LOGIN DASHBOARD

    News

    3 MIN READ

    Govt’s objection to Lipulekh road: strong in tone, weak in effect

    The Record, May 9, 2020, Kathmandu

    Govt’s objection to Lipulekh road: strong in tone, weak in effect

      Share this article

    India’s inauguration of the link road to Mansarovar causes alarm in Nepal, but is a press statement enough?

    (The Record)

    Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has objected to the opening of a new road connecting Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass in Sudurpaschim, urging New Delhi to refrain from carrying out any activity inside Nepali territory. 

    “The Nepal government has learned with regret about India’s ‘inauguration’ yesterday of a link road connecting Lipulekh, which passes through Nepali territory,” MoFA said in a statement on Saturday. According to Nepal, the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 deems all territories east of the Mahakali River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh, as Nepali territory.

    The statement comes a day after India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the road via a video conference, dubbing it as the shortest route to Kailash Mansarovar.

    MoFA has reiterated its stance several times in the past. On 20 November, 2019, the most recent diplomatic note addressed to the Indian government responded to a new political map issued by India. According to MoFA’s statement, Nepal has proposed dates for holding a meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries twice, but has not received any response from the Indian side. Criticising the unilateral act by India, the statement calls for diplomatic solutions to boundary issues while keeping in mind “the spirit of close and friendly ties between the two countries.”  

    MoFA also stressed on the need to address all outstanding issues documented in a report by Eminent Persons Group (EPG). Currently, the report by EPG, a bilateral mechanism formed to revise various treaties between India and Nepal, remains to be made public due to the unwillingness of the Indian side. The Nepal government has expressed its willingness to implement the report, insisting that it will be in the best interest of both nations to follow its recommendations which will help address outstanding issues and pave the way for even stronger bilateral ties.

    In its choice of words, Saturday’s statement is possibly the strongest from Kathmandu. In 2015, the government had objected to the India-China agreement to include the Lipulekh Pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent, and in 2019, to India’s release of a new political map which included disputed territories.

    MoFA’s objection comes at a time when the Oli government is facing growing criticism for remaining oblivious to the construction of the road, especially after having failed to register a strong objection during the release of the 2019 map. On Saturday, the Sajha Party described the inauguration of the road as an “interference on Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and criticised the government for remaining but a silent spectator. A group of youth were arrested from the Maitighar Mandala on Saturday for protesting against the Indian government.

    The area around Lipulekh and Kalapani has long remained a disputed territory between Nepal and India, although the Sugauli Treaty signed between Nepal and the East India Company, and treaties signed later with independent India, acknowledge the Mahakali River as the boundary between the two countries. According to Ratan Bhandari, a researcher who has penned a book on Kalapani, Indian troops captured Nepali land during the 1950s, although attempts to alter the map had started much earlier, soon after Nepal and the British Raj unveiled a joint map in 1856. In the present day, India recognises “a sub-stream of the Mahakali River as the borderline.” 

    On Saturday, the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee and International Relations and Labour Committee separately summoned Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali to be present in a meeting the following day for briefing on the development.

    Read also: The Indian checkposts, Lipu Lekh, and Kalapani

    Many suspect that MoFA’s press statement might be just a tactic to quell domestic pressure instead of a strong diplomatic note.

    “The press release is good! Now expecting a strong diplomatic note with similar tone, together with diplomatic demarches both in Kathmandu and New Delhi,” Madhu Raman Acharya, a former foreign secretary, tweeted.  

    According to Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, an expert on border issues, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli should immediately hold telephone conversations with his Indian counterpart and ask India to halt all activities until the resolution of disputes.

    Speaking to the Record, Shrestha asserted, “A press statement from an unnamed foreign ministry official is not sufficient. The PM should hold a one-on-one call.”

    ::::::::



    author bio photo

    The Record  We are an independent digital publication based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Our stories examine politics, the economy, society, and culture. We look into events both current and past, offering depth, analysis, and perspective. Explore our features, explainers, long reads, multimedia stories, and podcasts. There’s something here for everyone.



    Comments

    Get the best of

    the Record

    Previous Next

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Features

    12 min read

    For the airport yet to come

    Sabin Ninglekhu - July 22, 2020

    For the ordinary residents of Nijgadh, the airport has already come—as the fear and uncertainty that now pervade the everyday, of being displaced and dispossessed

    3 min read

    A Dalit village during the lockdown

    Sujan Shrestha - May 12, 2020

    The residents of Dalit bastis in Siraha are more worried than the economic implications of the measures taken to contain the coronavirus than about the virus

    Features

    8 min read

    The untouchability virus

    Rajendra Maharajan - June 26, 2020

    How apologists for untouchability are using the pandemic’s social-distancing rules as proof that societal notions of purity have merit

    News

    4 min read

    Parliament resumes, signalling a return to fractional politics

    The Record - March 7, 2021

    Sunday’s developments, including a Supreme Court verdict, harken the beginning of politics-as-usual, with the political parties all vying for the upper hand.

    Features

    4 min read

    On foot

    Sujan Shrestha , Ayushma Regmi - April 13, 2020

    Hundreds continue to flock out everyday from the joblessness, hunger and desperation that has come to plague their lives during the lockdown.

    Features

    10 min read

    Once, he destroyed liquor as a social evil. Now, he wants to make wine.

    Nabin Bibhas - February 26, 2021

    Prabes Roka Magar spent 10 years fighting the state but now he’s disillusioned and looking to start a wine factory in Thabang, the heart of the Maoist insurgency.

    Features

    8 min read

    Burning despair

    Marissa Taylor - January 6, 2022

    The recent law on acid attacks is a step in the right direction but it would’ve gone a longer way had it also accounted for burn survivors.

    The Wire

    5 min read

    Senterum, life in a Limbu town

    Sabin Ninglekhu - April 13, 2018

    Politics in the everyday of Meyanglung

    • About
    • Contributors
    • Jobs
    • Contact

    CONNECT WITH US

    © Copyright the Record | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy