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Nepal has protested India’s inauguration of a Himalayan link road built on disputed territory that falls at a strategic three-way junction with Tibet and China.
India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 50-kilometer Lipulekh Highway on Friday, which will serve as the shortest route between the capital New Delhi and Kailash-Mansarovar, a revered Hindu pilgrimage site in the Tibetan plateau.
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The link road through the Lipulekh Himalayan Pass is also considered one of the shortest and most feasible trade routes between India and China.
Nepal sees the alleged raids as a clear example of harassment by its much larger neighbor.
Nepal’s foreign ministry condemned India’s “unilateral act” that “runs counter to the understanding reached between the two countries … that a solution to border problems would be sought through negotiations.”
“The Government of Nepal learned with regret about India’s ‘inauguration’ yesterday of ‘Link Road’ connecting with Lipulekh (Nepal), which crosses Nepalese territory,” the Nepal Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
He called on New Delhi “to refrain from any activity” along the way that has sparked a new dispute over strategically important territory.
Nepalese students shout slogans during a protest in the midst of the Kathmandu bull run against India, which paves the way for a new path through disputed territory [Niranjan Shrestha/AP]
India quickly dismissed Nepal’s claims on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government was ignoring the long-running dispute with its neighbor.
“India is committed to solving outstanding border problems through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal,” Indian Foreign Affairs spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement.
India and Nepal share an open border of 1,800 km (1,118 miles).
The border dispute with Nepal also occurred when Indian and Chinese troops on border patrols briefly clashed in China’s northeastern Sikkim state, the Indian Defense Ministry said Sunday, blaming “aggressive behavior on both sides.” “
Lack of maps published by Nepal
The Lipulekh Pass is claimed by Nepal on the basis of an 1816 treaty that it signed with the British colonial rulers to define its western border with India.
Kathmandu also claims the highly strategic areas of Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, although Indian troops have been deployed there since New Delhi waged war with China in 1962.
Lokraj Baral, a former Nepalese diplomat, explained that according to the Sugauli Treaty, the Kali river was agreed as the demarcation line of the border between India and Nepal.
But there are two Kali rivers, which created the scope for different interpretations of the two neighbors.
The disputed landings between the two Kali rivers, Baral told Al Jazeera.
Part of the question of limits, the former Nepali diplomat said, is due to the lack of maps published by Nepal.
“Nepal did not have the ability to produce maps, so it relied on maps published by British India. Nepal’s first border claim was made in 1962,” he said, adding that Nepal needs to publish new maps.
On Monday, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry convened the Indian Ambassador to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
“Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali conveyed the position of the Nepalese government on border matters to the Indian ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, at a meeting held today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and delivered a diplomatic note in this regard” said a note issued by the ministry. .
Last year, New Delhi released a new map showing Kalapani within its borders, a movement protested by Kathmandu.
The Himalaya region, which borders the Indian state of Uttarakhand, is also included on the official map of Nepal.
In 2015, Kathmandu also opposed an agreement between India and China to include the Lipulekh Pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent.
The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported that the Nepalese government had been seeking dates for talks to resolve border problems since November, when India included Kalapani on its new map, but New Delhi has yet to respond to the request.
‘Confidence deficit’
For its part, New Delhi has said it was open to talks once the coronavirus blockade is relieved. But Kathmandu wants the talks to take place as soon as possible.
“We are ready for talks at any level with India, at the level of the prime minister or the secretary of foreign affairs,” said Gyawali, according to the Post.
“The issue of limits is not new, it is a difficult issue and must be resolved diplomatically through high-level talks,” said Baral, the former Nepalese diplomat.
“A group of experts must be formed to visit the disputed area and agree on a demarcation line between the two neighbors.”
But Baral added that there was a “confidence deficit” between the governments of the two countries.
On Saturday, police arrested dozens for protesting near the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, bringing back memories of protests against India in the wake of the 2015 border blockade imposed by India.
The hashtag #backoffindia was trending on Twitter in Nepal over the weekend.
The same hashtag had gained great popularity in 2015, when landlocked Nepal accused India of imposing a border blockade when the Himalayan nation recovered from two devastating earthquakes.
