Nepal Dy PM signals negotiations on disputed boundary days after currency note

New Delhi: Days after the decision to issue currency notes with a map that depicts disputed territories with India, Nepal Deputy Prime Minister and minister for foreign affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha has signalled negotiations and said Kathmandu was in favour of resolving the row through diplomatic means.

“We want to resolve the boundary issue with India,” Shrestha said in Kathmandu on Monday. “We want to fix it through diplomatic means and through talks. We are taking an initiative for this.”

On Saturday, external affairs minister S Jaishankar stated that Nepal’s move would not change the situation or the reality on the ground. “Our position is very clear. With Nepal, we are having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform,” Jaishankar said. “In the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side.”


Sources told ET that it was political opportunism that marked Nepal’s decision to print a new Rs 100 currency note with a map that showed the controversial territories of Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, already termed as “artificial enlargement” and “untenable” by India.

A section in the Nepalese government also expressed surprise with the timing of the announcement on the currency note. Kathmandu-based sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told ET that the move for the proposal (to publish the new 100-rupee note with the new map) in the country’s Cabinet was known to only a handful.

Sources claimed that there was not enough discussion and consultation prior to making the decision. The sources also questioned the timing of this move at a time when India is in elections and negotiations are ongoing.

Indo-Nepal boundary negotiations are yet to be settled and India maintains Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to it. Nepal shares a border of over 1,850 km with Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, UP and Uttarakhand. The Kalapani border dispute is a thorny issue, despite an upswing in ties over the last three years including launch of power trade.