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Kathmandu: Unsubstantiated reports have it that King Gyanendra is eager to visit India soon in his bid to end the political crisis created by the Maoists imbroglio.
The King is on record to have bluntly said in a recent interview granted to an Indian daily that he would wish to know the Indian mind vis-a-vis the Nepal’s Maoists issue from the leaders of the Indian establishment.
The other side though has not pushed its own ‘structured’ comments on the King’s political preference while being in India, however, India of late has come to realize that insurgencies of the sort of the Maoists of Nepal or the Kamta Liberation Organization or for that matter the ULFA and BODO functioning in her own territories bode threat to the regional security in general and Indian security interests in particular.
This realization in the Indian leadership would perhaps help ease Nepal King Gyanendra’s problem in expressing his own concerns in a free and frank manner for the side with whom he would be talking is at the moment herself a victim of a host of even more dangerous insurgencies than what Nepal has been confronting since a decade or so.
That the Indian side will now be exhibiting even greater interest in tackling the Maoists issue by the Nepali establishment simply because West Bengal authorities have just the other day revealed that the Kamta Liberation Organization members were being provided shelter by the Maoists on the other side of the border. The authorities have also said that “since Nepal has so far remained unable to tackle the Maoists issue, some mechanisms should be devised to support Nepal in order to contain the threats of the KLO”.
This means that one of the bordering areas of Nepal, for example, West Bengal, is already feeling the brunt of the insurgency both within and without.
This clearly explains that the Nepali Maoists of late have been enjoying friendly relations with the KLO, an Indian outfit that is creating problems in West Bengal and also in the adjoining areas. In addition to this, reports emanating from the Indian press reveal that Nepali Maoists have strong linkages with the MCC and PWG- the Indian version of the Maoists- and have developed a sort of corridor that allows the insurgents of both the sides to take shelter at time of crisis in either countries. The corridor presumably links Nepal with Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
With all these terrifying symptoms already in place, Nepali analysts hope that India this time would perhaps listen to Nepali King’s perceptions seriously as dilly-dallying in such a grave issue by India would mean that inviting trouble for itself ultimately.
King Gyanendra’s eagerness to visit India also speaks of his latent desire that he would wish the Maoists issue sorted out with the Indian support in order to avoid killing of the Nepalese by another set of the Nepalese.
Hidden perhaps is King’s wish that he prefers to see the Maoists attending to the negotiating table prior to the expiry of the deadline offered by the government to the Maoists for talks.
Is this the real reason for which the King is more interested in visiting India? Is it that he is providing a lease of life to his Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba?
However, unconfirmed reports have it that the other side is also thinking of inviting King Gyanendra at the earliest for a variety of reasons.
The only question that is left is at what price India would extend its support to Nepal? Nepalese analysts remain firm in their assumption that India would not extend her support to this Kingdom unconditionally. But should Nepal obey to the Indian dictates in the name of bringing the Nepali Maoists to the mainstream politics?
Analysts presume that the monarch knows better on how to deal with India and hope that the King will take care of Nepal’s national interests at time of his tête-à-tête with the Indian leaders.
The fact is that India too being the victim of similar insurgencies will hopefully not squeeze Nepal this time as she has a habit of screwing her smaller neighbors at times of their crisis.
Analysts here hope that India would not press Nepal to go in for an all out war against the Maoists in the name of taming the threats of the insurgents.