NEPAL prime minister Balendra Shah on Sunday said he had recently learnt that Nepal had also “encroached” on territories in India, while responding to questions in Parliament on the long-running border dispute between the two countries.
In his first appearance in the ongoing Parliament session that began on May 11, Shah said India and Nepal had agreed to seek the help of historians, surveyors and experts to resolve the issue. He also said Kathmandu had raised the matter with China and the United Kingdom.
Hours later, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry clarified that Shah’s comments referred to “no-man’s land encroachments” and “cross-border occupation” between the two countries, and not territorial claims.
Nepal and India have an old border dispute over Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, with both countries claiming the areas. India maintains that the territories are part of Uttarakhand and has said the issue should be resolved through bilateral dialogue.
There was no immediate response from India to Shah’s remarks. Earlier this month, India rejected Nepal’s objection to the upcoming Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Lipulekh Pass and described Kathmandu’s territorial claims as an “unilateral artificial enlargement” that New Delhi considers “untenable”.
Speaking in Parliament, Shah said: “The Nepal government has officially sent a diplomatic note to India, mentioning the issue of encroachment of territories by India, including Lipulekh, and we have already received their response.”
“Both the countries have agreed to resolve the issue sitting together with the help of historians, surveyors and concerned experts through diplomatic means,” he said.
Replying to a question from a lawmaker on the Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani dispute, Shah said Nepal too had “encroached” on Indian territory in some places.
“You will be surprised to know about a fact, which I have learnt recently, only after becoming the Prime Minister. It is not only India that has encroached Nepalese territories, but Nepal has also encroached India's territories in many places,” Shah said.
“Now both countries should study the facts and sit together as friends and resolve the issue.”
The three disputed areas are located near the trijunction of India, Tibet and Nepal.
Shah also said Nepal had discussed the issue with China and the United Kingdom. He said the matter was raised with the UK because it dates back to the period when the British government left the region.
His remarks triggered criticism from opposition leaders and former diplomats in Nepal.
Opposition lawmakers Basana Thapa of the Nepali Congress and Ramesh Malla of the Nepali Communist Party objected to the remarks and demanded that they be removed from the parliamentary record.
They said Shah should either provide evidence to support his claim or withdraw the statement.
Former Nepal foreign minister Pradip Gyawali also reportedly sought an apology from Shah.
Former Nepalese ambassador to India Nilambara Acharya told Kantipuronline that Shah had “no information regarding Indian territories being encroached by Nepal”.
Acharya said 97 per cent of the border disputes between the two countries had already been resolved. He added that there were reports of Nepalese using land in India and Indians using land in Nepal because of missing border pillars in some areas, but said Nepal had not officially encroached on Indian territory.
Another former Nepal ambassador to India, Deep Kumar Upadhyay, said there was no official record of Nepal occupying Indian land.
“India has also not raised this issue on record… So far we have conducted studies, but this issue has never surfaced… I don't know in which context the prime minister spoke about such a serious matter,” he told Nepalpress.
Nepal-India border expert Buddhi Narayan Shrestha also rejected Shah’s remarks.
“Nepal has never encroached Indian territories or extended its occupation in the border area. In some border areas, due to cross-holding occupations, farmers of both the countries have used each other's land,” he said.
Following the controversy, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry issued a clarification saying Shah’s remarks referred to “Dasgaja”, or no-man’s land encroachments and cross-border occupation.
The ministry said Nepal’s present border with India is based on the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.
“Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani and Susta in Nepal-India border area are territories that remain to be demarcated,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Treaty of Sugauli was signed in 1816 between Nepal and the British East India Company and laid the basis for much of the current India-Nepal border after a war between the two sides.
“There are problems relating to cross-border occupation and no-man's land (Dasgaja) encroachments in some other areas besides these. What the prime minister mentioned in Parliament was related mainly to Dasgaja encroachment and cross-border occupation,” the ministry spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said there were possibilities that “land being used by people on the Indian side may lie in Nepalese territory” and vice versa.
“What the PM said about Indian land lying in Nepali side is related to cross-border occupation,” the statement added.
The controversy comes ahead of a five-day India visit by a delegation of Nepal’s ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party led by its chairman Rabi Lamichhane.
Lamichhane is visiting India at the invitation of BJP president Nitin Nabin and is expected to hold political and diplomatic meetings in New Delhi, according to the party.
