New low in India-Nepal relations as anger over border road, coronavirus comes to a head
- Nepal’s PM has blamed India for the spread of Covid-19 in his country and accused Delhi of building a road that encroaches on Kathmandu’s territory
- India’s army chief said that Nepal’s objections to the road, which connects the disputed India-China border, were at ‘the behest of someone else’
Ruling Nepal Communist Party lawmakers have also tabled a special resolution in Parliament demanding the return of Nepal’s territory in Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh, the report said.
Nepali officials said the new map will be printed in school and college text books and official documents and will be used for all administrative purposes.
Oli told the Parliament on Wednesday his government would “bring back at any cost” the three territories, before blaming India for the spread of coronavirus in his country, NDTV reported, citing a video tweeted by Nepal’s government.
India has nearly 107,000 confirmed virus cases, while Nepal has 402, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
This unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence, Anurag Srivastava, India’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.
“We urge the government of Nepal to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion and respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement added.
US asks India to resist China ‘aggression’ at Himalayan border
The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as part of their territory, with Nepal pointing to an 1816 treaty with the East India Company. India says it is part of Pithoragarh district in the border state of Uttarakhand.
Nepal “learned with regret about the ‘inauguration’” of the new road, according to a May 9 statement on the website of Nepal’s embassy in India. The new road was inaugurated by India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh on May 8.
India’s Chief of the Army Staff, Manoj Mukund Naravane, had suggested that Nepal’s objections to the road, which connects to the Line of Actual Control – the 3,488 kilometre (2,167 mile) disputed border between India and China – were at “the behest of someone else,” without elaborating.
India and Nepal have long been allies, with New Delhi accounting for over two-thirds of Kathmandu’s trade. It supplies 100 per cent of the petroleum needs for the landlocked nation.
Additional reporting by Reuters
