Prime Minister I K Gujral yesterday demonstrated practically how his now famous Gujral doctrine works. He pushed decisions and set deadlines for the solution of a large number of the problems that have been dogging the bilateral relations of India and Nepal.
A new transit route for trade between Nepal and Bangladesh, speedy implementation of the Mahakali river treaty, a new Indian consulate at Birganj, meetings of a high-level task force at least every three months and a meeting of the technical committee on boundary matters within a month are among the instructions Gujral gave his officials while still at the meeting table.
During the talks between his delegation and the Napalese led by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Gujral said the foreign secretaries of the two countries should look at the 1950 treaty, which government relations between the two countries, to see how far it meets present-day concerns.
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The two home secretaries are to discuss the two countries concerns on various border and related issues. India has been deeply worried about use of Nepalese soil by the Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence to send its agents into India.
Chand had asked for a review of the treaty, which many Nepalese leaders see as limiting Nepals sovereignty. India has hitherto been unresponsive to previous Nepalese requests for a review.
He promptly agreed to ensure that Nepalese banks could set up branches in India when Chand mentioned during the delegations talks that Nepalese citizens had told him in Mumbai, when he was returning from the SAARC summit in Male recently, that they found it difficult to repatriate funds to Nepal. Setting the tone for trust, Gujral spent half-an-hour with only Chand before the delegations met in the afternoon.
Gujral did not accept all of Chands points. Most important perhaps among the Nepalese concerns which he did not accept was over Nepals problem with Bhutanese refugees. Gujral said it was a bilateral problem and India believed no third party should be involved in solving it. He mentioned that this was Indias stand with regard to its problems with Pakistan too. Chands other concerns included the trade in women and children narcotics trafficking and the need to strengthen the SAARC secretariat here.
The visit, Gujrals first bilateral tour as Prime Minister, is being keenly watched by officials and opinion-makers here. Local newspapers have given the visit wide coverage and some edit-page writers have called it a test of the Gujral doctrine.
KEY DECISIONS
A new transit route via India for trade between Nepal and Bangladesh
A meeting of the technical committee on boundary matters within a month; the two home secretaries are to discuss various border and related issues
Foreign secretaries of the two countries to look at the 1950 treaty to see how far it meets present-day concerns.
A new Indian consulate to be set up at Birganj