Giving A Turf Time

The coronavirus pandemic may have blurred international boundaries and shrunk the world into one big infirmary, but not so much for Nepal, one of India바카라�s neighbours and closest allies for decades. In fact, the Himalayan country has touched off a raw nerve by deciding to publish new maps that include areas of dispute with India. And for good measure, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli declared that the 바카라�Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian.바카라� This round of acrimony began at the Federal Parliament of Nepal recently where the country바카라�s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari made the announcement about the new maps that will incorporate all the disputed territories바카라�Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh.

Last year, New Delhi published a new map that showed Kalapani within its borders, a move protested by Kathmandu. India and Nepal share an 1,800 km open border. Nepal said it has 바카라�consistently maintained바카라� that as per the Sugauli Treaty of 1816, 바카라�all the territories east of Kali (Mahakali) river, inc­luding Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh, belong to Nepal바카라�.

The Lipulekh Pass is claimed by Nepal based on the Sugauli Treaty between the Himalayan nation (then a kingdom) and British East India Company in 1816 to def­ine its western border with India. Kathmandu also claims the highly strategic areas of Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, although Indian troops have been deployed there since New Delhi fought a war with China in 1962.

India reacted sharply after the Nepal government released the revised map. The foreign ministry asked Kathmandu to refrain from such 바카라�unjustified cartographic assertion바카라�. All the land in Lipulekh, Kalapani and Nabhidhang on the border traditionally belongs to the residents of Garbiyang and Gunji villages of Dharchula sub-division in Uttarakhand바카라�s Pithoragarh district.

The inauguration of a road linking Lipulekh pass with Dharchula earlier this May triggered fresh tension, with Nepal claiming that the area fell on its side of the border. But a PTI report says villagers of Garbiyang assert that their ancestors used to cultivate the land in Kalapani before the Sino-Indian war in 1962. The cultivation stopped when border trade with China through Lipulekh pass ended following the 1962 conflict.

바카라�India has deployed its troops in Kalapani since 1962 and our rulers in the past hesitated to raise the issue,바카라� Nepal PM Oli said. Speaking in parliament, Oli also held India responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in Nepal, saying the infection was 바카라�more lethal바카라� among the people coming from the neighbouring country. 바카라�Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected,바카라� he said.