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In Nepal, the new official map is “artificial” and it is unacceptable for India, the Ministry of Foreign affairs said Wednesday after Kathmandu unveiled a new political map that claimed Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh in Uttarakhand, as part of its sovereign territory.
“This unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence. It is contrary to the bilateral understanding to solve the boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial expansion of territorial claims will not be accepted by India,” said the official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava, urging Kathmandu to opt for the diplomatic dialogue to resolve the border disputes.
Political map of Nepal published by the country on 20 May 2020.
Earlier in the day, the new map was presented at a press conference in Kathmandu by the Minister of Land Management of Padma Kumari Aryal, who said that the government of Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli is committed to protecting the territorial integrity of the country.
“It is an historic moment of happiness for the people of Nepal. The government of Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli is going to maintain the prestige of Nepal. We will post the new map and make that a part of the school text books”, said Ms. Aryal the launch of the map, which intensifies the debate on the territorial claims between the two South Asian neighbours.
India said Nepal was aware of the understanding in this matter and requested that the government of Mr. Oli to return to the dialog. “We urge the Government of Nepal to refrain from an unjustified mapping of the affirmation and the respect of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Nepalese diplomatic sources maintain the region of Kalapani and the contiguous areas to the east of the river Kali and Susta in the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border are the only parts of the nearly 1,800 km from the India-Nepal boundary, which remain unresolved. The area of Susta near Gorakhpur can also be observed in the new map. Kathmandu says that India has invaded this area, claiming tracts of land, and wants to Delhi to evacuate the population of the town. The launch of the new map took place a day after the Lord Oli in a speech in the parliament of India led by alleged attempts of regional hegemony.
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“The India of the pillar of Ashoka has the lions with the “Truth prevails’ inscribed on the base. That actually means ” Lion (may be) shall prevail. But Nepal is true that only the truth will prevail,” he said Tuesday, holding India responsible for the spread of the new coronavirus in the country of the Himalayas. The observations indicate the state of mind of the political class in Kathmandu who has been on a collision course with India ever since the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh inaugurated a link road in Tibet, the 8th of May.
The newly opened Darchula-Lipulekh link the road passes through the region in dispute, and will reduce the journey time to Mansarovar for pilgrimage. Nepal had reacted angrily to the assertion of the area belong to the Kathmandu and the Lord Oli had said his government was prepared to take a journey to Tibet on lease to India without giving up the region. “We expect to begin diplomatic negotiation with the friendly nation of India regarding the territorial issues,” the Lady Aryal, said Wednesday.
Following the Indian action, of 8 May, there were reports of anti-India protests in some parts of Nepal.
India has published a new map on 2 November 2019, in representation of the political boundaries of the country that showed the state of the newly created Union of the Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The same map also showed that the region of Kalapani as part of the Indian territory.
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Nepal, however, argues that not only the Kalapani region, but Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh are parts of its territory as demarcated in the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli. All the three areas to the east of the river Kali, according to the Nepali of the formulation. Says Lipulekh has been removed from the country on the map by the kings to gain favors from India. Analysts in Kathmandu argue that the new map is actually a document that was in circulation in the country until the 1950s, and in the territory of Kalapani was given to India by King Mahendra after the 1962 India-China war. Nepali sources have been described Kalapani as the core of border conflicts with India.
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Nepal also expressed its displeasure that the 2015 agreement between India and China for the use of the Lipulekh pass to the trade was reached without consulting. China, Mr. Oli said in parliament this week, he conveyed to Kathmandu that the 2015 agreement with India was on the trade and pilgrimage, and not to grant Chinese seal of approval to the Indian territory. In a speech to the parliament last week, the Chairman Bidhya Devi Bhandari announced the decision to publish the map again. The measure was approved in a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and the map was released Wednesday.
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