Nepal’s Non-Aligned Stand On Doklam Issue

Nepal’s PM Sher Bahadur Deuba began who his five day India visit yesterday was greeted by Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj who accorded him a warm welcome.

This is the PM’s first visit to India post his re-election in June, earlier this year. His visit will come ahead of the third and final phase of the polls scheduled for September 18.

Deuba’s visit comes admits the ongoing Doklam standoff between India and China. Earlier this month the Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang visited Nepal on the 14th of August where he flew in from Pakistan after attending a function on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day. However, his visit was termed was official and development centric by the Nepali authorities.

The visit to Nepal assumed greater significance as it took place in the backdrop of the stand-off between India and China over Doklam. Sources though denied that China ‘officially briefed’ Nepal on the issue. According to them, there has only been informal sharing of views.

“The Chinese leader's visit will be development-centric, and it cannot be linked with the prime minister's visit to India in any way”, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara had said.

Nepal has constantly maintained its non-alignment stance on the issue.

Mahara has again stressed that Nepal will take a “neutral stance” on the issue.

“Nepal will not get dragged into this or that side in the border dispute”, he had said to the media at the time of Yang’s visit.

Nepal wants India and China to use "peaceful diplomatic means" to resolve the issue.

As per the Nepali authorities, Deuba’s visit will focus on implementing the past accords that were signed during his visits to India in 1996, 2002 and 2004 as then prime minister.

The two-decade old Rs 30,000-crore bi-national Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project and other energy and infrastructure related projects are likely to be high on the agenda during Deuba's visit, officials said. The project aims to produce 5,000 MW of electricity.

As per official sources the PM is hoping for a positive outcome from his visit to India.

In 1996, Deuba and then Indian prime minister P V Narasimha Rao had held discussions on reviewing the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty and expediting the implementation of the Mahakali Treaty, including the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project and its financing model, Saptakoshi High Dam, Sunkoshi Diversion, Karnali Multipurpose Project and Budhi Gandaki Hydro Electricity Project, among others. In 2002, India and Nepal had agreed for the early conclusion of the Agreement for Mutual Legal Assistance and updating the Extradition Treaty and construction of four Integrated Check-Posts along the Nepal-India border.

Both the countries had called for a plan of action for the early commencement of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project. But a detailed project report is yet to be completed. "Time has come for both sides to find out why there has not been desired progress on several understandings reached in the past," the Kathmandu Post quoted Dinesh Bhattarai, foreign relations adviser to Deuba as saying.