India-Nepal border dispute- new strategic dimensions   

• Part of the Hindutva agenda

By: Bilal Ahmad Sheikh

Indian  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 80-kilometre (50-mile) Lipulekh road, which will serve as the shortest route between the Indian capital, New Delhi, and Kailash-Mansarovar, a revered Hindu pilgrimage site in the Tibetan plateau. The link road via Lipulekh Himalayan Pass is also considered one of the shortest and most feasible trade routes between India and China. Nepal views the alleged incursions as a stark example of bullying by its much larger neighbour. In fact the  Indian extremist think tankis  now opening all disputed avenues to grab more power and strategic advantages in all neighboring countries.

After the devastating episode of the absorption of Sikkim into India in 1975, the Nepalese always struggled to save their country from Indian aggression. The country was never colonized, but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India.

Many Nepalese had actively taken part in the Indian Independence struggle and wanted to liberate Nepal as well from the autocratic Rana occupation. The Rana domination ended after the struggle led by the royal Shah family reached an agreement  called the ‘Delhi Compromise’. Thus Indian influence directed all actions and reactions in Nepalese power circles.

Birendra Bir Bikram Shah succeeded to the Nepalese throne on 31 January 1972, at the age of 27. He tried to maintain a balanced foreign policy between India and China. He had a greater commitment to democracy within the country, but Indian influence played a vital role in decision-making. Birendra Bir Bikram Shah slowly improved relations with China and also started relations with Pakistan. Birendra Bir Bikram Shah  is credited for introducing SAARC in Asia in order to strengthen the foreign relations of Nepal with the other South Asian countries.

Nepal is a small state and fighting for its rights from the world, but in front of Indian aggression no one is helping Nepal at any forum. UNO and all otheri international forums have kept silent at this aggression. Pakistan and China must watch and help the Nepalese people due to the fact that this area is on the door step of Kashmir and holds strategically very important locations which can affect us in future

In 1989, when the People’s Movement was taking momentum and turned into a bloodiest movement, as a condition of safeguarding the Panchayat system, India put forward some conditions to King Birendra aimed at taking control of national sovereignty. If the King had accepted these conditions, the panchayat system would not have ended. But the king said, “It is better to surrender to the people rather than surrender to India.”

The 1990s People’s Movement drafted the constitution which came into effect in November 1990. This constitution forced the monarchy of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev to hand over decisions of government to the Nepali people. This move of King Birendra not only reflects his commitment to the people of Nepal but closed many avenues of Indian intervention. But power politics of Nepalese political parties once again brought instability to the country.  A rebellion was launched by the CPN-M on 13 February 1996 with full support from Indian Intelligence Agency RAW.

India stopped all supplies of arms to the Nepalese Army and lobbied successfully in the UK and the USA, accusing the Nepalese Army of human rights abuses. China supported the Nepalese Government in the wake of this violence by supplying arms. The obvious purpose of this insurgency was to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy and establishing a People’s Republic.

The insurgency resulted in the deaths of over 17,000 people including civilians, insurgents, army and police personnel, and internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of people (mostly of rural Nepal). The conflict was characterized by summary executions, massacres, purges, kidnapping and other war crimes and crimes against humanity by insurgents with the help of the Indian Army.

King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was a person who always neutralized Indian pressures and with his balanced foreign policy Nepal successfully maintained normal relations with China and other countries. The stability of Nepal was threatened even more when Birendra and his family (including Queen Aishwarya) were massacred at a royal dinner on 1 June 2001 by his eldest son King Mahendra. This massacre was instigated by RAW, which was proved later.

Nepal is a landlocked nation, and imports all of its petroleum supplies from India. Roughly 300 fuel trucks enter from India on a normal day. The 2015 Nepal blockade, which began on 23 September 2015, was an economic and humanitarian crisis which severely affected Nepal and its economy. The reasons are all the same. The Indian Government secretly forced Nepal to adopt a new Constitution which directly eased Indian influence. Nepal’s increasing cooperation with China, including its purchase of Chinese weaponry, was also seen as one of the major factors behind this blockade. A strong earthquake also contributed to the misery in Nepal.

India and China had agreed to include Lipu Lekh pass as a bilateral trade route in a May 2015 joint statement, Nepal had issued separate diplomatic protest notes to the two Asian giants for not obtaining Kathmandu’s consent. The recent dispute over road building is also to be seen in context of the last diplomatic note issued that months ago, India had issued a new political map to show the bifurcation of  Jammu and Kashmir into two new Union Territories. In it, it depicted Kalapani as part of Indian territory, which led to a strong objection from Nepal. China cleared its position by stating that “road building from India is nothing to do with India–China Trade Agreement.”

The Lipulekh Pass is claimed by Nepal based on the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli it entered with the British colonial rulers 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. The Himalayan region, which borders the Indian state of Uttarakhand, is also included in Nepal’s official map.

Nepal is a small state and fighting for its rights from the world, but in front of Indian aggression no one is helping Nepal at any forum. UNO and all otheri international forums have kept silent at this aggression. Pakistan and China must watch and help the Nepalese people due to the fact that this area is on the door step of Kashmir and holds strategically very important locations which can affect us in future.