PM Narendra Modi's Janakpur, Lumbini, Muktinath visit cancelled

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has come out with a statement saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be undertaking a visit to the three places of Janakpur, Lumbini and Muktinath in Nepal due to domestic commitments, adding that he will now only attend the SAARC Summit to be held in Kathmandu in the coming week.

"During his last visit to Kathmandu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed a desire to visit other places in Nepal, including Janakpur, Lumbini and Muktinath, to highlight, in particular, the strong civilizational links and unparallelel people-to-people contacts between our two countries. There has been widespread interest in Prime Minister's schedule in the upcoming visit to Nepal for the SAARC summit. Due to Prime Minister's unavoidable domestic commitments and pre-scheduled travels within the country, he will travel only to Kathmandu to attend the SAARC Summit," a statement from the MEA said on Sunday.

The statement further said that Prime Minister Modi who deeply values New Delhi's relationship with Kathmandu will be travelling to those three and other places in Nepal at an earliest possible date available.

"Prime Minister deeply values the special relationship between India and Nepal and will always welcome every occasion to visit Nepal and interact with the leadership and the people of Nepal. He looks forward to an early opportunity to visit Janakpur, Lumbini, Muktinath and other places in Nepal," it added.

The forthcoming 18th SAARC Summit is scheduled to be held in Nepal on November 26-27.