India regrets politicisation of passport issue

Two days after Nepal scrapped a deal with India to print new smart passports, India regretted the politicisation of the contract, saying it was just a "goodwill gesture" toward its neighbour on Tuesday.

The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India had agreed to print and supply the Machine Readable Passport to Nepal government at concessional rates as a goodwill gesture, a statement issued by Indian Embassy said.

"It is a matter of regret that the issue has been politicised in Nepal and confidential communication from the Embassy has been publicised," it said.

The statement comes in the wake of reports appeared in a section of Nepalese media regarding the communication between Nepalese foreign ministry officials and the Indian embassy officials over the issue of supplying the passports.

A section of Nepalese media have also alleged that Nepal government was under the pressure from New Delhi to get the passports printed in the Indian security press.

In its statement the Embassy, however, clarified that government of India remains committed to strengthening India-Nepal relations, which have withstood the test of time.

On Sunday, Nepal government cancelled the contract to award the job of printing the passports to the Indian security press after succumbing to the pressure from the Maoists, which had announced general strike to oppose it.

After the government annulled the contract through a cabinet decision, the Maoists also withdrew their strike, which they had planned from Monday.

Under the agreement signed between Nepalese Foreign Ministry and the state owned security press of India on March 26, India had also agreed to provide technical assistance, equipment, hardware and software and also training to the Nepalese staff at the Central passport office in Nepal.

Indian security press was supposed to deliver the passports to Nepalese foreign ministry by early June. However, now the contract has been cancelled as per the Nepal government's request.

Nepal has already missed the April 1 deadline to issue Machine Readable Passports as per the instructions of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. However, now the passports supply will be further delayed.