Friday, March 11 2005 12:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Pakistan has offered Nepal arms and high-tech expertise to tackle maoists, in sharp contrast to the decision by India and Britain to halt their military assistance to the Himalayan Kingdom following the suspension of fundamental rights and imposition of emergency rule by King Gyanendra.

"We are ready to provide arms if that are required by Nepal," said outgoing Pakistani Ambassador to Nepal Zamir Akram yesterday (Mar 10, 2005), adding, "We have offered an exchange of information and training to help Nepal."

A day before leaving Kathmandu for Islamabad Akram told Government daily The Rising Nepal that Pakistan is also ready to share its high-tech expertise to deal with the maoist problem facing Nepal.

"Pakistan is also facing terrorist threat on her western border and we have developed some kind of expertise, especially in the use of high-tech equipment by terrorists, which we are ready to share with Nepal," Akram said.

Reiterating Pakistan's view that the developments in Nepal are her internal affairs, he said, "We believe in non-interference same as you would oppose the interference of other countries in Nepal's internal affairs."

Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world that have endorsed the suspension of democracy in Nepal. India, UK, USA and other major donor countries have asked Nepal to immediately restore multiparty democracy, lift state of emergency and end suspension of fundamental rights and press freedom adding that they will be closely watching the developments in Nepal before extending assistance.