At a meeting between Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Saturday, the two neighbors decided to "seriously take up" the bilateral issues that have remained contentious for ages. They have thus promised to strengthen and enforce proactive mechanisms to address sensitive issues like border security.“The incidents of Dang and Bara came up in the talks. Both sides agreed to keep the existing border management mechanism more alert and take the sensitive issues up at the central level,” Rajan Bhattarai, the PM´s foreign affairs advisor said.
Bhattarai further said that the issue of displacement of people due to flooding across the border also figured in the talks. He added that India agreed to probe into the alleged atrocities and land encroachment by Indian border security force in Dang district and punish the guilty involved.
Moreover, India agreed to speed up the understandings and agreements reached between it and the past governments of Nepal, especially those agreed upon when Pushpa Kamal Dahal and G P Koirala were heading their respective governments.
“It was agreed that past agreements on projects such as Naumure, the postal highway, construction of Raxaul-Amlekhgunj pipeline, and railways connection would be given priority,” Bhattarai said.
Also, a boundary map is said to be prepared by experts from both the countries. “The boundary map has been sent for correction and it will soon be finalized,” Dhananjaya Jha, joint secretary and head of India desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said, adding, “The secretarial-levels talks Sunday will be decisive on many issues including this one.”
In addition, Secretary Menon also agreed to help Nepal import power from India in the times of need by setting up transmission lines. He labeled the talks as “constructive” and “positive.”
Greeted with black flags
Earlier, Menon, who arrived here on a two-day visit, was shown black flags at the Tribhuvan International Airport main gate. Police arrested 13 persons for showing black flags. They were protesting against the alleged Indian encroachment of Nepali territories in various parts of the southern border.
The arrested persons are from Unified Nepal National Front and the newly-formed Revolutionary Left Wing (RLW), a breakaway faction of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
PM´s India visit
Secretary Menon is also to set the groundwork for PM Nepal´s visit to India. India has proposed first week of July as a tentative date for the visit. The PM has yet to take a decision on this as the Non-Aligned Movement meeting is scheduled for July 15-16, an MoFA official said.
Meanwhile, Menon also met President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and interacted with top political party leaders including Nepali Congress President G P Koirala, Chairman of CPN-UML Jhala Nath Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Dahal met Menon in total privacy. Dahal had mentioned Menon´s name in his interview to Indian Hindu newspaper where he had revealed that he intended to speak to "Menon or any other high-level official" to clarify on the army chief row and he had requested Indian ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood to convey this to the highest authorities in India.
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