Nepal's political parties should adopt "flexibility and understanding" to resolve the ongoing political crisis, the Indian envoy here said today as he underlined that a peaceful and stable Nepal is in India's interest.
India wants to see a peaceful, prosperous and stable Nepal, India's Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae said at an interaction programme on 'Nepal-India relations: Prospects and Challenges' on the eve of India's 67th Republic Day here.
"What is in the interest of Nepal will also be in the interest of India," he said.
"India is focussing on attaining economic prosperity and for that we need peace and stability in the neighbourhood. As we have long and open border, it will naturally have an impact on India if there is insecurity and instability in the southern Nepal districts," Rae said.
His remarks come just two days after Nepal's parliament voted to amend the country's Constitution with a two-thirds majority four months after its promulgation, in a bid to resolve the political crisis involving the minority Madhesi community.
The agitating Madhesi community that shares strong cultural and family bonds with India is demanding demarcation of provinces, fixing of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportional representation, and have been protesting for months. At least 55 people have been killed in the protests that have also led to a blockade of the country's key trade points with India.
"We want to see the problems surfaced in the border areas resolved through peaceful means of dialogue," Rae said.
"The political parties of Nepal should adopt flexibility and understanding to resolve the ongoing political crisis," he said.
"We are happy to learn that the Nepal government has taken initiatives for resolving the issue in a peaceful way, which has already resulted in some positive outcome and it is very much encouraging. Once the political crisis is resolved, we would focus on the economic development and prosperity of Nepal, through partnership," the envoy said.
Speaking at the same event, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa said the country is willing to take benefit from the high economic growth and prosperity attained by India.
"India has attained an economic growth of 7.5 per cent, for which we want to congratulate it, and we would also like to take the benefit from the Indian economic progress by further engaging in partnership and cooperation with the southern neighbour," Thapa said.
