BIRATNAGAR/ BANKE, Jan 26: Indians in Jogbani, the border town, staged a protest against the Unified CPN (Maoist) on Tuesday for using the Indian flag in Maoist posters in a derogatory manner. Security has been beefed up on both sides of the border following the protest.
In the posters that the Maoists prepared for their fourth-round protest against the government, the Indian flag is shown underneath a shoe. Chief of the Eastern Region Police Office DIG Bhishma Prasai said that they have informed the Home Ministry about the protest. [break]
The protesters carried placards against the Maoists and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
However, the Maoists have refuted the Indian nationals´ allegations against them. “The flag does not denigrate India and Indian nationals,” said Shiva Kumar Mandal, Morang in-charge of the Maoist party.
The protestors submitted a memorandum to Chief District Officer of Morang Sashishekhar Shrestha, Tuesday. They have demanded a stop to anti-Indian activities. They have also demanded that Maoist Chairman Dahal apologize for what he said and did against India.
The Indian protest has affected work at Biratnagar customs. Customs chief Mitralal Regmi said revenue collection was almost closed due to the protest. The customs has been collecting Rs 2.5 million revenue daily.
Meanwhile, Nepalis residing along the border areas of Banke district have been suffering various problems following the Maoist anti-Indian movement against land encroachment. Maoist senior leaders inspected encroached Nepali land and chanted slogans against India some three weeks ago. Since then the Seema Suraksha Bal (Indian border security force) started tight security operations at the border, causing additional problems for Nepalis.
According to locals, Indian border security officials started harassing Nepalis during security checks after Maoist Vice-Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha delivered an ´anti-Indian´ speech at the border.
“Security officials have also obstruct us from bringing commodities from India,” said local man Sawal Prasad Shrivastav.
Maoist leader Shrestha, in his speech, said Nepalis should fight India to stop its encroachment of Nepali land.
According to Kalaphata VDC Vice-Chairman Mohammad Ali Sekh, Indian security started restricting Nepalis from bringing various goods from India from the second day of Shrestha´s speech.