Long in the Making, Now Just Short of Perfect Fulfillment

By Shashi Malla Nepal’s far western border was the result of the failure of the “Greater Nepal”, the failure of Gorkha expansion, and the resulting peace agreement of Sugauli, 1816. The then Nepalese Army was no match for the superior military forces of the British East India Company. The resulting treaty which marked the end of hostilities between the Gurkhas and the British in South Asia clearly states that the River Kali [in Nepal: Mahakali] is the border between British India and the sovereign state of Nepal. India, i.e. Bharat as the successor state has tried very hard to manipulate this indubitable fact, sanctioned by the principles of international law, but without success. India has tried brute force instead, similar to its role in the border dispute with neighbouring China. History of Indian Prevarications When we follow the historical developments, it is distinctly clear how the Indian government has played the whole gamut of hedging, dodging, sidestepping, equivocating, temporizing and stalling the issue. 1952: PM Matrika Prasad Koirala allowed Indian troops to be stationed in Kathmandu and on the northern border, including Kalapani. Nepal had not yet established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China [this followed only in 1955]. In hindsight, this was a Himalayan blunder. 1962: Nepal allowed India to use its northern territory before, during and after its border war with China in October, 1962 India never did withdraw its troops from Kalapani. This area was of such geo-strategic importance that India had absolutely no intention of withdrawing its troops. February 1997: Joint Border Management Committee formed. However, it was stillborn! June 1998: Indian ambassador K.V. Rajanmade various statements on the border issue, but not once did he claim Kalapani as part of India. July 1998: PM Girija Prasad Koirala claimed that in his talks with Indian PM Vajpayee, the latter fully understood that Kalapani was Nepalese territory. But there was no official Indian corroboration. Vajpayee chose the path of ‘silence is golden’. July 1999: PM Krishna Prasad Bhattarai again claimed that Kalapani was Nepalese territory according to the maps of the area. India chose not to react, nor did Nepal undertake any unilateral or bilateral action. September 1999: The issue was clearly of trilateral concern, since Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Zeng Xu Yang clearly stated that Lipulekh Pass was the tri-junction of China-Nepal-India, and hence Kalapani belongs to Nepal. In addition, older facts and evidence clearly proved that the Nepal border [with China] extended to Limpiyadhura, the source of the Mahakali River. [With sleight of hand, the Indians even tried to change the main origin of the Mahakali!] The same month, India’s External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh clearly stated the “ Nepal-India joint technical level boundary committee has been properly instructed to expedite the work of demarcation by investigating into the facts about all the territory in the western sector including Kalapani region.” Strangely, there was little progress in the way of concrete demarcation of the border, nor the Indian security personnel ejected! March 2002:      PM Sher Bahadur Deuba made the astounding claim that his government was expediting works related to the border, even in areas like Kalapani. He did not elaborate, but his statement must have been a result of feedback from his own concerned departments and the assurances of the Indian side. 2007:  But only after a further five years did a meeting of the ‘Joint Survey Generals’ take place in which 182 strip maps of the joint border were presented. Strangely, the Kalapani and Susta sections were conspicuous by their absence! November 2008: Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Nepal and insisted that the Kalapani and Susta border disputes would be solved by dialogue. We now know that India had already started construction of the road in Uttarakhand connecting to Tibet via LipuLekh. This has now been touted as the ‘Pilgrim’s Route’ to Manosarowar/ Mount Kailash, but it may more importantly turn out to be a lucrative trade route. The national security aspect will, however, be the most.   July 2014: After the Nepal-India Joint Commission didn’t get anywhere in six years [!] , the boundary dispute was then assigned to the foreign secretaries of the two countries, who also made no headway. 2015: In the absence of Nepal, India and China reach a bilateral agreement regarding LipuLekh, recognizing it as a joint crossing point. Both countries rode rough shod over Nepal’s vital interests, ignoring that it was actually a tri-junction. Nepal has to be immediately active and ask for details from the Chinese side. 2019 October: Strangely, or rather, normally as was to be expected, nothing happened on the border dispute front for another four years. Until that is India dropped another bombshell! It released a new political map of India which showed the disputed Kalapani area within its own territory. India’s cartographical aggression was complete! November: Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) releases a press statement saying: “The Nepal government is clear about Kalapani being an integral part of Nepal’s territory.” However, the government should have realized by now that this was not India’s standpoint. November 7: And, of course, the rebuttal came quite promptly from India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA): “Our map accurately depicts the sovereign territory of India. The new map in no manner revised our boundary with Nepal.” MEA had thrown down the gauntlet – it was India’s final word and there would be no retracting. November 9: To save face, PM K.P. Sharma Oli called an all-party be resolved on the basis of historical evidence, maps, and other relevant documents via strong diplomatic initiative. Oli’s government was, however, living in a fool’s paradise, and didn’t realize that the ‘diplomatic’ train had already left the station! May 2020: Last Friday on May 8th, India delivered another bomb-shell, this time indeed historic. According to India’s The Hindu (May 8), India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dedicated to the nation a new 80-km road in Uttarakhand which connects close to the Line of Actual Control [LAC/Sino-Indian borer] and opens a new route for the Kailash-ManasarovarYatra via the LipuLekh Pass, significantly reducing the travel time for the pilgrimage. However, the road is still 5km short of the pass. May 10: MoFA handed over a diplomatic note to India expressing displeasure over the construction of the said road link. The Road Ahead for Nepal It should be clear to any reasonable person that Nepal has now exhausted all possible diplomatic means. Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali is on the right track when he informed the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives that the government would soon set up an Armed Police Force outpost in the Kalapani region of Darchula District (THT/The Himalayan Times online, May 12). However, time is of the essence. But Nepal must embark on a continuous campaign of “peaceful offensive” :
  1. On the government level, an all-party action committee must be formed to monitor all activities relating to combating the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as, the border issue.
  2. On the societal level, civic society must be resurrected to goad and control the government.
  3. On the family and individual level, social media must be mobilized to achieve a ‘new awakening’.
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com