Nepal's army chief, Gen. Pyar Jung Thapa, will visit India for three days beginning Sunday, during which he is slated to meet Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and other senior officials.
Gen. Thapa is scheduled to meet Shyam Saran and Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh in New Delhi and will possibly call on Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
From New Delhi, he will proceed to Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh, to discuss the Maoist insurgency and security matters with authorities of the Central Division of the Indian Army that also has the responsibility of monitoring the situation in Nepal.
The general will also attend the passing out parade of the cadets of India's National Defence Academy in Pune at the invitation of Indian Army chief Gen. N.C. Vij.
Thapa's visit, though described as a routine one, is important coming in the wake of an announcement by Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Thursday that if the Maoist insurgents do not agree to resume peace talks by Jan 13, the government will go ahead with arrangements to hold elections by next year.
The Maoists have threatened to disrupt the polls and, should the government still go ahead with election arrangements, security forces would have a major role to play.
This month the army claimed to have launched a major operation against the rebels in western Nepal.
It said a rebel training centre had been destroyed and nearly 300 Maoists killed.
--Indo-Asian News Service