A study panel of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Nepal has revealed that expansionist China is encroaching upon the territory of Nepal along the Nepal-China border in Humla district. The report claimed that the Chinese side put up wires and fencing in the Nepali land and also tried constructing a permanent canal 145 meters inside the Nepali territory to build a road. The structures were destroyed following the objection of Nepal’s Armed Police Force. The report has alerted the Nepal government that China is violating the 1963 Boundary Protocol between the two nations and steps to be taken to resolve the border dispute.
The report, submitted to Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand recently, identifies several problems near the Nepal-China border in Humla. In August, the Ministry of Home Affairs of Nepal had formed a six-member panel headed by Joint Secretary Jay Narayan Acharya to probe and report the land encroachment in Humla.
Jay Narayan Acharya has suggested in his report that the Nepal government should deploy a joint inspection group, inspection committee, and form an expert team to resolve the boundary issue with China. The panel was formed amid media reports in Nepal claiming Communist China is systematically grabbing the territory of this Himalayan nation in Humla district and has also erected new boundary pillars. The Nepal Democratic Youth Association and many other outfits also staged protests against land encroachment by China.
The Kathmandu Post, a leading newspaper of Nepal, reported that Jay Narayan Acharya pointed out problems from pillar numbers 4 to 13 in the report. The report has urged the government to include border issues in Nepal’s state policy for a long-lasting solution. “Such sensitive and bilateral matters related to the border need to be addressed through a permanent mechanism, but it is found that no such initiative has been taken,” the report states.
Exposing China, the report says that under the 1963 Boundary Protocol, the area from pillar number 5 (2) to the middle of the Kit Khola is marked as the boundary between the two countries and the territory belongs to Nepal. But the panel found the territory was illegally claimed by China where it put up fencing and constructed a tunnel.
There are as many as 10 border posts separating the border between Nepal and China in the Humla district and not a single post left which China has not either altered or tried to do. The panel is stated to have visited boundary pillars namely 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and gathered reports of other posts. The panel found the Chinese side having fenced and wired pillar 6 (1) which falls in the Nepali territory. It has been done to show its presence in the areas between pillar 6 (1) and pillar 5 (2). Again the pillar 7(2), on the Chinese side was missing. The Chinese side has erected fences towards pillar 10, which is 32 meters from Nepal-China common pillar 9(2). Nepali citizens are prevented from grazing their cattle in the areas between pillar 5 (2) and pillar 4.
The panel also visited Lapcha Bhanjyang with Pillar No. 12 where China has built as many as nine buildings in the village of Nepal. A local village council Vishnu Bahadur Lama had alarmed the government of Nepal about China grabbing a village in the country.
However, people and politicians of Nepal have been warning that China has a dangerous agenda to occupy the territory of Nepal. Last year Nepali Congress MP from Karnali Province, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi had led a team to investigate the encroachment of Nepal’s land in Humla. But the then Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli of the Nepal Communist Party was under influence of China. He remained busy in the anti-India campaign along with China instead of protecting the sovereignty of his nation. In his report, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi had accused China of encroaching on the territory of Nepal in Humla.
He said that eight pillars on Humla’s northern border were damaged or altered, namely Pillars No 9, 10, 11, 12, 5 (1), 6 (1), 7 (1) and 8 (1), and 12 to grab a large chunk of Nepal’s land. Chinese security personnel had even pelted stones on personnel of the Armed Police Force of Nepal when they went to inspect Pillars 6(1) and 5(1).