Democracy must be restored in Nepal: India, US The US and India are in "complete agreement" that nothing short of full and early restoration of multiparty democracy in Nepal would satisfy them. The demand for full restoration of democracy was made by visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and India's External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh at a joint press conference following their talks here Wednesday. Officials said the situation in Nepal following King Gyanendra's assumption of absolute powers on Feb 1 figured prominently in the delegation-level talks between them at Hyderabad House. Both Rice, who is on her first visit to India and the region, and Singh indicated that the two countries would continue to act in tandem on Nepal. Rice spoke about the "challenge to democracy" in Nepal and noted that the US and Indian envoys in Kathmandu have shown "outstanding cooperation" in a bid to "try and get that country to get back to multiparty democracy. "That must happen and we are in complete agreement that it needs to happen very, very soon," she asserted. She said US-India cooperation on Nepal showed that both countries have "regional responsibilities, also increasingly global responsibilities." Said Singh: "On Nepal, we agreed that the recent events have been a setback to these goals. Democratic freedoms must be restored and reconciliation with the political parties must lead to a return to multiparty democracy." India, which has been the provider of the largest military assistance to Nepal to help the kingdom combat the Maoist insurgency, has already suspended military assistance to Nepal in the wake of the royal coup. Britain too has suspended military aid to Kathmandu while the US has put its assistance under review. The statements by Rice and Singh came even as India's Ambassador to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee was called back to New Delhi again for consultations, coinciding with the US official's visit. This was the second time in less than a month that the envoy has been recalled for consultations to bring New Delhi up to date on the ground situation in Nepal. Mukherjee met Nepalese Finance Minister Madhukar Shumshere J.B. Rana in Kathmandu on Tuesday. However, both he and American Ambassador to Nepal James Francis Moriarty have been refused access to opposition leader Girija Prasad Koirala, who has been under house arrest since Feb 1. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1281769,000500020009.htm