New Delhi has taken a strong note of the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu conspiring to whip up antiIndia sentiments in Nepal. India has registered its protest with Beijing as well as Kathmandu over the same. India has also asked Nepal not to fall into the trap of Chinese ploy of this kind.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that the Nepalese Ambassador in New Delhi, Nilamber Acharya, has been apprised of India’s displeasure over all this. “The Nepalese government has been asked to reply whether its security agencies are aware that China is funding various organisations in Kathmandu to organise protests and demonstrations against India,” said sources.
The MEA knows that the Nepalese government does have knowledge of what is being done by China against India in Kathmandu. But India wants Nepal’s response on record, says an official. “China has been trying to instigate anti-India sentiments in Nepal for several years, but it is more active now hatching this conspiracy in view of the growing tension between New Delhi and Beijing arising out of the PLA troops being in standoff with Indian forces along the LAC,” said an official.
Sources said that China has been funding organisations in Nepal that are involved in whipping up anti-India sentiments in the hill nation. Lakhs of rupees in Nepalese currency are learnt to have been distributed to these organisations with the direct involvement of the Chinese embassy, says an MEA official.
What is more alarming is that China has asked the elements in Nepal to add fuel to fire resulting from the recent India-Nepal boundary row. China wants the issue to snowball into a major dispute between New Delhi and Kathmandu so that India’s focus could be shifted away from the PLA’s misdeeds on the LAC. Pakistan’s involvement in all this cannot also be ruled out, says a diplomat.
The Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) are said to be closely watching all the developments, said an official. Top officials of the MEA have reached out to the Nepalese government through the Indian embassy in Kathmandu and also through the Nepalese embassy in New Delhi, registering protests against all this.
Kathmandu has been told, in no uncertain terms, that it must curb all such activities on its soil which are against India. Sources said that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will also take up this issue with his Nepalese counterpart, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali. The meeting between both the leaders is expected to take place soon, maybe by the end of this month.
Sources said Jaishankar is quite upset with the latest developments in Nepal, which are mostly at the behest of China. He is keen to raise this issue with Nepal on the first available opportunity. Sources said that with a sense of urgency the EAM may speak to his counterpart over phone asking him to take appropriate action in this regard.