By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Jan. 19: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwor Pokharel said on Sunday that the Unification Trail programme organised by the Nepali Army (NA) had helped to develop a feeling of national unity among all stakeholders.

“The unification trail programme initiated by the NA has emerged as a strong medium for those elements who always keep their eyes on bringing division and factionalism in the country,” DPM Pokharel said while speaking at a function organised at the conclusion of a three-day Unification Trail Seminar organised by the Nepal Army Headquarters.

The NA organised the unification trail seminar in the presence of historians, stakeholders as per the annual Policy and Programme of the government.

“The unification trail programme deserves much essence and value if the NA prepares the programme assuming its long-term importance, which would be supportive in the multi-dimensional national development and welfare of the country,” DPM Pokharel said.

Minister Pokharel said that the Ministry would also allocate necessary budget for the programme based upon the Policy and Programme of the government that has to be prepared by every Ministry before endorsement of the government’s annual programme ahead of unveiling the fiscal budget, he said.

On the occasion, DPM Pokharel urged the historians and experts from concerned bodies who had been contributing to write a historic book regarding Nepal’s unification should go beneath the historical facts and get close with the elderly people and locally available facts and figures.

The Unification Trail programme would also be helpful in promoting ‘One State, One Destination’ tourism programme launched by the State governments, he said.

 The endeavour made by the NA has helped to protect and keep all the historical forts, trails and proofs alive for years so as to transfer it to next generation of Nepal, he said.