CPN General Secretary Netra Bikram Chand has called adoption of the Constitution amendment bill to implement the new map including areas of Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh a step forward in national interest.
Issuing a statement on Sunday, Chand has lauded the act pointing India has been occupying the territory for 58 years. "The KP Oli government under pressure has been forced to pass the map including those parts in the map on June 13, 2020," Chand has said in the statement. "The government nevertheless through this decision of House has taken at least a step forward in national interest."
Chand has also urged the government to soon send back Indian troops from Kalapani through diplomatic and political initiative, and to bring the territory under direct ownership of Nepal.
The House of Representatives (HoR) on Saturday unanimously adopted the Constitution amendment bill to implement the new map.
Speaker Agni Sapkota presented the bill to the House for voting. A total of 258 lawmakers signed in support of the bill while no one opposed it. Nobody abstained. Twelve lawmakers were not present in the House during the voting.
The government on May 20 published the new map including Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura. The territorial area of Nepal has increased by 335 square kilometers with inclusion of the territory up to Limpyadhura.
The government then registered the Constitution amendment bill to amend the schedule of the Constitution, wherein the map in the coat of arms does not include the territory including Limpiyadhura, to implement the new map.
Law Minister Shiva Maya Tungbahamphe had presented the bill to the House on May 31. Deliberation on the bill started Tuesday afternoon. A total of 84 lawmakers spoke on the bill. The lawmakers were then given 72 hours to lodge amendment proposal on the bill and the deadline expired at 8:30 Friday evening.
Socialist Party lawmaker Sarita Giri was the only one to lodge an amendment proposal against the bill and she did not took it back despite being instructed by her party to withdraw her proposal with a warning of action.
Speaker Agni Sapkota stepping on clauses 112(b and c) of the House of Representatives (HoR) regulations rejected the proposal. Any amendment proposal should not be against the inherent principles of the bill, and should not be unclear and meaningless, according to the clauses.
Giri left the House after her amendment proposal was rejected and Speaker Sapkota refused to allot time to her to speak at that instance.
Many lawmakers of all the parties in the federal parliament then spoke during the clause-wise discussion on the amendment bill. All of them swore by national unity on the issue of nationalism and territorial integrity and pledged to support the bill. They also urged the government to take back the encroached territory after endorsement of the new map.
The coat of arms will be changed once President Bidya Devi Bhandari authenticates the amendment.
The government on May 18 passed the new map including Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura after inauguration of the Indian road via Lipu Lekh on May 8.
The Foreign Ministry has already expressed regret over the unilateral construction and urged India to refrain from carrying out any activity inside the territory of Nepal. It then summoned the Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra and handed a diplomatic note conveying Nepal's position on the issue.
Nepal has consistently maintained that as per the Sugauli Treaty (1816), all the territories east of Kali (Mahakali) River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh, belong to Nepal.
Nepal had also expressed its disagreement in 2015 through separate diplomatic notes addressed to the governments of both India and China when the two sides agreed to include Lipu Lekh Pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent in the Joint Statement issued on 15 May 2015 during the official visit of the Prime Minister of India to China.
