KATHMANDU: Chief of Army Staff General Prabhuram Sharma has said that the US-led State Partnership Program (SPP) is not acceptable to the Nepal Army.
At the meeting of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday, Chief of Army Staff Sharma clarified that the SPP was not a formalized and accepted program and even if it did, it would not be accepted now.
“SPP is not our program under any circumstances. The SPP is not accepted,” said Sharma. He said that it was natural for action and reaction to come after the document was made public, but now it should be stopped.
He asserted that the correspondences with US officials were purely for humanitarian assistance. “We have written a letter for humanitarian aid but it was not for forging military alliance,” he said.
He said that Nepal Army has informed to the General Flynn, the US military commander in the Asia-Pacific region that Nepal would not join the military alliance.
No agreement would be in USA during my visit: Chief of Army Staff
Meanwhile, COAS Sharma has said that there is no agreement to be reached during his visit to the United States. Explaining the US State Partnership Program (SPP) to the International Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday, he said the Nepali Army had not agreed to a military alliance.
He also said that the documents related to SPP were not official.
“The SPP’s document is not official. We are not involved in this. There is no agreement from my level during the visit to America,’ he said. General Sharma is scheduled to visit Washington DC from June 27 to July 1 at the official invitation of the United States.
Noting that not a single Rupee has come from the program to buy weapons, he said, “Under this program, 4 military planes have been assisted. Two has already arrived, one is coming as a medical purpose. There is no money, no weapons, no bombs. This program has not given us a single weapon so far. Ten points agreement proposal is wrong. The army has discussed foreign affairs with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard.”
“Previously, SPP was not a part of military alliance, like Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). Later on, US government changed it’s policy and included the SPP into IPS. So, after getting such information, we requested the government to review the SPP program,” General Sharma said.
Let’s close the ‘chapter’ of SPP now: Foreign Minister Khadka
Foreign Minister Dr Narayan Khadka has urged not to dig into the SPP as the chapter has been closed. Explaining the SPP to the International Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday, he said the agreement would not go ahead.
“Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has already expressed his discontent in this program. I am also not going to forward this program anymore. So, let’s stop this issue here,” he requested in the Committee.
However, opposition MPs, including two foreign ministers from CPN UML Bhim Rawal and Pradip Gyawali insisted to clarify on the timeline of the correspondence.
