More violence in Nepal UN urges calm

(MENAFN- Arab News) KATMANDU: India and the United Nations are appealing for peace in Nepal where hundreds of security forces are patrolling a western town after ethnic protesters demanding statehood attacked police a day earlier leaving 11 people dead.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Nepal's Sushil Koirala to express the concern that political and social instability would seriously compound the tragedy caused by the earthquake earlier this year.
The Indian Embassy said in a statement Tuesday that Modi appealed to the government all political parties and the people of Nepal to eschew violence and maintain social harmony.
Government administrator Raj Kumar Shrestha said authorities were in control of the town of Tikapur and surrounding areas.
The United Nations also urged political leaders and protesters to sit down together to find a peaceful solution. Protestors torched homes and clashed with police in western Nepal on Tuesday a day after an 18-month-old boy and seven police died in violent demonstrations against a new constitution.
Hundreds of demonstrators vandalized buildings in the town of Tikapur 420 km west of Katmandu defying an indefinite curfew imposed after protestors attacked police with spears axes and knives.
'Small clashes have occurred today with a few groups defying the curfew' said Dhan Bahadur Kathayat deputy superintendent of Tikapur police. 'They torched a couple of houses but our teams have put out the fires' Kathayat told AFP.