Experts suggest agreement with equal benefits to the country

Kathmandu / July 3: Experts have urged the concerned authorities to take into account the national interest and ink agreements with India or other third countries that reap equal benefits to Nepal.

At a programme organized by National Stakeholder Forum Nepal on the eve of a high-level joint meeting of Nepal-India to review the treaty and agreements, border expert Buddhi Narayan Shrestha argued that the treaties and agreements benefiting India alone should be reviewed or else they should be scrapped.

Shrestha said, “All articles except Article (8) of 1950 ‘s Treaty with India should be scrapped.”

If the Article (8) of 1950’s Treaty with India was in effect, the border of Nepal would stretch Tista in the east and Kangada in the west, according to him.

Similarly, former governor at Nepal Rastra Bank and former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri, said that it was necessary to make Nepal-India border systematic rather than keeping it open. He also pointed out the need of new law regarding Nepal-India border.

Similarly, historian Chetendra Jung Himali clarified implementation of any treaty was more difficult than signing it. Any bilateral treaty should be beneficial to Nepal, he added.

International law expert Dr Gopal Siwakoti ‘Chintan’ said that agreement and treaty should be in favour of the country but we Nepalis have become the victims of agreement and treaty.

Political expert Shiva Adhikari, Chairman of the Madhes Media House Dr Rajesh Ahiraj, among others also expressed their views. RSS