Participation in Hash Tag Campaign to pressurise the Government regarding resolving border issue

The Indian Government on October 31, 2019 published a new political map of India that incorporated the state of Ladakh into the Indian territory. The new geographical map of India, however, has triggered widespread national outrage in Nepal, which alleges the Indian officials of encroaching Kalapani, which is an integral part annexed to Nepal. The Government of Nepal, has been in denial of the new map issued by India and has been assuring its public that diplomatic efforts with the Indian officials are underway to resolve the matter. Meanwhile, the issue that has been prevalent for a long time has resurfaced once again after India inaugurated a road through the Nepali territory on Friday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), after the map was published, in November, 2019, in response to the new map issued by India, has twice published statements addressing the Indian government proposing dates to hold bilateral meetings between foreign secretaries of the two countries as representatives. The Indian side has not responded yet and as a result, no diplomatic discussions have been held between the two nations to resolve the issue.

A day after Nepal strongly objected to the recently-released Indian political map at a press meet held at the ministry, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar claimed that the Indian map has accurately depicted the sovereign territory of India.

Later, in May 2020, Rajnath Singh, the Defence Minister of India inaugurated a road that connects Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass in Sudurpaschim .

This action led to vehement protests in Kathmandu, on Saturday, 24 May,2020 from Nepali students demanding the government to address the issue and make the public aware about the government’s response.

As a campaign to pressurise the government regarding resolving kalapani border issue, we friends and family members decided to conduct Hash Tag campaign due to lock down during COVID-19 pandemic.