India objects at UN officials meeting terai armed group

India has sent a strong worded message to various UN agencies operating in Nepal with regard to a meeting between UN officials and Nepali armed groups on Indian soil.

Indo Asian News Service reported that expressing strong objection to the meeting, India told the UN agencies that it was not within their mandate and asked them to ensure that such action was not repeated.

The report says that in September, UN officials held a secret meeting with a faction of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha in Muzaffarpur in India's Bihar state without giving prior information to the Indian authorities.

At a recent press conference in Kathmandu, Ian Martin, chief of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), had told reporters that the meeting with the armed group was to 'try to ensure that emergency food relief and other assistance could be delivered in the wake of the flooding in the Terai earlier this year.'

India told UN agencies here, including the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) headed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special representative Ian Martin that it had taken note of the meeting.

"Their discussion was confined to humanitarian, not political issues," Martin had told. nepalnews.com ia Nov 09 07