The government on Friday told a House committee that the SPP chapter for Nepal has been closed.

Speaking at a meeting of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka said there is no need to stretch the matter further as the prime minister and Nepal Army have already said they are against it.

Nepal’s participation in the United States government’s State Partnership Program has caused a furore with political parties jumping into a blame game, despite the fact that everyone was in the know.

A Nepal Army letter to the United States dated October 27, 2015 which was leaked on Thursday, shows Nepal did request for its participation in the SPP. The US embassy in Kathmandu says Washington accepted Nepal in the SPP after its two requests in 2015 and 2017.

After the Army’s letter made it to the public domain, parties that were blaming each other now are in a bid to wash their hands of responsibility.

“The issue has been settled for now. It is against our national interest, therefore, we won’t accept it,” Khadka told lawmakers while responding to their queries. “We need not raise it in one way or the other. Its chapter has been closed now as we have said we won't go for it.”

In the meeting, cross-party lawmakers had sought to know the government and army’s position on the SPP.

Also speaking at the meeting, Chief of the Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma reiterated his institution’s Wednesday’s stance—that Nepal has not been part of any military alliance and will never be in the future.

Sharma said that the army had in 2015 and 2017 written to the US government for the support in disaster response through its National Guard. It, however, was not for any military alliance, he said.

“The letter that is in the public domain is authentic but that nowhere does it say it is for a military alliance,” he said. “I havee any already conveyed to US officials that we cannot be part of any alliance. Let’s not hav have doubt on this.”

In the letter, dispatched by then Army chief Rajendra Chhetri, the Nepal Army requested the US government for the establishment of the National Guard State Partnership Program for Nepal.

“As authorised by the government of Nepal, it is our honour to formally request the establishment of the National Guard State Partnership Program for Nepal,” reads the letter addressed to Alaina B Teplitz, then US ambassador to Nepal. “It is firmly believed that this program can promote long-term, enduring and mutually beneficial security relationships to exchange military skills and experience, share defence knowledge, enhance partnership capacity and further mutual security cooperation.”

Sharma also assured committee members that there won’t be such any agreement during his US visit. He is travelling to the US on June 27-July 1.

After controversy erupted over the SPP, the House committee summoned Foreign Minister Khadka, Army Chief Sharma and secretaries at the foreign and defence ministries, among others.

The parliamentary committee also sought to know about Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s planned visit to the US.

Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand told the House of Representatives on Thursday that the prime minister's visit has not been fixed yet.

According to sources, Deuba will be flying to Washington most probably in mid-July.

“We have strongly warned against signing SPP or other such agreements during the prime minister and the army chief’s visit to the US,” said Chand Tara Kumari, a member of the committee. “The government and army have expressed their commitment not to do so.”

The committee has directed Deuba to present before the committee to inform about his US visit and agenda’s of the meetings.

Suraj Kumar Dura, secretary of the committee, said three directives have been issued after the discussions, including presenting all the correspondence related to the SPP and producing a study report on the SPP by a panel led by former foreign secretary Shankar Das Bairagi who is currently the chief secretary.

“A verbal directive has been issued to the government and the army to write to the US saying Nepal has withdrawn from the SPP,” said Dura.

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Kathmandu on Thursday came up with additional clarification on the SPP, saying that there continuously has been open dialogue with Nepali leaders to collaborate.

“Since the US agreed to Nepal’s request to take part in the State Partnership Program, we have continued to have open dialogue with Nepali leaders to collaborate on what the cooperative exchanges under the SPP might look like, to include possible humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness activities,” the embassy said. “No SPP-led events have occurred because Nepal has not wanted them to occur. Any event under the SPP would happen only with the approval of Nepal.”

The embassy statement insinuates that Nepali leadership was well aware of Nepal’s participation in the SPP.

“The partnership is a regular military-to-military exchange programme occurring between the National Guard and the Nepali Army,” the embassy said. “When Nepal asked to participate in the program in 2015, and again in 2017, the request involved civilian, government, and military leaders from Nepal, openly looking to take advantage of a program focused on security cooperation and exchanges, and humanitarian assistance and disaster readiness.”

The embassy also made it clear that Nepal can stop its participation in the SPP if it wishes so.

“A country can simply inform the United States that they no longer wish to participate in the programme,” said the embassy.

The timeline of the events surrounding the SPP suggests almost all the politicians were in power who currently are blaming each other.

When the Army dispatched the letter to the US regarding SPP, UML chair KP Sharma Oli was prime minister while also looking after the defence ministry.

In 2017, when a second request letter was sent, Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal was prime minister till June and then Nepali Congress President Deuba succeeded him.

In 2019, when the US accepted Nepal in the SPP, Oli was prime minister and Ishwar Pokhrel was defence minister.

During Friday’s meeting, Foreign Minister Khadka asked Pradeep Gyawali, a UML leader and former foreign minister, why the Oli government did not scrap Nepal’s participation in SPP.

Khadka was referring to Gyawali’s statement in Parliament that the Oli government had “kept the plan on hold.”