KATHMANDU: The Samajwadi Party has said its serious attention has been drawn by the news on construction and inauguration of the link road in the Lipu Lekh area of Darchula of western Nepal for the purpose of local trading and pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar.

Issuing a statement on Monday, the party has said as the boundary between Nepal and India is clearly defined by the Article V of the Sugauli Treaty of 1815-16 and subsequent historical mutually accepted facts accordingly, the territories belong to Nepal.

“Thus, any unilateral construction in that area by India without consent of Nepal is totally unacceptable,” the statement said.

The statement further said that since there exist bilateral mechanisms to deal with the border issues between Nepal and India, the Samajwadi Party strongly urges the governments of Nepal and India to initiate bilateral dialogue immediately to addressing the Lipu Lekh and all other boundary issue in the spirit of age-old cordial friendly relations so happy subsisting between the two countries.

It should be noted that Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janata Party has merged recently to form Janata Samajbadi Party, which, however, is yet to be formally registered at the Election Commission.