The Nepali Army should not have written the letter directly to the US Embassy without consulting the govt
Nepal's major political parties have resorted to the blame game against one another over the U.S. State Partnership Programme (SPP), which has stirred a diplomatic controversy after then Nepali Army Chief Rajendra Chhetri wrote a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu for Nepal's willingness to participate in the SPP. This issue has landed the political parties and the Nepali Army in soup as it, many believe, goes against Nepal's stated policy of non-alignment. It has also come to light that the then Army chief Chhetri had written the letter to the U.S. Ambassador Alaina B Tepliz without informing the civilian leadership and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Last week, the Nepali Army issued three conflicting statements, which also proves that there were serious lapses on the part of the Nepali Army, which should have consulted the political leadership before writing such a letter showing willingness to join the SPP, which, in fact, has turned out to be a part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, a military alliance of the lone superpower. After many things unfolded within a week – even a seven-point letter of exchange –leaders of the major political parties, who were in power since 2015, are now on the defensive over the SPP, which they say is not in Nepal's interest.
After the seven-point letter of exchange was leaked to the media, the parliamentary International Relations Committee (IRC) on Friday directed the government to officially tell the U.S. that Nepal would not be part of the SPP. The IRC has also told PM Sher Bahadur Deuba not to sign any deal with the U.S. on the SPP during his upcoming U.S. visit, saying the SPP was against Nepal's neutral foreign policy. It has also directed the concerned government bodies to
produce the conclusion of a taskforce, formed by the KP Oli-led government, regarding the SPP. The taskforce, led by then foreign secretary, is learnt to have recommended the government not to take part in the SPP, which, it said, undermined Nepal's geo-political sensitivities.
Although Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka told the House panel that the government would not implement the SPP, PM Deuba has not responded to the calls even from the lawmakers of the ruling coalition on this issue. While furnishing replies to the IRC, Chief of Army Staff General Prabhu Ram Sharma said Nepal wanted American help only to deal with natural disasters. But he admitted that the Nepali Army had received an aircraft under the SPP and two others were in the pipeline. All these activities show Nepal's poor diplomacy and sheer lack of coordination in the government machinery. The Nepali Army should not have written the letter directly to the U.S. Embassy without consulting its line ministry as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this case, the entire civilian political leadership was kept in the dark when the letter was written to the U.S. Embassy.
Main opposition leader KP Oli said, at a separate programme, that Sushil Koirala, who was the prime minister and defence minister, had decided, as the defence minister, to seek U.S. government's help under the SPP, on September 22, 2015. As the damage has already been done, it is not good to blame one another. All the political parties and the Nepali Army must work together to restore national interest.
Don't over-exploit
Over the years, with construction activities soaring in both Nepal and India, there has been much hue and cry over the excessive extraction of river products and indiscriminate exploitation of the natural resources. Now the amendment to the 'Standard of Extraction, Sale and Management of Stones, Pebbles and Sand' by the federal government intends to put an end to the anomaly and ensure easy supply of river and mine-based products for infrastructure projects. The amendment calls for preparing an environmental study report to be approved at the local village or municipality level, which will guide where and how the river and mine-based products should be extracted, collected and sold.
For many of Nepal's local levels taxes levied on extraction of river-based products are the only source of local revenue, making them largely dependent on large fiscal transfers from the federal government.
But collusion between the local government and private river-product extracting companies has been largely responsible for the environmental degradation seen everywhere. If all local governments were to strictly implement the environment study report, it would be a win-win situation for all.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
