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Kathmandu Thursday January 18, 2001 Magh 05, 2057.
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Mongolia and ZOP
With regard to Ram Basnyat’s letter (TKP,
16 January 2001) in which he mentions, among other things, his "utter
disappointment" that I "somehow missed" noting in my columns the support to
Nepal’s Zone of Peace (ZOP) proposal which he informs was "extended by the
President of Mongolia" during his recent state visit, allow me to make the following
points:
1. At the outset, this scribe blushingly admits
that he is still not aware that such "support" was in fact extended by the
distinguished visitor from Mongolia. Could Basnyat therefore kindly provide further
details of the "reported (although scantily) support to ZOP" purportedly
extended by the Mongolian head of state during his recent state visit here?
2. As per the November 1990 Constitution, ZOP
quite simply — and most regrettably — is non-existent. Furthermore, no post-Jana
Andolan government has had the gumption to formally revive it. Unfortunately, in such
circumstances "support" for ZOP — assuming that to have been the case
— can have only academic, not any politico-diplomatic, value.
3. I may now recall commenting on this very page
on Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free-zone proposal formally moved in 1992 ("Wanted:
Two peace initiatives", 23 February 2000).
Therein, this columnist had specifically
suggested that in the context of the overt nuclearisation of South Asia, "Nepal
should, taking a leaf from the Mongolian example, first, declare her territory a
nuclear-weapon-free zone and, subsequently, undertake relevant constitutional and
diplomatic follow-up measures to consolidate/institutionalise that politico-diplomatic
move."
Incidentally, this "crusader of ZOP",
as Mr Basnyat describes me, had in that write-up recalled Mongolia’s UN Ambassador
Enkhsaikhan’s statement at a disarmament conference in Kathmandu explaining how
Mongolia, at the height of the Sino-Soviet confrontation, had faced the danger of
"involuntarily being drawn into a possible nuclear standoff, if not something
more."
In the said column, he has also referred to the
fact that while the Mongolian concept was adopted by the Great Hural in 1994 "both of
Mongolia’s neighbours welcomed and supported" that policy "based, inter
alia, on a balanced relationship between her two nuclear-weapon neighbours, Russia and
China."
5. It is truly encouraging that there are still
individuals like Basnyat around who are genuinely concerned about ensuring Nepal’s
continued existence as a sovereign, independent nation.
M R Josse
Boudha Mahankal, Kathmandu |
