KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 7
Rastriya Ekata Abhiyan, a youth-initiated organisation, has handed over a memorandum to the United Nations Office seeking its intervention in China's ongoing efforts to infringe on Nepali territory.
The REA, translated as National Unity Campaign, was initiated in a bid to develop fraternity amongst Nepalis and to save national integrity and sovereignty. It has asked the government to initiate detailed research on the border dispute between Nepal and China in Humla.
REA Chairperson Binay Yadav, along with a dozen more activists, today went to the UN Office in Kathmandu and handed over the memorandum to UN Resident Coordinator Richard Howard through Information Officer Rajendra Man Banepali.
The campaign has urged the international community to interfere against Chinese encroachment on Nepali territory. Talking to THT over phone, Yadav accused China of blocking any form of dialogue between the two countries and continuing its encroachment without showing the basic courtesy of a neighbouring country.
"The Chinese side did not even bother to show courtesy to the neighbouring country to hold bilateral discussion or bilateral investigation of the disputed area.
This is exactly what hurt our sentiments. There has not been a single word of dialogue on the issue, while the whole world resolves such issues through dialogue."
The memorandum also reminded the UN body to urge the government to act on its own report. A high-level investigation panel was formed by the Government of Nepal inn September 2021 to study land encroachment by China, particularly in Dolpa district.
The probe panel was formed following immense pressure from the general public, stakeholders, right activists and the then main opposition Nepali Congress, amid reports of China's encroachment into the territory of Nepal. The campaign also urged the Nepali Congress-led government to take action as per the report prepared by the investigation panel which was ironically formed due to their pressure.
Citing the report, the memorandum submitted today said, "According to the study, the area between pillar number 5 (2) and the middle of Kit Khola has been marked as the border between the two countries since the 1963 Boundary Protocol. However, it has been found that the Chinese side has erected fences and wires on Nepali land."
A version of this article appears in the print on February 8, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
