Nepal summons Indian diplomat over killing of Nepali national

Nepal, on Friday, summoned a top Indian diplomat in Kathmandu over the killing of a Nepali national in the Indian security force firing at the Nepal-India border recently, officials said.

Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi summoned the Acting Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Kumar to the foreign ministry to express serious concern over the death of Nepali national Govinda Gautam in the firing Kanchanpur District of Nepal, following a scuffle between the Nepali local residents and the Indian security personnel regarding the construction of a culvert in the area.

The foreign secretary handed over a protest letter to the ambassador on behalf of the Nepalese government, condemning the incident, Press Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ekraj Pathak told Xinhua.

On the occasion, the Acting Indian Ambassador said that India would cooperate the Nepalese government to launch probe into the case, calling it very unfortunate.

Meanwhile, the Nepalese Foreign Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat spoke to his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on Friday over the same incident and urged to launch investigation into the case and bring the guilty to justice, according to the press advisor.

The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu stated that the acting ambassador conveyed condolences on the loss of life of the Nepali citizen Thursday.

According to the embassy, India decided to initiate an enquiry on the incident and requested that the Nepalese side may share post-mortem and forensic reports to facilitate the enquiry process.

The Nepali national was killed in course of treatment at a local hospital in Kanchanpur, who was seriously injured when Indian security forces opened fire into a crowd at Anandabazar town of Kanchapur District.

Media reports said that the local residents had resorted to a demonstration since 12 p.m. Thursday after Indian authorities objected to the construction of a culvert in the locality, claiming that was the no man's land.

The construction of the culvert over the river was started on Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua