Monday, March 21 2005 13:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India yesterday (Mar 20, 2005) asserted that its position on Nepal was unchanged as its Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee returned to Kathmandu after holding "consultations" with the Government over the latest situation in the Himalayan Kingdom.

Mukherjee, who was called for the second time since King Gyanendra seized power in Nepal on February 1, briefed External Affairs K Natwar Singh, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, National Security Advisor N K Narayan and Foreign Secretary Shaym Saran about the latest situation in Nepal.

The Ambassador is understood to have told the Government that the situation in Nepal had not changed except that some political prisoners had been released.

After the consultations, Government is believed to have decided to adopt the same policy as had been outlined in the February 2 statement, which stresses that nothing less than restoration of democracy would be acceptable, a senior official said.

The official maintained that the Government was not amused by the mere release of some political prisoners and wanted urgent restoration of the complete democratic processes.

After his return, Mukherjee is likely to meet the King again and convey India's position.

India is also not perturbed by the decision of Pakistan to supply arms to Nepal with officials maintaining "it is unlikely to influence our policy".

US is believed to be mounting influence on Pakistan not to go ahead with its decision of supplying arms.