Foreign Ministry dismisses Nepal’s claim that the Uttarakhand road cuts through its territory



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India on Saturday rejected a statement by Nepal that a road it had recently built in the Uttarakhand state was traversing Nepalese territory.

In a statement, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said that the newly opened section of road in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand “lies entirely within the territory of India.”

“The path follows the pre-existing route used by the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra pilgrims. Under the current project, the same path has been made flexible for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and merchants,” he said.

The statement follows Nepal on Saturday objecting to the construction and opening of the so-called “Link Road” connecting Lipu Lekh, which Kathmandu said was on its territory. The road also traverses the territory of Nepal, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said, according to Kathmandu press reports.

This came after India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, opened the “Link Road” from Dharchula to Lipulekh on Friday, identifying Lipulekh as being on the Indian border with the “Chinese border”.

Lipulekh is a strip of land in the far northwest of Nepal, nestled between Nepal, India and Tibet. While India calls it a triple crossing between these three countries, Nepal has refused to recognize it as a triple crossing and says it is part of its territory.

According to Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava, “India and Nepal have established a mechanism to deal with all boundary issues. The boundary delimitation exercise with Nepal is ongoing. India is committed to solving the problems of pending limits through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal. “

“Both sides are also in the process of scheduling Foreign Secretary-level talks to take place once the dates between the two sides are finalized after the two companies and governments have successfully addressed the challenge of the covid-19 emergency, “he added.

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