Kathmandu, 16 January: The long-awaited ministerial-level talks between Nepal and India has been resumed since the meeting between Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was held at the Hyderabad House, New Delhi on 15 January, however, the Indian side didn’t wish to address the major disputed issues between the two nations.
Since the Indian side published the new political map of India by including Nepali territory Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyuadhura, the dispute between the two countries was escalated.
Prior to his departure to Delhi, Minister Gyawali had expressed the commitment that he would strongly put forward the issue of border dispute to Delhi, however, the Indian side has avoided discussing on the border dispute saying that the border issue doesn’t belong to the Joint Commission Meeting.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said to the press, “Our position on the boundary issue is well known. Let me say that the Joint Commission Mechanism (JCM) and boundary talks are separate mechanisms.”
Accordingly, the Indian side has denied discussing on receiving the impending EPG reports by the prime ministers of both the nations.
To note, India has one-sidedly occupied Nepali territory in many places including in Kalapani and Susta.
The Indian side didn’t cite the discussion on the border dispute and EPG report in the statement issued after the bilateral meeting. The Nepal side, however, has mentioned that the issues of the border dispute and EPG report were also discussed during the meeting.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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