Ruling CPN (Unified Socialist) condemns Indian PM Modi’s remarks that India is further expanding the illegally-constructed road to Lipulekh

KATHMANDU, Jan 10: The ruling CPN (Unified Socialist) party has protested against the recent remarks of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Indian government is further expanding the road to the Lipulekh area — a Nepali territory currently under Indian control. 

Issuing a press statement on Monday, Chief of International Department of CPN (Unified Socialist) Jhala Nath Khanal said his party's attention has been drawn to the recent statement of Indian Prime Minister Modi that the road being illegally built in the Nepali territory of Lipulekh is being further widened. 

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“The Indian government knows very well that the area of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura are the sovereign territories of Nepal. Any development activity conducted there without consultation of the Nepal government is totally illegal and it is a flagrant violation of our territorial integrity and national sovereignty,” said the press statement. 

Former Prime Minister Khanal in the statement has also said that his party strongly condemns the ongoing road construction violating Nepal’s territorial integrity and provocative statements on the part of the Indian leaders. “We would like to request the government of Nepal to take necessary measures to protect our territory on the border,” the statement reads further.

Addressing an election rally organized by his party, Bharatiya Janata Party, in Haldwani area in Uttarakhand on December 30, Prime Minister Modi had announced that his government was further widening the road built in the Nepali territory of Lipulekh. Nepal has already protested the Indian government’s ongoing construction of roads in Lipulekh and Kalapani area. 

Arguing that these territories fall in Nepal as per the Sugauli Treaty that defines Nepal’s western border with India, Nepali parliament last year included Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in its political map. 

Earlier, Chairman of People’s Front Nepal Chitra Bahadur KC also condemned the remarks of Indian Prime Minister Modi that his government was working to further expand the road that leads to Lipulekh.