Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday said that the new map of India that had been issued on November last year fully depicts its sovereign territory and has not revised its boundary with Nepal.
He made the assertion on being asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed the Kalapani border issue with his Nepal counterpart KP Sharma Oli during their telephonic conversation on Wednesday.
Modi on Wednesday had a telephonic conversation with top leaders of Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives during which he conveyed New Year greetings to them.
Moreover, discussions regarding cooperation among the countries were also held during the telephonic conversations.
Speaking to media on Thursday, Kumar said, “Our map accurately depicts the sovereign territory of India. The new map has in no manner revised our boundary with Nepal.”
He also said that the Kalapani border issue between India and Nepal would be solved soon through a friendly dialogue between the two countries.
It may be mentioned that India and Nepal have been at loggerheads after the former released fresh maps following the declaration of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as two of its separate union territories.
The fresh maps showed the Kalapani area as a part of the country.
Nepal had then hit out at India claiming that the historic Kalapani area belongs to the former and accused the latter of ‘illegally occupying’ its territory.
“The Nepal government firmly believes that the Kalapani is a part of Nepal,” Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said in a statement.
However, India claimed that Kalapani has always been a part of India.
Nepal’s senior political leaders, including former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had earlier said Oli should take up the matter with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and seek to resolve the matter by forming a political commission.