Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clarified that Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s remarks in Parliament on Sunday that Nepal has also encroached on India’s land referred to cross-border land use and encroachment of the no-man’s-land area known as the Dasgaja.
Responding to media queries, foreign ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Paudel Chhetri said on Sunday evening that the Prime Minister’s comments were related to cross-border occupation.
The clarification came after Shah’s remarks in the House of Representatives drew public criticism. Responding to lawmakers’ questions regarding India’s occupation of Lipulekh and other disputed Nepali territories, the Prime Minister had said Nepal was pursuing a diplomatic solution to the long-standing border dispute with India. “Just as India has encroached on Nepali land, Nepal has also encroached on India’s land,” Shah said.
Explaining the context of the statement, Chhetri said that the Nepal-India boundary follows the fixed boundary principle in river-border areas, creating circumstances in which people from one country may farm or live on land across the international border. “Bilateral border mechanisms and technical teams from both countries have been working to systematically and scientifically map the long Nepal-India border, including the construction and maintenance of border pillars, documentation of encroachment in the Dasgaja area, and the collection of records on cross-border occupation,” Chhetri said in the statement.
According to the ministry, technical-level work that had remained stalled for a long period has now resumed in border areas. “The technical committee’s studies have shown that in some places land currently being used and occupied by Nepal may actually fall on the Indian side, while land presently used and occupied by India may fall within Nepal,” the statement said. “The Prime Minister’s reference to the possibility that some Indian land may be on the Nepali side was linked to these technical findings and the issue of cross-border occupation rather than Nepal’s official position on unresolved territorial disputes.”
Chhetri also said the government is committed to resolving border-related issues with India through diplomatic dialogue based on historical treaties, agreements and maps, in line with the spirit of the close relationship between the two countries.
