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Rs. 100 crore (USD 21 million) urgent grant
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Resumption of arms aid if asked
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Nepal wants India’s help to deal with terrorists
Reinstated Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala met with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to discuss economic and military aid and calibrate response to
the threat from Maoist terrorists choking the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and
the country.
India announced an immediate Rs 100 crore (USD 21 million) grant to address
urgent requirements and work on more comprehensive package based on long-term
objectives which will be announced before Koirala’s return on Friday. New Delhi
also said it will resume military aid to Katmandu, suspended after King
Gnanendra dismissed the democratically-elected government last year and seized
absolute power, if asked. India guaranteed to continue ongoing development
projects and even provisionally accepted Nepal’s wish list projects valued at
Rs 7,500 crore (USD 1.6 billion) in the next five years. India supports 137
health, energy, education and infrastructure projects in Nepal.
Koirala, who heads an interim government, was warmly welcomed by Singh at the
airport discussed the issue of Maoist terrorist extensively with Singh but
seemed a bit cagey about discussing the role of King Gnanendra saying that it
is up to the people of Nepal to decide. India’s position is that as a sovereign
nation, Nepal must decide its own course but is also worried about hasty
extra-Constitutional decisions made under the threat of the terrorists that can
have long-term social, military, economic, and security impact to the
sub-continent.
A Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said "We support the peace efforts
but Maoists must abandon violence and accept the discipline of multi party
democracy." That is diplomatic speak saying that negotiating under terrorism is
not a viable or acceptable solution. India wants the terrorists to give up
violence and participate in the democratic process and economic rebuilding of
Nepal. Naturally, wont to its violent methods, the Maoist terrorists do not
like it. The Maoist leadership, Pachanda downwards, eloquently warns the SPA of
"Indian expansionism" as a means to block any Indian participation to broker
peace. Cognizant of this mindset and not to allow the terrorists to grant them
space to whip up anti-Indian feeling, India has so far given no indication of
proactively pushing the Maoists towards that goal. Instead, it has
unfortunately relied on its communist allies led by Sitaram to influence the
terrorists to negotiate with the SPA and also give up arms. Yechury has been
partially successful—he has convinced them to negotiate but has not been able
to convince them to disarm.
This approach has also had an unfortunate side-affect. The Yechury initiative
has “emboldened” the terrorists to think that the Indian communists would
support them unconditionally and will manage the Indian Government from
influencing the outcome. This is an area where the Koirala delegation has
expressed strong interest for proactive Indian participation. Some members of
the visiting Nepalese delegation want India to influence the Maoist terrorists
to disarm.
Delegation members acknowledge that the peace is tenuous and a lot is hinged
on how the issue of the King will be negotiated. While the King’s powers have
been vastly reduced by the reinstated Parliament, it is unknown if those
actions and measures are Constitutional. The unpopular Gnanendra is not
challenging these decisions in the Supreme Court fearing that it will galvanize
the terrorists to seek a violent end to the monarchy. However, Nepal faces
critical decisions to ensure that it has an infallible and credible system to
create a substitute system to the lineage based Royal order. An agreement on
this score is what is straining the relationship between the SPA and the
terrorists and Nepalese Government wants Indian participation to ensure a true
democracy, and not a Maoist coup, rules Nepal.
There appears widespread acceptance that the monarchy, especially the current
one and his line, should go. However, the Nepalese Government is very concerned
with extra-judicial methods employed by the terrorists to extort, intimidate,
and murder as means of control. The political class in Nepal is absolutely
adamant that the Maoist terrorists must be first disarmed for any meaningful
and credible participation in the political mainstream. This would also mean
that they should give up their ludicrous demand on a merger with the Nepalese
Army with an obvious intention to legitimize their existence and also develop
influence of the Army from inside.
To achieve normalcy in Nepal, India must:
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Create a comprehensive long-term economic, military, and diplomatic package
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Help the Nepal Government develop diplomatic consensus to disarm the
terrorists. This may involve international peacekeeping drawn from other
democratic countries in Asia.
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India must pursue the Yechury initiative with caution. While third-track
diplomacy can be used to create negotiating space, it should not become the de
facto methodology of dealing with the situation. A communist inspired peace
brokering will affect the Naxal movement at home which is more violent and
harmful to long-term security of India that any other threat.
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