Making A Difference

Recasting A Treaty

Kathmandu is taking tentative steps on revising the 1950 treaty

Advertisement

Recasting A Treaty
info_icon

WITH the Gujral doctrine guiding the letter and spirit of the recent Indo-Nepal talks, Kathmandu is keen to take advantage and exploit India's present goodwill. High on its agenda is getting the 1950 treaty of peace and friendship replaced with a new one.

The September 10-14 visit of the Nepali delegation led by its foreign minister Kamal Thapa followed the inauguration of the direct transit route between Nepal and Bangladesh on September 1, an outstanding Nepali demand since the early '70s. But discussions went beyond the transit route. Says Thapa: "We did not discuss specifics of the treaty, but we certainly discussed the broad parameters for such a treaty and India appreciated our viewpoint." Nepal apparently was not as vague as it was during last month's secretary-level talks on the revision or replacement of the treaty.

Advertisement

India's consistent response to the issue has been that there is no provision for modification of the 47-year-old treaty—it could be either scrapped altogether or remain as it is. This changed after Gujral's Nepal visit in June, when he declared that India would accommodate the Nepali viewpoint on the issue.

Nepal first officially voiced its reservations over the treaty in 1994, when Communist leader Manmohan Adhikari was prime minister. His successor, Sher Bahadur Deuba, who headed the Congress government, also echoed the demand. Gujral's gesture in June came as an endorsement of Nepal's demand that the "treaty should be reframed to accommodate new realities".

Advertisement

In fact, while issuing a joint communique after Thapa's four-day visit, Nepal insisted that talks on replacement of the treaty should not be 'downplayed'. Accordingly, both countries recognised "Gujral's visit to Nepal in June 1997 as a landmark in Indo-Nepal relations" and hoped that the understanding reached during the visit would be exploited. Regarding the 1950 treaty, both sides "agreed to continue further discussions".

Before 1994, demands for modifications or changes in the treaty routinely formed part of academic discussions in the Himalayan kingdom. The main arguments were that the treaty was never ratified after being signed in 1950; that it was time to modify it in tune with current realities; that it was unequal, as it was signed between the ambassador of India and Nepal's last Rana prime minister, who faced a popular movement against the dynasty at the time. But neither government moved officially in that direction during the first 44 years of the treaty.

While Thapa's delegation may have been a bit rigid on the 1950 treaty during the visit, it also took pains to dispel allegations about Nepali soil having been used by elements hostile to India. Says Thapa: "We will never allow any anti-India activities from Nepali soil. In fact, we want to go much beyond what the 1950 treaty envisages on this issue. And we will certainly manage and regulate the open Indo-Nepal border so that undesirable activities are curbed. How can we even think of not being sensitive to India's genuine security concerns?"

The joint working group on border management will take up the problems of an open border and ways to curb 'hostile activities' during its sitting in Delhi in October. Another vexed issue, Nepal's claim over Kalapani (a 69 sq km stretch on its western border under India's occupation), will be examined by another high-level technical committee based on previous surveys and the origin and course of Mahakali river that demarcates Nepal's western borders with India.

Advertisement

Besides, the joint group of experts on the Pancheshwar hydroelectric project will prepare a detailed report on the proposed 6,000 MW project which would cater to both India and Nepal. Nepal's parliament had ratified the agreement with India last year, ending almost five years of speculation over the project's future.

During last week's discussions, India also reiterated that it would like to keep off the Bhutan issue as it is essentially a bilateral matter involving Nepal and Bhutan. Notwithstanding former prime minister G.P. Koirala's threat that Nepal would internationalise the human rights and Bhutanese refugee issue, Thapa almost concurred with the Indian point of view: "We have no intention to dabble in Bhutan's internal affairs or dictate which model of governance they need to have. We want them to devise their own ways to take their citizens back as one lakh refugees are a social and economic burden on us. We will try to reassure Bhutan about our sincere and friendly intent during our next round of bilateral talks."

Advertisement

 Having said that, the success of the current round of talks will be measured more by the attitude than routine gains. In which case, it has been a major gain from the Nepali perspective.

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement