Blockade woes for Nepal
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 06 2015 -
Nepal was caught in blockade woes for the last few days.
If the reports are correct, the situation was quite akin to what Manipur had been experiencing whenever there were economic blockades along the two National Highways connecting Manipur with the rest of India.
Nepal was grappling with shortage of fuel and other essential commodities due to the blockade of key trade points with India by protesters opposing the enactment of the new Constitution.
Several freight trucks carrying essential commodities and fuel were stranded on the Indian side for over 11 days due to the Madhes agitation against the Constitution.
Helpless with the situation, the Himalayan country turned to the United Nations (UN). Nepal has blamed India for the obstruction of a key border trade point with the country.
While addressing the General Assembly on October 2, Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh appealed to the world community to ensure effective and unhindered access to the sea for landlocked developing countries like Nepal through effective implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action for 2014-2024.
Though India rejected the Nepalese claim as “totally false”, the former has emphasized that it can allow the goods carrying vehicles up to the border and beyond that, it was the responsibility of the Nepalese side to ensure adequate safety and security for the trucks.
Nepalese authorities also said that there have been elements in the border areas spreading rumours that the new constitution has failed to ensure rights of the Terai people in Southern Nepal bordering India.
All these while, one is not sure if China could reap good harvest out of the blockade. India should well know that the Nepal-Tibet trading point at Tatopani, 110 km east of Kathmandu, which remained obstructed due to the recent earthquakes and landslides, has opened since October 2.
With opening of the same route with China, the people of Kathmandu are expected to get some relief. This relief may in the long run turn into comfort of a kind where the roads to Tibet and China are widened so as to allow bigger containers.
The recent issue that had dogged the Himalayan Nation could well be a big lesson for India on how it has to make well intended preparation if the country does not want the Kathmandu-Beijing road to be shorter than Kathmandu-New Delhi stretch, at least in diplomatic distance.
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