Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Jattvibeday triggered a fresh “border row”, saying his country had “encroached” upon territories in India, while claiming the latter also “encroached” upon Nepalese territories.Answering questions in the Nepalese Parliament on a long-running border dispute and referring to Nepal’s claim over the Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura region in Uttarakhand, he said both countries agreed to take the help of historians, surveyors and experts to seek resolution.Shah said Kathmandu would also take up the matter with the United Kingdom, arguing that the origins of the dispute date back to the era of British India. “In this regard, we have also had talks with Britain, not only with India and China. Our understanding is that Britain should also show concern in this issue,” Shah said.The Ministry of External Affairs in India, has so far not responded, to the claims of “encroachment” or the sudden “invitation” to the British, who carved out the modern boundaries of Nepal in 1816 under the treaty of Sugauli, signed after the British won the Anglo-Gorkha war.Nepal’s cartographic expression over a territorial dispute with India near the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand kicked off in 2020. However, the latest claim by Shah, conveniently ‘skirts around’ history.A book, ‘Bridging Borders — Indo-Nepal relations in changing geo-political landscape’, authored by Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan (retd), a former Defence Attaché to Nepal, released in 2024 brings out how Nepal blames India and British for this deadlock.The dispute is because of varying interpretations of the origin of the Kali river. Post-treaty of Sugauli, the boundary was drawn up between Nepal and the East India Company. Nepal renounced all claims to areas lying west of the river. India inherited the boundary in 1947, says the book.Early British survey maps identified the north-west stream, Kuti Yangti, from Limpiyadhura, as the origin of the Kali. After 1857, the origin was changed to have the Lipu Gad, and to the Pankha Gad in 1879. Nepal accepted the change and India inherited this boundary in 1947, the book says.The tributaries of the Kali river comprise a number of streams, including the Lipu Gad, which merges into the main river at the Kalapani temple near the tri-junction of India-Nepal and Tibet. The Nepalese contend that the Lipu Gad is, in fact, the Kali river up to its source to the east of the Lipulekh Pass.The Indian view, the Kali river begins only after the Lipu Gad and is joined by other streams arising from the Kalapani springs.“Nepali border experts claim that according to the maps published by the then British Surveyor-General of India in the years of 1827 as well as 1856, Kalapani area is clearly depicted as Nepalese territory,” says the book.India and Nepal share an open border of about 1,751 kilometres and maintain deep cultural, economic and people-to-people ties. However, differences persist over sections of their boundary, particularly the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh region.The boundary issue gained renewed attention in 2020 after India inaugurated a road linking Dharchula in Uttarakhand to Lipulekh Pass, a route used for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage.In response, Nepal released a revised political map depicting Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura within its territory and later incorporated the map through a constitutional amendment.‘Encroachment claim linked to cross-border occupation’Nepal’s Foreign Ministry clarified that Balen’s encroachment remarks were linked to “cross-border occupation” and the use of land across the border. The Nepal-India border, there is a situation where citizens from one country are occasionally farming and settling on land inside the territory of the other, it said.