M A I N   N E W S

Indian envoy in Nepal briefs Natwar
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19
There is not much change in the political situation in Nepal and King Gyanendra does not seem to be in a hurry to blink first vis-a-vis the political parties and Maoists.

This is the sense which Indian Ambassador in Nepal, Mr Shiv Shanker Mukherjee, is understood to have conveyed to External Affairs Minister this evening.

Mr Mukherjee, has already briefed Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and Army Chief J.J. Singh, separately.

The envoy’s extensive briefing to Mr Natwar Singh caps his five days’ sojourn here as he leaves for Kathmandu tomorrow.

Mr Mukherjee is also understood to have conveyed to Mr Natwar Singh Kathmandu’s strong desire for resumption of Indian arms supplies, lying frozen since the
February 1 royal coup.

The brief which Mr Mukherjee would be carrying back to Kathmandu is that Indian arms supplies to Nepal are “under constant review” and an appropriate decision would be taken as soon as the situation in Nepal was to normalise.

In other words, neither New Delhi on the one hand, nor Washington and London on the other, would revoke suspension of their respective military supplies to Nepal till King Gyanendra addressed three issues: (i) concrete steps towards restoration of multi-party democracy, (ii) release of all political leaders, and (iii) lifting of media censorship.

The feedback the Government of India has got from Kathmandu is that the King is fast running out of options in view of recent informal contacts between Nepal’s Opposition parties and Maoists. If this trend were to continue and the logjam between Nepal’s political parties and the Maoists were to be broken, it would send danger signals to the King and the situation would become virtually irretrievable for him.

That is because the Maoists’s agenda is much more royalty-unfriendly than the political parties’ agenda. The Maoists initially said they would settle for nothing less than a Republic which, if implemented, would mean instant death for the monarchy system.

Later, the Maoists diluted their stand and since then have been demanding a Constituent Assembly for Nepal.

The Maoists’ stand is that it would be up to the Constituent Assembly to decide on the fate of monarchy in the country.

As Nepal’s political parties and the Maoists inch closer, it would only create more political space for the Maoists and increase the King’s problems proportionately. In that event, the equation in Nepal will be the King and the Royal Nepal Army on the one hand and political parties and Maoists on the other hand, a scenario which is bound to play on the fault lines of the country as well as its monarchy.