The Lipulekh Pass is a Himalayanpass on the border between Uttarakhand,India and the Tibet region of China,[2] near their trijunction with Nepal. Nepal has had ongoing claims to the southern side of the pass,called Kalapani territory,which has been under Indian administration from the British colonial period.[3][4] The pass is near the trading town of Taklakot (Purang) in Tibet and has been used since ancient times by traders,mendicants and pilgrims transiting between India and Tibet. It is also used by pilgrims to Kailash and Manasarovar.
This pass links the Pithoragarh district India with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China,and forms the last territorial point in India's territory. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra,a Hinduism pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar,traverses this pass. Lipulekh pass is connected to Chang Lobochahela,near the old trading town of Purang (Taklakot),in Tibet.
The Nepalese claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, are based on 1816 Sugauli Treaty between British East India Company and Nepal. Historically, the regions of Kumaon and Garhwal were part of Nepal. Following the British expansion in India, the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli established the Mahakali River as the boundary between Nepal and British India. The river itself originates from Limpiyadhura. The treaty delimited the boundary along the Kali River (also called the Sharda River and Mahakali River). India claims that the river begins at the Kalapani village as this is where all its tributaries merge. But Nepal claims that it begins from the Lipulekh Pass.[6] The historical record shows that, some time around 1865, the British shifted the border near Kalapani to the watershed of the Kalapani river instead of the river itself, thereby claiming the area now called the Kalapani territory.[7] This is consistent with the British position that the Kali River begins only from the Kalapani springs,[8] which meant that the agreement of Sugauli did not apply to the region above the springs.[9]
After the Indian prime minister's visit to China in 2015, India and China agreed to open a trading post in Lipulekh, raising objections from Nepal.[3][4] The Nepalese parliament stated that 'it violates Nepal's sovereign rights over the disputed territory'.[10]
↑Manandhar, Mangal Siddhi; Koirala, Hriday Lal (June 2001), "Nepal-India Boundary Issue: River Kali as International Boundary", Tribhuvan University Journal, 23 (1): 3–4, The map 'District Almora' published by the Survey of India [during 1865–1869] for the first time shifted the boundary further east beyond even the Lipu Khola (Map-5). The new boundary moving away from Lipu Khola follows the southern divide of Pankhagadh Khola and then moves north along the ridge.
↑Atkinson, Edwin Thomas (1981) [first published 1884], The Himalayan Gazetteer, Volume 3, Part 2, Cosmo Publications, pp.381–382 – via archive.org: "The drainage area of the Kalapani lies wholly within British territory, but a short way below the springs the Kali forms the boundary with Nepal." (Emphasis added)
↑Gupta, Alok Kumar (2009), "The Context of New-Nepal: Challenges and Opportunities for India", Indian Journal of Asian Affairs, 22 (1/2): 57–73, JSTOR41950496 : "India holds that the river Kali begins from the meeting point of the Lipu Gad with the stream from Kalapani springs." (p.63); See also Kalapani: A Bone of Contention Between India and Nepal, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2000
Walton, H. G., ed. (1911), Almora: A Gazetteer, District Gazetteers of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, vol.35, Government Press, United Provinces – via archive.org
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