Kathmandu: A political controversy has erupted in Nepal after Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in Parliament that Nepal has occupied parts of India’s border areas. Opposition lawmakers objected immediately and demanded that the remarks be removed from the official record.
India and Nepal share a 1,751-km border, touching Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim. The boundary was defined during British rule through an 1816 agreement that identified the Kali river as the border.
Despite this, Nepal has long claimed India’s Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura areas and has revised its national map in connection with the dispute. The issue has remained sensitive, including because the Kailash–Manasarovar pilgrimage route passes through the region.
In his first address to Parliament after taking office, Shah said he had recently learned that while India is often accused of encroachment, Nepal too has occupied Indian areas in several places. He said the matter should be resolved through talks, historical documents and technical studies, and suggested Britain could be included since the border was drawn in the colonial era.
As the row widened, former foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali urged the prime minister to apologise. Nepal’s foreign ministry later clarified that Shah was referring only to unresolved border areas, cross-border encroachments and disputed zones, and that Nepal had not officially given up its border claims.
