Nepal said yesterday that it would raise issue with Sri Lanka through diplomatic channels over remarks made for a second time in Parliament by External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris.
Dr. Peiris reiterated on Tuesday a comment he had made earlier that Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav had indeed requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to help resolve the political problems in his country. Dr. Peiris said the Nepali President had cited the manner in which the Sri Lankan President had intervened in the Maldives’ political crisis and invited him to do the same to find a solution to Nepal’s internal problems. The original statement by Dr. Peiris was vehemently denied by the spokesperson for the Nepal President at the time.
But Dr. Peiris said on Thursday: “There is no reason for me to lie. The Nepalese President in the
presence of Presidential Secretary and many others made this request.” He was speaking in parliament while winding up the budget’s committee stage debate on the votes of the Ministry of External Affairs.
The remarks drew an angry retort once again from Nepali President Yadav’s spokesperson Rajendra Dahal.
He told the Sunday Times on the telephone from Katmandu yesterday: “This is simply not true. There was no such request.
We will raise this matter with the Government of Sri Lanka through our Foreign Ministry and set the record right. I can tell you quite categorically there was no such request.” |
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