New Delhi
25 April 2008
India will not mind revisiting the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty or other
bilateral pacts if that is what the people of Nepal desire, a source privy to New Delhi's
engagement of Kathmandu has told this newspaper.
The source cited a precedent of India, unilaterally, renegotiating her Treaty with Bhutan
to suggest New Delhi will be "open for negotiation" with the Maoists on all outstanding
concerns they might have in the matter.
The source insisted New Delhi will not be found wanting on accommodating Maoist chief
Prachanda's views on certain key provisions of the Treaty, a sentiment which is shared
by certain former Indian envoys to Kathmandu.
"We have no reservations if this item is put back on the bilateral agenda," Mr Shyam
Saran has told CNBC television, noting that one round of talks between foreign
secretaries of the two countries had been held after the 2001 proposal.
Mr Saran, who today is Prime Minister's Special Envoy on India-United States nuclear
deal and climate change, said the renegotiation of the Treaty is "not an issue".
Another former Indian envoy, Mr KV Rajan, said the demand for revisiting the Treaty is
not unexpected and it is "a widespread sentiment" among the people of that country.
"India should have offered long ago to discuss," he said.
"Nepal gets advantages [from Treaty] more than India [and] what kind of changes they
want to the Treaty should be discussed," Mr Rajan added, suggesting there is a need for
both sides to "reflect" on the implications of doing so.
'Beware of what you wish for; you might get it', is an Old Chinese proverb that some
other Nepal watchers here would wish the Maoists, flush from their performance in the
recent election, considered in the days ahead.
Major General (Retd) Ashok Mehta sought to caution Prachanda and his men against
haste. "If the costs and implications of scrapping the Treaty are considered, the Maoists
might have second thoughts", he said.
According to Gen Mehta, some of the provisions of the Treaty are "weighed in favour of
Nepal", like residency, employment and open border, "without any reciprocal
[commitments] for Indians."
Under the July 31, 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between India and Nepal, people
living in both countries could freely travel across the border for employment and reside
in either place. It can be abrogated at one year's notice by either side.
Gen Mehta thought the Maoists could consider scrapping or revising the Treaty, or
drafting a fresh one, as India would have "no compunction to sit across the table and
discuss" all issues with them.
New Delhi's responses come a day after Prachanda said in Kathmandu his party stands
by its previous commitment that the India-Nepal Treaty should be scrapped and other
pacts reviewed "in the new context".
To a question whether revisiting the Treaty will diminish India's sphere of influence, and
whether India will risk ceding space to China, Gen Mehta said the election results would
have came as much as a surprise to China as it did to others.
"Now China also will have to rework its policy, China wouldn't want to have a soft
underbelly in a Maoist-ruled Nepal," Gen Mehta said.
Mr Saran, in turn, told CNBC it was for Nepal to decide how it shapes its relations with
India or China. "We do not see an inevitable conflict of interest between India and China
as far as Nepal is concerned. It is not a zero sum game for us," he said.
He said it is "far more important" for India and Nepal to focus on building upon the very
strong assets the two countries already have in existing relations, particularly in the
interdependencies that have been built up between the two economies.
According to Mr Saran, the most important guarantee that Nepal has given was it would
be sensitive to India's interest and "certain mutual sensitivities".
Meanwhile, British Ambassador to Nepal Andrew Hall is in New Delhi for informal talks
with certain Indian interlocutors, even as other members of the international community
mulled their options in dealing with the former Maoist insurgents.
In Washington, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard
Boucher said, "We've had another successful election in Nepal that brings with it a
series of questions for us that we're working our way through".
Nepalese media has reported a Chinese Communist party delegation called on Nepal
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and conveyed to him Beijing's plan to extend a
railway track from Tibet to the Nepal-China border within next five years.
Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
to send a delegation comprising representatives of all parties to Nepal on the eve of
formation of a new government in Nepal.
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