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Thoughts after watching 3 episodes of investigative video report by @subhak12 on #Kalaapani
1) We were right to question immature chest-thumping by KTM media,leaders and govt ministers. Locals from bordering villages complain diplomatic fall-out has made their lives difficult...
1) We were right to question immature chest-thumping by KTM media,leaders and govt ministers. Locals from bordering villages complain diplomatic fall-out has made their lives difficult...
2)Since the dispute played-out in the media, Nepali citizens from bordering villages of Chhangru and Tinkar have not been allowed to enter encroached villages of Nabi,Kuti and Gunji, or go to nearby Indian market for food/supplies or emergency health services...
...Attempts by Darchula CDO to write to his counterpart in Dharchula to ease the movement for locals were in vain.
3) Despite rabble-rousing in KTM neither security forces,nor politicians making lofty claims of 'fighting-off India' have gone anywhere near encroached territory...
3) Despite rabble-rousing in KTM neither security forces,nor politicians making lofty claims of 'fighting-off India' have gone anywhere near encroached territory...
...4) #India has established a permanent security camp near Gunji, controlling #Kaalapani area upto Limpiyadhura. In the realist world of international relations,actual control over territory/population is more important than claim of sovereignty, which the Nepal govt is making..
....5) India has not allowed, and probably will not allow people in the 3 villages to interact openly with Nepali side.Subsidised food,health-care and employment is the way India has chosen to buy their loyalty.Did it work? We probably will not know...
...6) As many of us have stressed, diplomatic negotiation is the only viable option we have, to stake our claim, and to convince India with sufficient evidences. The sooner negotiations begin , better are chances of finding a solution, before positions harden on both sides...
7)Finally, the bitter pill: chances are, India may not completely cede the strategic territory of Kaalapani that gives it a vantage point to keep a check on Chinese aggression. Nepal can propose maintaining a status-quo, that gives both sides a shared control...
...or seek a land-swap option. In any case, resolving the current deadlock should be a priority, not for the sake of hollow nationalism on both sides, but to actually make life easier for the people living in the region,who are caught between diplomatic locked-horns. [END]
