NEW DELHI: If the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship were reviewed it would be Nepalis, not Indians, who would be at the receiving end, said a Nepali research scholar doing his PhD at Jawarlal Nehru University.

In a programme ‘Nepal-India Relations in a Changing Context’, organized by Solidarity monthly magazine here today, scholar Uddhav Pyakurel said the treaty was very much in Nepal’s favour since the security clause of the treaty had already been rendered defunct by Nepal.

He also said Nepali citizens were able to buy and sell property in India and attain permanent residency contrary to their Indian counterparts because the treaty’s provision to grant the same rights to the citizens of India on the basis of reciprocity has also been rendered defunct by Nepal.

Pyakurel urged Nepali politicians to be pragmatic in regard to Indo-Nepal relations.

“There are places where a household cannot afford to send even one of their family members to India for livelihood,” Pyakurel said. “Are our politicians mindful that a poor Nepali would never afford to get a passport to come to India for work?”

Pyakurel, who has extensively reaserched the western Nepal region, said the growing market of India has helped thousands of Nepalis earn their bread and butter and a limited number of Nepalis who are in business are earning vast property in India.

CPN-UML-affiliated Nepalese Migrants’ Association chairman Khem Chandra Dhakal said it would be the Nepali diaspora

that would be the hardest hit if Nepal-India relations deteriorate. “Our relations with India are excellent. If it ever suffers a setback, it is because of opportunistic policies of our own political parties,” Dhakal said. Dubbing the then King Mahendra’s doctrine of nationalism a ploy to create anti-India feelings in Nepal, Dhakal said, “India is a place where millions of Nepalis earn their bread and butter. We can gain a lot more from India if we can take our bilateral relations to new heights.”

Nepali Congress affiliated Nepali Janasamparka Samiti general secretary Bal Krishna Pandey said Nepal-India relations were multi-faceted and deeply-rooted and therefore nobody — not even the governments of these two countries — can afford to impair relations even if they wished to. He said both nations should strive to promote bilateral relations in a scientific manner by accommodating modern day realities.

UCPN-Maoist affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Ekta Manch advisor Laxman Panta said political opportunism in Nepal was the main cause of irritants in Nepal-India relations.