandalal Tiwari

It is an irony that the country which claims to be the largest democracy in the world has rejected the most democratic process to write a constitution. India, Nepal's southern neighbour, has stopped so low as to effectuate an economic blockade following the promulgation of the new constitution through the Constituent Assembly (CA) in Nepal on September 20, 2015. The new constitution was endorsed by over 90 per cent of the total strength of the CA. There was no consensus among the political parties in the CA, but it was near consensus.

Nowhere in the world has any constitution been promulgated by any CA with such majority. Many world powers, including China, USA, France, Japan and Pakistan, welcomed the new constitution. However, India, the colony of the British Raj till 1947, simply took note of it and took an inhuman measure of an unannounced economic blockade to register its dissatisfaction forgetting that Nepal, a country which safeguarded its sovereignty and independence even at the time when the world was divided among the world empires, is a sovereign, independent country.

Blockade not unexpected

In fact, the blockade is not unexpected. The statement of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued just after the promulgation of the new constitution were rife with such threats. Expression of the Indian Foreign Secretary, S. Jaysankar, during his visit to Nepal as a special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had issued similar threats when he reportedly told the Nepalese leaders: What if India does not welcome the new constitution?

Jaysankar was here, on September 18, after the CA had endorsed the new constitution and the date for the promulgation, Sept 20, had been fixed. He was here to postpone the promulgation so that the demands of the agitating Madhes-based parties were addressed. Three major parties had already called the Madhesi leaders for dialogue, and put on hold the CA process for two days as demanded by them. But no formal dialogue was held as the Madhesi leaders did not reciprocate the major three party's move. Given this, the Nepalese leaders were in no position to postpone the promulgation date and thus bow down before Indian hegemonic pressure.

It has just five months since Nepal was devastated by an earthquake of magnitude 7.6. Many poor people are still waiting for government relief and rehabilitation. And India has imposed an undeclared economic blockade. There is double standard at work. The Indian government has claimed that the economic blockade has not been imposed, however, at the border points, its agencies, the customs offices and Sima Surakshya Bal (SSB), do not allow passage to Nepal-bound containers.

India has used different covers to hide its blockade - that the agitating parties have blocked the entry points. That is totally wrong. The agitating parties decided to stage sit-ins at border points only on Friday, but Nepali containers had been stranded in India for over a week. And except for Birgunj, no sit-in had blocked the road. Moreover, reports said even at Birgunj, cadres of the agitating parties held the sit-in at the no man's land and pelted stone at the Nepali security personnel from Indian soil. Had the agitation in the southern plains blocked the transportation of the goods, they would have been blocked some 40 days ago when the agitation started.

Now, it is clear India has supported the agitation in the southern plains in an open and ugly manner. In this light, India has interfered in Nepal's internal affairs. Now the Indian move has even jeopardised the agitation in Madhes itself. Many have already started saying that the agitation is continuing on the strength of India. Thus, Indian interference and Madhesi agitation have become interconnected. It is upto the Madhesi leaders how they work to detach their movement from the Indian clutch so that the movement for what they say rights can be legitimate and a domestic affair.

This scribe suggests them to remember what Yudhisthira told his brothers when the Kaurav were tied by the Gandharvas in the jungle near where the Pandavas had taken shelter: When outsiders attack us, we all brothers are one, when it is a matter of our right, we are five Pandavas and they are 100 Kauravs.

By imposing an unannounced blockade, Indian rulers have violated their own constitution. Article 51 of the Indian constitution says: maintain just and honourable relations between nations, respect international law and treaty obligations. India has violated the international law on the rights of a landlocked country, it has also crushed the just and honourable relations with Nepal. What wrong did Nepal do to India by promulgating the new constitution?

A blockade or threat of a blockade has been a weapon used by India to impose its interests in Nepal. But the blockade has always added pains to the common people than to the ruling elite. Indian sanctions on Nepal, direct and indirect interference, have fuelled anti-India sentiments in Nepal. And Indian diplomacy has failed in most south Asian countries. With the blockade, Nepalese are having a taste of the Modi government's ‘first neighbourhood’ policy.

No excuse can justify the Indian blockade. But Nepalese leaders cannot be excused for such situation as well. When India imposed a blockade in 1989, these leaders did not protest against it, because they thought it was supportive of their movement against the partyless Panchayat system. At the moment, the Madhesi leaders are repeating the same mistakes. Moreover, they have recently decided to stage sit-ins at the border points as if the common people in the hills are their enemies.

