Nepal received India’s diplomatic note on the country’s new map last month, says NA panel

KATHMANDU, JULY 9

The Government of India had sent a diplomatic note to Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the Government of Nepal published a new political and administrative map of the country, depicting Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani as the country’s territories.

Chair of the Delegated Rights Management and Government Assurance Committee of the National Assembly, Narayan Bidari told THT that Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told his committee that New Delhi had, on June 24, sent a diplomatic note to Nepal, protesting the depiction of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani as Nepal’s territories. India has political and administrative control over these territories and claims as its own.

Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Padma Kumari Aryal had, on May 20, issued Nepal’s new political and administrative map depicting Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani areas as Nepal’s territories. Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani have been depicted in the country’s emblem after both the Houses of the Parliament recently passed the constitution amendment bill. Neither MoFA nor the Indian government said anything about India’s protest note on Nepal’s map. The day Nepal published the new map, Spokesperson for India’s MEA Anurag Srivastava, had issued a statement, terming Nepal’s move a unilateral act not based on historical facts and evidence. “Nepal’s publication of a new political map including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura is cartographic assertion and contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve the outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue,” read the statement.

Bidari said MoFA officials told the NA panel that MoFA sent multiple letters to India seeking a dialogue to resolve the issue but Indian authorities did not set a timetable for the dialogue. Bidari said India’s letter came after the NA panel sought reply from MoFA as to what development activities the government was trying to carry out in Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani areas.

The government took the step to issue new political map and amend the constitution to depict Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in the national emblem after Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh inaugurated through video conference the link road from Pithauragadh, Uttarakhand to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region of China via Lipulekh.

MoFA had handed over a diplomatic note to Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra, protesting India’s unilateral act of opening the link road via Nepali territories.

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A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 10, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

The post Nepal received India’s diplomatic note on the country’s new map last month, says NA panel appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

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