In his first interview since he stepped down over the stand-off with Nepal's president Ram Baran Yadav, Prachanda tells TOI's Keshav Pradhan that he wants to put relations with China on the same footing as that with India.
KATHMANDU: Confident of his party regaining power, Nepal's caretaker prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a.k.a. Prachanda, said on Friday that he would not stand ``foreign pressure'' and that he would like to bring relations with China at the same level as those with India. He added that some in Nepal believed that New Delhi had an unfair advantage built into the treaty that governs India-Nepal ties.
Prachanda's erstwhile revolutionary party, now rechristened United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) after a recent merger with another extreme Left faction, holds a dominating position both within and outside the interim Parliament.
This has put the former guerrilla, who stepped down as PM on Sunday, within striking range of power again. The Maoists have 238 representatives in the 601-member Parliament, while its frontal wing, Young Communists League, of former militias, calls the shots in most districts.
``We want to have a pact with China on the lines of the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship. I had planned to prepare ground for this during my trip (now cancelled) to Beijing,'' Prachanda said. ``We want the same kind of friendship with India and China.''
The 55-year-old leader clarified he would never play China against India and India against China. ``India should not suffer from such imaginary fears,'' he said. At the same time, he added, ``We want to replace the 1950 treaty with India with a new one.''
Prachanda claimed that the 1950 treaty, regarded as the basis of Nepal's unique relationship with India, does not represent aspirations of the Nepalese people. ``Instead, our people feel cheated by this treaty. They say it is loaded in India's favour.''
But he chose to remain non-committal on the Maoists' long-standing demand for an end to the practice of recruiting Nepalese Gorkhas for the Indian and British armies.
In an oblique reference to reports of India and other countries expressing displeasure at his decision to sack the chief of army staff, Gen Rukmangad Katuwal, the outgoing PM said, ``We're determined not to bow before any kind of external pressure. We took action against the general to establish civilian supremacy over the military.''
He added, ``Many Nepalese feel that India should not put at stake its contribution to Nepal's peace process.''
A little before he spoke to TOI, Indian ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood had called on Prachanda at his official residence. This was the fifth meeting between them since early this month.
The Maoist chief rejected claims by his detractors from within and outside Nepal that integration of the Peoples Liberation Army into the Nepal Army would be dangerous for the landlocked nation.
``Such integration can make the Nepal Army a truly national army. Why should our countrymen keep on fighting against each other,'' he asked. ``PLA fighters can also be absorbed in the armed police or the industrial security forces.''
Prachanda blamed the Nepali Congress, the second largest party with 114 seats, feudal elements and royalists for the fall of his government. ``These forces never wanted us to be in power. Moreover, some big powers backing these elements were also against us,'' he said.
Nepali Congress, regarded by observers in Nepal as a pro-India party, is now backing the move of the moderate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) to form a new government. The latter, which was in the Prachanda government, has 109 seats.
The fate of the Maoists and moderate Communists depends on the support of the three parties of the people of Indian origin Madhesh Janaadhikar Forum, Nepal Sadbhavana Party and Terai Madhes Loktantrik Morcha which together have 83 seats. The first two were in the Maoist-led government
Source : Times of India
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