Nepalese Premier’s India Visit: Quid Pro Quo measures?
12 Apr, 2002 · 732
Kanchan L highlights the main point in the Nepal Prime Minister’s India visit: securing Indian support for its counter insurgency operations against the Maoists
The main point on the Nepalese Premier Sher Bahadur Deuba’s agenda during his six-day visit to
India
in March 2002 was to secure the Indian government’s support in combating the Maoist insurgency in his country. There has been increasing concern in
Nepal
, some of it misplaced, that
India
has become a safe haven for Maoist leaders responsible for fomenting violence in the Himalayan kingdom.
Kathmandu
on 15 March that the Maoists were receiving assistance and shelter from terrorist groups based in
India
. This thought on the Maoist leadership seeking safe havens in the Naxalite zones in
India
and along the porous border was also broached by the Nepalese Premier in an interview to an Indian newsmagazine. While making it clear that
India
has not deliberately patronized the Maoists, he pointed out that certain top Maoist leaders were in
India
and were directing the violence in
Nepal
. (‘The Top Maoists are in
India
’, Outlook,
New Delhi
, 1 April 2002 ). The Nepalese Premier is also reported to have sought assurances from the Indian authorities on the aspect of cracking down on arms shipments to the Maoists from various Naxalite groups in
India
.
India
, Deuba was reportedly given assurance that
India
would initiate adequate action to counter the Maoist activity in the border regions and elsewhere in
India
. Reiterating its support,
India
offered equipment and training to
Nepal
for combating the Maoist insurgency. Media reports, quoting official sources, have indicated that both the countries have agreed to cooperate in intelligence-sharing and border surveillance. While speaking to the state-run Nepal Television on 22 March, the Nepalese Prime Minister disclosed that
India
had assured complete cooperation to stop the smuggling of arms and explosives by the Maoists into
Nepal
from
India
.
India
is also reported to have assured
Nepal
of training and provision of arms and equipment to counter the insurgency. Indeed, in what can be discerned as a follow-up measure, at a meeting on 31 March in Madhubani (northern
Bihar
) between Indian and Nepali officials, the Indian side agreed to assist the Nepali authorities in curbing the Maoist violence. It should be noted that
India
has recently provided two helicopters to help
Nepal
counter the Maoists consequent to the latter jettisoning the ceasefire and heightening their violent campaign in November 2001.
Nepal
cannot effectively succeed in counter-insurgency operations so long as the Maoists can escape to safe havens in
India
and weapons can freely move into
Nepal
. Media reports have indicated that even as the Nepalese Premier was meeting the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya in Kolkata, three top Maoist leaders – Chandra Prasad Gajurel, the Central Committee member in-charge of international relations, Mohan Baidya, Central Committee member, and Bahadur Raimajhi, Maoist negotiator in the first round of talks with the Nepalese government – were ensconced in Siliguri, West Bengal (“Maoist Olive Branch”, Nepali Times, Kathmandu, March 29-April 4, 2002). Thus,
India
’s assistance is vital to Nepalese counter-insurgency operations.
India
has reportedly communicated its concern to
Nepal
regarding the subversive activities directed against
India
from Nepalese soil by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of
Pakistan
in addition to the increasing ISI infiltration into
India
through
Nepal
. These concerns were conveyed to Deuba during his meeting with the Union Home Minister LK Advani. The West Bengal Chief Minister said during a press conference in Kolkata that the ISI was backing various subversive groups to destabilize
India
’s strategic Siliguri Corridor. The Chief Minister added that it was in the mutual interests of
India
and
Nepal
to counter the Maoists.
Nepal
initiating measures to countering the ISI’s subversive presence in
Nepal
. A reasonable degree of reciprocity is in order vis-à-vis Indo-Nepal relations in the context of counter-insurgency operations.
Not surprisingly, as a precursor to the Deuba visit, the Nepalese Finance Minister, Ramsharan Mahat, said in
During his various confabulations in
Given the trajectory of the Maoist violence, it has become clear that
At the other end,
To the domestic constituency, Deuba’s India visit, at this juncture, would be justifiable only if he is able to convince the opposition that he has been able to secure definite commitments from the Indian establishment on the need to regulate the Nepal-India border to control the illegal flow of arms and contraband either way and also to counter the Maoist activity. However, it can be discerned that Indian assistance may be contingent on
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