Foreign Minister NP Saud has said that political consensus is needed to resolve boundary disputes with India.

Speaking at a function in Kathmandu on Monday on the occasion of 75th Republic Day of India, Minister Saud said once the administrative-level mechanism completes its work on the ground, boundary disputes with India should be resolved through political consensus.

Nepal and India had formed the Boundary Working Group (BWG) in 2014 in order to restore broken or missing boundary pillars and repair the damaged ones, and to clear the no-man’s land. This would be done by leaving aside the disputed Kalapani and Susta areas. Although the meeting of the BWG has not met since 2019, the district administrations and security officials of Nepal and India have been carrying out mandated works in border areas.

There should be a political consensus for resolving the boundary disputes that remain unresolved at the bureaucratic level, said the foreign minister, adding that the BWG should convene to discuss the disputes.

“Once the administrative mechanism [BWG] is activated, neighbours should sit together and diplomatically resolve differences based on facts, proofs, and evidence,” claimed Saud.

Formed during the first visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kathmandu, the BWG held its last meeting in India in August 2019.

Nepal has since written to India several times calling for resumption of the BWG meeting, but the Indian side is yet to respond, said a senior official at the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation.

During the fifth meeting of the BWG in Kathmandu, Nepal and India had set a 2022 target to complete the remaining works on the border. Lack of progress was blamed on the Covid pandemic.

“Instead of the BWG, India seems more interested in working through the district mechanisms constituted at the chief district officer and district magistrate levels,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Land Management.

“They seem to be bypassing the BWG, which operates at the level of the director general of the Department of Survey and the Surveyor General of India.”

During the recent Nepal visit of Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, representatives from the two countries had committed to resolving the disputes through dialogue, Saud added.

Nepal and India have already reached agreement on 182 strip maps of Nepal-India border excluding the disputed Susta and Kalapani areas, but they are yet to be officially approved as Nepal has been insisting on signing them only after resolving the disputes in Susta and Kalapani. The strip maps were prepared using the global positioning system (GPS).

“Our relations with India go beyond official diplomatic channels and no one can tamper with them,” he said. “Since talks have resumed at the diplomatic level for the resolution of the boundary dispute, there are no more issues with India.”

Kiran Shah of the CPN-UML, Narayan Dahal of the CPN (Maoist Center), Rekha Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party, and Nepali Congress leader Tarini Dutta Chauthat, who spoke at the function organised by Nepal-India Maitri Sangh on Monday, hailed the good relations with India. They asserted that no one can tamper with these relations built on a solid foundation and nurtured by the peoples of both countries.

The Department of Survey data shows Nepal and India have installed 8,554 pillars along the border. Of these, 1,325 are missing and 1,956 are damaged or partially-damaged. Under the BWG, there are two mechanisms—Survey Officials’ Committee and Joint Field Survey Teams— in order to conduct field visits and provide technical inputs to the BWG. The meetings of these mechanisms have also stalled since 2019, said the official at the ministry of land management.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy Prasanna Srivastava said Nepal-India ties have been progressing for years and 2023 marked a milestone in bilateral ties.

Nepal is the priority country in India’s ‘neighbourhood first’ policy, he said. “Last year, both countries made good progress in areas like political, economic, trade, development partnership, and agreed to work together to achieve economic progress.” He also highlighted visits from both the sides and agreements reached on various sectors.

“During the India visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and his talks with Prime Minister Modi, there had been several important decisions on infrastructure, connectivity and energy. While pursuing these decisions, at the invitation of foreign minister of Nepal, the external affairs minister of India also visited Nepal… Last year, India handed over more than 100 various reconstruction projects to Nepal,” he said.

Srivastava said India and Nepal are also closely working in several international forums and issues including the South-South Cooperation among the developing countries in the Global South.