‘Indian Maoists not importing Nepali Maoists’

Union Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai said here on Saturday that Indian Maoists were not importing Maoists or arms from Nepal.

“I don’t think anybody is importing Maoists,” he said in response to a statement made by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in this regard. However, Mr. Pillai admitted to “contacts between” the Nepali and Indian Maoists.

“We have no evidence on either side that any arm or anything has been given…it still is a home-grown movement,” he said, commenting on Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s remark that the Indian Maoists were “possibly” acquiring arms from Nepal.

Mr. Pillai underlined the differences between the Maoists of India and Nepal. “One has opted for parliamentary democracy in Nepal, the other has not. The Indian Maoists are still talking of armed revolution, so there’s a fundamental difference in their ideologies.”

Mr. Pillai, who led an Indian delegation, had a secretary-level meeting on security issues with the delegation led by Nepal Home Secretary Govinda Prasad Kusum on Friday and Saturday.

Controlling trans-border crimes, drug and human trafficking and other security issues were discussed.

Dr. Kusum said both sides felt that the Border District Coordination Committee meetings were useful in addressing problems that erupted at the local level. But a meeting of the Joint Working Group on Border Management was needed, and would be held next year.

Mr. Pillai said the meeting primarily discussed how the security situation in South Asia would impact both Nepal and India.

Cross-border terrorism

“Both of us have agreed to ensure that no incident of cross-border terrorism takes place in Nepal or India,” he said.

The two sides also discussed the problems of fake Nepali and Indian currencies. Mr. Pillai said the authorities in Nepal had been “extremely vigilant” in seizing fake currency. Citing an incident in which fake currency was seized in Kathmandu, he said it showed “the sincerity” of the Nepali authorities.

Asked about the extradition treaty, he said India was not pressuring Nepal to sign it. Dr. Kusum, on the other hand, called it a high-level issue to be sorted out when the situation was favourable.

The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has been opposing the signing of this treaty. Nepali media have reported that India has been pressuring Nepal to sign the treaty. It was initiated in 2005, and so far only the text is said to have been agreed upon by both nations.