'Unfair treaties with India put Nepal's interest at risk'

The topic of water resources--the most crucial issue in the bilateral relations between Nepal and India--has so far been neglected by both the countries and Nepal is bearing the brunt owing to this oversight, experts have said.
"Our bilateral treaties with India are not equitable and we have not been able to reap maximum benefit from our own water resources because of obstruction created by the treaties we signed with India," Prakash Chandra Lohani, former finance minister and vice chairman of the Rastriya Janashakti Party, said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a program organized in Kathmandu, Lohani said that the reason behind this is the laxity shown by Nepali politicians.
"The issues between Nepal and India can´t be dealt just by bureaucrats and diplomats," Lohani said.
Giving examples of Koshi and Gandaki, Lohani said that Nepal has succumbed to India by signing those treaties.
Yubaraj Sangroula, former attorney general, said: “Projects like Koshi, Gandaki and others have been tools of election maneuvers and pseudo-nationalism."
But no politician, according to Sangroula, “has taken those agreements seriously and reflected on how much people have lost in the course of Nepal´s development".
"Looking from a larger perspective, people from all over the South Asian region have not benefited from treaties on water resources," Sangoula said.
He was speaking at the launching ceremony of a book titled ´International Watercourses Law and a Perspective on Nepal-India Cooperation´ written by Surya Nath Upadhyay, former chief commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
The book that delves into most of the crucial agreements between Nepal and India and international water laws, among other, has argued that the relationship between Nepal and India was never friendly.
"India was never and will never be Nepal´s friend, and we have always lost in most of the negotiations," Upadhayay said.
Additionally, experts also claimed that the recent Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) has a clause that takes away Nepal´s right to use the Indian territory to reach the sea as a land locked country.
"BIPPA is against our national interest but that might not be intentional," Sangroula said. "Such mistake occurs due to lack of technical understanding and our inability to meticulously go through each and every clause."