India expresses deep concern over firing incidents in Birgunj

The Government of Nepal was rattled on Monday when, in a sensational press conference at Biratnagar, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s junior colleague Satya Narayan Mandal demanded that the Indian Army enter Nepal to ensure the rights and security of the people of the Madhes region.

It is said that Indian Prime Minister Modi requested Prime Minister Oli to provide details about the incident happened at Birgunj on Monday.

There was no immediate sign of fuel trucks entering Nepal, although a customs official said more than 100 empty Indian trucks left stranded in Nepal due to the blockade had crossed over to India during the brief period the border was open.

“There are thousands of us on the bridge at the moment”, said Purushottam Jha, local leader of a political party that represents minority Madhesis in southern Nepal.

Nepal has been complaining that supplies from India were not reaching the landlocked country, accusing India of imposing a blockade to pressure it to change its constitution.

Tension has been mounting along the India-Nepal border after a 19-year-old Indian was killed when Nepali police opened fire on people demonstrating against the new constitution near the border.

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. India also summoned Nepal ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyaya over the incident, television channels reported. “We are advising them to exercise caution and not put themselves in danger”, he added. His two visits to Nepal last year, as well as New Delhi’s generous aid to Kathmandu for relief and reconstruction work in the aftermath of the devastating Nepal quake this year, were seen as extremely positive.

“Issues facing Nepal are political in nature and can not be resolved by force”, its foreign ministry said in a statement. As a result of this tribulation the protests became so strong that aboriginal have distrusted trade routes from India to Kathmandu.

Faced with an acute shortage of fuel and essential goods, the new Nepalese government has been cosying up to its northern neighbour China.

“I did not expect this kind of extreme step that India has taken on this issue”.

Nepal is reeling under severe and chronic shortage of fuel, essential commodities and medicines due to the border-blockade.

The Nepal has received first consignment of petrol from China.

Ending the International Olympic Committee monopoly, fuel deliveries from China began over the weekend with Kathmandu receiving 73.5 tons of gasoline, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.