NEW DELHI: With concern growing over the postponement of national elections in Nepal, and fears of instability in the Himalayan state, India is sending former foreign secretary Shyam Saran to Kathmandu on Wednesday on a salvage operation.
Saran’s task will be to advise all political parties to put their heads together and give the people of Nepal a representative government, urgently needed to tackle the problems of poverty and development. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and the last few years of political instability and Maoist violence had struck a crippling blow to the mountain nations economy.
But Indian officials take care to point out that New Delhi will not be prescriptive in its approach. Finally it is up to Nepal to do what is best for its people. The approach by India is that of a concerned neighbour who wants to help the Nepal’s fledgling steps towards democracy.
Surrounded by instability in the region, Pakistan, Myanmar and now Nepal, New Delhi wants to stop the slide. It is particularly worried that instability in Nepal will impinge on India’s security, especially as the border with Nepal is open and allows terror outfits to slip in easily. Terror groups have often used the open border with Nepal to launch terror strikes in the Indian heartland.
India believes that postponing elections, for the third time, can tarnish the reputation of the government and bring further instability in its wake. Saran will meet leaders of all political parties and urge them to get the mandate of the people before going for large scale changes in the constitution.
The Maoists want Nepal to be declared a Republic by the current Parliament, which is not an elected one. Koirala, at the insistence of India and the rest of the international community, would rather wait till a proper mandate from the people invests parliament with legitimacy to change the constitution.
The other major stumbling block is the Maoist demand for proportional representation for all political parties.
