"Differences Between Friends Can Be Resolved Through Talks": Nepal Ex-PM

Nepal's former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, who on Tuesday held an extensive meeting with visiting Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, said any kind of differences between Nepal and India can be sorted out through dialogue, a source close to the CPN-UML chairman said.

Kwatra, who was on a two-day visit to the Himalayan nation, on Tuesday held separate meetings with Nepal's top political brass, including Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) chairperson K.P. Sharma Oli, and CPN-Unified Socialist chairperson Madhav Kumar Nepal.

"Oli and Kwatra held extensive discussions on all aspects of bilateral relations," Rajan Bhattarai, foreign affairs advisor to Oli, told PTI.

The talks were held in a cordial atmosphere, he added.

"Nepal-India relations are timeless and multifaceted, which cannot be defined by the modern terms of diplomacy as the relations existed since time immemorial," Oli pointed out.

"It is natural to have some differences with close friends and I believe that any kind of differences can be sorted out through peaceful means of dialogue," Bhattarai quoted Oli as saying.

"Many of the agreements reached between Nepal and India have been implemented and those remaining to be completed will be implemented on time," the top leader of the ruling alliance maintained during his meeting with Kwatra.

During election campaigns in November last year, Oli said that if his party returns to power, it will reclaim the Himalayan nation's territories claimed by India.

"We will bring back land, including Kalapani, Lipulek and Limpiyadhura," he said. Oli has said that his party was committed to defending the nation, adding: "We will not spare even an inch of our land." Nepal's Parliament during the tenure of Oli had approved a new political map of the country featuring areas that India maintains belong to it.

After Nepal released the map, India reacted sharply, calling it a "unilateral act" and cautioning Kathmandu that such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it.

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