Nepal will not take part in the joint military exercises of
the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Corporation (BIMSTEC) being held at Pune of India from Monday.
Earlier, a team of 30 including five officers had prepared to leave for Pune.
"We had made preparations to leave for Pune with the approval of Defense Ministry," Military spokesperson Brigadier General Gokul Bhandari told Setopati. "We haven't receive any formal letter stating not to go. But the team has not yet left for Pune."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Nepal during the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit held from August 30 to 31, had stated that joint military exercises of BIMSTEC will be held.
As the queries on the same were raised in the parliament, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli clarified that it was training rather than military training.
"Nepal will not enter into military pact," PM Oli, "Nepal does not also believe in it."
He also reiterated that the Kathmandu Declaration issued on August 31 also did not mention anything on the joint military exercises.
The government directed to not take part in the BIMSTEC military exercises after a widespread criticism stating that decision of taking part in the military exercise is immature.
Meanwhile, Nepal Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army are preparing to take part in the military exercise on September 17.
According to spokesperson Bhandari, the second edition of exercise of Sagarmatha Friendship is being held at Chengdu, the capital of China's southwest Sichuan province.
The joint military exercise of Nepal and China will be held for 12 days.
"The exercise will center on disaster management and counter-terrorism," spokesperson Bhandari said.
Nepal and China had last held a joint military exercise in April 2017.
