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Kathmandu Friday February 02, 2001 Magh 20, 2057.
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Try again
Three days of secretary level talks between Nepal and India have just ended
in New Delhi without making any real headway. The Nepalese team led by Secretary at the
Foreign Ministry Narayan Shumsher Thapa had gone to the Indian capital with the express
intention of taking up the question of reviewing the l950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship
between the two countries so as to set the tone for more mature relations in future. This
treaty has become increasingly anachronistic, and is seen in political, academic and lay
circles in Nepal as unequal. A treaty that speaks in terms of strict reciprocity between
two countries that are vastly unequal in size cannot but be unequal. Some other formula
should be put in place to reflect this geo-political reality without at the same time
compromising on the principle of sovereign equality between countries. But strict
reciprocity has to go. Another outdated feature of the existing treaty is the provision on
mutual consultations over questions like arms purchases from or hostilities with third
parties. It was this provision that Nepal fell foul of in Indian eyes in the late l980s,
triggering over 15 months of economic blockade. While acknowledging Indian sensitivities
about its own security, Nepal’s destinies cannot be governed by those sensitivities.
In any case these provisions have been honoured more in the breach than in the observance
as far as India’s own conduct is concerned.
Apparently none of this figured - or figured seriously enough to merit notice
- during the talks in New Delhi. India is reported to have responded
"positively" to the idea of a treaty review, but has also requested more time
for discussions. It could be nothing more than another ploy to buy time. The matter is to
be taken up again in the next six months when the two sides meet in Nepal. There should be
no let up from our side. It took the Nepalese government a lot of time just to bring up
the question of treaty review at the requisite high level. Credit for this should go to
the late Man Mohan Adhikari but the then Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa also merits mention
as he had officially handed over a proposed draft of a possible new treaty to replace the
existing one. The foreign secretaries of Nepal and India trying to accomplish a treaty
review is a bit too far fetched. It has been tried unsuccessfully in the past. If the
prime ministers of Nepal and India are sincere in this matter, as they say they are, they
should set a firm time frame to accomplish the task and the starting base could be the
Kamal Thapa draft that is probably gathering dust in New Delhi.
Not that the talks in Delhi were totally useless. They did cover a range of
issues and came at a time when mutual ties have been soured by a spate of incidents
including the Hrithik Roshan affair, the untoward remarks about Nepal supposedly made by a
senior BJP figure, the quarantine imposed on Nepalese exports to India, rising violence
against ethnic Nepalese in north-east India, and very recently, reports of Indian troop
movements on the common border.
These come on top of long standing issues such as the presence of Indian
troops at Kalapani. There are grouses on the Indian side too including the alleged
flooding of Indian markets with cheap Chinese goods coming through Nepal. Many of these
concerns were voiced at the Delhi talks. That no joint statement was issue at the end of
the talks indicates that things did not go entirely satisfactorily. Further talks are
needed for to sort out all these matters, and in particular the l950 treaty.
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