India has announced the resumption of arms supply to Nepal, which was in the pipeline, about 100 days after February 1, the day King Gyanendra took over, leading India to withold the supply and to link it to the restoration of the democratic processes in Nepal. Indeed, New Delhi had to go through a lot of public posturing and dithering, evidently because of, among other things, pressures from the Indian leftists, whose support is crucial to the coalition government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh. “For the moment, only supplies of the non-lethal weapons would be resumed,” according to the Indian prime minister. However, as before, New Delhi ‘will keep the situation under review.’ Before coming to the decision, India is reported to have taken into account the lifting of the emergency and the release of several political leaders and activists.

The announcement has come during the visit to Kathmandu of US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, Christina Rocca, who renewed US support to the government ‘in their efforts to counter the Maoists.’ Indeed, Rocca arrived here via New Delhi where she held talks with Indian officials as part of the process of consultation between India, the US and Britain on coordinating their approach to Nepal. In Kathmandu, she reiterated US perception that the Maoists would pose a threat to regional stability. She emphasised elections and restoration of ‘true mutli-party democracy’ at the earliest possible time. US ambassador James Moriarty had said that the US could not give more than three months or so for the restoration of the democratic processes.

Both India and the US have stressed that the palace and the political parties should be reconciled and united to confront the Maoists. On the eve of Rocca’s arrival, the seven political parties, which rule out polls as not being feasible for security reasons, had announced a one-point agenda of the restoration of the Lower House. But Rocca has stressed

elections, in line with the King, besides advising the parties to work with him. The outcome of her visit and the Indian announcement may not be isolated.

It may well indicate, as Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey has said, that “bilateral relations have entered a new phase.”