India, Nepal must seek mutually acceptable solutions to controversy over new map Residual revolutionaries of the Left competed with the supposedly pro-India Nepali Congress to castigate India for releasing maps which showed Kalapani at the India-Nepal-China trijunction to the north and Susta to the south as Indian territory........... The notion of boundaries as lines drawn on a map is a recent concept — as is the nation state. This is particularly true in the Subcontinent, where empires and kingdoms shaded into one another across ambiguous frontiers rather than be separated by boundaries marking sovereign jurisdictions.......... territorial nationalism on the Nepali side and an emerging security state on the Indian side........
Bad Ass Nation Threats to Nepal’s national insecurity cannot be underestimated in these perilous times. There are countries with spurious claims to Buddha’s birthplace or who want to purloin a desolate windswept mountain range in northwestern Nepal. ........ The nation needs to be on high alert against expansionist forces which want to take over and overtake us. ...... if we are serious about being taken seriously we cannot pussyfoot around anymore — we must take the bull by the horns of a dilemma. How have other countries that have become pariahs done it? How can Nepal also become notorious and thumb our nose at land-grabbing neighbours?........
The battle for Kalapani India may keep ignoring Nepal’s legitimate claim on Kalapani but it will leave Nepal with the reason to feel hurt, betrayed, angry and aggrieved......... Kalapani, the land area that actually belongs to Nepal but which India has been claiming, occupying and using as its own for many decades. ....... Then came up Kalapani (I use Kalapani as a metaphor here to include all encroachment issues including Susta, Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and others). ........ Foreign ministry issued a statement objecting to India’s map. India responded by saying Nepal’s claim is invalid.........
It is easy to trigger anti-Indian sentiment in the Kathmandu Valley
...... nationalist sentiment can be a potent instrument for political mobilisation....... In Nepal, political groupings of every persuasion have been unable to resist the temptation to conjure up a bullying and overbearing India to present themselves as the fierce custodians of national interest......... These latest maps have nothing to do with Nepal. They were published to reflect the recent bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into the two new Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.There was no change in the depiction of India-Nepal boundary.
....... My own experience has been that the Nepali side raises such issues for rhetorical purposes but is uninterested in following up through serious negotiations. This is what happened with Nepali demands for the revision of the India-Nepal Friendship Treaty. .......... While I was in Nepal as ambassador, a request was made to put the issue on the agenda of the foreign secretary level talks held in 2003 but without any expectation of actual discussion.When we conveyed our readiness to have a substantive discussion on the treaty revision, the agenda item was dropped by the Nepali side.
........... At the moment, raising these issues as means of hoisting their nationalistic colours is of little risk to the Nepali political parties........ the two countries have managed to settle about 98 per cent of their common border and these are reflected in the 182 strip maps initialed by them. More than 8,500 boundary pillars have been installed reflecting the agreed alignment........ The Kalapani controversy has arisen due to a difference of perception as to the real and primary source of the Mahakali river. The Treaty of Sugauli concluded in 1816 locates the river as the western boundary with India but different British maps showed the source tributary at different places. This is not unusual given the then state of cartographic science and less-refined surveying techniques. We have similar problems regarding the alignment of the McMahon Line on the eastern sector of the India-China border. With regard to Susta, the problem has arisen as a result of the shifting of the course of the river, again a frequent occurrence in rivers shared by neighbouring countries............ There are only two ways to deal with this challenge — either to accept a shifting border as the river itself shifts or to agree on a boundary which remains fixed despite changes in the course of the river. The latter is usually the more rational choice. But such matters require friendly consultations aimed at mutually acceptable outcomesnot emotionally charged grandstanding
............... There are six to eight million Nepali citizens living and working in India.Bad Ass Nation Threats to Nepal’s national insecurity cannot be underestimated in these perilous times. There are countries with spurious claims to Buddha’s birthplace or who want to purloin a desolate windswept mountain range in northwestern Nepal. ........ The nation needs to be on high alert against expansionist forces which want to take over and overtake us. ...... if we are serious about being taken seriously we cannot pussyfoot around anymore — we must take the bull by the horns of a dilemma. How have other countries that have become pariahs done it? How can Nepal also become notorious and thumb our nose at land-grabbing neighbours?........
