The Embassy of India in Kathmandu on Tuesday said Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s visit to Nepal will help improve bilateral defence ties. Gen. Naravane, the highest official Indian dignitary to visit Nepal in months, is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and the formal engagements are expected on November 5 and 6.
“His visit will provide an opportunity for both sides to discuss the bilateral defence partnership and explore avenues to further strengthen it for mutual benefit,” said the embassyon social media. On Thursday morning, Gen. Naravane will lay a wreath at the Nepali Army martyrs’ memorial following which he will be given a Guard of Honour.
At an investiture ceremony in the evening, he will be conferred the rank Honorary Chief of Nepal Army, a long-followed reciprocal tradition. Gen. Naravane is also scheduled to meet his counterpart Gen. Purna Chandra Thapa and the Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Thursday. His visit has been delayed after he took over as the Chief of the Army Staff on December 31, 2019.
“It is going to be a great honour for me to be conferred the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army by the Right Honourable President of Nepal,” said Gen. Naravane in a statement on Tuesday.
India is also donating medical equipment to two field hospitals of the Nepali Army and also some ventilators to counter the pandemic in the Himalayan nation, a defence source said. On Friday, Gen. Naravane is scheduled to deliver a lecture at the prestigious Nepali Army’s Staff College, and later call on Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Gen. Naravane said he is “grateful for the opportunity to call on the Prime Minister of Nepal”.
The visit will be keenly watched as it is the first by a high-ranking Indian dignitary in almost a year which was vitiated by the territorial dispute over Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh. In May, Gen Naravane had kicked up a controversy by referring to a “third party” which he blamed for instigating Nepal to raise the territorial dispute. The comments drew angry response from Nepal which is the home of many of the Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Army. The Second Amendment to the Nepalese Constitution on June 13 brought in a new map incorporating the disputed region in the national emblem of Nepal.
Nepal has been demanding early commencement of Foreign Secretary-level mechanism that deals with the border issues but India has so far not given a date for the meeting.
