‘Create security and harmony in Tarai’
NEW DELHI: Responding to requests from Nepal for help in ‘facilitating’ movement of goods across the border in the festive season, India has placed the onus firmly on Kathmandu and said that if it creates an environment of ‘security and harmony’ in Tarai, it would enable ‘uninterrupted commerce’.
In a meeting with visiting Nepali deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Kamal Thapa, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj asked him about steps being taken to address the challenges, particularly in the Tarai. A mass movement by the Madhesis, who object to the constitution, has paralysed life for 65 days in the bordering region.
Sources on both the Nepali and Indian side have told HT that Thapa acknowledged there were ‘genuine concerns’. He also said it “would have been better if all issues had been addressed before the promulgation of the constitution”. This was the position India had taken, when it sent foreign secretary S Jaishankar as special envoy to Nepal.
But Thapa said it was time to ‘move forward’. He recognised political nature of the domestic problem and said, “We are committed to coming out with a solution in the shortest period of time.”
The Nepali foreign minister asked for Indian facilitation of ‘movement of goods, particularly petroleum products’, given people had been suffering shortages and Dasain festival was approaching. Swaraj emphasised that that at any point, five or six border crossings were open. And if there was obstruction, it was because of protests by a ‘section of the Nepali population’. “If you create security and harmony in Tarai, it will enable uninterrupted commerce.”
Thapa met NSA Ajit Doval, home minister Rajnath Singh and is expected to see PM Narendra Modi on Monday.