Silence Battle: A Case of Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani

What is Greater Nepal? Lot of young generations might not know the real pages of “The history of Greater Nepal”. The Greater Nepal describes the Nepal's eastern territory as Teesta River, western territory as Satluj river, Tibet to the north and Ahamdabad to the south. The treaty of Sugauli came after the Anglo-Nepalese War from 1814-1816 between Nepal and East India Company. Nepal was unified through the great courage shown by ferocious Gurkha (Gorkhalis) soldiers from the tenure of Prithvi Narayan Shah till Rana Bahadur Shah. East India Company, a British joint stock company started to engage in Indian subcontinent since 1612 when present India was not unified and divided into multiple kingdoms. The credit of unification of India goes to the East India Company who through their expansionary vision invaded different kingdoms to expand their trade. It was when they found Nepal as a route to trade with Tibet as well as need for the cool landscape, they waged war against Nepal. Nepal lost 2/3 of its land to East India Company and the demarcation were made as Mahakali river in the west, Bihar in the south and Mechi river in the east. Sikkim kingdom went under the protectorate of East India Company though ruled by a King.

After the Indian independence from British in 1947, the new government of India under Jawaharlal Nehru found the Nepalese King and the political parties seeking the help of India to overthrow 104 years Rana regime from Nepal. Instead of claiming the lost land to East India Company, the treaty was signed in 1950 in which India defined that the Greater Nepal and its territory won't be valid, and Nepal need to constrict itself to current boundaries. The treaty left lots of voids as it is not beneficial bilaterally and still needs revision inside lot of its pages. The legalization of such claim is still questioned as the Sugauli treaty was not signed with Indian government. It can be considered as the throughput of the political silence and dependence of newly formed Nepalese government who then received great support in establishing their political power.

Even after this great political event, Nepal was not fully equipped to develop their own map and still relying on the map demarcation made on Sugauli Treaty. The South Asian region remained busy as there was a political unrest in Tibet which led Dalai Lama, a Tibetan young king to flee and get asylum in India and Tibet being invaded by China as part of their territory. India being splitted into two other nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Then came the Indo China War of 1962, when Indian army was mobilized to the disputed area of Northern Himalayan region called Aksai Chin. To facilitate their military strategy, they use the Nepalese area of Kalapani region which comes inside the big streamline of Mahakali River along with small villages of Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura and established their military barracks. Even after the war end, the Indian military never left the area and there was lot of protest from the Nepalese people. During 1970s, India took over Sikkim Kingdom who once used to be under the protectorate of Nepal. Nepal went to several political changes. Panchayat System to multiparty democracy under constitutional monarchy in 1990 and again after Royal Massacre in 2001, Maoist and political parties rebelled to overthrow the monarchial system in 2008. Nepal has a Federal Republic Democracy now. Till then, shortwhile elected Congress prime ministers signed several other treaties related to Mahakali, Tanakpur and Koshi rivers with their Indian counterparts while still facing the southern border encroachments and flooding due to constructed dam in the area especially in the Koshi river of Nepal.

It can be understood that India and Nepal has been the good neighboring countries as they share similar culture and open bordered system. Nepal totally relying on India for their domestic trade and imports as well as the cross border marriage has been popular since the past. From the Indian independence from British, India has grown economically and militarily considering themselves as one of the fastest growing economy of the world and the strongest military power of the world. Nepal reliance on its neighboring countries has significantly increased with low key development and politically gamboling around over the years. Even though the case of Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh is recently escalated to this level for the first time in the history of Nepal as India decided to issue a new official map with the region as their territory and also inaugurating the road even though there was a huge objection from Nepal for their unilateral inclusion. Indian media is questioning why Nepal has not spoken earlier and at the same time, there can be a question “WHY INDIA HAS TO MAKE A NEW OFFICIAL MAP WITH THAT REGION WHICH IS NEVER THEIRS?” Cases of border encroachment in Susta in southern border and Pashupatinagar in eastern border is not new for Nepalese people and their voice has fell into deaf ears for a long time being. The obligation of the people living in that area who sees their land being forcefully taken by other people and government is encroachment of their human rights beyond any imagination. Even though, Nepal realizes that it has lot of cultural similarities more with India than China, Nepal has occasionally faced trade blockade from India whenever the political issues are escalated against their suppression in Nepalese political territories. The only difference now is the new government of Communist Party under K.P. Oli who have won with majority in the past election. He took a major step in opening the trade border with China to end the unilateral dependency of Nepal with India during the 2015 Trade Blockade. Different assessment has been made saying the government is working under the influence of Chinese government and Indian media has been continuously trying to dissipate this wrong news as well as wrong rumors related to Nepal’s Prime Minister and his party. Lot of International news agencies are covering the news of India and China border collision in Ladakh which happen 2 months after the Nepal’s border issues. Being a small country with least influence to the economy of the world is also deprivation of expression in the world platform as the theatre is all controlled by big giants.

But this case which has been recently escalated is of great importance for Nepal, Nepalese government, and Nepalese people to reveal their sovereignty and awake from the suppression that has lasted for 73 years now. This might change the face of Nepal forever how the new youth and generation of Nepal want to present themselves between the fastest growing neighbors and in front of the world. Right now, India is engaged with China on the border issue killing soldiers on both sides. If India and China cannot tolerate on their piece of land being encroached, Why Should Nepal? Presenting Nepal as a puppet of China through Indian Media continuously and ignoring the multiple requests for peaceful political dialogue from Nepalese government  to resolve these issue  describes how India wants to present their autonomous demeanor against their only friendly neighbor in South East Asia. Nepal has took a positive step for the first time creating their own political map and not relying on others to develop their country’s map. This is a positive news for Nepal as it has been passed with majority from the cabinet with no opposition at all which signifies the Nepalese unity in national causes. We will be hoping for the fastest diplomatic and peaceful negotiations between Nepal and India as military dominance has always been inferior to the people’s voice and knowledge on what is fact and truthful.