Kathmandu, May 25 (IANS) There is growing concern in Nepal over the attacks on Nepalis and Nepali-speaking people in north-east India that are reported to have left 17 dead and forced thousands to flee their homes.
Nepal’s foreign ministry has asked the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi to inquire into reports that more than a dozen Nepalis were beaten to death in a coal mine and two more were torched alive in India’s Meghalaya state after clashes between ethnic communities on the border between two Indian states.
The opposition Maoist party has also taken note of the reports of violence targeting Nepalis and people of Nepali origin and condemned the incidents.
The central committee of the formerly underground party, which held four-day discussions to draw up its future strategy, said at the end of the parleys Monday that it regretted and condemned the attacks on Nepalis and Nepali-speaking people in India.
The ethnic tension flared up in India after communities from two north-eastern states, Assam and Meghalaya, clashed over the ownership of disputed border villages.
Four members of Meghalaya’s indigenous Khasi community were killed when Indian police fired on the mob, triggering retaliatory attacks by the community.
The victims of the retaliation were Nepali blue-collar workers and Indians of Nepali-origin living in Meghalaya and working in the coal mines.
Between 12 to 17 people are reported to have been killed in the violence, two of whom were burnt to death.
Though the attacks stopped after the state government beefed up security, thousands of Nepalis and Nepali-speaking people are reported to have fled their homes and taken shelter in camps in Assam.
Many are said to have left India to take shelter in Nepali villages across the border.
