Jan 1, 2011

Indo Nepal Relations: Armed Forces Lead the Way

President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav conferred the rank of honorary General of Nepal Army on visiting Indian Army Chief, General V K Singh. There is a trend of conferring the rank of honorary general to Indian army chief since 1950 when the then chief of India Army, General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa visited Nepal. From that day, Nepali and India armies regard each other’s chiefs as an honorary general of their own armies and have been exchanging goodwill visits since 1950. President Pratibha Patil had conferred the honorary rank of General of Indian Army to Nepal Army Chief Chhatra Man Singh Gurung during the latter’s visit to India in December 2009.

            The relations between the Indian and the Nepal Army have been unique in that the two Army chiefs have honorary ranks in each others armies. This is a long standing tradition carried for the past sixty years and is still continuing despite the change in form of government in Nepal. The support base that the Indian Army has in Nepal includes a large number of ex servicemen who have served in the Gorkha regiment of the Army which has a constant stream of recruits coming from hardy hills of that country. These have done yeoman’s service in the Army and are well regarded. This forms a very important Indian support group in Nepal. The Maoists who initially resisted this association have possibly reconciled with the same.

            On the larger plane however Indo Nepal relations have entered a rough patch and some blame it on the presence of a very activist and ‘interfering,’ Indian Ambassador Mr Rakesh Sood who has been ruffling feathers. Thus simple proposals as training officers in diplomacy in India have been resisted in Nepal. In the past a proposal to award machine read passports to India by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also rejected. Nationalism and anti Indianism is bound to be mixed up in Nepal and except for military relations which seem to be on an even keel there is much to be done to improve the atmospherics. India’s Foreign Secretary, Ms Nirupama Rao is due to visit Nepal on 19 January and there should be some forward movement in the same.