India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday urged the top leaders of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) to find a solution to the crisis in Nepal at the earliest.

Drawing Madhesi leaders’ attention to the implications of the Tarai crisis on bilateral security and transit issues, Doval called on Madhesi leaders to find a solution through dialogue, according to Nepali leaders who held an hour-long meeting with Doval.

Doval said that restrictions on movement of daily goods and essentials at border points due to ongoing protests in the Tarai region have started to create a humanitarian crisis in Nepal.

“We need to address the impending humanitarian crisis at the earliest,” Doval was quoted by one of the leaders as saying. Doval also advised the Madhesi leaders to use the negotiating table to get their concerns addressed.

Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav, however, told Doval that the Madhes-based parties would continue to hold their ground, as the demands they have put forth were not new. “These are not our new demands; we have launched a movement to get the demands, which were already agreed upon, fulfilled,” Yadav told Doval. Yadav also said that Madhes-based parties will continue their protests at border points.

The Madhesi delegates on Tuesday also met Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. During the meeting, Jaishankar echoed Doval and urged them to find a solution through dialogue at the earliest, according to a Madhesi leader.

Mahat objects to Swaraj’s rajya Sabha remarks

NEW DELHI: Nepali Congress leader and former finance minister Ram Sharan Mahat has expressed reservations about Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj’s statement on Nepal in Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian parliament, on Monday.

Mahat said that Swaraj wrongly interpreted citizenship provisions in Nepal’s new constitution. “This clearly shows the degree to which false notions about Nepal’s constitution have been permeated in India,” Mahat said. (PR)