Lawmakers tell govt to resolve border dispute

Kathmandu, January 3:

Lawmakers from the ruling alliance today urged the government to step up diplomatic efforts to resolve the border problems with India, particularly the encroachment dispute over Susta in Nawalparasi.

The lawmakers condemned as deplorable an incident earlier this week involving pro-Bharatiya Janta Party students crossing over the border at Brahmpur on Tuesday and chanting anti-Nepal slogans on the Nepali side.

They criticised the government for failing to react to such incidents.

“The situation in the border areas might get worse if people of two neighbouring countries start fighting,” UML lawmaker Urba Datta Pant warned during the special hour of today’s parliamentary session. He urged the government to immediately end the border dispute to avoid any untoward incident in future.

Nepali Congress MP Mohan Basnet urged the government to act quickly to settle the border issue while Khim Lal Devkota of the CPN-Maoist charged the “fundamentalist Hindu BJP” with trying to meddle in Nepal’s sovereignty by encroaching Susta and Brahmapur areas following the parliament’s decision to go for a republic here. “This shows republic here is not acceptable to the BJP,” he added.

“It is high time the government sought India’s position on Nepal,” Devkota said adding, “The government and the parliament should condemn the incident.”

MP Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh referred to the skirmishes between the BJP supporters

and Nepali people in the Brahmapur area and asked the government to initiate efforts to avoid future confrontations.

MPs Jagya Bahadur Shah, Shiva Bahadur Deuja, Uma Adhikari, Sushila Nepal and Kaman Singh Lama raised concerns about the reports of encroachment in the Susta and Brahmapur areas. The International Relations Committee had yesterday directed the government to initiate immediate efforts through diplomatic channels to end the border dispute.

Speaker Subhas Nembang today read out a letter from the office of the Prime Minister regarding the appointment of Maoist ministers in the cabinet.

The session has been postponed till tomorrow.