Krishna in Nepal today amid fears of waning peace

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S M Krishna will leave for a three-day visit to Nepal on Friday amid concerns that the peace process was unraveling in the country. The visit — first by Mr Krishna — comes ahead of a warning sounded by the UN on Nepal’s peace process.

In a report to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon said positions had hardened between political parties and recommended that the UN’s special mission in Nepal be extended. The UN Mission in Nepal, which was set up in 2007, monitors the peace process.

“Positions have hardened at the opposing ends of the political spectrum, which has seriously eroded the common middle ground that had, from the outset, defined the peace process and remained its driving strength,” Mr Ban said. “There is a growing and worrying risk of the political discourse being dominated by extreme voices and the focus shifting away from the peaceful and democratic path.”

For New Delhi, the visit of Mr Krishna, who will be accompanied by foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, will provide an opportunity to get a first-hand account from political parties on the continuing impasse and to highlight the importance of breaking the deadlock on moving ahead with the peace process. Mr Krishna, as per a ministry statement, will call on President Ram Baran Yadav and PM Madhav Kumar Nepal and hold bilateral discussions with his counterpart Sujata Koirala.