Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Sunday called on China and the United Kingdom to participate in efforts to resolve the long-standing border dispute with India, even as he asserted that Nepal had “encroached” on Indian territory.
The 36-year-old rapper-turned-politician made the remarks while answering questions from lawmakers in Parliament. India and Nepal are locked in a long-standing dispute over the Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani regions, and New Delhi rejected Kathmandu’s claim to the region earlier this month.
Shah responded to a question from a parliamentarian about India and China’s plans to conduct border trade through Lipulekh and Limpiadura by saying that this issue should be resolved through diplomatic means at the negotiating table.
Shah, speaking in Nepali in televised remarks, said Nepal had sent an official diplomatic note to India regarding these areas and received a response from New Delhi, stating that the two governments should form teams consisting of historians, surveyors and experts familiar with the area and seek a solution through talks.
Shah said that in addition to discussions with India, Nepal is also in touch with China and Britain regarding the border issue.
“Since this problem dates back to the time when British India left the region, it is our view that England should be involved in this matter,” he said.
There was no immediate response from Indian officials to Shah’s statements. The areas claimed by Nepal lie along the border between India and China, which plan to resume border trade through the Lipulekh corridor from the first week of June after a gap of nearly six years.
Shah responded to a separate question in Parliament by saying that India was not the only one that had encroached on Nepal’s territory. “After I became Prime Minister, I realized that not only India had encroached on Nepal’s territory, but Nepal had also encroached on India’s territory at multiple places,” he said. “Both sides need to sit down and consider this issue.”
Earlier this month, the Nepal government sent diplomatic notes to India and China objecting to the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route passing through the Lipulekh Pass, which Kathmandu claims as its territory.
In response, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India maintains that Nepal’s territorial claims are “neither justified nor based on historical facts and evidence,” and that such “unilateral artificial expansion of territorial claims is indefensible.”
Jaiswal also expressed India’s desire to have a “constructive interaction” with Nepal on resolving the outstanding border issues through dialogue and diplomacy.
The pilgrimage via the Lipulekh Pass has also been undertaken in 2025 and will take place from June to August this year.
