Times of India, 25th December, 2008
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said the government would not prevent former king Gyanendra from visiting India if he wanted to as
the former ruler was now a commoner who did not require any protocol or special measures. Suresh Prasad Pradhan, spokesman of the ministry, told TNN that if the former monarch was free to travel as he liked and had made no move to seek the approval of the ministry. The spokesperson’s comment came after media reports that Gyanendra, who had visited Orissa in 2003 as the all-powerful king of Nepal, now wanted to visit Kalahandi to attend a family wedding. The impoverished district, often called South Asia’s Kalahandi, will see a spectacular wedding in February as a daughter of the former royal family of Kalahandi marries into a former royal family of Bhopal. King Tribhuvan, Gyanendra’s grandfather, had two queens who bore him three sons and four daughters. One of them, Princess Bharati, married the former king of Mayurbhanj, Pradeep Chandra Bhanj Deo. One of their granddaughters, who is also Gyanendra’s cousin, is getting married in a bash to be held from Feb 28-March 1. Earlier this month, Gyanendra held a low-key meeting with the Indian ambassador to Nepal, Rakesh Sood, reportedly to sound him on the proposed trip. Though the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu remained evasive about the meeting, the cat was let out of the bag by prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who informed a group of Nepali journalists. There were unflattering media reports about the meeting with a leading Nepali daily reporting foreign minister Upendra Yadav as saying that the Indian envoy had breached diplomatic norms. The furore forced the ministry to issue a denial. It said Yadav had not made any such comment and was not aware of any meeting between the former king and Sood.
No comments:
Post a Comment