|
|
India's Offer to Help Nepal
Attain Political Stability NEW DELHI: India is willing to render maximum help to Nepal so that stability returned to the kingdom troubled by a Maoist rebellion which has claimed more than 7,200 lives in the last six years. And New Delhi does not want to interfere in its neighbour's affairs beyond what was acceptable to Kathmandu, according to the foreign secretary. "On our side it is very clear that it is on our interest, our deep interest to see stabilty in Nepal. We are willing to do our share, do our bit in terms of helping the Government of Nepal," Kanwal Sibal told delegates at a seminar on Indo-Nepal relations on Thursday. "We don't want to be too closely involved in the situation beyond what is acceptable to Nepal and beyond what Nepal feels is normal and is consonant with our good-neighbourly relations," he added. Maoists have been fighting the administration to replace the constitutional monarchy with Communist rule. The violence has crippled Nepal's aid-dependent economy and scared away investors and tourists, a key source of income. Sibal also called for greater cooperation between the royal palace and the political parties to fight the Maoists. Last year King Gyanendra dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba amid a row over the timing of parliamentary elections and appointed a staunch monarchist as the head of an interim Government. "There has to be much greater cooperation between monarchy and the political parties and they must join hands together and deal with the Maoist menace rather than the palace and the political parties being at loggerheads and being suspicious of each other and wasting very valuable time and resources in dealing with this real danger that confronts Nepal," Sibal stated. Nepal's ambassador to India, BB Thapa, said there was vast potential for Indo-Nepalese cooperation in economy and security issues. India has offered some weapons to Nepal to quell the rebellion. Nepal Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, appointed in October, has promised to hold peace talks with the guerrillas, who have responded by saying they were prepared for negotiations. But no date has been set for the meeting. Nepal Anti-rebel Police
Chief Shot Dead (Go
To Top) PATAN (Nepal): Suspected Maoist rebels shot dead the chief of Nepal's anti-rebel police force and his wife on the outskirts of Kathmandu early on Sunday. Krishna Mohan Shrestha, Inspector-General of Nepal Armed Police Force set up two years ago to fight Maoist insurgency, is the most senior police officer killed in the Himalayan kingdom since 1996 when the rebels launched a revolt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. No group has claimed responsibility for Shrestha's killing. Police said Shrestha and his wife were killed while taking a morning walk near their home in the up-market Patan area, seven km from the Capital. Shrestha's bodyguard was also killed in the attack, which involved at least three gunmen, police said, adding that thick fog engulfed the area at the time. Maoist Rebels Kidnap 80 Students (Go
To Top) KATHMANDU: Maoist rebels raided a school and kidnapped about 80 students, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, January 14. In another incident, the police killed 15 guerrillas in a gunbattle. The guerrillas stormed a high school and abducted students in Bhalchaur, a village about 400 km west of Katmandu. The area is a rebel stronghold. Education officials denied having any knowledge of the kidnappings. However, the rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have in the past taken students by force and trained them to fight Government troops. In the incident, the paper said the 15 rebels died after they allegedly attacked a police patrol near Dinglabazar, a small mountain town about 300 km south-east of the Capital, Kathmandu, on Monday. Three officers were wounded.
|
|
