Indian Army chief, Gen M M Naravane will be on a three-day visit to Nepal from tomorrow to put back on track the bilateral relationship which has taken a beating in recent months over a plethora of issues, particularly the map row.

“I am delighted to be visiting Nepal on the kind invitation and to meet my counterpart Gen Purna Chandra Thapa. I am sure this visit will go a long way in strengthening the bonds and friendships that the two armies cherish,” the Army chief said ahead of the visit.

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He said he was grateful for the opportunity to call on Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli.

The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said Gen Naravane’s visit would deepen the long-standing and customary bonds of friendship between the two Armies. He will be conferred the honorary rank of ”General of the Nepal Army” by Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari during his visit, in continuation of an age-old tradition that first started in 1950, reflecting the strong ties between the two militaries. India also confers the honorary rank of ‘General of Indian Army’ to the Nepal Army chief.

The Army chief’s visit to Nepal was supposed to take place in February this year, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Much has happened between the two countries since February, bringing the ties under strain.

Nepal reacted sharply when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand in May. Kathmandu protested the inauguration of the road, claiming that it passed through its territory.

It came out with the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its territories. India too had published a new map in November 2019 showing the areas as its territories. In the midst of the row, Gen Naravane had said that there were reasons to believe that Nepal objected to the road at the behest of “someone else”, in an obvious reference to China.

The comments triggered angry reactions from Nepal. In June, Nepal’s Parliament approved the new political map of the country featuring areas which India maintains belong to it. In its reaction, after Nepal’s lower house of parliament approved the bill, India termed as untenable the “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims by the neighbouring country.

A lot of back channel diplomacy has taken place since then to put the relationship back on the track. RAW chief Samant Kumar Goel recently paid a surprise visit to Kathmandu and met Prime Minister Oli, assuring him that India would not allow interruption in the friendly bilateral relations and resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue.