Leaders of major political parties said on Wednesday that the Constitution of Nepal was drafted by elected representatives of the people and that foreign nations should respect Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The international community should caution us if we are suppressing the rights of the people,” CPN-UML spokesperson Yogesh Bhattarai said, “but it cannot dictate the contents of our constitution.”

 Likewise, UCPN (Maoist) spokesperson Agni Sapkota said: “The dignity, freedom and sovereignty of Nepal lies exclusively with the Nepali people and the constitution was promulgated based on that principle.”

Indian newspaper Indian Express had published a classified report which stated that the Indian government had asked the Nepali side to make seven amendments to the new constitution.

According to the report, India wants, among other things, the electoral constituencies in Madhes based on population and the five disputed districts of Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Kanchanpur and Kailali included in Madhes provinces.

“We can decide the number of electoral constituencies in our country by ourselves,” Bhattarai said. “We have never interfered on how many electoral constituencies there are in Bihar or Ladakh, so why should they interfere in our matters.”

Bhattarai clarified that electoral constituencies will be delineated according to both population and geography, as was decided by the lawmakers.

On reports of possible border blockade by India, Bhattarai said that being a landlocked country is the nation’s fate, but Nepal should, nevertheless, be able to enjoy trade facilities from all the nations in the world. “We have set on a path of prosperity with the promulgation of the constitution, so I expect support from the international community,” he said.

Maoist spokesperson Sapkota acknowledged that there are dissatisfactions in several parts of the country and stressed on the need of national unity to find a political solution.

“We have begun a new experiment in the country and all the contentious issues can be solved by gaining mandate from the people,” he said. Sapkota added that all the countries in the world have welcomed the new constitution and it does not matter if one or two are not pleased.