National 1 (Spotlight Weekly)

Gesture of Goodwill

Although the visit is being termed as a customary visit to South Asian countries, prime minister Thapa’s tour to neighboring India has more significance

By KESHAB POUDEL

Although his party colleagues demanded his resignation on the eve of his departure for a visit to four SAARC member countries, prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa has not made any change in his schedule.

Despite the claims to the contrary, the visit of the SAARC chairman to India received prominence since the two countries discussed scores of bilateral issues during his three day visit to the Indian capital New Delhi.

“ I am taking the goodwill of King Gyanendra and Nepalese people to Indian prime minister and Indian people,” said prime minister Thapa before leaving for New Delhi.

In the first leg of his four nations tour, Thapa landed at Indian capital New Delhi to talk with his counterpart and Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The two prime ministers also held a brief one-to-one meeting at Indian Prime minister’s official residence on November 24.

Indian prime minister Vajpayee also hosted a lunch in honor of prime minister Thapa in New Delhi. The Himalayan Times, an English daily newspaper with the Indian investment, reported from New Delhi quoting Indian officials that apart from SAARC matters, the two leaders also discussed bilateral relations. According to the officials, Nepal’s prime minister briefed Vajpayee about the situation in the Himalayan Kingdom created by the Maoist insurgency and the steps being taken by his government to tackle it.

Although given low coverage by the Indian media and the Nepalese private media, Thapa’s himself also tried to keep the highly important visit in low profile.

Despite Nepalese prime minister Thapa’s message of warmth, it seems there is a long way to go before the two culturally and religiously close neighbors develop relations based on realism.

Nepalese prime minister Thapa also met Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam, vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Defense Minister George Fernandes, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and opposition leader Sonia Gandhi.

Thapa’s meeting with the top Indian leaders including prime minister Vajpayee took place just a couple of days after the much media-hyped meeting between the CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and three top Maoist leaders Prachanda, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Krishna Bahadur Mahara in Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh of India.

The meeting of the CPN-UML leader Nepal and three Maoist leaders, who Indian government has officially declared as terrorists, in the Indian soil, has already brought to the fore the connection.

From security to water resources to trade and extradition treaty, Nepal and India have many bilateral issues to discuss but it remains to be seen how the discussion went in New Delhi.

”Since this is just a routine visit of prime minister Thapa to the member countries of South Asian regions, there are little possibilities of raising bilateral issues,” said Dr. Bhekha Bahadur Thapa, ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the last seven months, Nepal and India have made certain progress in some fields including the operation of Inland Container Depot (ICD), some hydropower projects, extradition and other areas of cooperation which were pending during the period of elected prime ministers.

According to the report by Nepal Television, a government owned media outlet, prime minister Thapa’s visit to India was successful in smoothening the bilateral relations.

Nepal and India share common culture and religion. How prime minister Thapa’s visit will help to translate this commonality of relations into state-to-state relations remains to be seen.