The Hindu : National : Do not resume arms supplies to Nepal: Left

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Monday, Apr 25, 2005

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Do not resume arms supplies to Nepal: Left

Special Correspondent

"Desist from any move that will legitimise the King's action"

NEW DELHI: The Left parties have asked the Government not to resume arms supplies to Nepal, as it will appear to justify the King of Nepal's suppression of the elementary democratic rights of the people.

"If this report is true, it is a wrong and unjustified step. The Indian Government had correctly decided to stop military supplies after the King of Nepal had suppressed parliamentary democracy and imposed an emergency," said a statement issued on Sunday by the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The CPI (M) demanded that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government clarify the situation immediately and there should be "no question" of resuming arms supplies. "The UPA Government must realise that the appreciation and goodwill it earned with its firm stand in defence of democracy and popular government in Nepal will disappear and it will be held responsible for abetting the King's authoritarianism," the statement added.

The party said that all that the King assured in his talks with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in Jakarta was that democracy would be restored "sooner rather than later." Even the municipal elections that have been announced are "farcical and cannot be a substitute for the full restoration of parliamentary democracy and having an elected government," it observed.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) also wanted the Government to clarify its stand on the issue and felt political parties and Parliament should be taken into confidence. Speaking to The Hindu from Thanjavur, the CPI national secretary, D. Raja, found it strange that it was the King who announced what the Indian Government planned to do. "The Government should desist from any such move as it will legitimise what the King has done in Nepal. The resumption of arms supplies would be unacceptable," he added.

The CPI (Marxist-Leninist)-New Democracy, which has ties to a pro-Nepalese CPI (Maoist) organisation, announced protest demonstrations on Wednesday against New Delhi's attempt to "prop up a feudal-military dictatorship" and said the manner in which municipal elections have been announced has prompted a call for boycott by the Nepalese Congress and other parties.

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