Nepali Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said on Sunday that Kathmandu was focused on resolving any border disputes with India bilaterally and had not sought third-party mediation in the matter.
He added that Nepal had also communicated to India, via diplomatic channels, its claims over the Kalapani-Limpiadhura-Lipulekh region.
India maintains that the area is part of Uttarakhand and has rejected Kathmandu’s territorial claims to the region.
Khanal’s statement on Sunday came while he was addressing a press conference at the Nepali embassy in New Delhi.
He was responding to a question about Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s statement that Kathmandu had held discussions with China and the United Kingdom regarding the Kalapani-Limpiadhura-Lipulekh region.
On May 31, Shah said his country had held discussions about the dispute with China, as the region sits near the trijunction of India, Tibet and Nepal.
“Our view is that the UK should also take an interest, as the issue dates back to the period when British India left the region,” said the Nepali prime minister.
On June 2, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that there is no role for any third party in bilateral matters between India and Nepal.
India and Nepal have established bilateral mechanisms to deal with all aspects of boundary matters, added ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
Khanal said on Sunday that Kathmandu wants to “solve our disputes through diplomatic processes”.
“We just want to see if we can access some of the documents that might be in libraries or museums in the UK,” he said. “However, this does not mean that we have sought mediation. That is not what he [Shah] intended to convey.”
Border problems with Nepal
The border problem between India and Nepal began in 2019 after Kathmandu objected to a new map released by India, which showed the Kalapani area as part of Indian territory.
In response, New Delhi said that it had not made any change to its border with Nepal and that the new map depicts Indian territory accurately.
The tensions escalated in May 2020 when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new route for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the Lipulekh Pass.
Nepal has repeatedly claimed that India’s decision to build the road was a breach of an agreement between the two countries. It claims the Lipulekh Pass on the basis of a treaty signed with British colonisers in 1816.
Edited by Sneha.
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