India to help restore peace in Nepal

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday promised Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda to extend all possible help for peace and development of the Himalayan nation. Mukherjee met Prachanda at his official residence on Tuesday. Though details of the discussion were not made public, Mukherjee said that the meeting was “productive and fruitful”.

Hira Bahadur Thapa, adviser to the PM said that the two leaders reiterated commitments to implement the 22-point agreement reached during Prachanda’s first visit to India in September this year.

Mukherjee also expressed commitment to complete the reconstruction of the Koshi breached embankments within the stipulated period, Thapa said.

During the meeting with Nepal’s Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav, Mukherjee expressed India’s commitment to resolve the border dispute between the two countries. Mukherjee said the border disputes at Kalapani and Susta will be resolved through further discussion. “More than 98 per cent of border between the two countries have been demarcated, and have been added in the survey maps,” he said. Mukherjee and Yadav agreed to make the necessary corrections, which is likely to be made by the officials jointly.

Politicians in Nepal claim that India has encroached more than 65,000 hectares of Nepali territory in different districts.

Later, Nepal’s former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala sought New Delhi’s immediate help to “preserve” the democratic characters of the country. During his meeting with Mukherjee, Koirala said that the Maoist-led government was all out to wipe out the democratic characters of the country.