The recent dispute over Lipulekh Pass between India and Nepal raised a lot of eyebrows. After Nepal threatened to deploy its soldiers near the border, now PM Oli has seems to have offered a solution.
PM K.P Oli Sharma, at an all-party meeting, said that Nepal can allow India to use the link road to the Lipulekh Pass but Kathmandu will not relinquish Kalapani territory on which India has been carrying out construction.
While he opposes India’s unilateral action in the disputed region, Oli remained confident that a solution could be reached to preserve Nepal’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali also spoke at the meeting and said: “The government will save the land that was added to Nepal by our ancestors. The PM urged the leaders not to make their positions based on things that have come from outside.”
The meeting in Kathmandu was attended by various political parties, ex-prime ministers and government officials. The diplomatic route being taken by Nepal was suggested by India after ties between the friendly neighbours turned sour last week.
This is not the first time a meeting was held over the Kalapani region. A similar meeting was held in November 2019 after India depicted the disputed region as its territory in new political map.
The Lipulekh pass has become a bone of contention between India and Nepal. The 19,500 feet pass is a far western point near Kalapani, which lies between India and Nepal. Both countries lay claim to the region and consider it an indisputable part of their country- India as a part of Uttrakhand’s Pithoragarh district and Nepal as a part of Darchula district.
Oli’s statement comes after India rejected Nepal’s’ objection over Delhi’s inauguration of the Lipulekh corridor. Modi government claims that the region lies completely within the territory of India and Nepal and India and solve the issue peacefully via diplomacy.
According to the government, land to the east of the Mahakali river is a part of Nepalese territory as agreed in the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli between the Kingdom of Nepal and East India Company.
