Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to India is important. I would like to again submit that India should strengthen relationship with Nepal. Bilateral tension with neighbouring countries will always carry a sharp bite.

However, mutual understanding coupled with bigger plans will come up with potential rewards later. It should dawn on all the countries grappling with bilateral ties. It is simple logic and it is all about mathematics and arithmetic. My native areas located in Tamil Nadu and Kanyakumari are home to the vast agricultural activities like growing banana crops and paddy fields.

A verbal duel/ quarrel among the farmers over fencing the areas/ fields for agricultural activities is common in these areas. But mutual understanding or any sense of helping tendency will go a long way in the matter of safeguarding the interests of the farming community and the agricultural produce as a whole.

As the time has been wearing on, many Asian countries have long been left in the midst of unnecessary tension and problems.

P Senthil Saravana Durai, Mumbai

Tatopani

This is with reference to the news story “Tatopani border point likely to reopen soon” (THT, April 9, Page 3). It is good news that the Chinese side is likely to reopen the Tatopani customs points after it remained closed for three years following the devastating earthquake in 2015. Recently, the Chinese government has deployed over 300 personnel to reconstruct the road at Khasa which was badly damaged after the tremor.

An agreement was reached between the two countries to reopen the road linking Tibet with Kathmandu. The Araniko Highway is being widened and construction of a dry port near Tatopani is also underway. The pace of the work has enlivened hopes that the highway will come into operation soon. First opened about 42 years ago, the Araniko Highway played a key role in improving economic condition of the people of many districts in the central region. It also used to be the gateway to Lhasa and Mansarovar until it was closed. Prior to the earthquake, hundreds of containers used to ply the road ferrying goods from Tibet, and the Nepali business community also used to export goods to the northern neighbour. Once the road is reopened, the business would resume as usual as it is acts as economic lifeline for both the countries.

Lakpa Tamang, Sindhupalchowk

Pangolins

Apropos of the news story “Two Chinese held with 162 kg pangolin scales (THT, March 31, Page 2), I would like to highlight that pangolins are now listed under CITES Appendix I since 2016, which bans international trade in the species. On September 28, 2016, 182 nations of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species

unanimously agreed a total ban on international trade on all species.

Uma Kanapathy, Malaysia