A group of South Asian human rights organisations have condemned the undeclared border blockade by India, urging Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately resolve the crisis faced by the Nepali people.

Seventeen South Asian members of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development came to the conclusion after a regional meeting in Kathmandu on Thursday. India’s response towards Nepal after the promulgation of the new constitution came under heavy criticism from the human rights watchdogs particularly as “the constitution has had widespread acceptance across Nepal”.

“We appeal to the Prime Minister of India to take all necessary action to bring this crisis to an immediate end and ease the suffering of the Nepali people,” read a statement issued by the group on Friday.

India closed its border to cargo movement into Nepal immediately after the promulgation of constitution on September 20. This has resulted in widespread shortage of daily essentials like gasoline, diesel, cooking gas, medicines and food supplies in the country which has already suffered enough from a massive earthquake on April 25. Due to the shortage of fuel, the government has failed to carry out reconstruction works and supply relief to victims.

The human rights organisations have warned that Nepal is in the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe due to the embargo which violates the UN Convention on Laws of the Sea and several other treaties between Nepal and India. They also came heavily upon Indian propaganda that the new constitution was not accepted by a large section of Nepali population resulting in violent protests in Tarai.

Lauding the new constitution, members of FORUM-ASIA said that the constitution drafting process “followed an extensive discussion on all provisions, and collection of comments and feedback on the draft from a wide cross-section of the population” concluding that “the constitution has had widespread acceptance across Nepal”.

Among the organisations which came up with the statement are Ain O Sailash Kendro of Bangladesh, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Inform Human Rights Documentation Centre of Sri Lanka, People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights of India and Informal Sector Service Centre of Nepal.

In the statement, the rights organisations urge Indian authorities to immediately lift the blockade and also appeal to the international community to ease the crisis faced by Nepal.