The two Eminent Persons Groups (EPGs) set up to review past India-Nepal treaties had come up with a final draft of their joint report on July 4. After this, the report was to be presented first to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then to his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli. But Modi is apparently too busy and he has thus far not given the joint EPG team the time to meet.

 

 

When Nepal had raised the prospect of submitting the report during the Indian prime minister’s recent visit to Kathmandu for the BIMSTEC summit, India had reportedly declined as it would not discuss ‘bilateral issues at the side­lines of the multilateral forum’. But then India and Nepal did discuss a host of bilateral issues at the sidelines, including cross-border railways. But, according to Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, the coordinator of the Nepali EPG, there is an alter­native explanation behind Modi’s reluctance.

 

 

“When we talk of revis­ing past Indo-Nepal trea­ties we are talking about extremely sensitive issues,” he told APEX. “Since the joint report will be made public immediately after it is presented to the respective prime ministers, perhaps the political leaderships in the two countries are taking their time to closely study the recommendations away from the prying eyes.”

 

 

He also cautions against “wild speculations on such a deli­cate issue”. His remark comes in the wake of some comments in the media that the EPG process has been a failure as India is supposedly not interested in heeding its recommenda­tions. Along with revisions in the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, for instance in the clause providing for ‘recip­rocal treatment’ of citizens of one country in the other, the EPG report also recommends a level of border management. Some analysts suspect India is not ready for these changes.

 

 

Thapa says both the Indian and Nepali political leaderships have invested a lot in the EPG process and it would be pre­mature to suggest that the process has been a failure. Also, he clarifies, the EPG members decided against submitting the report at the sidelines of BIMSTEC summit as that would have “undermined the importance of the EPG process.”

 

 

Whatever the EPG members may say, the longer the submission of the report is delayed the stronger will be the perception that the whole process has somehow been futile as India is simply not interested.