Kathmandu, July 24 - Amidst the growing controversy over the resumption of Indian military assistance to Nepal, the UN Friday said such a gesture would violate the peace pact between the former Maoist guerrillas and ruling parties that ended a decade of violence in the Himalayan nation.

The row was triggered Tuesday when Nepal's Defence Minister Vidya Bhandari met her Indian counterpart A.K. Antony in New Delhi during her week-long visit to the neighbouring country, when she reportedly asked India to resume the military assistance and training it had suspended four years ago.

The UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), the UN's political mission that has been supervising the arms and combatants of the Maoists since the signing of the peace agreement in 2006, said it 'strongly discourages any activities, either by the Nepal Army or the Maoist Army that may be constituted as a violation of Article 5.3 of the Agreement on Monitoring the Management of Arms and Armies'.

The article, which details the possible steps that can be construed as a violation of the peace pact, include recruitment of soldiers and replenishment of military equipment.

On Thursday, when UNMIN chief Karin Landgren held a press conference in New York to announce that her organisation had been granted a six-month extension by the UN Security Council, she was asked about the UN stand on the possible resumption of arms sale to the Nepal Army by India.

Landgren was reported as saying that an arms sale would contravene the pact.

UNMIN spokesman Kosmos Viswokarma said that before Bhandari left for India, she had a regular meeting with Landgren during which the UNMIN chief had expressed concern about the government violating the peace pact.