India may resume arms supplies to Nepal soon

Tashkent, Apr 25 (UNI) With the restoration of democracy in Nepal, India is likely to soon resume arms supplies to the Himalayan kingdom, suspended after King Gyanendra dismissed the Sher Bahadur Deuba Government and imposed emergency on February 1, last year, official sources said here tonight.

As New Delhi hailed King Gyanendra's decision to hand over power to political parties, Indian officials, accompanying Dr Manmohan Singh on his visit to Uzbekistan, were of the view that the monarch had fulfilled all the commitments he had made to Dr Karan Singh, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy, last week.

''All possible assistance would be given to Nepal for maintenance of peace and security,'' the sources added.

National Security Adviser M K Narayanan last night stated that the king has finally seen the errors in his ways of functioning and, therefore, decided to invite political parties to form a government.

The feeling among Indian officials is that the situation would soon start returning to normal in Kathmandu and other places.

Promising unstinted support to the people of Nepal in whatever manner they wished, the sources said the Indian Government stood by them in their unrelenting struggle for the restoration of their democratic rights.

The Prime Minister has been kept abreast regularly with the developments in Nepal by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and top officials, the sources added.

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