Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha doesn’t comment on the government decision to replace the map on the 100 rupee note with the new one

At a time when boundary row with India has heated up once again after Nepal government decided to replace the map on the 100 rupee note with the new one that incorporates disputed territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha has said that Nepal is in favour of resolving the row through diplomatic means and table talks with India.

Nepal and India are both claiming the territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura which India currently occupies. Speaking at a parliamentary committee of the National Assembly on Monday, DPM Shrestha did not comment on the government decision to print the new 100 rupee note with the map that incorporates the Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, and India’s reservation over the decision.

“We want to resolve the boundary issue with India,” he said. “We want to fix it through diplomatic means and through table talks. We are taking an initiative for this.”

Like it did when the KP Oli-led government published the new map of Nepal incorporating the disputed areas, India has opposed the latest government decision too. Speaking with reporters in Bhubaneswar, India on Saturday, External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar stated that Nepal’s move will not change the situation or the reality on the ground.

“Our position is very clear. With Nepal, we are having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform,” Jaishankar said. “In the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side.”

As soon as India published its new political map in 2019 incorporating the disputed territories that Nepal has been claiming since the time of the Treaty of Sugauli, the government of KP Oli rejected the Indian claim and sent a series of diplomatic notes to New Delhi.

Then the government of Nepal came up with the new map in May 2020 incorporating the disputed territories as its own. India rejected the decision and called it an “unjustified cartographic assertion”.

After the Nepal government came up with the new map on May 20, 2020, the then spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India Anurag Srivastava had stated that “the government of Nepal had released a revised official map of Nepal today that includes parts of Indian territory.”

“This unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence,” Srivastava had said. “It is contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve the outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India.”

Sources in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they did not have any idea who brought the proposal [to publish the new 100 rupee notes with the new map] in the Cabinet. “It is an established fact that we amended the constitution of the country to revise the map,” two officials from two different ministries said.

“There was not enough discussion and consultation prior to taking the decision. This is only irritating India though we are only replacing the old map with the new map in 100 rupee notes. Timing is important, so the question is, why this move at a time when India is in elections and we are saying that we will resolve it through the talks.”

Addressing the lawmakers on Monday, DPM Shrestha said that Nepal should exercise its sovereign rights in Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura. “We should enjoy our sovereign rights and territorial integrity,” Shrestha said. “It is a well known fact that Nepal and India have boundary disputes in the Susta and Kalapani areas.”

Laxmi Gaire of CPN (Unified Socialist) sought a reply from DPM Shrestha on the implementation of the new map of Nepal and recent controversy over it, and progress made in receiving the report of Eminent Persons’ Group on Nepal, India relations, among others.

“Boundary dispute with India is on the table but it has not been resolved yet,” Shrestha said. After the boundary row erupted, officials from Nepal and India could not meet in person due to the Covid pandemic. Later in 2021, the former foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali travelled to India to participate in the Nepal-India joint commission meeting where he discussed the row. Two prime ministers, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sher Bahadur Deuba, also visited India and raised the issue with their counterpart and other officials. Jaishankar also visited Nepal in January and during that time, the Nepali side raised the issue of boundary dispute, and the report of the EPG, among others.

“Nepal and India have boundary problems in two places, Susta and Kalapani, but they have not been resolved. They are at the table. On EPG, we do not have any problem receiving it and we have also communicated the same to the Indian side,” Shrestha said. “The EPG was formed by the governments of Nepal and India and its report is ready and we have also conveyed to India that we do not have any problem regarding receiving the report. Once India agrees to receive it, then we will discuss what to do with the report.”

The issue of reviewing the Nepal-India peace and friendship treaty has been incorporated in the EPG report, Shrestha added. “Once India is ready to receive the report, then we can say how to implement it.”

Shrestha also said that the government is seriously and tirelessly working to bring back the Nepali nationals in the Russian Army. “We are in talks with the Russian government about the Nepalis working in the Russian army, their number, information about their condition, repatriating the bodies of the deceased, compensation to the families of the deceased and that the Nepal government should cancel the contracts with the Russian army and send them back,” he said.

“The government is aware of the situation of Nepalis who have joined the Russian army. Some of them are injured, others are in distress. Still others are in the custody of the Ukrainian army.” Shrestha added that the government is making all diplomatic efforts for their rescue and repatriation.

“By agreeing on compensation, the Russian government has now started the process. We have already forwarded the necessary documents for that,” Shrestha said. “We have demanded that the Russian army forge an agreement with the Nepalis who have joined them to cancel their contract and repatriation.”

Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha said that Bipin Joshi has been captured by Hamas, but the government has not received official information about his condition. He said the government has requested countries and organisations that are mediating Israel and Hamas for peace.

He also asked the ministers, officials and political party leaders to adhere to the diplomatic code of conduct while meeting with foreign leaders, officials and diplomats.

(With Agency Inputs)