India sends non-lethal equipment to Nepal

The shipment crossed the border into Nepal at the weekend after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the okay following assurances by Gyanendra he was moving to restore multi-party democracy in the Hindu kingdom, the Indian Express newspaper said.

India, Nepal's biggest arms supplier, and Britain suspended military aid to Nepal after Gyanendra sacked the government and seized power February 1, saying the move was necessary to end a bloody Maoist insurgency.

Human rights groups and other critics of the king's takeover had urged India not to resume supplies to the Royal Nepal Army, which is facing down a rebellion by Maoists in which about 12,000 people have been killed since 1996.

The Indian Express said the supplies shipped at the weekend included jeeps, bulletproof jackets, concertina security wires, bunker protection devices and mine-proof vehicles.

It added that New Delhi however held back thermal imagers and night vision devices as Nepal does not have a protocol on intellectual property rights.

Former Nepal premier Girija Prasad Koirala last month cautioned India against resuming arms supplies to the Himalayan kingdom, saying New Delhi had to consider whether the move would encourage "democratic or dictatorial forces."

India's defence ministry declin-ed to comment on the report, but did not immediately deny it.

Meanwhile, a human rights activist, a senior Nepali Congress member and a student leader arrested after King Gyanendra seized power in Nepal in February were released Monday, a Kathmandu District Court official said.

Human rights activist, Krishna Pahadi and Nepali Congress central committee member Narhari Acharya were released after five months of detention.

Nepal Student Union general secretary Basu Koirala was also released after three months in jail, said the court official, who declined to be named.

Pahadi, a former president of the Human Rights and Peace Society, had threatened to stage a hunger strike from Monday to protest the royal takeover, according to a statement from the group.

In late April, Gyanendra lifted a state of emergency imposed after his power grab and released several detained journalists and political prisoners, including Nepalese communist party leader Ishwor Pokhrel in early June.

But deposed prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba remains under arrest on corruption charges along with several top opposition party leaders and journalists.