Kathmandu, May 12 Police today arrested 70 protesters, including some human right activists and political and student leaders, who were trying to stage protest programmes against the Indian government’s recent inauguration of a link road. Those arrested had gathered around various areas in Kathmandu defying the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government to subdue the COVID-19 spread. Kathmandu and other major cities have been seeing sporadic protests for the last couple of days after the Indian government inaugurated a link road joining Manasarovar of Tibet in China, via Lipulekh region last Friday. Police have been detaining them from the protest site and later releasing them late evening every day. Among those arrested today were human rights activists Krishna Pahadi, also a founder chairperson of Human Rights and Peace Society Nepal, its Chair Uttam Pudasaini and Ranju Darshana, leader of Bibeksheel Nepali Party. Cadres of Nepal Student Union, the student wing of major opposition Nepali Congress had also joined the protest on the second day today. Talking to THT from custody, Darshana demanded immediate action from the government to find a solution of the problem. She also sought the return of lost Nepali territory. “We feel betrayed by the government, especially since it has been turning deaf ears to our plea for years to act promptly on the case. As the Indian government has now started building the road on our land, it is the government’s responsibility to bring it back at any cost,” Darshana said. Meanwhile, an informal group of former bureaucrats called ‘Group 25+’ has requested the government to employ a ‘double-pronged’ strategy to safeguard the nation’s interest. It has urged the government to seriously continue to call the Indian government to join dialogue to share evidences on the sovereign ownership of India-occupied Nepali territory. A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 13, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.