On June 5, 2023, the Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, said that officials from Nepal and India should sit down to discuss the border dispute between the two nations.
The Nepalese Prime Minister visited India from May 31, 2023, to June 3, his official trip abroad since assuming office in December 2022. His meeting with PM Narendra Modi on June 1, 2023, saw the two countries signing seven agreements and launching six projects, including new railway services.
Responding to the questions asked by lawmakers regarding the agreements reached during his visit to India and authentication of the Citizen Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives, Prachanda said that the Indo-Nepal relations should sit together and hold discussions, keeping a map in front of them.
“Discussions were held on several issues during my India visit. We are concerned on matters relating to the national interest and sovereignty. Talks have been held on the map issue,” the Prime Minister told the Parliament.
During the June 5, 2023 session, Prachanda was asked several questions on different issues, including the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, border security matters and Citizenship Bill.
The ties between India and Nepal came under severe strain after Kathmandu published a new political map in 2020 that showed Indian territory Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh as a part of Nepal.
Under the Oli government, Nepal released a new political map claiming the above-mentioned places as a part of its territory. India had rejected Kathmandu’s unilateral changes, warned the Himalayan nation of such unjustified cartographic assertion, and asked Nepal to respect India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
India reacted sharply, calling it a unilateral act, and cautioned Kathmandu that such “artificial engagements of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it.
Nepal is important and crucial for India in the overall context of regional strategic interests. The leaders of both nations share a “Roti-Beti” relationship. PM Narendra Modi and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal said they would take the India-Nepal Relationship to Himalayan heights.
The Length of the India-Nepal border is 1850 km and it shares it with five Indian States-Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The landlocked nation of Nepal is heavily reliant on India for the transportation of goods and services.
Nepal’s access to the sea is through India, and a predominant proportion of its requirements are from and through India. The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of special relations between the two countries.
When asked about wearing a saffron-coloured shawl while offering prayers at the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh during his visit, Prachanda said, “No one should do anything that belittles the religious faith of the people.”
I went to Indore to learn about waste management and the development of IT there, he clarified. “I believe in secularism, Prachanda said when some lawmakers asked if he was a theist or atheist.
Of late, Nepal has become aggressive about its border, possibly at the behest of China. In 2020, Nepal raised objections over India inaugurating the strategically crucial link road connecting the Lipulekh Pass, located 17,000 feet along the border with China with Dharchula. Kathmandu said that the unilateral act was against the understanding reached with New Delhi on resolving border disputes.
There were reports of Nepalese people pelting stones towards the Indian side of the border in the Dharchula area of Uttarakhand Pithoragarh district when Indian labourers were constructing a 985-meter-long embankment on the Kali River. This river acts as a natural border demarcation between the two countries, and Nepal has already constructed embankments on its side.
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