Government working for Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali: Former Minister Pandey
Reporters Club Nepal: “The Kalapani border dispute is not new to our political scenario. The stationing of the army was back in the Panchayat era” said former Minister and Member of the House of Representatives and senior leader of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Som Prasad Pandey.
The entire areas of Lipulek, Limpiadhura, and Kalapani are an integral part of Nepal. This has been mentioned in historical treaties that we have signed starting from Sugauli.
“We have to assert our rights and with diplomatic efforts resolve the dispute regarding the encroachment of land as well as the stationing of the Indian army.
Resolving the issue for our future will be in the best interest of the territorial integrity of our nation. Our party has begun initiating diplomatic steps and there are continuous preparations and meetings in this regard.
We won’t leave an inch of our land which is rightfully ours. With diplomatic negotiations, this government will initiate steps in order to resolve the dispute”
The former minister also said that his party was positive about initiating a dialogue with the outlawed Netra Bikram Chand faction and brings them into mainstream politics as long as they give up the politics of arms and insurgency.
Pandey also defended his government regarding the Airplane procurement scam stating that “let me remind you all that the procurement did not happen when our government was in power.
This process began in the previous government and we only paid the final installment in order to bring the aircraft into the country. We have faced issues, but we have discouraged and not supported people who are corrupt or to have involved themselves in some form of corruption”.
“Previously there was huge money taken away from the development funds, what about the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that used to provide billions in soft loans and aids, the money directly went into the pockets of the people then, in our government we have stopped and kept a check in this habit.
Similarly, gold smuggling was happening way before but discovered in our tenure, every aspect of it will be investigated and the real truth will be brought in front of the people”.
“Our government is in line with its objective of Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali. We will leave no stone unturned in the process to take the country forward toward long term transformation for the betterment of the coming generations.
We have to evaluate all our work and yes there may have been shortcomings but in no way is our government behind. What is happening is baseless rumors are being spread on social media and various other platforms with unsubstantiated news.
Our PM is concerned, and even with this health problem, he has been working hard to get things in order. He is working for the people and for their betterment. We are going on a new track to bring changes in our current work method” he said.