India, Nepal set to sign extradition treaty

KATHMANDU: India and Nepal will sign an extradition treaty and a treaty on mutual legal assistance aimed at combating terrorism and cross-border criminal activities during the Nepalese home minister’s visit to New Delhi beginning October 4.

Home minister Krishna Prasad Sitoula is leaving for India on October 4 leading a high-level delegation to sign the extradition treaty and the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance between the two countries in New Delhi.

These agreements would replace the five-decade old treaty that has become obsolete, sources close to the home minister said. The new extradition treaty will be useful to nab criminals who cross the border after indulging in criminal activities. The treaty will facilitate legal aspects of implementing the extradition treaty.

The two treaties were initialed by the home secretaries of Nepal and India on January, ’05. But, the signing was delayed following king Gyanendra’s royal coup in Februiary ’05. According to officials here, the revised treaty and MLA have provisions that would help investigators of the two countries reach the suspects and smoothly allow court proceedings.
The two treaties were aimed at checking the possible nexus between extremists of the two countries, combating terrorism and other cross-border criminal activities, they said.