Army Chief General MM Naravane will visit Nepal in November. He will be conferred with the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army.

Army Chief General MM Naravane  |  Photo Credit: IANS

New Delhi: Amid LAC standoff with China and row over Lipulekh, Army Chief General MM Naravane to visit Nepal in November.  The visit was slated to take place in February this year, however, the same could not take place due to COVID-19 lockdown.

“The Chief of Army Staff will travel to Nepal early next month. The dates of his visit are being finalised,” an Army official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane will visit Nepal in November this year: Nepali Army pic.twitter.com/YQV6WufnYB— ANI (@ANI) October 14, 2020

A Press communique by the Government of Nepal said that Naravane will visit Nepal in November. “Her excellency Mrs Vidya Devi Bhandari will confer the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army to General Naravane in an investiture ceremony during his visit,” the statement further said.

During his visit, Naravane will hold talks with Nepalese Army Chief General Purna Chandra Thapa and Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel and deliberate upon means to enhance defence cooperation between the two countries. “Ways to further deepen defence cooperation between the two countries will be explored during the Chief of Army Staff’s visit to Kathmandu,” a senior official told PTI.

The Lipulekh row

Diplomatic ties between the two nations were strained after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8. The event was followed by Nepal releasing a new map claiming parts of Indian territory in the area as its own. India objected to Nepal’s decision to ‘unilaterally’ alter boundaries between the two countries. Despite India’s objection, however, the Nepalese Parliament approved the new map. 

In a strongly-worded objection, New Delhi said that Nepal’s action ‘violates an understanding reached between the two countries to resolve the boundary issues through talks’. Commenting on the matter, Naravane had then said that Nepal was acting at the ‘behest’ of another nation, hinting indirectly at China, with which India has been locked in a bitter standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Source timesnownews