Nepal parliament clears new map, ends possibility of talks on border row

Nepal : Ending all possibilities of talks over the border dispute, Nepal parliament has approved the new map which allegedly marked three Indian territories as the part of Nepal.

The bill tabled in the parliament today received support from all 258 lawmakers present. The passage of bill comes on a day when hundreds of protesters came on streets of capital Kathmandu over the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

New Delhi is yet to make a formal response on the development. An Indian official has hinted the New Delhi has taken note of the government in Nepal manufacturing a boundary dispute and is disappointed at the effort to whip up sentiments against New Delhi.

At the four-hour-long discussion in the House of Representatives that preceded the vote, PM Oli was asked by several lawmakers to take the next steps to reclaim control of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura from India. Some others from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) favoured continuing with some of the border restrictions on movement of people that have been introduced due to Covid-19 to continue, according to local media portal eKantipur.

Meanwhile, in recent past, the Oli government had been claiming that they want to resolve the border dispute with India via talks.