Maoists take anti-India diatribe to the Indo-Nepal border

Continuing with its anti-India tirade, leaders of Nepal's opposition Maoist party launched a campaign on Monday to recover the country's land allegedly encroached by its southern neighbour.

Continuing with its anti-India tirade, leaders of Nepal's opposition Maoist party launched a campaign on Monday to recover the country's land allegedly encroached by its southern neighbour.

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Five senior leaders of Unified Communist Party o Nepal (Maoist) are campaigning at separate locations on the 1800 km long Indo-Nepal border as part of the party's fight to restore nationalism and national sovereignty.

"The campaign is not to seize other's land, but to restore Nepal's land seized by others," said UCPN (M) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda while addressing a rally at Brahmadev Bazaar in Kanchanpur district of far-western Nepal bordering India.

The former prime minister also stated that the present campaign would continue till India returns all 'encroached' land. There are nearly four-dozen places on the Indo-Nepal border where there is tension over alleged land grab by India.

The biggest bone of contention is a 75 square kilometer area at Kalapani in Darchula district in far-western Nepal where borders of India, Nepal and China meet. This area has been under Indian occupation since the 1962 Indo-China war.

While Prachanda launched the campaign at Kanchanpur, other senior leaders like Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Vaidya addressed rallies at Susta in Nawalparasi district and Pashupati Nagar in Ilam district.

On Tuesday, party vice-chairman Naryan Kaji Shrestha and general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa will address similar rallies at Laxmanpur and Khurdalotan dams on the Indo-Nepal border.

The Maoist campaign against alleged 'encroachment' by India comes ahead of Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna's three-day visit to the Himalayan nation beginning on Friday.

Of late, leaders of UCPN (M) led by Prachanda have been blaming India for interfering in Nepal's internal affairs and accused the ruling Madhav Kumar Nepal government of being remote controlled robots at the hands of foreign powers.