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| Friday, 11 February 2005 |
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India to maintain ties with Nepali army KATHMANDU - Thursday (Xinhua) Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that India would continue to have longstanding ties with the Royal Nepal Army. However, New Delhi's military ties with Kathmandu will be guided by the situation in Nepal, The Kathmandu Post newspaper on Thursday quoted Mukherjee as saying in the Indian city of Bangalore. "The system (in Nepal) has been affected by recent developments, " he said, expressing his concern over the "porous" border that the two neighbors share. The anti-government insurgency in Nepal "has to be controlled as any cascading of such activity will have a detrimental effect on India," the defence minister told local reporters. India will tighten its internal security if the situation in Nepal deteriorates as a consequence of the anti-government guerrillas' influence, he noted. "But there was no specific requisition from the Royal Nepal Army for any continued military support from India," the defence minister said a day after Nepali Chief of Army Staff Pyar Jung Thapa met with Indian Ambassador to Nepal Shiv Shanker Mukherjee in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, Nepali King Gyanendra on Wednesday granted a half-an- hour audience to the Indian ambassador at the royal palace, discussing the current situation in Nepal. Meanwhile the Nepali Home Ministry stated that there had been marked improvements in the law and order situation across Nepal day by day in the aftermath of King Gyanendra's takeover of power. Educational institutions, industries and factories and transport services have been running smoothly since the king dissolved last Tuesday the coalition government and formed a new cabinet under his chairmanship, Radio Nepal on Thursday quoted a statement of the ministry as saying. The ministry has given special attention toward immediately providing security assistance to the general public, and security bodies have been instructed to make additional security arrangements as per the people's requirements, the statement said. Meanwhile Nepali political activists plan to protest against King Gyanendra's assumption of power and suspension of civil liberties last week despite a ban on rallies and the arrest of a dissident leader. Activists said they hoped the protest in the centre of the capital, Kathmandu, would help ignite a nationwide campaign against the monarch's decision to sack the government, detain political leaders and suspend liberties. "Even if there are two people left, we will carry out the programme," said Purshottam Dahal, chairman of the Human Rights and Peace Society after policemen took away the group's founder, Krishna Pahadi, who had planned to lead the rally. "There is no turning back," he said. |
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