Nepal on Wednesday said it is ready to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic dialogue based on historical agreements and maps, with Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal reiterating Kathmandu's commitment to a negotiated settlement.
Responding to questions raised by lawmakers in the National Assembly, the Upper House of Parliament, Khanal said Nepal remains prepared to address the boundary dispute through diplomatic engagement.
He also said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already made public its detailed position regarding remarks made by Prime Minister Balendra Shah during his address to Parliament in May.
The Nepal government is always ready to resolve the border issue (with India) through diplomatic dialogue based on the historical agreement and map abiding by the spirit and sentiments of close relations existing between Nepal and India, Khanal said.
Prime Minister Shah's statement on May 31 that Nepal also encroached Indian territories at different places and that the Himalayan nation has involved China and the UK to resolve the issue had sparked controversy.
New Delhi categorically rejected any role for third parties to resolve the row. The statement also invited criticism from Nepal's opposition parties.
Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs later clarified the matter in a statement that the prime minister was speaking about cross-border occupation by people from both sides of the border.
On Wednesday, regarding the border issue of Susta, Khanal said, “Mechanisms have already been set up and actively working at various border areas of Nepal and India.”
“Any work being carried out in and around the intentional border is being done through coordination between the two sides,” he clarified.
“So far as the construction of 132 metre embankment in the Susta area (in southern Nepal) is concerned, the works have moved forward only after forging coordination between the officials of the two countries,” Khanal pointed out.
“Bodies concerned of both the countries are in close contact with each other and doing necessary works,” the foreign minister added.
Nepal and India have had an old boundary dispute over Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, with both countries claiming the areas. India maintains that the territories are part of Uttarakhand and has said the issue should be addressed through bilateral dialogue.
Earlier on June 10, Khanal told Parliament that a joint working group will deal with the issue of cross-border occupation between Nepal and India, as he sought to clarify Shah's comments on the topic.
The next meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Working Group (JWG) on Border Management will be held in India in August, Khanal said then.
(With inputs from PTI)
