Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will travel to Kathmandu later this month for a formal dialogue between the two countries, a sign that New Delhi is willing to go the extra mile to improve bilateral relations that had collapsed to earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said.
The decision to send the foreign secretary comes days after the Chief of the Army, General MM Naravane, was conferred the honorary rank of General of the Nepal Army. General Naravane had met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on this visit, who had stressed that the two countries could solve all problems between them through dialogue, as India and Nepal have a long-standing special relationship.
KP Sharma Oli had faced resistance within his cabinet to General Naravane’s visit, but had dealt with it, withdrawing the defense portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel.
General Naravane’s visit was deemed crucial, especially considering that he was the first within the Indian government to react to protests by the Nepalese government over a border road built in Uttarakhand. Nepal may well have raised the issue at the urging of someone else, he said in May, a comment that was interpreted to mean that Beijing may have prompted Nepal to create a new border dispute.
It is unclear whether Prime Minister Oli directly addressed the issue when General Naravane visited him last week. But Prime Minister Oli did make his point clear.
People familiar with the discussions said that KP Sharma Oli, who also has the defense portfolio after diverting Pokhrel, made a clear reference to the consequences of the dispute over the political map of Nepal, describing it as a “misunderstanding”. At the same time, he did underline that Nepal takes its sovereignty very seriously, a comment that is being seen in New Delhi to explain its decision to issue a new political map.
During the two days, November 26 and 27, that Shringla spends in Kathmandu, he is already scheduled to meet with his counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal, who took office last month, and Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali. The career diplomat will also meet with President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Oli during his visit.
The Shringla talks in Nepal are also expected to lead both sides to finalize the schedule of the Joint Committee on Technical Level Limits meeting.
Officials stressed that the question of boundaries would be only one aspect of the visit. “This is not a one-size-fits-all visit,” said a high-level diplomat, noting that the visit could make India commit to helping Nepal with coronavirus vaccines once production begins. In addition, the two sides will discuss the reactivation of the multipurpose Pancheshwar project on the Mahakali River, as well as other hydroelectric projects.
India had been putting off Harsh Shringla’s visit for most of this year to convey New Delhi’s discontent over the communist government’s decision to issue a new political map that included a piece of land that included the areas of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani in western Nepal. New Delhi had rejected the map, discarding what it had said was Nepal’s effort at cartographic expansion.
Nepal had been working to appease New Delhi for some time and had removed the school textbooks that contained the new political map. Last month, the head of the Research and Analysis Wing, Samant Kumar Goel, had done the groundwork to reestablish ties during his quiet visit to Nepal.
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