The ruling Nepal Communist Party said on Saturday that its attention has been drawn to India’s move of opening a link road via Lipulekh.

“[Our] serious attention has been drawn to the ‘inauguration’ by India of a link road to Lipulekh of Nepal via Nepali territory,” said the ruling party in a statement signed by chairs KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

The ruling party said the action has undermined Nepal’s sovereignty.

India’s Ministry of Defence announced on Friday that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the link road from Dharchula to Lipulekh, identifying Lipulekh as the “China border”.

“Raksha Mantri today inaugurated the Link Road from Dharchula to Lipulekh (China Border) famously known as Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra Route,” the Indian Defence Ministry tweeted on Friday.

The ruling party statement follows the Ministry of Foreign Affairs objection to India’s move of opening the road via Lipulekh, which Nepal claims as its own territory.

“The Nepal Communist Party believes in good neighbourly relations between Nepal and India based on the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual respect and benefit,” said the party. “All historical facts and evidence, including the Sugauli Treaty, clearly stipulate that the areas east of Kalli (Mahakali) River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh are territories of Nepal.”

Lipulekh is a strip of land on the northwestern edge of Nepal, lodged between Nepal, India and Tibet. While some call it a tri-junction between these three countries, Nepal has been claiming the southern part of the pass and has refused to recognise it as a tri-junction.

India and China had in 2015 agreed to expand a trade route via Lipulekh, prompting Nepal to take the issue up both with Delhi and Beijing, saying the territory belongs to Nepal.

The party said it notes that the same fact was reiterated by Nepal on May 15, 2015 in response to the inclusion of the Lipulekh pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent in the joint statement issued during the official visit of the prime minister of India to China.

But in November 2019, India published a new map in line with Delhi’s decision to split up Jammu and Kashmir as federal territories, which showed Kalapani within Indian borders, prompting uproar in Nepal.

After rising public furore, Nepal had sought a date from Delhi to hold talks, only to receive a cold shoulder.

“The NCP is aware of the initiative taken by the government of Nepal by proposing dates for the meeting o foreign secretaries who have been mandated by the leaders of the two countries to resolve boundary issues through diplomatic means taking into consideration the age-old friendly ties between the two countries,” said party in the statement. “The current unilateral action has come contrary to Nepal’s repeated requests for resolving the boundary issues through an established mechanism as agreed upon by the two governments at the highest political level.”

The ruling party said it urges governments of Nepal and India to immediately take necessary initiatives to resolve all the boundary issues through diplomatic means as per the understanding reached between the two sides.

“The NCP calls for immediate halting of the road construction work in that area by India and urges it to refrain from carrying out any activity that will further complicate the matter,” reads the statement.