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Josy Joseph in New Delhi
Foreign and Defence Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh's visit to Nepal, from August 17 to 19, is part of a concerned India's attempt to refurbish its troubled ties with Nepal, said senior diplomats and intelligence officials.
Traditional coziness between the two sides have disappeared in the recent times, giving way to marked differences over bilateral issues and growing anti-India sentiments in Nepal.
India is disturbed by increasing proximity between Nepal and China, and what it believes to be 'complete freedom' for Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-Service Intelligence, for operating out of Nepal.
Nepal, on its part, is angry and annoyed at India's big brother attitude on a host of issues ranging from river water sharing to the trade treaties.
Anti-India sentiments are whipped up by various political groups, latest being Nepal Maoists' claim that India was part of a conspiracy to eliminate the Nepalese Royalty.
Jaswant Singh may not achieve much during his visit, but the Indian establishment said the visit is the beginning of a series of political attempts to improve relations between India and Nepal.
During his stay in Kathmandu, Singh would call on the newly crowned King Gyanendra, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and meet up with other senior government functionaries.
The new King, still struggling with his popularity graph, would give the routine weekend leisure a go by to meet Singh.
According to senior officials in the external affairs ministry, Singh's visit is part of a 'concerted effort to rejuvenate the bilateral relations which has taken a severe beating after the IC 814 hijack'.
The December 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi had set off a series of developments that had dented close ties between the two countries.
After the hijack, India expressed serious concerns over ISI's role in Nepal, and suspended flights to Kathmandu that hit the tourist kingdom's revenues very hard.
Officials in New Delhi admitted the negative image of Nepal built up by the Indian media coupled with some 'ill-advised decisions' in the wake of the hijack may have forced Nepal to seek closer ties with China.
"Not that the two never had any contacts in the past," said a senior diplomat on Sino-Nepal contacts.
However, in the recent times, especially after the hijack, there were intense diplomatic exchanges between Nepal and China, much to the anger of India.
A highly placed official disclosed to rediff.com that last year as Nepal drew close to China, New Delhi mildly told Prime Minister GP Koirala that it was concerned about the 'unnecessary closeness' between China and Nepal.
It was not known, how Nepal reacted to India's concern.
Nepal, however, is initiating several steps to improve relations with China.
The most crucial among those is the move to accept Chinese currency in Nepal for promoting tourist inflow from China.
"It has been decided in principle," said a senior Nepal government official from Kathmandu.
"It is worrying," bemoaned a senior Indian diplomat.
Nepal-China axis holds several strategic warnings for India, said intelligence agencies.
Some Indo-Nepal disputes like Kalapaani, could be exploited by China, sources pointed out.
This river basin, close to the Indo-Nepal-China tri-junction, is now a political issue in Nepal and a key weapon in the hands of anti-India lobby.
During his weekend visit, Jaswant Singh would also try and convince the Nepal government as to why India was forced to file a revision petition with Nepal for the bilateral trade agreement between the two sides.
Nepal is peeved at India's demand for a review of the bilateral trade agreement, which gave Nepali industry a duty free access to Indian market.
Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah said on August 16 that Indian industry had been badly hit by the treaty in sectors such as silk, vanaspati and acrylic yarn.
The trade treaty comes up for review after every five years, and this December the treaty would have completed five years.
If both the sides do not give notice three months in advance, the treaty automatically gets extended.
"There are some issues to be settled," said an official accompanying Singh.
The review demand was filed in the second week of August.
The two sides are also locked over river water sharing, most famous of it being the Mahakali river treaty and the surrounding controversy.
According to the Nepal opposition, the treaty is biased in favour of India and during every election, the issue is whipped up.
Last week, India conveyed its 'grave concern' to the Nepal government over frequent breaching of the Gandak canal by Nepali citizens and attack of an employee of Kosi Project by the Royal Nepal Army.
The attempts to salvage the sinking relations would get yet another boost during the SAARC summit meeting in December this year. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could also meet up with the Nepali top brass during SAARC.
"There would be several more visits to Nepal, and deliberate attempts would be made to speed up settlement of bilateral disputes," said a senior official in the external affairs ministry.
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