30 January 2021, NIICE Commentary 6755
Dr. Rakesh Kumar Meena & Dr. Shantesh Kumar Singh
There is a debate underway in Nepal after the Government of India released a map to show the Kalapani region as part of Jammu and Kashmir, after an internal decision to reorganise the state. Nepal has contested this representation and has claimed that the Kalapani region has been wrongly depicted under India’s jurisdiction. For India, the Kalapani region belongs to Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand province, while Nepal believes that the area is part of its Dharchula district. As such, both countries have been claiming the disputed 35 km area. In Nepal, all political parties and groups have opposed India’s move to reassert on the disputed territory. On the other hand, the Indian side has maintained that there is no change in the new map and it reflects the sovereign part of India.
Roots and Arguments of the Dispute
The Mahakali river is at the center of the issue between the two countries. In 1816, the Treaty of Sagauli was signed between British India and Nepal, according to which Nepal’s western border was decided. The Mahakali river is a tributary which gets merged with the other tributary of the river in Kalapani. India claims that the river starts with Kalapani, but Nepal claims that it starts from the Lipu Lake Pass, from which most of the tributaries originate. India has referred to the 1830 administrative and tax records document and has historically claimed that the Kalapani area is part of Pithoragarh district as per these records. The Indian side has also showcased the survey conducted by the British Government of India in the upper reaches of the Mahakali River during the year 1870. Besides, a map of the year 1879 was also presented by the Indian side according to which Kalapani terrain was part of the British India. On the other hand, Nepal has presented counter-claims on the basis of maps for the years 1850 and 1856, according to which Kalapani region is part of Nepal.
The Kalapani issue between India and Nepal has risen earlier too. When Jaswant Singh was External Affairs Minister of India, there were high-level talks on the issue. During earlier talks too, Nepal had claimed the Kalapani region under its jurisdiction and India had objected to such claims. Though the Indian government did not speak openly on the issue, there was resentment among Nepal’s parliament leaders and people about the presence of the Indian Army in Kalapani. The presence of the Indian Army is visible in the region since 1962 when the Indo-China War began. It is believed that Nepalese King Mahendra agreed to the presence of Indian Army in this region in 1962. The reason for this acquiescence is believed to be the fact that Nepal would have been able to legitimise their royal transfer of power by appeasing India through this step and their autocratic regime would have continued without interruption. Kalapani is also a tri-junction between India Nepal and China which is strategically important for India.
Later on, it was agreed to form a Joint Working Group from both sides to resolve the dispute. The Commission groups formed at the level of External Affairs Minister was founded in 1987 with the aim to enhance cooperation between the two countries in view of mutual interests on economic, commerce, transit, industry and multi-purpose issues of water resources. The Joint Working Group is advised by this Commission from time to time. Its third meeting was held in Kathmandu in 2014, after the year 1991.
It is also important to know that this issue was raised after the Mahakali Treaty, signed between India and Nepal in 1996. Efforts were made by the two countries to resolve the issue of Kalapani and Susta region (other disputed areas) along the Nepal-Uttar Pradesh border, for which a Joint Technical Border Committee was set up. This was likely to enable these disputed issues to be settled but that could not happen. In addition, in 2016, an Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG) was formed on behalf of the two countries, which was entrusted with the responsibility of reviewing the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950, to resolve outstanding bilateral issues and border disputes. But, no decision has yet been reached between the two countries on border issues, nor there has been any consensus between the two countries.
Nepal’s Concerns
After India released the map, all political parties in Nepal said that Indian troops should be removed from ‘Indian occupied Nepal’ at the earliest. On 18 November 2019, Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli strongly said in a public meeting that “India should withdraw its troops from Kalapani and said that they will not tolerate even one inch encroachment by any other country on their land”. Nepal’s mains opposition party, Nepali Congress, said that the Oli government is not taking any initiative to talk to India on the issue. Other small parties in Nepal are also pressing the government to negotiate with India on the issue and resolve it. Former Nepalese Ambassador Lokraj Baral said that “we are making unnecessary noises with India on this issue of border dispute, we must adopt political and diplomatic pathways to resolve this”. However, there was no frank response from India on the issue. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on November 7 that the map reflects India’s sovereign territory and further said that India is ready to solve every problem through dialogue in view of its friendly bilateral relations. Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand province of India (which geographically has the jurisdiction of the Kalapani area), said that “Kalapani is a part of India”. While Nepal’s Foreign Ministry has expressed disagreement with India’s statement. On November 13, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that we tried to talk to the Government of India very often on this issue and a strategic note was also given by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs but no meaningful meeting or dialogue has been held so far to resolve the issue. The Nepalese side also estimated that since India’s Foreign Secretary was due retiring at the end of January 2019, there was no secretary-level meeting on the issue. However, Nepal’s Ambassador to India Nilambar Acharya held talks with India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on the issue and ended the discussion with a positive remark that the Foreign Secretary level meeting will soon be held on the issue.
Conclusion
India-Nepal relations in recent times have had a lot of ups and downs, which has particularly become noticeable since 2015. Efforts to get bilateral relationship back on track has required moving forward together despite issues of disagreement. Around 98 percent border disputes between India and Nepal have been resolved and the remaining 2 percent (including Kalapani and Susta) is likely to be resolved through negotiations. The two countries should resolve the issue as quickly as possible in view of their geographical, social and cultural proximity.
