Kathmandu, November 17

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today said India should withdraw its security forces from the Kalapani area.

Addressing a gathering of National Youth Organisation, a sister wing of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), PM Oli said the government would not allow anybody to encroach on even an inch of Nepal’s territory.

He said his government was capable of protecting the country’s border. He added that all forces of the country were united to reclaim the encroached land of the country and they had given a message of unity.

The PM’s message came against the backdrop of the publication of India’s new political map depicting the Kalapani region as Indian territory. Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had issued a press release a few days ago stating that the Government of Nepal was clear on the fact that the Kalapani region belonged to Nepal.

The PM said propaganda was being spread as if encroachment of the Kalapani region, which happened decades ago, was a recent incident.

“This patriotic government will not allow anybody to encroach on even an inch of Nepal’s territory. Neighbouring country India should withdraw its security forces from the Kalapani area,” a press release issued by the PM’s private secretariat quoted the PM as telling the gathering of National Youth Organisation.

The PM said Nepal, which has been known as a peace loving country, would not encroach on any country’s land and it would not allow others to encroach on its territory.

Noting that some people were advising to correct the country’s map, the PM stressed that reclaiming the land in question was more important. “We do not merely want to revise our map, but want to get our land back,” the PM said.

The PM said those who had kept mum all these years on the Kalapani issue were now carrying out arbitrary activities in the name of extreme patriotism. The PM said his government wanted to resolve the Kalapani issue through diplom