Protests in Nepal causing shortages of gasoline, medicine

Nepal warns that shortages of gasoline and medicine will be severe soon as supplies from India are not arriving during protests at border crossings by hundreds of people angry about Nepal’s new constitution.

Rae stated that the problems were not created due to India.

Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh is to lead the Nepali delegation to the UNGA.

Hundreds of protesters have been opposing Nepal’s new Constitution near its border with India. India has to rise above the usual ministry of external affairs line that these issues are an “internal matter of Nepal”. Therefore, India has genuine strategic and security interests in Nepal, imperatives that have forced New Delhi to intervene in Nepal politics.

But it’s not only the minorities that are pissed off. India – Nepal’s much larger and often dominating neighbor – has expressed concern over the violence and instability on the other side of its border, triggering, in turn, a backlash under the hashtag #backoffIndia. The Nepalese economy relies heavily on India and the bilateral trade between the two countries counts for more than half of Nepal’s total trade.

However, India’s terse public position on the current situation in Nepal has surprised many. This will evoke global outcry by human-rights-groups also in countries like United Kingdom (Britain) where Gorkhas have been in its army. “Nepal’s Constitution is written by a constituent assembly and endorsed by elected by members from all regions”.

Catholic leaders have welcomed the move, believing that the constitution’s secular character is necessary if religious freedom is to be maintained in the 81% Hindi country, but some Hindu nationalists have protested against the decision, which was made against the backdrop of bomb attacks on churches in the country’s eastern Jhapa district.

The goal of a new constitution was to lay the foundations for an innovative state and society. That Mr Doval is now in the frame shows that the government gets it. The question is, though, what can he do about it without pushing Nepal into being our new Sri Lanka? It was in New Delhi, after all, that the historical peace agreement between former-Maoist rebels and parliamentary forces were signed. The charter would bar them from seeking higher office.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae today held separate meetings with Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. Though welcomed in Nepal, the Constitution has indeed restricted space for political manoeuvring. But going ahead, the processes laid out in this imperfect document has to be the basis of all negotiations. It has urged Nepal to amend the new constitution by securing ‘widest possible. The battle for the idea of Nepal needs to move away from the streets and into the parliament.