India has asked the visiting Nepali prime minister to keep the kingdom free from third party, foreign influence, a leading Indian newspaper report said Friday.
According to Indian Express newspaper, the Indian side also emphasised that it was doing everything within its capacity to come down heavily on extreme left-wing groups in India like the People’s War Group (PWG) and was willing to also ”manage” the very porous border better.
In the reinvented spirit of camaraderie, Kathmandu is likely to consult the Indian government on all ”third party representatives” who seek a role in the resolution of the Maoist crisis on behalf of their governments, the news report said.
The front-page report further said that British government had created the post of a ”special envoy” and that a middle-ranking United Nations official often travels to Kathmandu. The US, which has played a key role in the supply of military ammunition and hardware to Nepal and sometimes bypassed New Delhi, is a major player in the region.
China has swamped Nepal with highly subsidised projects especially in the Terai, a sore point with India, the report added.
India has given Nepal a blank cheque to deal with the Maoist insurgency at home, a promise that includes military hardware, training as well as the commitment to pursue ideologically similar insurgents in India, the newspaper report said.
The newspaper report has come at a time when media and intelligentsia in Nepal speculated that premier Deuba was likely to try to persuade Indian leadership “not to object to proposed UN facilitation” in resolving the insurgency.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, who is accompanying the premier in his Delhi visit, however, told reporters, “This is an internal problem of Nepal, which can be tackled without the help of third parties.” nepalnews.com by Sep 10 04