NewsGram Staff Writer

Kathmandu: At a time when India welcomed the move initiated by the three political majors in Nepal to hold talks with Madhesi and Tharu parties, the Nepal government on Tuesday show caused the cable operators for blacking out Indian channels. The Nepal government has directed the operators to continue airing Indian TV channels. The Madhesi and Tharu parties are protesting against the country's new constitution.

"We welcome the recent steps that have been taken to begin a dialogue, because that is the only way (to find a solution)," Indian ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae told at a program held in Kathmandu on Tuesday.

India has maintained that that protests against demarcation of states in the statute by Madhesis and Tharus in Nepal's southern plains bordering India is a political crisis that can be sorted out through talks.

The month-long protest in Nepal claimed forty four lives. The protest affected supply of goods to the neighbouring country with Indian transporters expressing reluctance to ply amidst intensified demonstration on highways and custom points in the Indo-Nepal border. Irked with the situation, cable operators blacked out India channels as a mark of protest. India has clamped an 'economic blockade', they alleged. However, a minor Maoist faction in the Himalayan nation had threatened to ban Indian films, TV channels and Indian vehicles in Nepal because of India's 'unofficial embargo' on entry of goods.

(With inputs from HT)