His Excellency Sri Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of India
Through the Embassy of Republic of India,
Kathmandu
Your Excellency,
Nepal and India are close neighbours with deep socio-cultural ties. Nepalese people and our party Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) highly value the relationship with India. We need to work together to strengthen our bilateral relationship further and take it to a new height. We believe that we can move towards this direction through open, frank and comprehensive dialogue in the entire gamut of our bilateral relationship. We are happy to note that this process has already begun with your Excellency’s visit to Nepal last year. We believe that the momentum generated by your visit should be maintained to deliver substantive results to the mutual benefits of our two countries and peoples.
We also would like to thank you for all the support India has extended to Nepal for rescue, relief and reconstruction after the recent devastating earthquake.
It is a matter of satisfaction for our Party to see our great neighbours- India and China- coming closer and expanding cooperation in many fields. We appreciate the initiatives taken by both sides for close cooperation and enhanced bilateral trade. We believe that Nepal stands to gain from rapidly transforming economic landscape in our neighbourhood.
Against this backdrop, an issue has recently surfaced, however. This pertains to Lipulekh. Our attention has been drawn to a provision of the recently concluded agreement between India and China on expanding trade and cooperation during Your Excellency’s visit to China. We believe that the paragraph 28 of the Joint Statement between India and China incorporating Lipulekh as bilateral trade route between the two countries runs against the provisions of the Treaty Sugauli, 1816, which clearly states that the territories east of Kali River belong to Nepal. This is a sensitive issue closely linked to sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal and must, therefore, be respected by all as such.
Your Excellency may recall that during your official visit to Nepal last year, a formal understanding was reached between our two countries to resolve all the outstanding border issues, including Kalapani and Susta, once and for all. We are hopeful that this understanding will be fully materialized with Your Excellency’s strong commitment.
Our Party, UCPN (Maoist), therefore, requests the Government of India to take necessary diplomatic initiative to address this genuine concern of the Nepalese people by making appropriate correction in the above mentioned agreement. This will be in consonance with India’s continued commitment to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal and the feelings of the sovereign people of Nepal. It will also be in the best interest of our two countries and peoples.
Yours sincerely,
…………………………
Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”
Chairman
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)