Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02KATHMANDU613
2002-03-27 12:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

PM DEUBA'S TRIP TO INDIA

Tags:  PREL PGOV PTER NP IN CH 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000613 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER NP IN CH
SUBJECT: PM DEUBA'S TRIP TO INDIA

REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 0575

B. (B) KATHMANDU 0467

Classified By: POL/ECON MAHONEY. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

---------
SUMMARY
----------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000613

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER NP IN CH
SUBJECT: PM DEUBA'S TRIP TO INDIA

REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 0575

B. (B) KATHMANDU 0467

Classified By: POL/ECON MAHONEY. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Ministry of Foreign Affairs meetings offering a
read-out of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's March 20-25
visit to India revealed no specifics of any assistance the
Indians may have offered their smaller neighbor in its effort
to contain a Maoist insurgency. Despite the apparent absence
of tangible deliverables, the lengthy official visit--Deuba's
first since assuming office last July--gives the PM's sagging
domestic prestige a much-needed boost. End summary.

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SOLID SOIL ASSURANCES
--------------


2. (U) Poloff met with Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary Prahlad Prasai March 26 for a read-out of
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's March 20-25 visit to
India--his first official visit to a foreign country since
becoming PM last July (Ref A). The Ambassador also touched
on the visit in a March 27 meeting with Foreign Secretary
Madhu Raman Acharya. Prasai said the invitation from India
had been a "long-standing" one and there was no particular
siginificance to the timing. Deuba was accompanied by
Commerce Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka; Water Resources
Minister Bijaya Gachhedar; State Minister for Foreign Affairs
Arjun Bahadur Singh; State Minister for Science and
Technology Bhakta Bahadur Balayar; and Foreign Secretary
Acharya.


3. (SBU) Prasai described the visit as touching on all
aspects of the wide-ranging bilateral relationship, but
highlighted what the Government of Nepal (GON) views as the
chief deliverable: solid assurances from India that its
"soil will not be used against Nepal" by terrorists or
insurgents believed to slip back and forth across the border.
Prasai acknowledged that Nepal had asked for--and
received--similar assurances in the past, but stressed this
time the GON "asked with emphasis." Poloff asked if the GON
provided names of particular individuals believed to be on
Indian territory; Prasai said the discussion was not that

specific. He noted Deuba received the same pledge from the
Chief Minister of West Bengal, where Nepali Maoist insurgents
are believed to have links. The Indians also promised to
beef up border security and made a reciprocal request that
Nepali soil not be used against India, Prasai reported,
specifically by Pakistani intelligence agents they believe
operate in Nepal. In response to that request, Prasai
related the GON gave its standard promise to act on any
report of illegal activity in Nepal that the Government of
India (GOI) furnishes. Joint Secretary Gyan Chandra Acharya
told the Ambassador the Indians had said they would be able
to do more against the Maoists once the Terrorism Bill passed
Parliament. The GON now expects India may begin banning some
organizations, such as the Maoists.

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PROMISES OF ASSISTANCE
--------------


4. (C) Prasai said Deuba also received general assurances
that the GOI is "ready to give assistance" to Nepal in its
effort to counter the Maoist insurgency. Deuba indicated
that the GON would welcome "logistic" assistance--i.e., arms
and equipment but not troops--from its neighbor, but made no
specific formal request for such equipment. (Note: Prasai
acknowledged equipment requests might have been discussed
during the one-on-one meeting between the two PMs, but he
said he could not be certain. End note.) Deuba had to
emphasize in the local press that he made no request for
foreign troops in order to appease his domestic audience,
Prasai noted. In fact, the MFA official said, the subject of
Indian troops assisting Nepal was never contemplated and did
not come up during the visit. Joint Secretary Acharya noted
to the Ambassador Nepal's delicate geographical position
between two large neighbors, which necessarily raises
regional sensitivities about Nepal soliciting or receiving
military assistance from foreign donors. Nonetheless, he
added, during the visit the Indians emphasized their own
interest in seeing the situation in Nepal stabilize. The
Nepalis had in turn stressed that they were seeking only
"support"--not help in fighting the insurgency--from other
donors like the U.S. and the U.K.


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TRADE AND TAXES
--------------


5. (SBU) Deuba asked that a four-percent tax on Nepali
imports, imposed by some state governments in excess of
duties stipulated by the re-negotiated bilateral trade treaty
(Ref B),be lifted. The GOI undertook to review the matter,
Prasai said. The long-pending completion of a rail link
between the Nepali border city of Birgunj and the Indian city
of Raxaul was also raised, Prasai reported, noting that only
one km of rail line on the Indian side is left. The
completion of the rail line and the accompanying Inland
Container Depot, or "dry port," at Birgunj will cut down the
substantial storage costs in India that Nepal now incurs on
third-country imports shipped via Calcutta.

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DAMS AND DEMARCATION
--------------


6. (SBU) Also significant for Nepal, said Prasai, was
India's commitment to "find a solution before the next
monsoon" season to flooding in the two southern districts of
Rupandehi and Banke that Nepal claims is caused by Indian
embankments. (Note: The Indians had earlier temporarily
suspended construction of the embankments after GON
complaints last year; there is some suspicion construction
has since resumed. End note.) The Indians also committed to
finish a long-pending project report on a joint hydroelectric
project in western Nepal by June. The two governments also
agreed to hold bilateral consultations on boundary
demarcation, especially the disputed territory at Kalopani in
the far west where India has stationed troops since 1962,
Prasai said.

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CONSULATE FOR INDIA?
--------------


7. (C) Prasai reported the Indians also raised a previous
request to establish a consulate on the border in Birgunj.
He said the GON is reluctant to grant the request, since the
Chinese would then press for progress on their outstanding
request to set up a consulate in Biratnagar on Nepal's
southeastern border with India. When poloff queried why the
Chinese would want a consulate so far from their own border
with Nepal, Prasai responded that the official reason is
trade--and then speculated that a likelier reason is to keep
an eye on the Indians.

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COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) The GON has long suspected that Maoists find quick
and easy shelter across the border, and has asked for--and
received--on previous occasions Indian assurances of
assistance in blocking that access. Despite extensive
official press coverage billing the visit a grand success, it
isn't clear what specific deliverables--outside of these same
general assurances of support--Deuba managed to bring back.
That said, for a PM who faces a violent insurgency in his own
country and increasingly internecine politicking in his own
party any message of support, no matter how generic, may be
welcome. End comment.
MALINOWSKI