Miscellaneous
Second EPG meeting to take up 1950 treaty
As the second meeting of the Eminent Persons’ Group on Nepal-India Relations begins in the Indian capital on Tuesday, the Nepali side is set to push the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950 as a priority agenda.Kamal Dev Bhattarai
As the second meeting of the Eminent Persons’ Group on Nepal-India Relations begins in the Indian capital on Tuesday, the Nepali side is set to push the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950 as a priority agenda.
The meeting will formally begin discussion on the key issues, treating the treaty as the prime agenda, according to members on both sides.
The first meeting held in Kathmandu in July was a preparatory session. It identified five areas—political issues, government-to-government relations, cultural issues, trade and connectivity—for discussion and preparing recommendations.
“We are prepared to initiate discussion with the 1950 Treaty,” Group member Bhekh Bahadur Thapa told the Post, adding that other bilateral economic issues would also be taken up.
The top agenda of the EPG is reviewing the 1950 Treaty and other treaties related to trade and transit. The Indian side has asked Nepal to come up with a clear position on how to amend the “unequal” treaty. The Nepali side, according to a member, maintains that there should be discussion on it instead of one side presenting its position.
The key clauses of the treaty that Nepal wants to amend are the need for India’s consent for Nepal to purchase defence hardware, recruitment of Gorkha soldiers and preference for India in the development of Nepal’s natural resources. According to a Group member, the Nepali side has prepared its position on how to revise the treaty.
“Many provisions of the treaty are now redundant. Many international and regional treaties signed after 1950 should be taken into consideration,” said Group member Rajan Bhattarai. The Nepali side was clear about the amendments Nepal seeks to the treaty, he added.
“This is not only reviewing the past agreements, treaties and understandings. We will also suggest a new framework of relationship that should be adopted between the two countries in the 21st century,” Bhattarai said.
According to Group members, the India side has realised that the treaty should be amended. The Indian team has expressed its readiness to consider any proposal that Nepal tables at the meeting.
Lt General (retired) of Indian Army Shakti Gurung said the clause on purchase
of military hardware could
be relaxed.
“The treaty is very old. India should be ready to amend it because there have been a lot of changes after it was signed,” Gurung told Post. He, however, said that recruitments from Nepal in the Gorkha regiment should be continued even after an amendment to the treaty.