Territories East of the Mahakali River including Kalapani belongs to Nepal, says PM Prachanda

SUB: IR

SEC: Places in news

Context:

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ asserted that territories east of the Mahakali River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani, and Lipu Pass, belong to Nepal.
He cited the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 with the East India Company as the basis for these claims.
Nepal’s political map, updated in May 2020 under K P Sharma Oli’s government, includes these territories and was unanimously endorsed by Parliament.

Details of the border dispute:

In the early 1960s, king Mahendra gave consent to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to continue the use of the Lipulekh-Kalapani area.
In 1961, Mahendra signed a boundary treaty with China, which says, ‘The boundary line starts from the point where the watershed between the Kali River and the Tinkar River meet the watershed between the tributaries of the Mapchu (Karnali) River on the one hand and the Tinkar River on the other hand’. This treaty makes Tinkar, about 10 kilometres south of Lipulekh—the tri-junction where the China-India-Nepal borders meet—and supports India’s current position.
In 1991, Nepal formally raised the border issue with India, and a technical committee was formed to resolve it.
The panel identified several areas with contested claims and resolved 90 percent of them. But, according to Nepali sources, India repeatedly baulked at Nepal’s request for talks on Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh.
Since the Sugauli Treaty states that the area east of the Kali is Nepal, fixing the source of the river should resolve the dispute.
Under the international convention, the tributary with the largest water volume or with the longest course carries the name of the main river.
This would make Limpiyadhura the source of the Kali, but no border issue has been resolved on technical arguments alone.

India’s Response:

India criticized Nepal’s new map, labeling it a “unilateral act” and “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims, asserting that these areas belong to India.
Despite India’s objections, Nepal has adopted the new map in official documents.

India- Nepal Border relations:

Nepal shares an 1,850-km border with five Indian states: Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
During Prachanda‘s recent visit to India, discussions were held to revise existing treaties, including the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, and resolve border issues through diplomatic channels.
A letter has been sent to India to convene the seventh meeting of the Border Working Group to address remaining border issues, as per the commitments from the Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting.

Border Relations with China:

Nepal resolves border issues with China through bilateral talks and consensus.
In March 2022, Nepal and China agreed to advance joint border monitoring activities through mutual consultation.

Treaty of Sugauli 1816:

Signed between the Gurkha chiefs of Nepal and the British Indian government that ended the Anglo-Nepalese (Gurkha) War (1814–16).
The 1816 Treaty of Sugauli defined Gandaki River as the international boundary between India and Nepal.
The right bank of the river was under Nepal’s control while the left bank was under India’s control.

Mahakali river (or Sharda river):

The Sharda River is the downstream of Kali River (or Mahakali River) that originates in the northern Uttarakhand state of India in the Great Himalayas on the eastern slopes of Nanda Devi massif, at an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) in the Pithoragarh district.
It then flows between the Nepal and India border.
Descending, it enters the Indo-Gangetic Plain at Brahmadev Mandi in Nepal, where it expands above the Sharda Barrage. From that point onward, it is known as the Sharda River.
The river proceeds southeastward into India through northern Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ghaghara River southwest of Bahraich, covering a distance of approximately 300 miles (480 km).

Source: TP