India renews dialogue offer to avert Nepal map revision

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 1

India is making a last-ditch effort to persuade Nepal not to push ahead with a Constitutional amendment that will formalise the inclusion of territory claimed by India in its political map.

Nepal has already issued a revised political map but a Constitutional amendment, if passed by its Parliament, will give finality to the process and allow the new contours of the border to be incorporated in its coat of arms.

Read also: Nepal’s map move

About the dispute

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Nepal government has tabled a Bill to approve a new map which shows Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura-which also feature on India’s map-as part of its territory. India has rejected the map, calling the revision “unilateral” and “not based on historical facts and evidences”.

Sources said India has attempted to convey to Nepal that it is ready for talks with the tactical aim of delaying the parliamentary procedure. The new offer, conveyed through former security and diplomatic officials, is a revision of the old offer to hold Foreign Secretary-level talks after the Covid epidemic is over. The old offer of holding talks after the epidemic had riled the Nepalese political class and led to hardening of stance. Kathmandu had argued that talks could also be held during the pandemic if Defence Minister Rajnath Singh could inaugurate a road running through disputed areas while Covid was raging.

While the Indian side has not officially acknowledged the feelers sent out to Nepal, its Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said Kathmandu is in constant touch with New Delhi. “The date and modality of informal talks are not fixed yet, but we are in constant touch with the Indian side… We want to resolve the issue through diplomatic means,’’ he was reported as having briefed Nepal’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.

The last-minute Indian attempt is the same tactics of 2015 when S Jaishankar, then the Foreign Secretary, had landed in Kathmandu to block major legislative changes that had upset Madhesis living in the plains bordering India. By the time Jaishankar landed, the die had been cast and Nepal did not heed the Foreign Secretary’s call, leading to an unacknowledged economic blockade.