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Chinese authority bars Nepalis from visiting encroached land; Border Pillar 11 missing in Humla

Pramod Raj Sedhain

September 23, 2020

6 MIN READ

Chinese authority bars Nepalis from visiting encroached land; Border Pillar 11 missing in Humla

Newly-constructed buildings by the Chinese side are seen in Humla's Lapcha. (Fule Photo)

KATHMANDU: While protests at different levels are going on regarding India’s encroachment of Nepali land in different places, another neighbor China has also allegedly constructed buildings illegally by encroaching upon the Nepali land in Humla.

According to Namkha Rural Municipality’s Mayor Vishnu Bahadur Tamang (Lama), China’s 9 business complexes are in the last phase of construction at Namkha-6, Lapcha.

He informed that China had constructed two buildings a few years back. According to Mayor Lama, Border Pillar 11 lies in the place China has constructed the complexes now.

China constructed 11 business complexes in the Nepali land, Lama further said adding that the sophisticated buildings have the solar power backup and have spacious compounds as well.

The construction site lies at Namkha-6 in Limi Lapcha, a village lying beyond the Himalayas.

Nepali youths have staged a demonstration in front of Chinese Embassy at Baluwatar in Kathmandu saying that China encroached the Nepali territory.

Lama informed that the construction site actually lies 2 km in from the border on the Nepali side. “The border pillars in that area were constructed and fixed in 1962, but some of the pillars are missing,” he told Khabarhub.

“The pillar number 12 is there but the pillar 11 is missing,” he said adding that they have assigned people to look for it.

It is learned that a high-level team, including the Chief District Officer of Humla, has gone to the construction site.

However, owing to the uneven topography, it takes more than 2 days to cover a distance of 105 km.

Mayor Lama, who has recently returned from the area, is sad to see that the area that used to be used by the Nepalis have not only encroached by the Chinese side but also the Nepalis are prohibited to visit it since few days.

“We are restricted from going to the area we had been using, the Chinese Army does not let Nepalis go there now,” he said with a sigh.

He said that the construction site lies 2 km in from the border on the Nepali side.

However, China has made claims that the construction site and 1 km more from there belong to it. “They even stopped us 1 km further away from the construction site. They have even made a compound around the area,” Mayor Lama said.

China has deployed as many 35 army personnel in the construction site whereas there is a presence of Nepali security forces in the area.

However, there is no Nepali security post in the area. The only police post close to the area is 2 days away from there. Although the Pillar no. 11 is lost, others are being guarded by the locals.

When Lama tried to inquire more about the purpose of construction, the Chinese side responded that the construction was not for the sake of the army but for business purposes.

China claims that Lapcha is on the Chinese map for quite a long time. According to Mayor Lama, the Nepali side headed by CDO Chiranjivi Giri and Mayor Lama himself had held a dialogue with the Chinese side on Saturday.

He informed that the Chinese side strongly claimed the part as theirs and even claimed 1 km in from the construction site saying it is on the Chinese map. “They not only claimed the area but even said that,” Mayor Lama told Khabarhub.

“Nepalis people are not allowed to go there,” he said.

The Department of Survey uninformed

The pillars are lost, the area is encroached upon but the Department of Survey, which is authorized to keep the record of the territory is unaware of it all.

“Although we have unofficially heard about Chinese construction at the border area, I don’t know much about it,” Damodar Dhakal, the information officer at the Department of Survey.

“We don’t have a border dispute with China,” he said.

Similarly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issuing a press release on June 25 has reiterated that there is no dispute with China.

“There is no border dispute with China, the disputes in some areas in Humla and other parts were settled in 1961,” the Ministry had said in its statement.

Protest in Kathmandu

Meanwhile, Nepali youths have staged a demonstration in front of Chinese Embassy at Baluwatar in Kathmandu saying that China encroached the Nepali territory.

Shouting slogans, ‘Stop Border Encroachment’, ‘Return the Encroached Nepali Land’, ‘Open Nepal-China Border’, ‘Down with Chinese Imperialism’, a large number of Nepali youths have hit the streets against China in the capital this morning.

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