The Nepal Weekly 
January 18, 2022The government of Nepal asked India government to stop construction of road in Lipulek. That is Nepal’s unintegrable territory of Nepal. Thus unilateral activity should be stopped. The government has made its stance clear regarding Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulek areas east of the Mahakali River.
Addressing a press conference organized at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in Singha Durbar Sunday, Government spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government is clear on the fact that these territories east of the Mahakali River are an indivisible part of Nepal.
It may be recalled that the Government of Nepal has called upon the Government of India to refrain from carrying out any activity including unilateral construction/expansion of road through Nepali territory, he added.
The government spokesperson also stressed that the Government of Nepal is committed to resolve Nepal-India boundary issues through diplomatic means on the basis of historical treaties, facts, maps and evidences in keeping with the spirit of close and friendly ties between the two countries.
Earlier, Nepali Congress has objected to the construction of the road by India in the LipuLek area.General Secretary duo of the Nepali Congress, Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, issued a statement to this effect on Friday. In the ‘Views of the Nepali Congress in Lipulek incident’ issued by them, both general secretaries asked India to immediately stop the road construction in the Nepali territory as Lipulek, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani area is Nepal’s territory.
Stating that serious attention of the NC has been drawn to the views of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed a few days at a programme that India has been constructing a road in Lipulek, the NC statement mentioned that the NC has had its institutional view on the issue that Lipulek area is Nepal’s territory and that the road construction in the area by India is objectionable, condemnable, and it should be immediately stopped.
In the 7-point concept paper, the general secretary duo has also asked India to withdraw its military from the Lipulek, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani area.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India has already extended the road to Lipulek and further expansion work is currently underway.
Modi made the remarks while addressing an election rally in Haldwani, Uttarakhand on December 30. The area where he is said to have expanded the road falls within Nepali Territory. Nepal had protested on May 8, 2020, when Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh virtually inaugurated the newly-constructed road in Lipulekh. Following strong protests and criticisms within Nepal over the expansion of the roads by India, the government of Nepal had issued new maps covering the areas including Lipulek, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani.
Immediately after that, Nepal tried to hold bilateral talks to amicably resolve the issue of the territory encroached by India, but New Delhi did not show any interest in it. Until now, there has been no formal discussion on the topic.
India has opened a road to Mansarovar, a religious site in Tibet, China, via Lipulek, Nepal. According to the Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh’s Twitter account, India has inaugurated the Garbadhar- Lipulek Road, which is connected to Chinese soil.
Indian Defense Minister has mentioned that connecting roads to the border is a great achievement of India. He is confident that this road will facilitate locals and traders.
India has inaugurated the road to Lipulek without resolving the dispute over Nepal-India Lipulek. Lipulek area is Nepali land through Kuti, Kalapani and Nabhidhang. Protests are also going on after India built roads on Nepali land without resolving the issue of border encroachment.
The road, built up to the Chinese border, is also said to be effective from a trade point of view. Earlier, traders and locals used to transport goods from Tawaghat in India by mules and porters. It has been mentioned that the situation where traders have to walk has come to an end with the construction of roads.
Meanwhile, The Embassy of India in Kathmandu has said mutually agreed boundary issues that are outstanding can always be addressed in the spirit of Nepal-India close and friendly bilateral relations.
Issuing a press release on Saturday, the Spokesperson of the Embassy said the government of India’s position on the India-Nepal boundary is well known, consistent and unambiguous while adding that it has been communicated to the government of Nepal. The Embassy’s statement comes in response to the media queries regarding recent reports and statements in Nepal on the question of India-Nepal boundary. “It is our view that the established inter-governmental mechanisms and channels are most appropriate for communication and dialogue,” read the statement.
