KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 3

Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane will arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Army Chief General Purna Chandra Thapa.

Security and foreign policy experts have termed the Indian army chief’s visit another milestone in the progress of India-Nepal ties, saying that the visit will set Nepal-India ties back on track by creating a conducive environment for other high-level engagements between the two neighbours.

Lokraj Baral said Indian army chief’s visit to Nepal marked the continuity of army to army ties and it would deepen their friendship. This visit would strengthen bonds of customs between the two armies.

“There are hardly any other neighbours that confer honorary ranks of general on each other’s army chief,” Baral said. He said Naravane’s visit would help mend ties between the two countries and dispel doubts created over recent visit of India’s Research and Analysis Wing’s Chief Samant Kumar Goel. Some leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) had criticised the PM for meeting Goel.

“There was no need for making a hue and cry over Goel’s visit. It is normal for any government to send any of its employees as an envoy to another country,” he added.

Baral said, “Naravane’s statement about Nepal’s protest against the inauguration by India of a ‘link road’ connecting Lipulekh angered the Nepal government, but such ups and downs in the ties of two countries are normal and we should forget such incidents and move ahead to further enhance our bilateral ties. We are close neighbours and we cannot fight against each other.

“As Naravane is the chief of Indian army, he could convey Nepal’s concerns to the highest level in the Indian government,” he added.

Security and Foreign Policy Expert Shridhar Khatri said the Indian army chief’s visit would open the military-to-military channel between the two countries that could help normalise relations between the two countries in other fields as well. “Although it is a routine visit by the Indian army chief, it, however, holds more significance as it is happening at a time when bilateral relations suffered some strain,” he added.

“If this visit by the Indian army chief had not happened, I would have been worried,” Khatri said.

India’s retired army general Ashok Mehta said over the phone from New Delhi that there was a lot of excitement in both Nepal and India about Gen Naravane’s visit to Nepal this time as it was happening after the map controversy.

“This visit is happening after PM Oli called his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi over the phone on August 15, India’s RAW Chief Samant Kumar Goel met Oli, and Nepal’s Ambassador to India Nilambar Acharya met India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in New Delhi. I believe this visit will pave the way for activation of boundary mechanism very soon and foreign secretary level talks probably in December,” Mehta said.

He said both India and Nepal wanted to break the ice in their relations that had soured after Nepal issued a new political and administrative map depicting Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as its own territories. The Government of India has political and administrative control over these territories and claims them as its own territories.

Mehta said India was concerned that its relations with Nepal would not slide to such a level that China could try to impair India’s historical good ties with Nepal.

During Naravane’s visit to Nepal, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari will confer the honorary rank of general of Nepali Army on Naravane.

The Nepali and the Indian armies have a tradition of honouring each other’s chief by conferring the honorary rank of general on them in view of the close military ties shared by the two countries since decades.

During his visit, Naravane will pay homage to martyrs at Sainik Manch. He will also observe the guard of honour at Jungi Adda.

He will also interact with students of Command and Staff College.