Nepal, India likely to settle border issue through further discussion

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 - Nepal and India have agreed to resolve longstanding border disputes between the two countries at various places including Kalapani and Susta through further discussion, according to visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The bilateral meeting between Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav and Indian Foreign Minister Mukherjee ...

“Differences and divergence of view within the spectra of Susta and Kalapani are to be resolved and officers from both the sides will be asked to meet and expeditiously resolve this issue,” said Mukherjee, emerging from the meeting and talking to the media.

Nepal has an open border with India in the east, west and south. Border experts claim that India has encroached upon around 65,000 hectares of Nepali territory in different districts.

At a time when the Nepali government is seeking China’s help to find a solution to the dispute with India over Kalapani, where borders of all three countries meet, responding to a query of over the role of China in resolving the issue, Mukherjee said that the meeting discussed it also.

It is first time that the Indian government acknowledged that there is border dispute over Kalapani.

India has been taking Kalapani, which falls in Darchula district in the far western region, under control following a war between India and China in 1962.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers agreed to take measures to return the Koshi River to its original course, to reconstruct the highways damaged by the end of March. . They agreed to expedite the activities of existing bilateral mechanism also.

According to Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav, the meeting mulled over various bilateral issues such as implementation of the 22-point agreement between the two countries signed during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s India visit, feasibility study of the proposed East-West railway and the extradition treaty between the two countries.

“We openly discussed the entire issues including ways to control the occurrence of rampant crimes due to open borders between the two neighbours, the import of chemical fertilizer, pesticides and seeds, the Rohanpur Highway to connect with Bangladeshi port and the extradition treaty,” said Minister Yadav.

However, it has been understood that the meeting did not discussed the review of the disputed Nepal-Indian Peace and Friendship Treaty (1950).

Both the ministers did not respond to the query raised by journalists regarding the treaty. A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also remains silent on the issue.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s foreign advisor Hira Bahadur Thapa informed that the meeting between Dahal and the visiting Indian foreign minister did not discuss the issue.

During his India visit in September, PM Dahal had informed that he had discussed the review of the 1950 peace and friendship treaty with Indian government.