Starting anew on Lipulekh

This will be a challenge for the new RSP government. It will also be a chance to show its diplomatic nous.

The old controversy over Lipulekh refuses to die down. Nepal has in the past repeatedly written to New Delhi and Beijing, asking them to be mindful of its traditional claim over the territory in the Kalapani area. Yet neither India nor China seems to have ever seriously entertained Nepal’s concern. India maintains that its border trade with China through Lipulkeh pass “has been going on for decades” and that Nepal’s claims on the territory are “neither justified nor based on historical facts and evidence.” China for its part has tried to distance itself from the issue by terming Lipulekh a “bilateral issue” to be settled between Nepal and India. The dispute has again come to a head following a report in the Press Trust of India that India-China border trade through Lipulekh is set to resume this June after a six-year hiatus.