After the Nepal government unanimously approved a new map, depicting displaced territories as their own, Union defence minister, Rajnath Singh said that any misunderstanding between India and Nepal will be sorted through dialogue.
“India-Nepal ties are not ordinary, we are bound together by ‘roti-beti’ and no power in the world can break it,” said Mr. Singh. “The road built by the BRO (Border Roads Organization) in Lipulekh is very much part of the Indian territory.”
Last weekend, Nepal’s lower house in parliament signed a new map depicting disputed areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as Nepalese territories. India reacted, stating that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claim is untenable.
Last week, in Nepalese firing an Indian was killed along the border with India’s Bihar state.
Rakesh Sood, who was Indian Ambassador to Nepal from 2008 to 2011, told a national news agency, Press Trust of India, that both sides have allowed the relationship to come to a “very very dangerous point” and that India should have found time to engage with Kathmandu as it pressed for talks on the issue since November.
“I think we have displayed a lack of sensitivity, and now the Nepalese have dug themselves deeper into the hole from which they will find it difficult to come out,” he said.