India on Tuesday firmly ruled out any role for third parties in resolving its boundary dispute with Nepal, days after Nepalese Prime Minister Balen Shah suggested involving China and the United Kingdom in addressing the long-standing issue.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India and Nepal already have established bilateral mechanisms to address all aspects of their border matters, noting that nearly the entire boundary between the two countries has been settled.
“We have established bilateral mechanisms to deal with all aspects of boundary matters. It should be clear to all concerned that there is no role for any third parties in a bilateral matter between India and Nepal," Jaiswal said at the ministry’s weekly media briefing.
He pointed out that around 98 per cent of the India-Nepal boundary has been demarcated, and that the remaining unresolved segments have largely arisen due to changes in the course of the Gandak river. He added that there are also instances of cross-border occupation and encroachment of No-Man’s land in demarcated stretches, which are currently being jointly mapped by the two sides.
India and Nepal have a long-standing boundary dispute over the areas of Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, which New Delhi maintains are part of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The three areas lie near the border between India and China.
Jaiswal’s remarks came in response to questions on recent comments by the Nepalese prime minister. Shah, a rapper-turned-politician, told Nepal’s Parliament on Sunday that while Kathmandu continues talks with New Delhi on the border issue, it is also in touch with China and Britain.
“Since this problem dates from the time when British India left the region, it is our view that England should be involved in this matter," Shah said, referring to the historical roots of the dispute.
Jaiswal said India had taken note of Shah’s remarks as well as a subsequent clarification issued by Nepal’s Foreign Ministry. “We have seen the remarks of the prime minister of Nepal concerning India-Nepal boundary as well as the subsequent statement issued by Nepali foreign ministry on this matter," he said.
Shah had further acknowledged in his parliamentary comments that Nepal itself had “encroached" on Indian territory, a statement that has sparked political controversy at home. He also suggested, without giving details, that India and Nepal had agreed to seek the assistance of historians, surveyors and experts to help resolve the dispute.
When pressed by a lawmaker specifically about the government’s position on Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, Shah said that it was not only India that had encroached on Nepalese land, but that Nepal too had encroached on its southern neighbour’s territory.
Following an uproar, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry clarified that Shah’s remarks were related to “no-man’s land encroachments" and “cross-border occupation" between the two countries, and not to any formal territorial claims.
The boundary issue has recently resurfaced in the context of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Last month, India rejected Nepal’s objection to the continuation of the pilgrimage route through the long-established Lipulekh Pass and dismissed Kathmandu’s territorial claims over the area as an “unilateral artificial enlargement".
“As regards (to) territorial claims, India has consistently maintained that such claims are neither justified nor based on historical facts and evidence. Such unilateral artificial enlargement of territorial claims is untenable," Jaiswal had said on May 3.
Shah’s admission in Parliament that Nepal had encroached on Indian territories has been sharply criticised by opposition parties in Kathmandu. Lawmakers including Basana Thapa of the Nepali Congress and Ramesh Malla of the Nepali Communist Party called for the remarks to be removed from the parliamentary record.
They demanded that the prime minister either produce evidence to substantiate his claim that Nepal had encroached on Indian land or withdraw his statement.
