Lift blockade to mollify anti-India sentiments, CPN-UML leader

Former prime minister and senior CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal today asked India to correct its "mistake" and lift an "unofficial blockade" near border trade points to check growing anti-India sentiments in this country.
He said that his party -- a major constituent in the ruling alliance -- and the Nepal government do not want to see anti-India sentiments in the landlocked Himalayan country.
"Rather than blaming others, we wish that India correct its behaviour and mistake by lifting the unofficial blockade," he said.
Nepal has been reeling under a massive shortage of fuel and other essential goods due to protests by Indian-origin Madhesis over the landlocked country's Constitution - ratified in September after a frustrating eight-year process.

The Madhesi people -- spearheaded by the Madhesi Front group -- see the new charter as flawed and discriminatory because, they say, it does not protect their interests. They demand that the demarcation of federal provinces enshrined in the constitution be re-drawn to make it more representative and inclusive.
Speaking at a press meet in western Nepal, the CPN-UML leader asserted that the constitution does not discriminate against any community, rather it has provided a separate identity to the Madhesis.

The Madhesi Front's demand of lining out a single state is not possible and the talks with the group has stalled on that issue, he said.

The former prime minister acknowledged the hardships faced by Nepali people and said that India "can decrease the scale of its support to Nepal if it wishes but the blockade should be immediately removed."
He made it clear that the solution to "current problems would not come from staging sit-in at No-Man's land."
The issues should be discussed through high-level political engagement, he said.