India should pay attention to the “suffering of Nepalis” and not “push them against the wall,” Nepali Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay said on Sunday.
Referring to the shortages of fuel, medicines and essential foods in the country caused by the pile-up of trucks at the major India-Nepal border checkpoints due to the Madhesi protests, Mr. Upadhyay told The Hindu that Nepal had given the Indian government every assurance of safe passage for them.
“We have been telling [the Indian] authorities that it is inhumane to allow the people to suffer like this,” the envoy said, in his sharpest comments since the pile-up began on September 23 and came after Nepal raised the issue in a speech at the U.N.
Some relief was reported as at least 100 trucks were able to pass into Nepal through other checkpoints on Sunday, officials said, indicating that the protests have abated in some areas of the Terai, but the main integrated border checkpoint at Raxaul, Bihar, into Birgunj remained closed. Nepal gets 100% of its fuel from the Indian Oil Corporation.
India has denied that it has issued any order for a “blockade” at the Indo-Nepal border that has seen over 2,000 trucks parked on the Indian side waiting to go in. Hundreds of Indian truckers have been stranded in Nepal as well, as protesters angry with the new Constitution adopted by Nepal have blocked the crossing-points to pressure the government in Kathmandu.
Asked about India’s denial, Nepali Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay told The Hindu on Sunday that Nepal offered Indian trucks a guarantee of safe passage despite the protests.
“We have furnished all kinds of assurances of foolproof security to the government, we will escort every truck once it enters Nepal, so what is the problem,” he asked. “The Indian government should see what is stopping the trucks from leaving India.”
Hopes of a settlement over the Constitution were dealt another blow on Sunday, when parliament was adjourned and failed to pass two crucial amendments introduced by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala to assuage the Madhesi demands over constituency delineation and proportional inclusion.
As a result, the amendments — that India had hoped for — now hang in the balance, and may be delayed further as parliament now begins the process of electing a new Prime Minister.
The ambassador’s strong remarks that India should not push Nepalis to the wall indicate a toughening of position in Kathmandu, even as he said Nepal would have to look for other options like China to resolve the fuel crisis and shortage of essentials. “We know this is impractical and we can’t afford the cost, but we are being left with no options,” he said.
