KATHMANDU: Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli he has been criticized, including by the leaders of the Communist Party in power, for violating diplomatic rules during his meeting with the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Samant Kumar Goel.
Goel called Prime Minister Oli at his official residence in Baluwatar on Wednesday night.
However, the visit by India’s intelligence chief was not well received by some of the country’s political leaders, including members of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
The meeting that took place between RAW chief Goel and Prime Minister Oli was against diplomatic norms and does not serve Nepal’s national interests, said ruling party leader Bhim Rawal.
“As the meeting was held in a non-transparent manner without consulting the corresponding section of the Foreign Ministry, this may also contribute to weaken our state mechanism,” he said.
Bishnu Rijal, deputy director of the PNC’s foreign affairs department, said politicians should not overdo matters related to diplomacy.
“Diplomacy must be handled by diplomats, not politicians,” he said.
“The current confusion about the visit of the head of R&AW is the result of the handling of diplomacy by the politicians,” he said.
Nepalese Congress Central leader Gagan Thapa in a tweet said the meeting posed a threat to national security.
“The meeting was not only a violation of our diplomatic norms, it also represents a threat to our national security, which must be investigated,” Thapa tweeted.
The three former Prime Ministers of Nepal, Prachanda Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda ‘, Madhav Kumar Nepal of the governing NCP and Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepal Congress, refuted media reports that they also met with the visiting R&AW chief.
The secretariats of former prime ministers and senior leaders of the ruling PNC asked the general public not to be fooled by the false, fictitious and illusory news from some local media about their meeting with the head of R&AW.
Deuba’s secretariat has also made it clear that Deuba did not meet with Goel.
Goel’s visit came ahead of the Indian army chief General MM Naravane’s next official trip to Nepal in the first week of November.
Ties between the two countries were strained after Defense Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a strategically crucial 80 km highway connecting the Lipulekh step with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.
Nepal protested the opening of the road, claiming that it passed through their territory. Days later, Nepal presented the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its territories. India had also released a new map in November 2019 that shows the areas as its territories.
After Nepal released the map, India reacted strongly, calling it a “unilateral act” and warning Kathmandu that such an “artificial enlargement” of land claims would not be acceptable to it.
In June, the Parliament of Nepal approved the new political map of the country with the areas that, according to India, belong to it.
In its reaction, after the lower house of the Nepalese parliament passed the bill, India called the “artificial expansion” of the neighboring country’s land claims unsustainable.
India said Nepal’s action violates an understanding reached between the two countries to resolve border issues through talks.
Prime Minister Oli has been claiming that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to his country and promised to “get them back” from India.
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