Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs has written a letter to the foreign ministry to take up the border issue with China, almost a week after a government panel’s report confirmed some of the boundary pillars were unilaterally shifted, a media report said. The Sher Bahadur Deuba government last month had formed the panel [read more here] led by Jaya Narayan Acharya, a joint-secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, to study the boundary issues along the Nepal-China border from Limi Lapsa to Hilsa of Humla.

The panel’s findings, submitted last week, confirmed that at least two boundary pillars in the northern Humla district were “repaired” and “fenced” without the knowledge of Nepal authorities. [Read more here]  

On Monday, the home ministry wrote to the foreign ministry, asking to take up the matter through diplomatic channels with China, according to a report in The Kathmandu newspaper.

Without disclosing the content of the letter, Dil Kumar Tamang, deputy spokesperson of the home ministry, said, “We have already written to the Foreign Ministry to take the matter up with China so as to resolve the issues on the basis of suggestions provided by the Acharya-led panel.”

Nepal and China had signed the Sino-Nepal Boundary Agreement in 1960 and later the Boundary Treaty in 1961 to demarcate the border formally in a scientific way. Subsequently, over the years, the two nations had also signed three agreements, setting boundary protocols.

However last year, local leaders of the current main ruling party, the Nepali Congress, which was the main opposition at the time, had first raised the issue of border encroachment in Limi valley of Humla district by Chinese authorities.

Reports also indicated that China has constructed several buildings on the encroached land. [Read more here]. When Sher Bahadur Deuba, the leader of the Nepali Congress, became the country’s prime minister this year, he promised to look into the matter.

Significantly, the previous government led by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had never acknowledged the issue and maintained a steady silence. Oli, who took a hardline approach on the boundary with India, even went on record to claim that there was no boundary issue with China.

(SAM)