Kathmandu, Oct 01: 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 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
(MLA) between the two countries in New Delhi next week.
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 MLA will facilitate legal aspects of
implementing the extradition treaty.
The two treaties were initialed by the Home
Secretaries of Nepal and India in New Delhi on January 20 of
2005.
Then, it was agreed that the treaties would come into
force after the Home Ministers of the two countries sign it.
However, delay was caused in finalizing the treaty
following King Gyanendra`s royal coup in February 2005.
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.
Bureau Report
