Nepal protests Kailash Mansarovar Yatra route via Lipulekh

Nepal has objected to India and China’s plan to conduct the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Lipulekh Pass, asserting that the territory belongs to Kathmandu under the 1816 Sugauli Treaty.

Kathmandu: Nepal on Sunday objected to India and China planning to conduct the upcoming Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Lipulekh Pass, claiming that it is Kathmandu’s territory.

In a statement, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said that Kathmandu was not consulted before finalising the route for the pilgrimage.

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New Delhi has been maintaining that Lipulekh belongs to it.

Nepal’s objection to the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra came days after India announced that it would be held between June and August.

“The Nepal government is clear and fully committed to its stand that Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, lying in the East of the Mahakali river are its inseparable territories based on the Sugauli Treaty of 1816,” the foreign ministry said in the statement posted on social media.

“The Nepalese government has reiterated its clear stand to both India and China regarding the Kailash-Mansarovar tour to be organised via Nepalese territory, Lipulekh,” it said.

Earlier, the Nepalese government had also requested the government of India not to conduct activities such as road construction, expansion, border trade and pilgrimage in the area, it said.

The statement added that the Nepalese government has also informed China about it.

“The Nepal government is always committed to resolving the border issue through diplomatic channels based on historical agreement, understanding, facts, maps and proofs in view of close and friendly relations existing between Nepal and India,” the ministry said.

Nepal claims that Lipulekh and Kalapani are its territories, whereas India maintains that the territories belong to it.

Nepal’s K.P. Oli-led government in May 2020 included the territories, including Kalapani and Lipulekh, in its official map.

The move came after India inaugurated an 80-km road linking Dharchula to the Lipulekh Pass—a route to the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage site in Tibet. Nepal protested the road’s inauguration as what it called India’s “unilateral act”.

On April 30, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi announced that the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is set to take place from June to August this year via two routes — Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and Nathu La in Sikkim.

The pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region holds religious significance to Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists.

The yatra resumed last year after a gap of nearly five years as part of efforts to normalise the relations between India and China.