Nepal PM Prachanda Urges Modi To Resolve Border Issues Through Bilateral Talks

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Thursday urged India to bilaterally resolve the lingering border issues between the nations.

He made these comments in a joint statement along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their bilateral talks in the national capital.

"This is my fourth visit to India. The relationship between India and Nepal is age-old. Today we discussed steps to strengthen the ties between both nations. We also jointly launched many groundbreaking projects," he said.

"I urge PM Modi, to resolve the border issues with bilateral talks," Prachanda said.

"I have extended a cordial invitation to PM Modi to visit Nepal. I look forward to welcoming him in Nepal," he added.

The Nepal Prime Minister's comments amid territorial disputes between the two countries over the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh tri-junction area, over which both the nations claim ownership.

The Lipulekh Pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district.

The bilateral ties came under strain under then prime minister K P Sharma Oli, after India opened an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh, pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8, 2020.

Nepal first protested the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through its territory, and days later, it came out with a new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura as its territories. India reacted sharply to the move.

However, in June 2020, Nepal's Parliament approved the new political map of the country featuring areas that India maintains belong to it.

After Nepal released the map, India criticised the move, calling it a "unilateral act" and cautioning Kathmandu that such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it.

In November last year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand that there was an attempt to create misapprehensions in Nepal about a road from Lipulekh Pass to Mansarovar through Dharchula that was inaugurated by him.