Nepal Postpones Updating Contentious Map With India

The discussion to amend Nepal’s constitution to update the country’s map, earlier slated for Wednesday, now has been taken out of schedule.

Nepal’s House of Representatives was scheduled to hold the discussion in the Parliament for the amendment, which has already been delayed for some time as parties decided to seek a national consensus on the matter.

As per schedule published by Parliament Secretariat regarding the meeting on Wednesday, Law Minister Shivamaya Tumbahamphe will table the proposal at 2 p.m. (local time).

The government had registered an amendment proposal in Parliament on May 22 after releasing a new political map of Nepal depicting Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limipiyadhura as its territories on May 18. The map was released in response to New Delhi opening a road to link India via Lipulekh with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

As the constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday evening called on all-party-meeting to forge consensus to pass the proposal unanimously.

But the leaders of Madhesh based parties have been pressing on the government to include their demands along with the proposal to amend the charter.

“We also want our long-time demands to be addressed but no satisfactory answer has been provided so far. Instead, PM Oli termed it as an issue purely associated with the national sentiment of the people,” a senior leader from Janata Samajbadi Party informed ANI seeking anonymity.

The ruling Nepal Communist Party commands a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, but it needs support from other parties to get the Constitution amendment proposal through the Lower House, as it falls short of around 10 seats.

The Nepali Congress, which has supported the government’s move of releasing the new map, however, has said the constitution amendment proposal needs discussion in the party.

ANI