India and Nepal border dispute.

India and Nepal share very kind and close relations historically. As both of these countries are close to each other, they share their open doors with each other, as well as open borders and are not limited to this but also people from both the countries do not require visas to cross each other’s borders.

The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between India and Nepal.

Nepal has an area of 147,181 sq. Kms and also a population of 29 million. Now learning about the borders which Nepal shares with India is of over 1850 km in the east, south, and west with five Indian States that is Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, and in the north with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China.
As per an official online study website Britannica, in keeping the age-old tradition and so the deep friendship with the time approximately 6,00,000 Indians are living in Nepal. Many professionals, traders, businessmen, and also laborers.
The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 between India and Nepal is forming a strong base among both the countries. Under these provisions of this treaty, both the countries are privileged and enjoy the facilities and being advantaged on both sides. As we know Nepal is a landlocked country has overcome many of the disadvantages through the treaty.
But the relations between both of these countries are quite absurd from the past few days and years.

According to the Dhruv Rathee analysis on his video recently, the Prime Minister of Nepal said that India is responsible for the spread of coronavirus in Nepal. Not only this but furthermore the Prime Minister of Nepal has accused India of occupying some area of Nepal. A border dispute is infusing among both countries. So let us learn what is the dispute about, why did it start, and the scenario behind the situation?
This controversy surfaced within the Indian media when Nepal released their new and updated map just a few days back. The new thing about the map was Nepal included a new area in their map which they did not hold earlier. In short, the area today which is under control of India was included in the new map of Nepal. So, if you see the new map of Nepal you will find this area is a triangular-shaped disputed area in the northwestern tip of Nepal. Actually, this is the easternmost tip of Uttarakhand which holds an area of around 300 square kilometers. The north most place is Limpiyadhura, similarly, the southeast part of it is Lipulekh pass, Gunji belongs in the southwest and Kalapani in the south. According to the TheWire.
So this land is defined based on these three places. That is Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani. Now Nepal believes this area rightfully belongs to them while India believes this land belongs to them hence, vice versa. So before concluding any answer on this issue we must find out the history behind the disputed land. As per the studies, the controversy began due to the two prominent events back around 6 months.

Present controversy.

The first event which broke out was in November 2019, when the BJP government released a new map of India, in which the region of Kalapani was claimed to be under India which was not liked by the Nepal government. And the second event occurred on 8th May 2020 when the Indian Defense minister inaugurated a new road map. Nearly 80 km of the road along the India Nepal border through the disputed area till Lipulekh. Now the purpose of the road was to assist the people on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as per the reports. Now Kailash Mansarovar is situated in Tibet which is above the disputed area. Now before the construction of the road the pilgrims had to go to the Kailash Mansarovar through Sikkim which took around five days, after the construction of this road, it will reach China’s border in a car which will be merely a two days trek.
But the Nepal government was upset after the inauguration. They believed that the land belongs to them and the Indian government should have discussed it before the inauguration. But in response to the Nepal statement External Affairs ministry of India said that this area comes completely under the area of Indian government so they did not hold any consultation and agreement with Nepal. This was not required because we have constructed the road within our territory said the External Affairs Ministry of India. As soon as the statements uplifted the protests were raised in Nepal regarding the disputed land.

On which the Army Chief said that the protests in Nepal were influenced by China on 15 May which further raised the issue. And then the Nepal government released its new map which brought the entire dispute in everyone’s attention. So to learn that to whom this land belongs firstly we must learn the history of this border. This story begins in 1800, around two hundred years ago, when India was under British rule.
At that time Britishers were trying to expand towards Nepal which was under a kingdom rule then. That is the kingdom of Gorkha. At that time battle took place between the Britishers and Nepal which is called the Anglo Nepalese war of 1814. Which raged for almost two years until they signed a treaty. That is the Treaty of Sugauli that was to decide which areas would be controlled by the Britishers and which would be controlled by the kingdom of Nepal.

And how much area would be assigned to both Nepal and India?

But later they found out that the extra land which went under the Nepal territory was found to be very useful for the Britishers to trade with China. So they changed their map again, around 30 to 40 years later. They suddenly claimed the eastern river to be the boundary in their maps. At that time the Kingdom of Nepal had no issue regarding the land as it was just a small piece of land. So they let the land be controlled by the Britishers. And this continued as the border from then until India got its independence from the British rule. Even after Nepal got democratic in 1990 even the monarchs did not have an issue with this unofficial border.
In the 1960s when tensions intensified between India and China which ultimately led to an Indo China war then a military post was established by the Indian army in this area. Even permission was sought from the Nepal monarchy which again did not have a problem. And ever since the army was established there. Then 1962 onwards both India and Nepal have been showing Lipulekh and Kalapani in their respective maps.

But this is the first time when Nepal has shown the Limpiyadhura region in its map. This dispute raged first in 1990 when democracy came to Nepal. As the democratic government was finally accessed to the old historical papers. And then they realized that the area belongs to Nepal. And ever since they define this as a disputed area.

In July 2000 the former Prime Minister and the then Nepali Prime Minister discussed this issue to solve the dispute. Although they conducted a field survey to figure out where the exact boundary should be in the Kalapani region. But the agreement muted in between when India refused to withdraw its army presence from the region. Then India and China signed a trade agreement to use the Lipulekh pass as a trade route and that was the point when India and Nepal relations began to sting. Because of this agreement, Nepal Prime Minister expressed his displeasure over the issue. They said the Kalapani region comes under the Nepal region and protested against both China and India.

So the question arises here is to whom does the area belong? so here Nepal argues that the Sugauli treaty was the last treaty in which both sides were in agreement after that there was no such treaty. And that is the reason why Nepal was based on the Sugauli treaty. As the treaty defines that the region belongs to Nepal.

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