Nepal hands over diplomatic note to India over border killing

Kathmandu, March 10: Nepal on Friday handed over a “diplomatic note” to Indian authorities over alleged killing on Thursday of a Nepali citizen by India’s border security guards, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). According to the Nepali side, pal citizen Govinda Gautam died when SSB personnel opened fire at the Nepal-India border on Thursday following a dispute over construction of a culvert in No-man’s Land.

Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi summoned Deputy Chief of Mission in Indian Embassy Biya Kumar and handed over the “diplomatic note”, stating that the Nepal government condemned the incident and called for a probe, Nepal’s Foreign Minister’s Office said in a statement. Nepal also urged India to stop such inimical activities on the border in future.

A diplomatic spat has erupted following the incident, as top political leadership in Nepal and India held several diplomatic parleys on Thursday and Friday after CPN (Maoist Center), the ruling ally, and other political parties held protests against the killing.

Sister organisations of ruling and opposition parties also joined forces for the protest, which saw anger spilling on to streets in various parts of the country.

Similarly, after the meeting between Foreign Secretary Bairagi and Kumar, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said that Kumar conveyed his condolences on the loss of life of a Nepali citizen on Thursday.

He informed Bairagi of Inia’s decision to initiate an inquiry into the incident at the border touching Lakhimpur Kheri district of India and Kanchanpur districts of Nepal, and requested the Nepalese government to share autopsy and forensic reports to facilitate the inquiry process. (IANS)