Nepal to honour Indian Army Chief

Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor is leaving on a three-day official visit to Nepal on Jan 19. The visit is at the invitation of Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, Nepal Army's (NA) Directorate of Public Relation (DPR) has announced. President Ram Baran Yadav will award Kapoor the honorary rank of General of Nepal Army at a special function at the President's office, Shital Niwas, January 21.

General Kapoor will attend a Wreath Laying ceremony at 'martyrs memorial' and receive a guard of honour from Nepal Army and meet with CoAS Gurung, after his arrival. The next day, General Kapoor will visit the high altitude military academy of Nepal Army in Jomsom, Mustang and the pension distribution centre of the Indian Army in Khara. He will also visit the western regional headquarters of Nepal Army in Pokhara and attend a dinner to be hosted in his honour in the evening.

General Kapoor will then visit the traning centre for peace keeping missions centre in Panchkhal of Kavre. He will meet with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Defense minister Bidhya Bhandari in Singha Durbar.

It may be recalled that Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of Nepal, was conferred the title of honorary general of the Indian army by President Pratibha Patil on Dec 14, 2009.

The Indian Army chief projected himself as anti-Maoist last month when he objected to the Maoist combatants' induction in the Nepal Army even though Nepal's political parties had agreed to it. The statement drew flak from the Maoists, who have accused him of naked intervention in Nepal's internal affairs. Human rights groups say the Indian Army's support for the Nepal Army has prevented army officers from being punished despite committing atrocities during the Maoists' 'people's war'.

Expressing “deep disappointment” at the recent “baseless” attacks on India by the Maoist leadership, India had on Jan 16 said such “propaganda” had a “negative impact” on Indian public opinion and vitiated the time-tested friendly relations between the two nations.

Prachanda has recently attacked India allegedly for interfering in Nepal’s internal affairs. Indian External Affairs Minister Krishna during his last week’s Nepal visit, asked Prachanda and his party to “fulfill their peace process commitments which would enable Nepal to complete its historic transition to a multi-party and inclusive democracy.” Krishna underlined the importance of rebuilding consensus among political parties of the country to conclude the peace process and draft the new Constitution within the stipulated time-frame of May 28.

Prachanda praised India’s role in the peace process and according to UCPN-M sources, tried to secure India’s trust and support for the success of the peace process in Nepal.

- Asian Tribune -