Dialogue

They must know that the blockade will complicate the life of the common people not that of the political elites. On the other hand, the ruling parties including the main opposition UCPN-Maoist, must take urgent steps to hold dialogue with the agitating parties. We have seen the true face and heart of our southern neighbour. We have to take steps to bring a day when any Indian economic blockade will have no impact here. But to bring the day, the government must take the agitating parties into confidence, address their genuine demands and ensure that the new constitution is implemented smoothly. Particularly the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML must be ready to recognise the identity of the Tharus and be ready to ensure a province covering their majority area.

===========

Students protest near the Indian Embassy against the blockade of cargo trucks along the border with India in Kathmandu on Monday. (Niranjan Shrestha/AP)

Nepal is angry with India, so it turns off the TV

By Rama Lakshmi September 29

At first India was publicly unhappy with the new constitution that its Himalayan neighbor passed last week. Then Indian trucks carrying cooking fuel, gasoline, salt, sugar and rice stopped crossing the border with Nepal after local protests erupted against the new charter.

The result: There is now a groundswell of anger against India in Nepal, a country still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake in April that killed over 9,000 people and left tens of thousands more homeless.

The Nepali people are accusing India of punishing them by deliberately blocking the supply of essential goods. What makes matters worse is that the landslides caused by the earthquake have destroyed alternate supply routes from China and increased the landlocked nation’s reliance on imports from India.

People in Nepal are calling it the “unofficial economic blockade by India.”

On Monday, Nepal’s Home Ministry said the country is facing an "emergency" situation in fuel supply. Long lines are a common sight at gas stations across the country. Angry protesters are shouting anti-India slogans on the streets. Nepal’s cable television association has stopped showing 42 Indian news and entertainment channels across the country because of rising anger among the people.

Indian officials say that there is no official embargo and that the truck drivers carrying goods are afraid of going into Nepal because of the violent demonstrations by the ethnic minority groups living in the country's southern plains. The groups, considered close to Indians, are seeking greater political power in the new constitution.

Dozens of people have been killed in the protests. “The reported obstructions are due to unrest, protests and demonstrations on the Nepalese side, by sections of their population,” Vikas Swarup, India’s foreign ministry spokesman, said last week. But analysts in Nepal contest the Indian statement.

The head of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Narayan Man Bijukchhe, said India has declared a “communal war” with Nepal. The former attorney general in Kathmandu, Yubaraj Sangraula, called the lack of supplies “an act of aggression.”

The shortage of fuel and goods has brought back horrific memories for many people in Nepal who suffered an official economic blockade by India in 1989. New Delhi shut down border crossings into Nepal and cut off links to an Indian port after a trade dispute. That blockade lasted 13 months.

Hunger strike by ex-LTTE detainees called off

Hunger strike by ex-LTTE detainees called off
2015-10-17 12:03:18  1  1023
   

The hunger strike launched by suspected ex-LTTE detainees has been called off after the assurance given by the President to set up a mechanism to look into their issues.

Prisons Commissioner General Rohana Pushpakumara said he and opposition leader R. Sampanthan, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran visited the prisoners at the Magazine Prison in Colombo this morning and informed them that President Maithripala Sirisena had directed the Justice Minister to formulate a mechanism to look into their issues and finish the process between October 31 and November 07.

Mr. Pushpakumara said he would inform the prisoners in Anuradhapura and Bogambara prison too about the decision.

Ex-LTTE cadres detained at the Magazine Prison in Colombo and several other prisons had launched a hunger strike on Monday calling for their release.


Possible release for some Tamil prisoners
2015-10-17 10:06:30  2  1023
   
Some prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are likely to be released soon in the wake of President Maithripala Sirisena directing that this matter be expedited, Opposition Leader R. Sampathan said yesterday.

He said the President had directed Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe to release some of the prisoners when this matter was referred to him.

Mr. Sampathan told Daily Mirror the minister had referred this matter with the President after a discussing with a TNA delegation.

He said the mentioned prisoners would be released after the legal procedures were attended to.

"However, no relief will be given to those charged with serious offenses," Mr. Sampathan said.

Nearly 150 prisoners detained under the PTA staged a hunger strike from Monday but they are expected to give up the hunger strike today.(Yohan Perera)