Consolidating Ties

NEPAL and India are old friends. The two neighbours share a relationship that is characterised by a common cultural heritage down the ages. The people-to-people contacts to a great extent have nurtured this relationship to the present level. The exchange of high-level visits between the two countries has played their own role in further boosting the relations. There is no doubt that the forthcoming state visit of His Majesty King Gyanendra to India would contribute, as His Majesty is confident it would, to consolidate the friendly and cordial ties subsisting between the two countries. In an interview to an Indian newspaper, The Times of India, His Majesty pointed out that the relations between the two countries were nurtured and enrichd by noble ideals, values and principles inherent in a shared cultural heritage and they provided a secure foundation for friendship, mutual goodwill and understanding between the two peoples. Indeed, through the vicissitudes of systems and governments, Nepal-India ties have always stood firm. The cultural and social affinities that are the common denominator in the relationship have guaranteed that there is no major problem between the two countries that seriously affects the ties. True, as any two contiguous neighbours Nepal and India have had pinpricks in their relationship, but the ties have remained by and large special. As His Majesty pointed out, they remain special because they are practical, pragmatic and beneficial.

What should also add to the relationship is, as reaffirmed by His Majesty, Nepal’s firm policy not to allow any activities against another country from her soil. Nepal now is a country that is battling terrorism at home and has seen how terrorist activities can play havoc in a nation’s development endeavours. Nepal has thus always had the position that it would cooperate as best as it could to contain the scourge of terrorism. This was a point emphasised by His Majesty when he said that forgetting bilateral differences, nations have to join hands to fight this international peril. In this connection, Nepal sought assistance from friendly countries as there was an acute dearth of resoruces. India’s support to Nepal in fighting terrorism has been well-apreciated. Stronger support in this direction is one of the ways of further consolidating the Nepal-India relationship which is expected to receive a boost by His Majesty’s forthcoming state visit.

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