NEW DELHI: Nepal Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal on Sunday sought to clarify Kathmandu’s position on the long-running Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura border dispute with India, saying that his country is not seeking third-party mediation but is instead focused on substantiating its territorial claims through historical evidence.
Addressing a press conference at the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi, Khanal said the government of Prime Minister Balendra Shah remains committed to resolving the dispute through existing bilateral mechanisms with India.
“We want to solve our disputes through diplomatic processes. We just want to see if we can access some of the documents that might be in libraries or museums in the UK. Our position was not that we were asking for mediation,” Khanal said. His remarks come days after Prime Minister Shah told Nepal’s Parliament that Kathmandu was in contact with both the UK and China regarding the disputed trijunction area.
The statement triggered political debate in Nepal and drew a response from the External Affairs Ministry, which reiterated that border issues between India and Nepal should be addressed through established bilateral channels and leave no scope for third-party intervention.
“The problems that existed when British India left the region still persist, so we believe Britain also has a role to play in this matter,” Shah had earlier told Parliament.
The border issue resurfaced in April after India announced the resumption of the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra for 2026 through the Lipulekh Pass, a route claimed by Nepal as part of its sovereign territory. “We have expressed our position through an official diplomatic note to both India and China. We have clearly said to both countries that the land belongs to us. That’s been our historical claim,” Khanal said.
Seeking to distinguish the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) from Nepal’s traditional political establishment, Khanal said the Shah government represents a generational shift in Nepal’s politics and intends to move bilateral relations beyond entrenched geopolitical narratives.
“We represent a completely new political reality in Nepal,” Khanal said. “Our rise is driven by an extraordinary and historic mandate centred on uncompromising good governance, strict meritocracy and direct accountability. Because we are a new generation of leadership, we are absolutely unencumbered by the past.”
The RSP emerged as Nepal’s dominant political force following the May elections, which came after a youth-led political movement that toppled the government of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli amid widespread opposition to restrictions on Nepal’s digital ecosystem in 2025.
Despite persistent disagreements, Khanal expressed confidence in resolving the dispute through dialogue.