Everyone knows the relationship that India and Nepal share. Both countries don’t have this kind of relationship with any other country, people from both countries can walk into the other country for work and can stay there. But recently there has been a lot of disturbance in this brotherhood because of a disputed piece of land. The area near this piece of land is called Lipu Lek.
The area that we are talking about in this article has historical importance, which started when the Anglo-Nepal War in the early 1800s ended, and both the parties signed the Saugali Treaty. The Sugauli Treaty explicitly claimed that the Kali was the western border channel, with all areas east of it being Nepal's nation-state, British India's Kumaon territory being on the other side. Therefore, the proper boundary depends on having the Kali identified as its source. Beginning in the 1820s, the British produced maps that described the Kali river's main stem turning northwest at a point deep in the mountains upstream from Garbyang, moving towards the Limpiyadhura headwaters.
A few years down the line in the 1860s the East India Company officials realized the strategic importance of the piece of land which was under the Nepal Kingdom when the border was taken along the thicker stream towards the west and not the thinner stream towards the east. At that point in time, the Kingdom of Nepal had no problem concerning the piece of land, mainly because the population in that area was very less, the area had a difficult terrain and the area had only one purpose, which was to make the travel time for the pilgrimage to Mansarovar less.
They considered this border even after India got independence from the Britishers and the Monarch of Nepal even allowed India to establish their military base in that area when tensions between India and China rose.
This border dispute started in the 1990s after Nepal became a democratic state when the newly elected democratic party got their hands on the old official papers which mentioned how the borders were divided.
Later on, in July 2000, the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala discussed this issue. They even took the field survey of the area to figure out where the exact boundary should be in the Kalapani region. But this agreement couldn’t move forward because India mentioned that it will not be withdrawing its military presence from that area.
Many believe that since the present government in Nepal follows communist principles, it has been influenced by the Chinese government. But they forget that in May 2015, India and China signed a trade agreement to use Lipulekh pass as a trade route. So it would hurt China’s trade if they were behind this. When this trade agreement was signed, the Nepali Prime Minister expressed his displeasure with it to both India and China and objected to the use of this land as a trade route between India and China which was supported by the other national-level political parties in Nepal.
A major question that many have raised is that such a problem should not even arise between India and Nepal because the border between India and Nepal is almost only for namesake purposes. Citizens of both these countries can travel into each other’s country without a visa or passport, can stay in either of the countries, and even work in either of these countries without objection.
Can this turn out to be the turning point in the relationship between India and Nepal? Can this mean that the bread of the normal people who work in either of the countries is in danger?
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