PM Modi chairs Cabinet committee meet on Nepal unrest, calls for peace

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security to discuss developments in Nepal, where violent protests have toppled the government headed by K P Sharma Oli, and stressed that stability, peace and prosperity of the country are of utmost importance to India.

Modi said the violence in Nepal, in which at least 19 people have lost their lives, is heart-rending and appealed to "my brothers and sisters in Nepal to support peace".

He called a meeting of the CCS on his return from a tour of flood-hit Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Modi said, "The violence in Nepal is heart-rending. I am anguished that many young people have lost their lives. The stability, peace and prosperity of Nepal are of utmost importance to us. I humbly appeal to all my brothers and sisters in Nepal to support peace."  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are among the CCS members besides the prime minister.

Nepal is reeling under a serious crisis as Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli resigned in the face of massive protests for the second day with demonstrators storming many government buildings and setting Parliament as well as homes of several high-profile leaders ablaze, a day after 19 people died in violence.

The protest led by students under the banner of "Gen Z" that began against a government ban on social media expanded into a larger campaign reflecting growing public criticism of the Oli dispensation and the country's political elite over alleged corruption and apathy towards the common people.