Non-lethal military equipment to Nepal

NEW DELHI, Tuesday (AFP) India has sent its first shipment of non-lethal army equipment to neighbouring Nepal since freezing military aid after King Gyanendra's power grab five months ago, a report said Tuesday.

The shipment crossed the border into Nepal at the weekend after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the okay following assurances by Gyanendra he was moving to restore multi-party democracy in the Hindu kingdom, the Indian Express newspaper said. India, Nepal's biggest arms supplier, and Britain suspended military aid to Nepal after Gyanendra sacked the government and seized power February 1, saying the move was necessary to end a bloody Maoist insurgency.

Human rights groups and other critics of the king's takeover had urged India not to resume supplies to the Royal Nepal Army, which is facing down a rebellion by Maoists in which about 12,000 people have been killed since 1996.

The Indian Express said the supplies shipped at the weekend included jeeps, bulletproof jackets, concertina security wires, bunker protection devices and mine-proof vehicles. It added that New Delhi however held back thermal imagers and night vision devices as Nepal does not have a protocol on intellectual property rights.

Former Nepal premier Girija Prasad Koirala last month cautioned India against resuming arms supplies to the Himalayan kingdom, saying New Delhi had to consider whether the move would encourage "democratic or dictatorial forces."

India's defence ministry declined to comment on the report, but did not immediately deny it.