By SHAHID MAJEED MIR
The Lower House of Nepal’s Parliament on Saturday unanimously passed the historic Second Constitution Amendment Bill guaranteeing legal status for the updated political map of Nepal which includes India’s territories in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district. For several weeks, Indian soldiers have been engaged in a standoff with their Chinese counterparts along their disputed border, even as New Delhi is busy planning a strategy to resolve a land dispute with another neighbour, Nepal. India’s latest diplomatic row with Nepal erupted on May 8 when New Delhi announced the inauguration of a Himalayan road link that passes through the disputed area of Kalapani.
Under pressure from the opposition, civil society and a vociferous Nepali press, the government of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli issued a new political map of the country, showing Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura within its borders. India objected, saying the new Nepal map “included parts of the Indian territory”.The dispute’s origins lay in the November 2019 release of India’s new political map, which showed Kalapani within India. The announcement saw Nepal’s capital Kathmandu rocked by protests, while Oli’s government requested a high-level meeting to resolve the dispute. But India was not forthcoming. The two neighbours entered a new paradigm of “cartographic war” as anger grew on both sides.
Most importantly, the Narendra Modi government needs to shed its fond expectation that Nepal’s affinity with India because of its Hindu heritage is sufficient to consolidate political relations with that country. Neither is that shared heritage sufficient to prevent Nepal’s penchant to wave the China card in India’s face whenever it seeks to advance its own interests. And putting all eggs in the Oli basket, and in the bargain alienating other important political constituencies over the recent past, has proved to be costly.
Nepal bases its claim to the additional territory now included in its official map on the Anglo-Nepal Treaty of Sugauli of 1816, which determined the Kali river as the western boundary between British India and Nepal. An East India Company map has been produced from the archives to show that the British considered the tributary of the Kali River, the Limpiyadhura, as its main channel. But a map drawn up in 1879 after surveys had been carried out shows the boundary along a ridge just west of the Tinker Pass.
As per this and later official British maps and what India claims, Kali River originates from a natural spring at Kalapani, where it is joined by a rivulet flowing down from Lipulekh Pass. This was not challenged then nor at any time subsequently until after 1990. In fact, Nepali maps have all along reflected the same alignment. Some Nepali journalists and scholars now argue that the monarchy, first under King Mahendra and later under King Birendra, was reluctant to raise this issue with India for fear of Indian reaction. This is laughable as both the monarchs thrived on a diet of anti-Indian nationalism.
To end with a note” Before acting see where did you stand”. The country stands at odds in international level amid global tide towards China,thanks to money power. Let’s not forget the moderate policy of SMART BALANCE to Smart power of Hillary Clinton by biding to “if cat isn’t catching the mouse, the method need to be changed to get caught the mouse itself”.there’s a need to improvise on 2nd front through soft power with push on G-TO-G, P-TO-P AND B-TO-B exchanges with national interest at base.Let’s hope to witness the peaceful rise of China as the rise is certain but peace seems in doldrums. Until and unless India will not resolve the dispute of Kashmir the make in new India is an utopian dream till than even India will miss the boat in Asia.. Like in Afghanistan Pakistan China Nepal and Bhutan also. Hope to get some bolt from blue in near future….
Writer Shahid Majeed Mir hails from Misribehak Machil Kupwara and can be reached at mirshahid363@gmail.com
