Context: 

• The first BIMSTEC field training exercise is being held at Foreign Training Node at Aundh in Pune, Maharashtra. Armies of BIMSTEC members including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Nepal will participate in it.
• The theme of exercise includes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain and cordon and search.
• The main aim of this military exercise is to promote strategic alignment among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of counter-terrorism.
• Nepal is not participating in the exercise.
• The withdrawal of the Nepal Army from the event comes in the wake of stringent criticism from the ruling and opposition parties in the country, warning Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli that the move would go against the country’s history of following a policy of keeping equal distance from its neighbours, without ever being part of a regional bloc militarily.

Source:PIB