(TibetanReview.net, Oct19’20) – There is no border dispute between Nepal and China; but that is the official position on both the sides not supported by the ground reality. Prominent leader of the opposition Nepali Congress Mr Jeevan Bahadur Shahi has come out in public to expose the fact about China’s encroachment of Nepali territory in Humla, reported zeenews.india.com Oct 18.
Speaking in an interview with the Himalaya Television channel Shahi has said China had constructed buildings on Nepali land in Humla and had occupied the area. He has also said China was rapidly erecting more and more constructions in the adjoining areas, crossing the border pillar 12 of the international boundary between the two countries.
He has said the constructions were being carried out in the guise of maintenance and without informing the Nepali authorities.
He has said Chinese officials working on constructions not only refused to heed request and arguments of the locals of Humla but also chased away local Nepalis grazing their herds in an area they had roamed thus since time immemorial.
Shahi has added that since there was a lack of infrastructure in Humla, China was using constructions as bait to lure the local population and establish its hegemony over the area.
He has also argued that the land of Lapcha in Humla, from where the sacred Mansarovar lake was easily visible, had also been occupied by China.
He has accused the ruling Nepali Communist Party (NCP) of having ‘surrendered’ the land to China.
Shahi was also reported to have told have Nepali Radio Network that the Assistant Chief District Officer (CDO) of Humla had already submitted a report that China had constructed nine buildings around border pillar number 12 of Nepali Land in Humla.
But even before the return of inspection teams of Nepal’s Armed Police Force and the Nepali Army, along with the CDO, Nepal’s foreign minister, Pradeep Gyawali, gave a clean chit to China, claiming there was no border dispute with China at all.
Shahi has alleged that the assistant CDO was sacked from his post for reporting land encroachment by China and his report was manipulated by the Nepali Home Ministry.
The report said that as soon as the interviews with Shahi were aired over Nepali media, Prime Minister KP Oli discussed strategies with his coterie on ways to overcome embarrassment over the issue at the domestic as well as international front.
The ruling pro-China NCP is seen to be likely to resort to deviate the attention of the Nepali citizens by spreading propaganda against ‘occupation’ of Nepali land by India. This was stated to be evident on Oct 15, when under PM Oli’s instructions, 21 leftist political parties gathered in Kathmandu to protest against Nepali land allegedly ‘encroached’ by India and get it back on the basis of recent map issues by the Nepali government.
The media in Nepal have recently reported on Chinese encroachment in at least seven Nepali districts.
