Nepal tacitly nudges India to move fast to settle territorial dispute

Nepal on Tuesday subtly prodded India to move fast to resolve the boundary dispute between the two neighbouring nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli had a video-conference to jointly inaugurate the second Integrated Check Post built on India-Nepal border.

New Delhi funded the construction of the new ICP at Jogbani-Biratnagar border between India and Nepal.

Oli used the opportunity to once again ask for an early solution to the boundary dispute between India and Nepal, albeit without directly referring to it.

“The time has come to resolve all pending issues through dialogue in the lasting interest of our two countries and peoples,” Nepalese Prime Minister said during the video-conference on Tuesday.

Modi did not touch upon the issue and rather reaffirmed the commitment of his government in New Delhi to the “Neighbourhood First” policy of India and said that improving cross-border connectivity with the neighbouring nations was an important aspect of the policy. “India has been playing the role of a trusted partner in Nepal’s all-round development,” said Prime Minister.

Nepal recently raised its pitch on its boundary dispute with India, asking New Delhi to withdraw Indian Army and paramilitary troops from Kalapani – a disputed territory on India-Nepal border near Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

Nepal objected to the new maps of India. The new maps were issued after the state of Jammu and Kashmir ceased to exist and the two new Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh – came into existence on October 31. The Nepalese Government alleged that the maps showed Kalapani on Nepal-India border as part of India.

New Delhi and Kathmandu have been trying to narrow differences in perception on the boundary alignment in Kalapani in the western sector of India-Nepal border. Both sides accept the 1815 Sugauli Treaty, which identifies the Kali River as the India-Nepal border in the region, but they are yet to resolve differences in perception over the source of the river.

India-Nepal Boundary Working Group already had five rounds of meetings and the last one was held in September 2018, when the two sides had agreed to use satellite images to survey the area along the disputed border.

New Delhi suspects that China and Pakistan had nudged Nepal to raise the pitch on its boundary dispute with India.

Pakistan has been running a diplomatic blitzkrieg against India, opposing Modi Government's decision to strip J&K of its special status and to reorganize the state into two Union Territories.

China too has been echoing its “iron brother” Pakistan.

Modi, however, tried to reach out to Nepal underlining India's historical and geographical bonds with its northern neighbour.

“The issue of better connectivity becomes all the more important if it concerns India and Nepal because we are not only neighbours, but also two nations bound together by history and geography with many threads like culture, nature, language and development,” said Modi.