Except for Susta and Kalapani, no border issue with India, says Nepal’s foreign minister

Kathmandu: The border dispute between Nepal and India can be sorted out in a “cordial manner through dialogue” instead of making it “a big political issue” between the two countries which share history and geography and are bound together by common culture, Foreign Minister N P Saud said on Saturday.

Saud was speaking as a chief guest at an interaction programme organised by the Nepal-Bharat Friendship Society here on the occasion of India’s 75th Republic Day which was celebrated on Friday.

Nepal is considered an important country for New Delhi as it shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Ties between the two countries had come under severe strain after Kathmandu published a new political map in 2020 that showed three Indian territories -- Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh -- as part of Nepal. India reacted sharply, calling it a “unilateral act” and cautioned Kathmandu that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims would not be acceptable to it.

In June 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Pushpakamal Dahal 'Prachanda' vowed to resolve the boundary dispute under the spirit of friendship during the latter’s visit to India.

“As there is more than 1,800 km long, open border between Nepal and India, some dispute and debate relating to the border is inevitable between the two neighbours. But the joint technical committee of the two countries has sorted out most of the disputes,” Saud said.

He also pointed out: “Susta and Kalapani-Lipulekh are the only two border points, which need to be resolved.” “The two countries can sit together to sort out the differences in a cordial manner through dialogue,” the Foreign Minister said, adding, “Instead of making this a big political issue, we can work together and work out a concrete solution in this regard.” Saud also said, “No force can damage the age-old friendly relations existing between Nepal and India even though there are ups and downs in government-to-government relations from time to time as they are made by history and geography and bind together by a common culture and people-to-people ties.” Landlocked Nepal's access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.

The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries.

“The two countries are intimately dependent on each other,” Saud maintained.

(Therefore), “We should utilise the relations in our favour to achieve development, peace and stability for the country,” he pointed out.

Saud also reminded that Nepal is sandwiched between two big neighbours, India and China, and said, “We never compare our relations with one neighbour with the other. Nepal can benefit from its relations with both, the southern and the northern neighbour, as well as other friendly countries such as the US and Japan.”