Amid reluctance from India to receive the report by the Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG), Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said his government is in regular talks with the southern neighbour about accepting it.

Answering lawmakers’ queries in the House of Representatives on Thursday, Oli said that Nepal had been raising the issue at every high-level meetings and diplomatic engagements. “We are making conscious efforts to resolve the matter,” he said.

In a question-answer session with the prime minister, Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Buddhi Man Tamang asked why he could not receive the report if India continues to refuse it. Oli replied that Nepal was always ready to receive it but the EPG’s decision was to first submit its report to the Indian prime minister.

“It is not possible for one country to receive and implement it unilaterally. The EPG, after two years of study, has made recommendations to be implemented to resolve the problems [between two countries] without affecting the ties between the two nations and ensuring that no country is treated unjustly,” said Oli.

In 2016, Nepal and India had formed an eight-member panel of eminent persons from both countries to review bilateral relations in their entirety and suggest the way forward.

The peace and friendship treaty of 1950, which Nepal claims is unequal, was among the other issues taken up in the panel’s deliberations. The group prepared a joint report in July 2018 but has failed to submit it to the authorities after the Indian side’s reluctance to receive it. The committee led by Bhekh Bahadur Thapa from Nepal side and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari from India was constituted as per an agreement between Oli and his counterpart Narendra Modi.

Despite repeated requests from Nepal, the Modi administration is reluctant to receive the report. The Indian side reportedly is not happy as Nepal continues to raise the matter on various platforms.

In his second question, Tamang satirically asked if Oli had any plans to visit Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani areas which are included in Nepal’s national map but continue to be occupied by India.

Oli said, “I don’t have any plans now but it can happen in the future.”

The prime minister said Nepal’s current map is the same as it was before 1962, and these areas were always under Nepal’s jurisdiction. "The map we have now was the same as before. So, why was the map of Nepal changed, and who changed it? Everyone knows the answer. This issue will be resolved through diplomatic negotiations,” he said.

Through the second amendment to the Constitution of Nepal, the federal parliament included the disputed areas in the national map in June 2020. Then the Oli government had moved ahead with the amendment process.

During the question-answer session, Oli reiterated his government’s commitment to concluding the remaining tasks of the peace process, resolving border disputes with India through diplomatic means, and enhancing trade relations with China.

Answering the queries from Bimala Subedi of the CPN (Maoist Centre), the prime minister reiterated his commitment to ensuring justice for the conflict victims and completing the remaining tasks of the peace process.

“The government is determined to ensure that conflict victims and their families receive justice without any further delay,” said Oli. “I am trying to contact Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Maoist Centre chair). Once I manage to talk to him, the stalled transitional justice process will move ahead.”

If the claim from Oli’s secretariat is anything to go by, there was an understanding for holding a tripartite meeting between Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Dahal on Monday, but Dahal didn’t show up saying he was not in the Valley. The next day he left for Chitwan without heeding the call.

The meeting is likely after he returns to Kathmandu on Sunday.

Nepal accomplished some of the key tasks of the peace process such as the management of arms and then rebel Maoist fighters but the task of providing justice to the conflict victims remains unfinished.