'Create conducive situation for talks on constitution making'

A senior Nepalese leader has asked the government to create conducive environment for talks on promulgation of the country's new constitution by withdrawing army from the troubled Terai region along the Indo-Nepal border.
President of Terai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) Mahanta Thakur said yesterday that it was the responsibility of the government to create conductive environment for talks by implementing past agreements.
He said the government should withdraw the decision to mobilise army in the Terai region were the Madhesi parties are agitating over the issue of demarcation and naming of the federal provinces, one of the contentious issues of the constitution drafting.

The Madhesi parties demanding more rights and representation of the Madhesi people in the new constitution, have been imposing indefinite strike in Terai for more than a week.
The government had mobilised army after seven security personnel including a senior police officer was killed by a mob carrying domestic weapons in Kailali district in western Nepal.
Thakur accused the government of trying to promulgate the new constitution forcefully by declaring some of the districts of the Madhes as riot-hit zone. He advised the government to move ahead through consensus rather than using force against the people of Terai.

He also accused the four major political parties for moving ahead by signing the 16-point agreement in a messy way without having any consultations with other parties.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Nepal and India have tightened cross-border security along the 20 Terai districts.
Officials said the move is aimed at controlling movement of 'unwanted' and 'criminal' elements across the border in view of violent protests taking place in various districts in central and western Nepal bordering India and the upcoming state assembly polls in Bihar.
"The Home Ministry has directed the chief district officers and chiefs of security agencies in various restive districts to ensure proper coordination with their Indian counterparts and check the movement of unwanted elements," said Home Ministry Spokesperson Laxmi Prasad Dhakal.
The security cooperation between the two countries come in the wake of Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam making a statement in the parliament that there was infiltration of some miscreants from the south during the ongoing agitation in the Terai region and western Nepal.