Eighteen political parties represented in the Constituent Assembly (CA) were present in the meeting called in the wake of reported displacement of over 2,000 people from Dang villages that share border with India due to excesses of India´s Sashastra Seema Bal personnel and encroachment upon Nepali territory by the Indian side. The displaced people from Rajpur, Koilabas, Bela and Gobardiha villages have been staying in the Kari community forest along the East-West Highway.
Nepali Congress, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) and Sadbhawana Party did not attend the meeting albeit Maoists had send invitation to all 24 parties in the CA.
The meeting also issued a joint statement calling for an end to encroachment and excesses and drew attention of the parliament and the government to take measures to stop it.
The team led by Sherchan will be given full shape by including representatives of all parties in the CA. The participants in the meeting asked the the Maoists to help resume legislature parliament to allow discussion on the issue in the parliament.
Addressing the meeting, senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai pointed out the need for unity to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said foreign interference would be unacceptable to Nepal and its people.
Meanwhile, sister organizations of the Maoists and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal submitted a protest letter to Indian embassy in Kathmandu on Thursday against the alleged encroachment.
India says it´s baseless
The Indian embassy has taken the incident in Dang very strongly with the government of Nepal.
“This issue being raised by certain sectors of media and some political organizations is politically motivated,” an Indian embassy source said.
The source added that no complaints have been lodged so far. “There is a system of border talks between India and Nepal and though the Indian side has been requesting meeting with its Nepali counterpart, the Nepali side is not forthcoming.”
The only way out to the problem, the source said, is to get the boundary maps formally signed.
The source added that the main motive behind the “current baseless issues is to vitiate the warm and traditional Indo-Nepal relationship.”
The embassy has strongly urged the government of Nepal to look into the source of this “frivolous and fabricated story”. It has also urged the new government not to take such acts lightly, which are intended to hurt Indo-Nepal ties.
Student bodies to form joint task force
Meanwhile, a meeting of several student unions held in Kathmandu on Thursday decided to form a joint task force to study the alleged encroachment.
The meeting held on the initiatives of Nepal Students´ Unions (NSU) also unveiled several protest programs while condemning the alleged encroachment. The meeting was attended by all major student unions except the one affiliated with Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
The student unions have asked the task force to submit its report after seven days. The task force members will make field visits to several bordering villages including Koilabas, Patauli, Siriya and Sakauli in Dang.
The student unions have announced to submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and a protest letter to the Indian Embassy on Friday. They have also announced to hold interactions with border experts on the issue.
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