Prachanda under pressure to end "unequal" pacts

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Prachanda is under intense pressure from the Maoist leadership to discuss the review of all  "unequal" pacts with India, including the landmark 1950 Indo-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty, during his forthcoming visit to New Delhi from September 14.
 
The CPN-Maoist leadership, which is holding discussions to set the agenda for the landmark visit, has stepped up pressure on the prime minister to take up the review of all "unequal treaties" signed between Nepal and India in the past, including the 1950 Treaty.
 
The visit, termed as "first political visit" by Prachanda, comes amid row between the two neighbours over the breach of the embankment of the Kosi river, which has flooded Nepal's southern district of Sunsari and the northern parts of Bihar in India.
 
Maoists Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma Prabhakar Saturday told reporters that the Prime Minister should take up the issue of review of the 1950 treaty with the Indian government as per the demand of the Nepalese people, who want to re-evaluate this unequal treaty.
 
The CPN-Maoist party has planed a key meeting on September 12 to firm up the agenda for the Prime Minister's India visit, sources said.
 
Prachanda's five day visit from September 14 has been scheduled after his China visit last month, which sparked a controversy in both India and Nepal when he broke with tradition of Nepalese top leaders making New Delhi the first port of call after taking office.
 
He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam, Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai and Water Resources Minister Bishnu Poudyal, according to a source close to Poudyal.

Nepal CPN-Maoist central committee leader, Devendra Poudyal, said Prime Minister Prachanda should make efforts to abrogate Koshi, Gandak, Mahali river treaties and Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950 during his visit to India.
 
"Our Prime Minister will put Nepals stand clearly and bravely with India unlike the past governments," he argued on a local TV programme.
 
A section of Maoist leadership even want the Prime Minister to take up the issues raised by the ultra left party during the decade-long insurgency, including the abrogation of all unequal treaties, work permit to Indians working in Nepal, banning Hindi cinema in the country, review of the Koshi Agreement of 1954 and Mahakali Integrated Development Project Treaty signed in 1996.
 
However, the Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum (MPRF), one of the major partners in the coalition government, is against raising "controversial" issues such as the 1950 pact and Koshi agreement during the visit.
 
B.P.Yadav, central committee member of (MPRF) said the government should not take up "controversial matters" as the government is yet to establish political stability in the country. He said while Nepal should focus its attention on safeguarding its national interest, it should not displease its neighbours.
 
Sarvendra Nath Shukla, of the Terai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP), said the transitional government should not indulge in acts that could have long-term implications.
 
The present coalition governments job is only to facilitate the framing of a new constitution that will take the peace process to its logical conclusion, Shukla stressed.
 
Nepal swore in its first post-royal government on August 22, ending months of political deadlock over power sharing. Last month, Prachanda's visit to China sparked a controversy when he broke with tradition of Nepal's top leaders visiting India first after taking office.