India rejects reports of arms laden trucks crossing into Nepal
Dated 13/9/2006
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India has denied reports of weapons being transported across the Birgunj border to Nepal. Reacting to the report, External Affairs spokesperson Navtej Sarna said: "The reports are baseless and there is no truth in them".
Nepal's Maoists had earlier in the day said that they suspected the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) Government of amassing weapons for the Nepal Army.
Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that in a weapons inflow from India is taking place, it would be a direct violation of the ceasefire code of conduct.
"If the Army has indeed imported the arms cache, it will not be allowed to enter the capital," Mahara warned.
The rebels have accused the government of dragging its feet over a power-sharing deal with them that includes elections to a special assembly next year, which in turn will decide a new Constitution.
Home Minister Krishna Prasada Sitaula has appealed to the Maoists not to raise any doubt the government's intension.
Asserting that the government is committed to fulfilling its commitments to the Maoists, Sitaula clarified that the 33 trucks were carrying goods and equipment for Nepali troops going to join United Nations peacekeeping operations in Lebanon.
A team from the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee after inspecting the trucks at the Nepal Army barracks in Gajuri, said only non-lethal cargo were inside the trucks.
The Maoists allege that four Mine Protected Vehicles, 20 mini trucks, 2 trucks and five jeeps carrying arms and ammunitions from India entered Nepal via Birgunj late on Tuesday.
The Maoists are demanding that the arms cache be handed over to the UN.
