A New Nepal Map

A New Nepal Map

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

After the parliament passed the new map of Nepal showing the correct territory of Nepal on the western border, the minister for land reform made it public on May 20, 2020 rather than the minister for foreign affairs making all patriots at least happy for some time. It should have happened even in November 2019 when India made public the Kashmir map including the Nepalese territory Lipulekh area in it. The minister for land reform stated that the map was done based on all historical documents but she missed to make some important documents as the attachments to the map, and also the land minister missed to say why, how, and who missed the area in the previous map, and also the historical evens starting from 1962 when India stationed its army in the Nepalese territory in Lipulekh after the China-India border war, and the recent event of China and India agreeing to run the trade through the encroached Nepalese territory that Nepal had opposed both the neighbors in 2015, and then India made public the Kashmir map including the Lipulekh area in it in November 2019, and finally, India opened up the border road provoking the intense protest from the Nepalese patriots on May 8, 2020. Nepal opposed it at that time, and now, too. It also provoked the strong protest from the Nepalese patriots.

After the intense pressure from the Nepalis patriots, some leaders of his own ruling party and some strong opposition leaders, the Oli administration made public the new Nepal map showing the Lipulekh, Kalapani and so on in it, and the Oli administration also said that the new map would be used for all the text books, and also in the State official stamps and documents amending the constitution. The question is why the Oli administration had waited for India to open up the border road on May 8, 2020 to do all these things even after India made public the map showing those areas as Indian in November 2019 when Nepalis strongly protested the Indian encroachment on the Nepalese territory, and Nepalis demanded the immediate actions of the Oli administration. Anyway the political map of Nepal showing the Lipulekh areas had been made out but India said that it was unacceptable.

Immediately after Nepal issued the new map, Prime Minister Oli needed to make a telephone call to his Indian counterpart: Narendra Modi, and tell him that the Kashmir map, India had made public in November 2019 showing the Nepalese territory as the part of India was incorrect, and unacceptable to Nepal; so, the federal parliament of Nepal corrected it and accordingly, the administration made it public, please correct the Kashmir map and please wind down the Indian army post from Lipulekh.

Then, the ministry of foreign affairs needed to write a letter with the attachment of a new map to all diplomatic missions in Nepal, at the top the Indian diplomatic mission in Kathmandu requesting them to follow the new map. The foreign ministry also needed to write the UN with the attachment of a new map requesting all the UN member countries including those countries that Nepal has no diplomatic relations to inform them on the new map of Nepal.

So, it is the job of the ministry of foreign affairs to make the new map public and inform all the concerned agencies in the world. However, the ministry of land reform of the Oli administration made the new map public. It is the technical ministry and it has the department of survey under it; so, its job is only to prepare a map based on all the evidences the ministry of foreign affairs provides.

The Oli administration needed to attach the important documents such as the Article of the Peace Treaty between Nepal and the then British India government reached in March 1816 after two years of a war between 1814 and 1815, that stated clearly the border between India and Nepal, and also the map the British India had published, to the new map. Why the Oli administration had been so shy to make public the treaty and the map the British had published in the nineteenth century?

Why the Oli administration did not make preparation to post the Nepali army from Kathmandu and Bhaktapur and elsewhere in the valley to the border areas so that they could defend the Nepalese territory rather than patrolling the streets of Kathmandu and forcing anybody wearing an army camouflage shirt to take off while enforcing the stay-at-home order, which is the mandate of the Nepal Police not of the Nepali army?

Why the Oli administration missed to state the historical events since when the Indian army had stationed its outpost at Lipulekh while making public the recent map showing the Lipulekh area in it the Oli administration needed to answer.

Everybody who had a little bit of interest and patriotic feeling to defend the Nepalese territory knew that the Indian army had set up its outpost in Lipulekh in 1962 after the China-India border war. At that time, the Nepalese officials had informed the then despot King Mahendra but he kept quiet. Since then the Indian army has been there and then India made even public the Kashmir map including those areas in it in November 2019, and ultimately, India opened up the border road on May 8, 2020 passing through the Lipulekh area provoking Nepalis to come out on the streets disregarding the stay-at-home order to forcefully protest against it.

The then Nepalese Prime Minister Kritinidhi Bista boldly removed the entire Indian border posts on the northern border of Nepal with China in 1969 but he did not remove the Indian army post from Lipulekh for the unknown reasons, which probably only the then autocratic King Mahendra knew.

Then, Nepal protested the trade agreement signed off between China and India passing through the Lipulekh area in 2015. Nepal had written a protest letter both to China and India stating the Lipulekh area is the Nepalese territory; so both China and India could not use it unilaterally.

India made public the map of the Kashmir area in November 2019. It provoked the strong protest of the Nepalese patriots against the Kashmir map showing the Nepalese territory as the Indian. Even at that time, Nepalis had demanded the Oli administration to make public the Nepalese map correctly showing the Lipulekh area in it. However, the Oli administration for the unknown reasons did not listen to the people’s voices, and it had waited for the opening of the Indian border road to make the map public until now.

Ultimately, the Oli administration made public the map showing the Lipulekh area in it. Why the Oli administration held up all those historical facts, the land minister stated that the new map had been based on, and why she did not make the documents with those facts as the attachments to the new map and send the map to all the diplomatic missions and the UN missions elsewhere in the world for their information?

Only publishing a map showing the missed areas in the new map was only a single first step enough to act on the issue but the Oli administration needed to do many things including to state who, when, and why the map previously published had missed the Nepalese territory in the western Nepal. Nepalis had the rights to know who had deliberately or mistakenly missed the so important area, where Nepal met China to the north and India to the south.

The Oli administration had made only a single step to recover the Nepalese territory India had encroached on so far, publishing and claiming the territory as a Nepalese territory but it has to do immediately many diplomatic work to take those areas back to Nepal. India would not present the area so strategically important on a silver platter to Nepal. So, Nepal needed to be prepared for every possible eventuality to face India and the international community if necessary.

India has already officially declared that the Nepalese claim to that territory is unacceptable. Now, Prime Minister Oli and his Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali needed to demonstrate the diplomatic skill in steering the international opinions on getting back the land India had so long encroached on. Then deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokharel holding the portfolio of defense needed to relocate the Nepali army from the Kathmandu Valley to the Nepal-India border areas indicating Nepalis are serious to defend its territory if needed be by the force.

Simply saying truth prevails (satya mayba jayatya), Prime Minister Oli could not get back the Nepalese territory India had been forcibly using it so far; he needed to act forcibly at the highest possible level means at his level talking to his Indian counterpart continuously until India leaves from that area. Truth prevails ultimately no doubt about that; but Nepalis cannot wait any longer, as they had already waited for so long since 1962. Now, the time has come for India to wind down the area. Prime Minister Oli needed to act endlessly to get back the area India had encroached on.

May 21, 2020