By IANS,
New Delhi: Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor will Tuesday arrive in Kathmandu on a four-day visit, during which he will be conferred the honorary rank of Nepalese Army general.
Kapoor, who assumed office in 2007, had kicked up a controversy last month by opposing the induction of Nepal’s former Maoist guerrillas into the country’s army. The visit will see the revival of tradition after seven years of visiting Indian army chiefs being conferred the honorary general’s rank.
Gen. Nirmal Chander Vij was the last Indian Army general to visit Nepal, during which then king Gyanendra had conferred the honour on him. During the monarchy, the king was the titular head of the Nepalese Army.
This time around, Nepal’s first president Ram Baran Yadav will confer the rank and the sword that goes along with it.
The Nepalese Army chief, General Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, had visited India in December and was conferred the honorary rank of an Indian Army general.
“The Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor will proceed on a goodwill visit to Nepal from 19-22 Jan, 2010. The visit assumes special significance in the light of enhanced defence cooperation between the two countries and our growing bilateral relationship with Nepal,” an Indian Army officer said Monday.
“Discussions on enhancing defence cooperation in the field of training and courses, UN peacekeeping, sports, adventure activities and defence industry cooperation are likely during this visit,” the officer added.
Kapoor will interact with Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, army chief General Gurung and other dignitaries.
India enjoys a special military relationship with Nepal, with some 40,000 Nepalese Gorkha soldiers serving in the Indian Army. Their recruitment had resumed in 2009 after a two-year hiatus caused by political instability in Nepal and doubts about the policies of the Maoists, who while campaigning for last year’s elections had pledged to stop the “shameful” hiring of Nepalis as “mercenaries”.