Kathmandu: Nepal’s Parliament on Saturday unanimously voted to amend the Constitution to update the country’s new political map, laying claim over the strategically key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura along the border with India.
Major Opposition parties including Nepali Congress (NC), Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) voted in favour of the government bill to amend Schedule 3 of the Constitution to update the national emblem by incorporating the new controversial map.
A two-thirds majority was required in the 275-member House of Representatives or the lower house to pass the bill.
On June 9, 2020, the Parliament unanimously endorsed a proposal to consider the Constitution amendment bill to pave way for endorsing the new political map amid the border row with India.
Now, the bill will be sent to the National Assembly where it will undergo a similar process.
The ruling Nepal Communist Party commands two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.
The NA will have to give lawmakers 72 hours to move amendments against the bill’s provisions, if any. After the National Assembly passes the bill, it will be submitted to the President for authentication, after which the bill will be incorporated in the Constitution.
The government on Wednesday formed a nine-member team of experts to collect historical facts and evidence related to the area.
Diplomats and experts, however, questioned the government’s move, asking why the task force was formed when the map has already been released and approved by the Cabinet.
The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.
Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.
Nepal last month released the revised political and administrative map of the country laying claim over the strategically key areas.
India has been maintaining that these three areas belonged to it.
India sternly asked Nepal not to resort to any “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims after Kathmandu released the new map. (PTI)
Nepal frees detained Indian
Kathmandu: Nepal’s border guarding force on Saturday released the Indian national who was detained for allegedly trying to snatch a weapon from one of their personnel during an altercation which sparked tension on the Indo-Nepal border along Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, an official said.
The Nepalese Armed Police Force (NAPF) also returned the body of 27-year-old Bikesh Kumar Rai, who was shot by the force during the altercation.
The NAPF on Friday opened fire on a crowd killing Rai and injuring two others and detained 45-year-old Lagan Yadav after the incident along the southern border.
The NAPF released Yadav and handed him over to the Indian Security Forces at the no man’s land at the Nayanapur Border Point, My Republica newspaper reported.
“We have released the Indian national who was arrested and the dead body has also been handed over,” Nepal’s Chief District Officer Mohan Bahadur was quoted as saying in the report.
The local government, the Nepali security personnel and the Indian security forces reached an agreement on Saturday morning, it said.
Earlier, security personnel of Nepal and India stepped up security along the border and spent the night at the incident site.
Several locals and representatives of the government were also present, the report said.
Giving details about the incident at Sitamarhi district, 134 kms from Patna, Kumar Rajesh Chandra, Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a force looking after the 1,751 km India-Nepal frontier, said in New Delhi on Friday that the incident took place around 8:40 am “deep inside Nepalese territory”.
According to Indian officials, as per preliminary reports obtained from locals, there were protests after the APF troops objected to the presence of Indians in their area in violation of the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nepal has announced a lockdown in the area till June 14. The bordering districts on both sides of the border maintain contacts and in the absence of any fence, people move around to meet their family members, they said.
The objection raised by the APF resulted in a heated argument and it is alleged that the Indian people called other villagers and indulged in stone pelting on the Nepalese APF at Narayanpur area of Parsa Rural Municipality in Sarlahi district in southern Nepal.
APF Additional Inspector General of Police Narayan Babu Thapa told PTI in Kathmandu that “they even snatched weapons from one of our security men. After firing ten rounds of bullets in the air, our personnel had to open fire for self-defence in which one person was killed and two others were injured”. (PTI)