India's Modi to Nepal - Exercise restraint after deadly protests

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal must exercise "restraint" and restore peace and order after deadly attacks by protesters in a small border town in the Himalayan country, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.

The comments by Modi were made during a phone conversation with his counterpart Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, a day after the violence in Kailali district which is close to the border with India, officials said.

Modi "appealed to the government, all political parties and the people of Nepal to eschew violence and maintain social harmony," India?s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

India is Nepal's largest aid donor, trading partner and supplier of essential goods including fuel.

Authorities imposed a curfew and mobilised the army to quell the protests. The town remained tense but quiet on Tuesday, officials said.

The rare military deployment came in response to the killing on Monday of seven police officers and an 18-month-old baby. One officer was surrounded by protesters and burned to death, the government said.

The protesters, mainly from the ethnic Tharu community, oppose a plan to include their area in a hilly province, part of a regional overhaul in a new federal constitution expected to be finalised this month.

"The political leadership of Nepal should resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue ... and arrive at solutions that reflect the will and accommodate the aspirations of all citizens," India?s foreign ministry said.

Nepal, which emerged from a civil war in 2006, is governed under an interim constitution. Politicians are preparing a final charter with plans to split the volatile country, wedged between China and India, into seven federal provinces.

In Gaur, another border town 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, police shot dead a demonstrator as protests spread to new areas, an official said.

So far at least 13 people have died in violence related to protests over the draft of the new constitution.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Michael Perry)

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