KATHMANDU: Nepal’s foreign minister summoned India’s ambassador on Monday over a new road being built through disputed territory as police arrested protesters who burnt effigies of the leaders of both countries.

Anger has been mounting since India on Friday inaugurated an 80-kilometre (50 mile) road in Uttarakhand state leading up to the Lipu Lekh pass, high in the Himalayas.

Nepal claims the pass under an 1816 treaty that sets their borders.

Scores of demonstrators defied a coronavirus lockdown to burn effigies of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepali counterpart, K. P. Sharma Oli, at several protests in Kathmandu.

Protesters say the government has not done enough to counter the Indian project.

Police said at least 30 people were detained.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2020