India happy with Nepal devp, readies aid package

New Delhi, Apr 25: India is readying an economic package, including financial aid, to help revive Nepal's economy if the new government that is set to assume office in the Himalayan Kingdom in the next few days seeks such assistance.

As thousands of people held a victory rally in Kathmandu today after King Gyanendra announced late last night that he was reinstating Parliament, the mood in the Ministry of External Affairs here was mainly one of relief.

The seven-party alliance which led the pro-democracy campaign has named former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala as the new head of government.

The package would also include measures to ensure resumption of supplies of essential commodities to Nepal, such as food and fuel, they said.

According to them, the routes to Nepal from India will once again open, and trucks which were stranded on the Indian side because of the disturbances of the past three weeks, would resume their journey soon. As many as 24 trucks had crossed over into the kingdom yesterday, they said.

However, a decision on resumption of arms supplies to Nepal will be taken only after consultations with the new government.

"Unless a new government is in place, and unless the government makes such a request, there is no way we can decide on this," the sources explained.

Officials here believe that, in the interim period when the new government settles down and tries to revive the economy, especially revenue flows, only India can provide the kind of economic assistance that Nepal needs at this juncture.

India is also convinced that a multi-party democracy, in which the monarchy plays only a constitutional and symbolic role and the Maoists abandon violence as a political tool, is the best option for Nepal in the years ahead.

In this context, India sees a ray of hope in the commitment made by the Maoists to multi-party democracy and electoral exercises. It is also confident that the seven-party alliance will hold together for the foreseeable future.

In the weeks ahead, New Delhi will also watch closely how King Gyanendra adjusts to the new realities and whether he emerges as a source of stability in the kingdom.

Since early April, when the pro-democracy protesters came out onto the streets of Kathmandu, India has played a key role in nudging King Gyanendra towards transferring power to the people.

These efforts included a visit by Dr Karan Singh as the Prime Minister's special envoy to Kathmandu last week, when he held talks with political leaders as well as the King. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran also flew to Kathmandu to help in the discussions.

The current political crisis in Nepal was triggered on February 1 last year when the King sacked the Sher Bahadur Deuba government, declared a state of emergency and took power. He ended the emergency on April 30 but retained the extraordinary powers he had assumed. In November, the Maoists entered into a loose alliance with the seven-party alliance to work towards ending the King's absolute powers.

On April 6 this year, a general strike began and pro-democracy protests gathered steam by the day, despite curfews. On April 21, King Gyanendra announced transfer of power to the people and asked the seven-party alliance to choose a new Prime Minister.

But the parties said this was not enough. Finally, last night, in another televised address, the King announced the revival of Parliament.

India's constant message to King Gyanendra during all this has been that a situation in which the political parties were marginalised would only help extremist elements grab the middle space in Nepal and bring the monarchy into the frontline of the fight against the Maoists. He was also told that the institution of monarchy itself and his own personal safety could be endangered.

As civil society groups joined the pro-democracy protests, India felt the monarchy was increasingly getting alienated from the people.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to rush Dr Karan Singh to Kathmandu followed a review of the situation in the Kingdom and inputs that the King might go in for some drastic measures, including reimposition of emergency and use of force against the protesters. India conveyed to King Gyanendra that any such move would be disastrous and that he needed to urgently make a gesture to the political parties and start a dialogue that would take into account the mood and the sentiments building up in the kingdom.

After meeting Mr Koirala, Mr Deuba, Mr Madhav Nepal and other political leaders, Dr Karan Singh met King Gyanendra and urged him to transfer power to the people and let the SPA choose its Prime Minister.

The King's proclamation on April 21 led India to believe that the main demand of the protesters had been conceded but it had to issue a clarification to its initial reaction to make it clear that thare had been no effort to support the monarchy and that it stood for democracy. After the clarification, an incipient anti-India feeling in the kingdom has subsided.

Official sources said India had worked extremely hard in the past few days to bring the two sides together and to defuse the situation. India is now hoping that liberal democracy would be strengthened further in Nepal in the coming days and that the Maoists would come into the political mainstream.

UNI

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