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200 Nepalis rush back home
- meghalaya eviction
KAKADVITTA, MAY 25 -
Over 200 Nepali speaking people who had been living in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya on Tuesday entered Nepal through the Kakadvitta checkpoint.
The Nepali speaking people had fled the Indian state after the ethnic Khasis of Meghalaya ordered them to leave the village they had been living in.
The Nepalis said they had no choice but to flee the state and save their lives.
“We managed to flee after a series of attacks on the Nepali speaking population there,” said Shambhu Rai (45), a local of Sunsari’s Dharan who had been working in a coal mine in Meghalaya.
“Just today, five buses of Nepali people entered Nepal,” he said.
Describing the problems they faced in Meghalaya, Rai said, “We were confined indoors for three days, while we made a plan to return to Nepal over the telephone.”
Most of the Nepalis who returned originally hail from Gaighat, Dhankuta, Biratnagar and Jhapa.
The Khasis had burnt alive two Nepalis a few days ago.
Another Nepali, Bal Bahadur Tamang, said around 14 Nepali speaking people lost their lives in the violence, while thousands have been displaced. The displaced have been taking shelter at Siltar, Boko, Jayanti and some other places of the Indian state of Assam.
On Sunday, the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi took up the eviction issue with the Indian government.
Around 15,000 Nepali speaking population had been forced by the Khasis to leave the Indian state.
On Monday, the Khasis reportedly decided to stop their agitation and vowed not to attack the Nepalis there.
The tension started when the indegenous Khasis clashed with the people of Nepali origin over a dispute over Langapi village, claimed by both Meghalaya and neighbouring Assam states.
Posted on: 2010-05-26 07:42
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