Nepal overlooks India, accepts China’s offer on legal assistance

Nepalese CoM accepts Beijing’s offer on mutual legal assistance, while talks with India to extend the already existing extradition are still shelved

New Delhi: In a move that can be construed as a diplomatic snub to New Delhi’s attempt to extend legal cooperation with Kathmandu, the Nepalese Council of Ministers (CoM) instead approved the mutual legal assistance treaty with China.

The Nepalese CoM, last week, primarily accepted the Nepal-China Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The draft of this treaty was agreed, during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Himalayan nation in October 2019.

After accepting the treaty in-principle, the Nepalese CoM will now table it before the federal parliament for final approval and implementation.

Nepalese Communications Minister Gokul Baskota, who is also the spokesperson for the Prime Minister K P Oli-led government was quoted saying, “The treaty will now be submitted as per the legal arrangement made between the two nations.” He added that, the draft of the treaty was also discussed on 5 January, during Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa’s visit to Beijing.

As per reports, the treaty was canvassed to strengthen cooperation on the administration of border areas and combat illegal border crossings and transnational crimes. Based on the understanding reached in Beijing, teams from both sides had worked on the treaty’s draft 

According to government sources, the treaty was finalized by officials from Nepal, led by Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs Ram Krishna Subedi and a team from China, which had specially flown to Kathmandu for the talks. 

India Sidelined

Meanwhile, the developments between the Himalayan neighbors have left New Delhi red-faced. Indian officials, who were eagerly anticipating their counterparts from Kathmandu to extend the already existing treaty have now been left fuming. 

India signed an extradition treaty with Nepal on 2 October 1953, when Nepal was under Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala. The treaty would allow the two countries to hand over criminals from third countries to each other.

In 2010, India called upon Nepal to sign an extension of the treaty. However, the Congress-led central government presented the extension to Kathmandu with a rider demanding a revision to the treaty. However, the extension plans never saw daylight, as negotiations failed, due to disagreements among the parties. Similar failed attempts were also made in 2008 and 2006.

Evidence of the failed talks can be found in the written reply provided by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in 2010, to an unstarred question raised in the Lower House of Parliament, seeking details on the existing extradition treaty – (Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No. 247 – To Be Answered on 10.11.2010). 

The MEA’s then written reply read – ‘India and Nepal signed an Extradition Treaty on 2nd October 1953 which remains in force. With a view to strengthen the institutional legal arrangements for effectively combating crime and terrorism in tune with contemporary realities, India and Nepal initialed an updated Extradition Treaty in January 2005. It is awaiting confirmation of the Government of Nepal for formal signatures.‘

India had also found an advocate for its case and cause in the form of Former Prime Minister and current Member of Parliament (Gorkha Constituency No.1) Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. He had urged PM Oli-led government not to sign the treaty with China, as discussions for a similar agreement with India were still in the process.

Despite failed talks and lack of agreement between the two governments on the legal treaty, security agencies from India and Nepal have been carrying out operations on an informal basis. From handing over criminals to exchanging inputs – New Delhi and Kathmandu have always been symbiotic towards addressing security concerns of each other.