Nepal on Sunday congratulated the leaders of India and Pakistan for their peace efforts saying improvement of relations among them would provide an impetus to the process of cooperation among the SAARC nations.
Congratulating Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for their peace moves and farsightedness, Nepalese Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa said the improvement of relations between the two nations would "lead to relaxation of tension in the region and provide a new and meaningful impetus to cooperation among SAARC countries".
Addressing the 12th SAARC Summit here, he said Nepal had been facing "a campaign of terror" from Maoist extremists for quite some time. While the government wanted a peaceful and negotiated settlement to the problem, it was compelled to take action in order to maintain law and order.
He sought collective efforts by SAARC nations to combat the menace and stressed upon the "need to act resolutely" against it after the Additional Protocol on terrorism was adopted by the Summit.
"The protocol will go a long way in combating the menace as terrorists disregard rules of international behaviour".
{{/usCountry}}"The protocol will go a long way in combating the menace as terrorists disregard rules of international behaviour".
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