NEW DELHI – Nepal’s foreign minister summoned India’s ambassador on Mondayover a new road being built through disputed territory as police arrestedprotesters who burnt effigies of the leaders of both countries.
Anger has been mounting since India on Friday inaugurated an 80-kilometre(50 mile) road in Uttarakhand state leading up to the Lipu Lekh pass, highin the Himalayas.
Nepal claims the pass under an 1816 treaty that sets their borders.
Scores of demonstrators defied a coronavirus lockdown to burn effigies ofIndia’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepali counterpart, K.P.Sharma Oli, at several protests in Kathmandu.
Protesters say the government has not done enough to counter the Indianproject.
Police said at least 30 people were detained.
Foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali summoned Indian ambassador Vinay MohanKwatra to hand over a protest note over the road, foreign ministryspokesman Bharat Raj Poudyal said.
Nepal on Saturday condemned India’s “unilateral act” that “runs against theunderstanding reached between the two countries… that a solution toboundary issues would be sought through negotiations.”
Read Top Stories
In response, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the contested road”lies completely within the territory of India”.
Nepal has a series of boundary niggles with its giant neighbours, India andChina.
Nepal protested to both in 2015 when they issued a statement listing theLipu Lekh pass as a bilateral trade route.
Kathmandu also claims the Kalapani region, which adjoins Lipu Lekh,although Indian troops have been deployed there since India and Chinafought a border war in 1962.
Last year India published a map that showed Kalapani within its borders, amove protested by Nepal. -APP/AFP
