An indefinite curfew has been imposed across the border in Nepal's Birgunj town
At India's bustling border with Nepal in Bihar's Raxaul, there is an uneasy calm. Since Tuesday morning, an otherwise open border with free access from both sides to pedestrians, horse-carts and motorcyclists, is totally shut.
An indefinite curfew has been imposed across the border in Nepal's Birgunj town, hit by violence since yesterday, after a 20-year-old Indian from Raxaul was killed in Nepalese police firing on protesters to clear a blockade at the crucial bridge on the border.
In Birgunj, heavily armed police has been moving around the town asking people to stay indoors. However, a few incidents of stone pelting and burning tyres have been reported from across the town.
Madhesi protestors like 45-year-old Geeta Lama are back on bridge, which is vital to supplies across the border, after being forced to leave by the Nepal police yesterday.
"Now there is no going back. This will be a fight to the finish. The Nepal government thinks they can subdue us with violence, that won't happen," she says.
Nepal had been almost totally dependent on India for overland supplies following earthquakes this year that killed nearly 9,000 people and blocked crossings from China.
The Madhesis - natives of the Terai region, who share ethnic ties with India - are angry about plans to divide the Himalayan nation into seven federal provinces under the Constitution adopted in September. The protesters believe that the new Constitution doesn't grant people living in the plains equal rights.
According to the Nepal Foreign Ministry statement, "Seventeen Nepalese security personnel sustained injuries due to Monday's violence. Finally it (the police) was compelled to use force to contain the situation in which one Indian national Ashish Kumar Ram, who was among the agitators, died."
"The Ministry regrets the loss of life of an Indian national under the above referred circumstances. The Government of Nepal continues to adhere to its commitment to address the political question through dialogue and has been steering the talks towards the right direction," it added.