3 years ago
India and Nepal’s Border Disputes
Nepal is surrounded by India from three sides, sharing a 1808 km border and China borders it in the north. India surrounds Nepal from the east, west and south.
The Sugauli Treaty, signed between Nepal and the East India Company, which was in control of India then, was signed on March 4,1816.
This treaty was supposed to clarify the border between Nepal and India, but it did not.Nepal and India have had numerous problems regarding the border and the ‘no-man’s land’ around it since then.
Most of the problems in the border issue arise from the fact that about a third of the border is demarcated on the basis of rivers, Mechi in the east, Mahakali in the west, and Naryani in the Susta area, which, in the course of time, change their routes.
The unavailability of old maps and documents to revise demarcations has made the situation even harder to resolve.
The presence of border security personnel in Nepal’s side of the border is very limited, whereas India has their Sima Surakshya Bal (SSB), in large numbers,often mistreating the Nepalese living there and also facilitating the encroachment.
Reports from Nepal claim that India has encroached on over 60,000 hectares of land in 23 of the 75 bordering districts, with 71 total areas of dispute.
There has been a significant display of dissatisfaction and anger over the encroachment by the Nepali people, which unfortunately fell on deaf ears in India, and also until recently, the rulers of Nepal.
Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, Susta, Mechi, and Tanakpur have been the hotspots of the encroachment for a long time, with countless other encroachments on smaller scale in places with insignificant strategic importance.
To find a permanent solution to these disputes,an India-Nepal Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee has been set up and tasked to find a reasonable solution.
Although India says it is ready to settle the dispute with Nepal and does not forget to mention India’s good “Roti Beti” relationship with Nepal going back centuries, it has not yet formally received the report of the joint task force and has repeatedly tried to push back talks.
Even recently, upon calls from the Nepal’s government to hold talks on these issues, it has taken the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to delay talks.
The major step towards encroachment by India started after 1962, when, following the defeat with China in the Indo-Sino war, it set up military camps in Nepal’s lands around Kalapani with the intention of monitoring the Chinese movements,which is still in place as of now.
The lack of responsibility on the Nepal government’s side, in not asking India to remove their military presence from Kalapani area after the end of the conflict, is what seems to have motivated them to continue the encroachment.
Reports prepared by Buddhi Narayan Shrestha,, former director general of the Department of Survey Nepal, claim that maps from 1850 and 1856, prepared by the Survey of India with the participation of Nepali authorities, clearly state that the Mahakal River — declared as the border in the 1816 Sugauli Treaty — originates from Limpiyadhura, 16 km northwest of Kalapani, proving that Kalapani belongs to Nepal.
India, however, does not agree with that map and insists on an Indian map from 1875, which shows the Mahakali’s origin to the east of Kalapani.
It is worth noting that the map prepared by India in 1975 was a ‘one sided’ claim unlike the maps of 1850 and 1856, which were prepared jointly.
Another area that has faced serious encroachment from India and is often in the news for the mistreatment of Nepali people by SSB forces is the disputed area of Susta, to the east of the Narayani River.
The locals of Susta complain of frequent incidents whereby the SSB enter into Nepal and destroy their sugarcane crops while manhandling them.
Also according to reports, land disputes among locals are usually won by Indian nationals, who have the support of the armed SSB.
On the other hand, Nepali citizens have to fight alone for their land with very little or no support from the government or the border security.
The main reason behind the dispute is the changing course of the Naryani River over the past decades. The river has reportedly changed its course toward the Nepali side in the west, allowing India to encroach about 14500 hectares of the reclaimed land.
The location of Susta is also what makes it an easy target for India as it is surrounded by Indian territory on three sides, the north, south, and east, with the Naryani River is to the west. The other most talked about point of dispute is Mechi.
“Junge Pillars” are the main boundary pillars and the map published by British India right after the Sauguli Treaty clearly indicates those pillars to be the main boundary pillars but the Indian side does not seem to accept that.
Despite local government level agreements disallowing any activities in the disputed areas, Indian farmers freely use those land for agriculture. Not only Nepal, India also has border disputes with Pakistan in Kashmir and Ladakh and with China.
