During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Nepal, he was tasked with forming a foreign secretary-level mechanism to resolve border disputes including Kalapani and Susta. Even after 12 years, not a single meeting of the mechanism has been held.
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Despite the existence of a bilateral mechanism at the Foreign Secretary level to discuss the border dispute, India has started preparations for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Nepali territory, Lipulekh. India and China have agreed to resume the Mansarovar Yatra, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from June to August. Nepal has not been informed about this. The government, which came to power with a strong mandate after the 21 Falgun elections, has reiterated its old stance through a 'diplomatic note' opposing the decision.
This is not the first time that Nepal has expressed dissatisfaction with both its neighbors on the border issue. Since 2015 alone, Nepal has sent diplomatic notes to India and China four times regarding the unilateral use of its land. The Nepali side has also been raising this issue in high-level political meetings. However, both India and China have been ignoring Nepal's concerns.
Nepal has been claiming the Limpiyadhura region as per the 1816 Sugauli Treaty and has maintained that India or China cannot trade or transit through Lipulekh without its consent. The ruling National Independent Party (NISP) has also reiterated its stance that Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani regions are an integral part of Nepal. ‘Our stance is clear that a solution should be found through dialogue,’ said Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, ‘We want to resolve the disputed issues through the established diplomatic mechanism.’
A Nepal-India ‘Boundary Working Group’ was formed at a foreign ministerial meeting held in Kathmandu on 10 Shrawan 2071 to carry out maintenance and technical work on the border pillars. This mechanism has been working continuously on border-related issues. Similarly, during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Nepal on 18 Shrawan 2071, a Foreign Secretary-level mechanism was given the responsibility to resolve the border disputes including Kalapani and Susta. However, even after 12 years, not a single meeting of the mechanism has been held.
Meanwhile, in 2077 BS, the border dispute entered a new phase. The then KP Sharma Oli-led government issued a new administrative map in Jestha 2077 BS, including Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani, and the parliament unanimously approved the new map. After that, the constitution was amended and the Chukche map was placed on the Nishan seal. India, which has been watching these rapidly developing events in Kathmandu with great interest, immediately opposed the decision to include the new map in the constitution.
According to the then Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, India had previously suggested not to include the disputed areas in the constitution and proposed to address it at a high political level. "After that, India expressed dissatisfaction, saying that amending the constitution was almost impossible," Gyawali said.
Then, in the sixth meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission held in New Delhi in January 2077, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar had stressed for dialogue with Gyawali, saying that the border dispute had been overly politicized by both sides. During the meeting, both sides agreed to raise this issue at the prime minister level during the upcoming visit. However, after the fall of the Oli government, Modi's visit could not take place.
The calendar of the new government led by Balendra Shah for the coming week looks very busy in terms of diplomatic activities. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri is scheduled to visit Kathmandu on 28 Baisakh for a two-day visit. Similarly, Foreign Minister Khanal is going to New Delhi in the third week of Jestha for the first summit of the 'International Big Cat Alliance'. According to sources close to Prime Minister Shah, Shah has already conveyed the message to the Indian establishment that he wants to resolve the border dispute through dialogue.
Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Ray calls the Lipulekh dispute 'an issue of a legacy left by history'. This has been further complicated by Nepal's constitutional amendment, Ray said. "If this issue cannot be resolved at the formal level, then an informal (track two) initiative can be taken," he said.
China is a third party in the Kalapani area dispute. But Nepal's situation with Beijing is similar. Although Nepal has repeatedly requested China not to sign trade or transit agreements with India over Lipulekh since 2015, Beijing has been ignoring it. Last year, during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli raised the issue. Xi said that China had no objection to Nepal's claim over Lipulekh and suggested resolving it through bilateral talks with India. "That point has traditionally been used as a border point, but we do not want to be a party to this dispute," according to a person who attended the meeting, Xi told Oli. "We have no objection to Nepal's claim, but this issue should be resolved bilaterally." However, former Foreign Minister Gyawali commented that the Chinese side has also not kept its commitment.
Initially, Chinese officials had said they were unaware of Nepal's claim to Lipulekh and that they would instead use the Nathula Pass as an alternative and not enter into any new agreement with India in the area claimed by Nepal. "But they have been entering into new agreements with India because of the size of their relationship and trade with India," he said.
Gao Liang, deputy director of the Nepal Center at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University, said the dispute was a bilateral issue between Nepal and India and should be resolved through direct talks. "China is continuing to work on the status quo. If there is a border dispute, it should be resolved through bilateral talks," he said.
Diplomatic experts say that new and creative initiatives are needed to resolve the dispute now that the Lipulekh region has become part of the constitution. "Until 2020, the dispute was largely in the status quo. Each party had its own claims. However, it became complicated after it became part of the constitution,' said former ambassador Shambhuram Simkhada, 'That said, this dispute should not be kept on hold indefinitely, so there is no alternative to moving forward through skillful diplomacy with new and creative thinking to resolve the dispute.'
Similarly, a former foreign secretary also said that this issue should be viewed differently. Although there have been some positive signs in the relationship between the two countries since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in India, he said that good opportunities to resolve the border dispute have been missed because they could not be utilized properly. 'After becoming Prime Minister for the first time in 2071 BS, Modi had indicated that he would take the relationship with Nepal forward in a new and positive way, and some initiatives had also been taken from Delhi for that,' he said, 'However, we did not have the diplomatic acumen to utilize that opportunity. Due to which, a good opportunity to permanently remove the long-standing border dispute between the two countries and the trust crisis it created was lost. If we continue to have dialogue with new and positive thinking, the dispute can be resolved.'
