NEW DELHI, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- India says it has lodged protests with the United Nations as four officials from U.N. agencies held secret meetings on Indian soil with Nepalese Maoists.
The Foreign Office accused the U.N. officials of giving wrong information about Indian visas.
"Officials from at least two U.N. agencies -- the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees -- went to Muzaffarpur in Bihar in September to hold secret talks with two bands of former Maoists," a Foreign Ministry official said.
Both the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, led by a former top Maoist leader in the Terai plains, Jay Krishna Goit, and the faction led by Jwala Singh, have killed at least 19 people in the plains and are responsible for mounting incidents of extortion, kidnapping and explosions, the spokesman said.
The United States recently declared these two groups terrorist organizations. Three of the U.N. officials who went to meet Goit and Singh in Bihar were non-Nepalese and required a visa to travel to India. They applied to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, lying about the purpose of their visit, said Gopal Baglay, spokesman for the Indian mission in Kathmandu. While confirming the meeting, Baglay said India had objected to the meetings.
The U.N. Mission in Nepal sought to distance itself from the meetings. UNMIN chief Ian Martin in a statement said the U.N. humanitarian officials had undertaken the visit to ensure that emergency food relief and other assistance could be delivered in the wake of flooding in Nepal.
"The U.N. officials should have requested Nepal to ensure the protection of its officers instead of seeking the clandestine meetings. Also, the deliberate misrepresentation in the visa forms raises doubts about the integrity of the U.N. mission," the Foreign Ministry official said.
