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India to give NA copters

KATHMANDU, JAN 31 -
In its fresh effort to strengthen defence ties with Nepal, India has agreed to provide two helicopters to the Nepal Army.

The new aircraft will be provided within this year to replace two five-seater Cheetah helicopters provided by India that are currently grounded. Nepali side had been pushing for the maintenance of those aircraft provided in 2001 to crush the Maoist insurgency then.

Indian Defence Minister AK Antony made a commitment to provide two aircraft during Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar’s India visit on January 17-21.

Briefing the parliamentary State Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Gach-hadar said India was keen to increase its support for the Army. He also informed that Indian Army Chief Gen V K Singh was visiting Kathmandu in the near future to sign a deal on increasing military cooperation. 

“The Indian Defence Ministry has committed to increasing its cooperation with the Nepal Army. They are ready to provide rescue helicopters and vehicles,” said Gachhadar. “A formal agreement on military assistance will be signed when the Indian army chief arrives in Nepal to attend a regional summit on disaster management.”

The Nepal Army has stepped up preparations to host a regional summit on disaster management and counter terrorism between March last week and April first week. Indian Army Chief Singh along with heads of the military forces of other Saarc countries will attend the function.

The donation of helicopters will be the largest scale military aid provided to the NA after the political change of 2006. India has also pledged to repair the grounded helicopters, according to Defence Ministry sources.

 India had scrapped its military assistance to Nepal following the royal takeover in February 2005 and has not supplied any lethal weapons to the NA so far. It had agreed to resume supplies during the meeting of the Bilateral Security Consultative Group held in Kathmandu in 2009.

Gachhadar claimed India has agreed to resume all kinds of defence support including lethal weapons as required by the Nepal Army during his recent visit.

“They are seeking a formal request and are ready to act accordingly,” he said. Gachhadar said Indian Defence Minister Antony noted that the national armies of the two countries have deep and traditional ties and India was ready to strengthen the capacity of the Nepal Army.

During the three-hour discussion in the parliamentary committee, Gachhadar also briefed lawmakers on his visit to China from December 25-30. Mentioning about Chinese Army Chief Chen Bingde’s Nepal visit in March, Gachhadar said Chinese leaders too were interested in expanding cooperation with the Nepal Army.

China had signed a deal pledging logistics worth Rs 1.3 billion for Birendra Sainik Hospital during Gen Bingde’s visit. Gachhadar stressed that cordial ties with both India and China is in the best interests of Nepal.

Meanwhile, the home minister informed that India has expressed commitment to provide three billion to four billion rupees for the construction of an academy for Nepal Police in Kavre. They have been stressing that there should be an Indian technical advisor for the project to be constructed in 500 ropanis already purchased by the Nepal Police.

“Even the World Bank and the Asian Bank appoint advisors by themselves when they execute the project in Nepal,” said Gachhadar. Maoist lawmaker Pumpha Bhusal said appointment of technical advisor from India in ‘sensitive security installation’ would be unacceptable.

Posted on: 2012-02-01 07:31

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