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- <text id=89TT1019>
- <title>
- Apr. 17, 1989: World Notes:Nepal
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Apr. 17, 1989 Alaska
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 39
- World Notes
- NEPAL
- An Indian Choke Hold
- </hdr><body>
- <p> India considers itself the guardian of Nepal, serving as
- supplier of or conduit for most of Nepal's commodities in
- exchange for its loyalty. Now the tiny nation with a harsh if
- spectacular terrain has offended its big neighbor, and India
- has not only refused to renew trade and transit agreements that
- expired last month but closed down eleven of 22 vital transit
- routes. Most of Nepal's necessities, including petroleum
- products and hospital oxygen, normally traverse these roads.
- Though New Delhi is permitting goods to cross the border,
- shortages are forcing the government to impose strict limits on
- the sale of gasoline and kerosene. Last week the rationing
- sparked the worst rioting in nearly a decade in the capital of
- Katmandu.
- </p>
- <p> What evidently aroused India's ire was Nepal's 1988 purchase
- of guns and other weaponry from China, a longtime Indian rival.
- New Delhi regards the deal as a violation of the spirit of its
- 39-year-old friendship treaty with Katmandu. But Nepal seems
- determined to stand up to India's pressure, even if that means
- short-term suffering and completely revising its trade
- relations. Says a senior Nepalese official: "We will not give
- an inch."
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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