Lal Deb Raya released


Kathmandu, 12 Feb.: Revenue official Lal Deb Raya was released overnight in Mohottari by abductors.
He was kidnapped four days ago from Jaleshwor.
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Maoist activities up along Nepal border: Indian National Cong

Kathmandu, 12 Feb.: Congress today [Thursday] brought to the notice of the Assembly the growing Maoists activities along the Indo-Nepal border and said ultras from the Himalayan nation were terrorising the locals, PTI reports from Lucknow.

Raising the matter through an adjournment notice during the zero hour, Pramod Tewari (Cong) said Nepalese Maoists often infiltrate into the Indian side and terrorise locals and damage their properties.

He alleged that the activities of the red rebels were rising in the absence of any strict action by the state government.

Mata Prasad Pandey (SP) drew attention on the alleged trade of illegal weapons along the border and said police and SSB, manning the border, were not successful in checking it.

In his reply, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Lalji Verma, said 54 companies of the SSB were deployed and their 121 checkposts set.
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India aid to Bhutan, ties with Russia worrying China


Kathmandu, 12 Feb.: India is “intensifying military penetration” in Nepal and Bhutan, a Chinese analyst said in a government-run website. The Himalayan kingdoms have become theatres of conflict between military strategists from India and China, Times of India reports from Beijing.

The analyst, Dai Bing, also raised a rare issue saying that the Bhutan Air Force has deployed defense equipment along the border with China after getting them from India. It did not say what kind of equipment has been deployed.

“The struggle between pro-India and pro-China forces in Nepal is at a critical stage and China needs to pay more attention to its interests there,” the analyst said while citing a news report that New Delhi was building an air base in Nepal.

India has also “encouraged Russia” to provide military helicopters and logistical support to Bhutan, the article complained. It said India has helped establish and equip the Bhutan Air Force. It also expressed worry over rising military cooperation between New Delhi and Moscow. The article might seems to actually congratulate India on its defense diplomacy in persuading Russia to take actions that would make China unhappy besides commanding considerable influence over the two Himalayan kingdoms.

This is interesting because Beijing is dangling two lucrative offers before Katmandu. They are the offer to extend the Tibet railway to Nepal and send large numbers of tourists to the Himalayan nation. In turn, it wants an assurance that Tibetan separatists would not operate in Nepal. “In a quest for military advantage along its border with China, India is intensifying its military cooperation with the United States and Russia and stepping up its military penetration of small border states adjoining China and India,” it said. The past decade has seen India buying arms worth $50 billion from the United States, Russia, Britain, Israel and France making it the biggest arms importer in the developing world, it said. It also mentioned the recent agreement between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Russian president on military matters.

“But despite its arms purchases from the great powers and military penetration of neighboring countries, it remains extremely unlikely that India will unleash all-out conflict with China,” the article said. The main reason is India is focused on fighting terrorism and on Its “pressing missions are to contain Pakistan”. “For the foreseeable future, therefore, while a "cold war" between the two countries is increasingly likely, a ‘hot war’ is out of the question,” the article concluded.
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