NFA (KATHMANDU, 16 January 2022) – The Nepal government said on Sunday that Lipulekh is an integral part of Nepal.
Karki was speaking to journalists to make public the Cabinet decisions.
“Nepal government is committed to resolving the border issues on the basis of historical treaties and agreements, facts, maps and evidence through diplomatic channels as per the spirit of friendly relations between the two countries,” said Karki.
The government position on Lipulekh comes a day after India issued a statement on the ongoing boundary row.
In a statement on Saturday, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu said: “The government of India’s position on the India-Nepal boundary is well known, consistent and unambiguous”.
“It has been communicated to the government of Nepal,” the embassy said.
The boundary row between Nepal and India vis-a-vis Lipulekh resurfaced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago made a statement regarding road expansion via that region.
While addressing an election rally in Haldwani of Uttarakhand on December 30, Modi announced that his government had extended a road to Lipulekh and that there were more plans to extend it further.
Nepal’s political parties took umbrage at Modi’s statement, calling it uncalled for, and demanded that the Sher Bahadur Deuba government make a position and respond to India.
The main opposition CPN-UML criticised the government for failing to take the issue up with India, while calls grew within the ruling alliance also to send a note to India objecting to Modi’s statement.
On Friday, Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, two general secretaries of Deuba’s Nepali Congress, issued a statement demanding that the government take a position and asking India to stop road construction in Lipulekh.
The Kalapani region has remained an irritant in Nepal-India relations for decades.