NP
Kathmandu — Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is preparing for a high-profile diplomatic tour. First, he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present. Soon after, he is scheduled to visit New Delhi. On the surface, these trips look like routine diplomacy. In reality, they are a test of whether Nepal’s leadership will stand firm on its sovereignty or remain silent as its land is bargained away.
The issue at stake is nothing less than Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani. Territories that belong to Nepal by history, geography, and law. Oli himself once demonstrated boldness by updating Nepal’s political map to include these very lands under the nation’s sovereignty. That decision was applauded across the country as an act of patriotism and courage. Yet, today, India continues to occupy the territories, building military infrastructure and controlling access, while China and India strike bilateral trade deals through Lipulekh as if Nepal does not exist.
In Beijing, Oli will share the stage with China’s leadership, the very government that has agreed with India to reopen trade routes through Lipulekh without Nepal’s consent. Will he remind them that this land is Nepal’s? In Delhi, he will sit down with Prime Minister Modi, whose government is directly responsible for the encroachment. Will Oli demand India’s withdrawal from Kalapani and Limpiyadhura, or will he allow Nepal’s map to remain a symbol rather than a reality?
The Nepali people deserve clarity. They did not cheer the publication of the new map only for their leaders to stay silent when it matters most. Oli’s trips are not just about cooperation or trade, they are about whether Nepal asserts its sovereignty when confronted by its two most powerful neighbors.
Lipulekh is Nepal. Limpiyadhura is Nepal. Kalapani is Nepal. If Prime Minister Oli fails to repeat these words in both Beijing and Delhi, then his historic act of issuing the new map risks being reduced to a gesture without substance. The world will watch closely, but more importantly, the Nepali people will remember whether their Prime Minister defended their land or bowed to pressure.
