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Prime Minister Deuba seeks mechanism to resolve India-Nepal border dispute

India and Nepal on Saturday discussed the Kalapani border dispute, said Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba here. Addressing the media after holding bilateral talks, the visiting Prime Minister jointly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first cross border rail link between India and Nepal. Nepal also became the 105th member country to sign on to the Framework Agreement of International Solar Alliance (ISA).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hand with his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba after remotely inaugurating from New Delhi on April 2, 2022 a railway line between Jaynagar in India to Kurthal in Nepal.

“We discussed the boundary issue and I urged Modiji to resolve it through the establishment of a bilateral mechanism,” said Mr Deuba. The visit of the Nepalese leader is the first since the Kalapani boundary issue erupted in November 2019 after the revised political map of India depicted the triangular area of Kalapani-Lipulek-Limpiyadhura within the territory of Uttarakhand. In a tit-for-tat move, Kathmandu responded by placing a revised political map of the country in the national insignia of Nepal. Both sides were expected to address the issue under an existing mechanism led by the Foreign Secretaries but that meeting is yet to be announced. Nepal had earlier written to New Delhi seeking the meeting of the Foreign Secretary-level mechanism to discuss the border dispute at Kalapani.

India also urged Nepal to avoid “politicisation” of the boundary dispute. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla briefing the media after the talks said, “There was a general understanding that both sides needed to address this in a responsible manner through discussion and dialogue. In the spirit of our close and friendly relations, politicisation of such issues should be avoided.” India’s position on avoiding politicisation of the Kalapani issue appears to be aimed at the upcoming election season in the Himalayan country when emotive issues like the border dispute are expected to be raised during political campaigns by both the opposition led by former PM K P Sharma Oli and some sections of the ruling coalition of Nepali Congress and CPN - Maoist Center.