The idea is to project ourselves as a Bad Ass nation and punch above our weight.
Show that we, too, can be belligerent, expansionist and have territorial ambitions again. And we must also make it impossible for anyone to launch an invasion of our territory by keeping our highway arteries in such a state of disrepair that even enemy tanks would get bogged down........... Nepal Army’s Cybernetic Warfare Unit to infiltrate Wikipedia to reclaim Darjeeling, Garhwal and Kumaon and Make Nepal Greater Again....... Order a whole bunch of centrifuges to enrich plutonium to build up our nuclear deterrent with an arsenal of atom bums. ....... Resume hostilities where we left off during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 and occupy Lucknow. ...... The Nepal Communist Party to declare Nepal a ‘dynamite between two boulders’ ........ Boycott Hindi movies in cinemas — watch pirated ones on Bigflix. ....... The Nepal Army has experience occupying Tundikhel, and the PMO encroached on a whole chunk of real estate in Baluwatar. So, Nepal could easily Sikkimize Sikkim.The battle for Kalapani India may keep ignoring Nepal’s legitimate claim on Kalapani but it will leave Nepal with the reason to feel hurt, betrayed, angry and aggrieved......... Kalapani, the land area that actually belongs to Nepal but which India has been claiming, occupying and using as its own for many decades. ....... Then came up Kalapani (I use Kalapani as a metaphor here to include all encroachment issues including Susta, Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and others). ........ Foreign ministry issued a statement objecting to India’s map. India responded by saying Nepal’s claim is invalid.........
Since November 2, Kalapani is the most discussed issue in Nepal’s social media, news media and public spheres.
People are trying to figure out how Kalapani went under Indian occupation........ very few knew about Kalapani until the 1990s. .......We do not actually know when exactly Indian forces entered and set up the camps in Kalapani.
....... Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay who argues that “nationalist like King Mahendra, who had made the courageous decision to drive away Indian check posts” could never have given consent to India “to deploy its troops at Kalapani.” ......... we do not have adequate literature on Kalapani, and we are losing all those who knew Kalapani issue better and who worked with King Mahendra: Kirti Nidhi Bista, Surya Bahadur Thapa, Rishi Kesh Shah, Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay to name a few. ....... We are soon going to reach a point when we will have nobody to ask about Kalapani......... When Indian troops were removed from northern border points in 1969....... It is uncommon in Nepal for all parties to come together for a national cause. But this time around, every single party has the same voice about Kalapani. Even Madhesi parties, which have traditionally maintained silence on India’s highhandedness, attended the all-party meeting called by the prime minister on November 9 and came out with one voice: Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura are Nepali territories and Nepal should convince India to forgo its claims on them through diplomatic and political channels. ......... Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba has alleged that PM Oli gave consent to India to include Kalapani in its map. He may have thought saying so would help win some votes........ India, apparently, thinks protests in Nepal are provoked by anti-India elements.Indian media is giving off the tone of shock and bewilderment.
“How come Nepal, India’s friend, become naraaj with India all of a sudden?” They point to Pakistan and China. ...........Yes, there are reports of encroachment from the Chinese side. Nepal should talk to China, hopefully, it will. But encroachment from the north and Kalapani are apples and oranges.
.......... They have built the narrative that Kalapani is the test of K P Oli’s nationalism, that he is going to fail this test and that his nationalist credentials are going to be exposed......... Extremists say retaliate, even go to the war. Others have always stressed on diplomacy, political conversation at the highest level and trust building. ........ If Kalapani is a strategic location for India, it is so for Nepal too. Geopolitics is an unpredictable game. Besides, for a large nation like India—22nd times larger than Nepal—a small strip here and there, some square meters and kilometers here and there might not matter much. For Nepal, every inch of land is priceless. ......... India has easy choices. Listen to Nepal.
Kalapani: Then And Now Nepal claims that the river to the west of Kalapani is the main Kali whereas India claims ridgeline to the east of Kalapani as the border. This timeline shows the major incidents happened with this unsolved puzzle.
