Nepal’s Left parties to oppose pact with India

Several Left parties in Nepal on Monday announced to jointly launch a protest later this month against a 25-point agreement reached with India during Prime Minister Prachanda’s visit to New Delhi, saying parts of the pact “undermined” the sovereignty of the landlocked country.

The Left parties - CPN-ML, CPN-Revolutionary Maoist, CPN-Masal, CPN-Marxist, People’s Front Nepal, National People’s Front - announced their protest in a statement here.

CPN-Masal General-Secretary Mohan Bikram Singh said the Indo-Nepal joint press communique issued on September 16 included matters that “undermined the national sovereignty” of Nepal.

Certain clauses were against the national interests and they were signed at a time when the need for establishing Nepal as an independent nation by scrapping the “unequal and anti-national” treaties signed in the past between India and Nepal had been felt, the parties said in the statement.

As part of their protest programme, the parties have decided to jointly issue a leaflet highlighting the need to launch a struggle against “the act of betrayal” to the nation by Prachanda-led coalition government.

A grand rally will be organised in Kathmandu on October 25 against the agreement, they said.