BORDER HAVOC AS NEPALIS ACCUSE INDIA OF PAYBACK

[Some border crossings are facing obstructions of a different sort. Nepali protesters from the Madhesi community have staged sit-ins at least at two major crossings, blocking those routes to goods since last week, officials said. Since August, more than 40 people, most from the Madhesi and ethnic Tharu communities, who live in southern and western Nepal, have been killed in protests over the Constitution. They argued that the new boundaries of several states would dilute their political voice.]

By Nida Najar

NEW DELHI — Days after Nepal adopted a constitution in a way that appeared to infuriate India, Kuldiep Singh, an official with India’s border security force, received his orders: Thoroughly search every single truck trying to cross into Nepal.

Trucks immediately backed up at the customs post in West Bengal State staffed by his crew. Now, a week later, about 400 are waiting to cross. “Definitely to some extent it is slowing down,” Mr. Singh said Wednesday.

Nepali officials accuse India of imposing an economic blockade as payback for Nepal’s adoption of the Constitution on Sept. 20 over India’s objection that the Nepalese population should be consulted more thoroughly. In Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, political leaders are vilifying India, blaming it for the sudden and severe fuel shortages.

India, while acknowledging its objections to Nepal’s Constitution, has said it has nothing to do with the shortages, which became so severe on Wednesday that Nepal decided to prohibit private cars from getting gas so there would be enough for emergency vehicles.

“The fuel crisis is deepening,” Gopal Bahadur Khadka, managing director of the Nepal Oil Corporation, a state-run company, said Tuesday. “Given the situation, we have very limited choices.” Nepal imports all of its fuel from India.

Whether they amount to a blockade or not, India’s orders have contributed to a drastic reduction in the number of trucks crossing the border, interviews with border officials indicate, and the imposition of exhaustive security checks coincides with the onset of Nepal’s fuel crisis.

Some border crossings are facing obstructions of a different sort. Nepali protesters from the Madhesi community have staged sit-ins at least at two major crossings, blocking those routes to goods since last week, officials said. Since August, more than 40 people, most from the Madhesi and ethnic Tharu communities, who live in southern and western Nepal, have been killed in protests over the Constitution. They argued that the new boundaries of several states would dilute their political voice.

But Sishir Dhungana, the director general of customs in Nepal, said that while two of the crossings were high-traffic trade routes, they accounted for fewer than half of the roughly 2,000 trucks that usually cross the border daily, and at several border checkpoints where there are no sit-ins, trucks are still not crossing into Nepal.

“Indian customs and border security forces are not releasing the goods,” Mr. Dhungana said.

D. Gurung, an Indian customs official in Naxalbari, West Bengal, denied that the trucks were being held up at Indian customs, blaming the Nepalese side for any disruption. Still, he could not say what exactly was causing the buildup on a small bridge connecting India to Nepal in Naxalbari, and he said the checks by Indian forces could be part of the problem.

V. H. Deshmukh, inspector general of the border force in Lucknow, India, said an order came in a week ago to intensify screening of “all the vehicles.”

There were some signs on Wednesday that the obstructions were being slightly eased. Six fuel trucks, along with several trucks carrying vegetables, entered from India, said Bishnu Prasad Dhakal, the chief district officer in Rupandehi, where the trucks entered Nepal.

It is not entirely clear why India objects so strongly to Nepal’s Constitution or its adoption process. India has long been intimately involved with Nepalese politics. Some analysts suggest it is smarting over a perception that Nepal has cut it out of the power loop. Other analysts see India’s statements urging political flexibility in the Constitution as siding with the grievances of the Madhesis, many of whom have ethnic and family ties to India.

Deepak Kumar, an inspector general in New Delhi for the Indian security force, said the orders to step up security on the border were based on intelligence from India and Nepal.

“From the Indian side it was apprehended that the Madhesi people may burn down their vehicles,” he said. Nepal was concerned that arms and ammunition were being sent to the Madhesis from India, he said.

Kamal Singh Bam, a spokesman for Nepal’s police, said he was unaware of any request for heightened security checks from Indian officials.

Bhadra Sharma contributed reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal. 

       

@  The New York Times