Nepal calling

Nepalese PM GP Koirala?s visit to India seems to have gone off well. Observers hail the handsome aid package that India has offered Nepal.

Nepalese Prime Minister G.P. Koirala’s visit to India seems to have gone off well. Observers hail the handsome aid package that India has offered Nepal as the ‘Himalayan Marshall Plan’, which reflects New Delhi’s wish to be one of Nepal’s key military and economic donors again. The aid money reportedly includes grants and soft loans worth millions of dollars and much of it will probably go towards infrastructure and development projects. Kathmandu is looking towards India for assistance, and the way New Delhi rolled out the red carpet for the visiting delegation, it won’t be disappointed.

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Since the Fifties, India has been the principal supplier of arms to Nepal and had a major role in the training of the Royal Nepal Army. Although this policy continued even after the Maoist insurgency began, New Delhi rightly viewed the palace coup in February 2005 as an abandonment of a negotiated settlement. Not willing to contribute to any military option the king might have initiated, India stopped the arms supplies. India appears to have decided on shaping a more proactive policy in its backyard. Since its bitter involvement in the Sri Lankan conflict, India has been wary of playing an active role in mediating conflict in the area.

As India plays a bigger role in the stability and progress of Nepal, some thorny issues may have to be resolved, that includes a peace process between the Nepalese government and Maoists. New Delhi has every reason to be concerned about the growing influence of Maoists in Nepal. So it would do well to support peace talks that aim at eventually disarming the rebels by bringing them into the government.