• India had agreed to resolve Lipulekh, Kalapani dispute thru foreign secy level talks

Kathmandu, May 10

Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told the House of Representatives today that the government would seek diplomatic solution to the Lipulekh dispute with India without compromising national interests.

He said the government would also keep in mind friendly ties that exist between Nepal and India while seeking settlement of boundary issues with India.

Speaking on the issue of public importance, Gyawali said the Kalapani area east of the Kali (Mahakali) River that included Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani belonged to Nepal. He said the Indian authorities had agreed to resolve Lipulekh and Kalapani dispute through dialogue at the foreign secretary level, but India inaugurated the road connecting Pithoragarh to Lipulekh before agreeing to a foreign secretary level talk schedule proposed by Nepal.

Gyawali said there were four treaties and supplementary treaties, including the Sugauli Treaty, signed between Nepal and India in March 1816, a supplementary treaty signed in December 1816, another supplementary treaty signed between the two countries in 1860 and a treaty signed in 1875 to demarcate and manage Dang Chure Range. “These treaties determine Nepal’s border with India. No other treaties were signed subsequently with India to demarcate Nepal’s border with India,” Gyawali added.

He claimed that the Indian side opened 79 km road in the disputed area using Nepali territory.

He said Nepal wanted to resolve Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh issues on the basis of the Sugauli Treaty, maps, historical documents and receipts of taxes paid by Nepali citizens living in the disputed area.

Many lawmakers representing the ruling NCP and Nepali Congress, who spoke in the HoR today, objected to inauguration by India of the link road connecting Pithoragarh to Lipulekh.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 11, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.