LUCKNOW: Communal clashes in Nepal have been unheard of so far but recently the town of Banka bordering UP district Bahraich was gripped by a communal flare-up. Following it, the UP Police has sounded an alert in seven districts of the state along the porous India-Nepal border
Banka witnessed violence on Tuesday when miscreants belonging to a community started pelting stones at a Sadhbhawna rally taken out by members of another community. The Nepal police has imposed an indefinite curfew in Banka district.
Prashant Kumar, Special DG (law and order), UP Police, said that joint patrolling by the UP Police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the India-Nepal border, has been intensified across Bahraich and other six districts that share their borders with Nepal.
"Movement across the border has been restricted to ensure that the violence does not spread to Indian territory,” he said.
The top cop added that the UP Police was maintaining close coordination with the SSB and other central agencies to ensure peace in the Indian territory.
Significantly, five districts of eastern UP including Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Siddarthnagar, and Maharajganj, and two districts of the western region, including Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri, share a 599 km border with Nepal.
On Tuesday, there were long queues of trucks at the Rupaidiha border but now the vehicles have been diverted towards other borders to enter Nepal.
As per local police sources, panic gripped the Rupaidiha border toll for some time on Tuesday as over one lakh people from both India and Nepal cross over to their countries daily from that point. Several Nepal nationals were stranded in India while many Indians were stranded in Nepal.
People from both sides are being allowed to cross over after confirmation of their identities.