However, contrary to her remarks and in contradiction to what the prime minister himself had said earlier in the parliament, Bhandari said in an interview to Republica the same evening that she sought from India resumption of all lethal and non-lethal military supply, which was in the pipeline before the royal takeover by former King Gyanendra in February 2005. India halted supply of weapons then. She also hinted that her proposal is likely to take a final shape during Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s visit to India beginning August 18.
It would be difficult for India to give a nod to the supply as that will be interpreted as going against the already fragile peace process and sending a wrong message to the Maoists.
The justification put forward is that the Nepal Army (NA) is badly in need of supplies of both lethal and non-lethal hardware. She said in the interview that the aid was sought so as “to ensure that it (NA) does not have to compromise training requirements.”
Although the government tried hard to down play the visit, it was very clear from the beginning that the defense minister’s trip was in reality to lobby on behalf of the NA, which sees the resumption of the military supply as a “routine matter” and not at all in opposition to the CPA specifically and to the peace process in general. The army high-ranks argue that “non-lethal supply has never been an issue” at all. In fact, the NA received a consignment of 20 to 25 Mahindra and Gypsy jeeps within a span of one year on 70 percent discount as per the agreement between the two countries. Acting on the recommendation of the high-ranking officials, especially the principal staff officers (PSOs), Army Chief Rookmangud Katawal pressed upon the Defense Ministry to request India to resume those lethal arms that were in the pipeline.
NA believes that the supply “is a must” as they require (especially the ammunitions, which are now in short supply) it not only for routine training purpose but also “for fighting armed factions in the Tarai.” It would be appropriate to point here that the government has already announced its new security strategy. The state-launched ‘fake’ encounter against the members of the Tarai armed factions is part of the new strategy for which, sooner or later, the decision-makers feel that the national army will be required to be mobilized.
In response to the request, the Indian side has sought a “written request” from Nepal government to present a list of specific requirements for NA, an official accompanying the minister in the delegation told this scribe. In the pipeline are the much-coveted Insac rifles, light machineguns (LMG), medium machine guns (MMG) and ammunitions including the 5.56 MM bullets for the Insac rifles and 81 MM mortars.
India, obviously, as the single-largest military supplier to Nepal, would not reject the request outright, although it would be difficult for the Manmohan Singh government to give a nod to the supply, which would clearly be then interpreted as going against the already fragile peace process and sending a wrong message to the Unified CPN (Maoist), which has shown clear opposition to such a deal with India at this point.
India waived up to Rs 800 million (of the Rs 1 billion) outstanding due during the then prime minister GP Koirala’s visit to India. The NA’s Department of Military Operations paid the remaining Rs 200 million in two installments to the Indian government. The South Block also does not want Nepal to enter into any strategic treaty with China and engage in any arms import from her northern neighbor. India stood against such an attempt by the then Maoist-led government. China had announced support worth Rs 115 million for NA during the visit of former Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa in September last year.
By resorting to covert arms diplomacy with India in this way, the government has departed from its self-proclaimed policy of consensus and collaboration. At a time when the government is seeking cooperation from the Maoists to take the peace process to a logical conclusion, the import of arms, if any, will be a risky proposition as it will alienate the Maoists further. It would be better if the government addressed this issue through the high-level political mechanism that the top political leaders have just agreed to put in place.
akanshya@myrepublica.com
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