Nepal plans bill to amend statute for Madhesis

Nepal’s major political parties on Tuesday agreed to table a Constitution amendment bill to accommodate the demands of Indian-origin Madhesis over the division of their homeland and better representation, a move likely to ease the political logjam and spiralling violence.

A day after four protesters were killed in police firing during a blockade in the volatile Terai region along the Indian border, Prime Minister K.P. Oli called a meeting of all major political parties at his residence Tuesday morning to find a way out of the ongoing political crisis in the nation.

Violence returned to the landlocked Himalayan nation, reeling under acute shortages of essential goods like fuel and LPG, due to a two-month-long blockade by the Madhesis of key border trade points with India.