Nepal PM Balen Shah Prepares for India Visit Amid Border Dispute Discussions

Kathmandu. Preparations for Prime Minister Balendra (Balen) Shah's visit to India are intensifying. Both Nepal and India are advancing preparations for the visit from their respective sides.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is arriving in Nepal on May 11. He is coming to Nepal to extend an invitation for Prime Minister Balen's visit to India. It is said that he will hand over an invitation letter from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Prime Minister Balen during his two-day stay in Nepal.

However, Indian Prime Minister Modi had already congratulated Balen on his appointment as Prime Minister and invited him to visit India. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal had publicly stated that Prime Minister Balen had accepted Modi's invitation. While Minister Khanal was in Mauritius, he stated after meeting with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar that Prime Minister Balen would visit India.

Subsequently, Nepal's Ambassador to India, Dr. Shankar Sharma, also stated that Prime Minister Balen would visit India. Indian Foreign Secretary Misri is coming to Nepal for the formal process. An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that he is coming to Nepal to formally invite Prime Minister Balen.

It is not yet decided whether Foreign Secretary Misri will personally meet Prime Minister Balen to extend the invitation or if it will be conveyed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his Nepal visit, Misri is scheduled to meet Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai, Foreign Minister Khanal, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle, and some other ministers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nepal are preparing his two-day itinerary.

During Misri's visit, a review will also be conducted on the progress of the implementation of agreements reached between the two countries. For this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been holding inter-ministerial discussions. The South Asia Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing for this.

It is reported that Foreign Minister Khanal will visit India after Misri's visit. Sources said that the date of his visit will be finalized after Indian Foreign Secretary Misri's visit.

Officials say that the date of Balen's visit will be fixed only after Foreign Minister Khanal returns from his India visit. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri informed that preliminary preparations for the Prime Minister's India visit have begun.

Interest in the Visit

As discussions about Prime Minister Balen's visit to India began, interest in the border dispute has increased. After a new map including the Nepali territories of Lumbini and Kapilvastu was placed in India's parliament building, the then Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balen, placed a map of Greater Nepal in his office.

He had also postponed his scheduled visit to China citing that Nepal's new map was not recognized. When the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was about to visit India, he advised Oli through social media to discuss Nepal's new map.

With Balen himself preparing to visit India as Prime Minister, there is growing interest in how he will raise these issues.

Lipulekh Controversy

India and China have already agreed to resume border trade via Lipulekh Pass, which is Nepali territory. This trade is expected to begin in June.

Nepal had diplomatically refuted the agreement between India and China through a press note. India and China are about to start border trade via Lipulekh, a territory that belongs to Nepal. Nepal has already included this territory in its map. India and China had previously agreed to make this territory a trade route between the two countries. Nepal had protested against this.

Despite Nepal's disagreement, India included Lipulekh and Kalapani in its new map issued in November 2019. There was significant protest against India at that time as well.

Subsequently, Nepal revised its map to include Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura, and it was passed by a full majority in parliament. The Nepali government issued that map in June 2020. At that time, India did not accept the map, and China also did not provide any reaction.

Instead, China, in its '2023 Standard Map' issued on August 28, 2023, included Nepal's old map. Nepal did not react to this.

Then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had raised this issue during his bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to China in the second week of August, as informed by Foreign Ministry Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai to media personnel.

A week after Oli returned, the Janji movement occurred in Nepal, and Oli resigned from the post of Prime Minister. After the elections were completed on February 21, a government was formed under Balen's leadership. There is much interest in how the Balen government will resolve the border dispute with India.