KATHMANDU: The Rastriya Ekata Abhiyan has handed over a memorandum to the United Nations Office saying that China has encroached on Nepal’s land.

Ekta Abhiyan chairperson Binay Yadav reached the UN office in Kathmandu on Monday and handed over the memorandum to UN Resident Coordinator Richard Howard through Office Information Officer Rajendra Man Banepali.

The Abhiyan has urged international community to heed the Chinese encroachment of the land of the neighboring countries and make due intervention in the issue.

Recalling that the government had formed a panel to study the border dispute between Nepal and China in Humla on September 1, 2021, the Abhiyan also urged the Nepali Congress-led government to take action as suggested by the committee formed under its initiation.

“According to the study, the area between pillar number 5 (2)and the middle of the Kit Khola has been marked as the border between the two countries since the 1963 Boundary Protocol,” the Rastriya Ekta Abhiyan’s appeal said, “However, it has been discovered  that the Chinese side has erected fences and wires in Nepali land.”

The Abhiyan has been continuously conducting various campaigns against Chinese encroachment of Nepal.

The memorandum called for China to withdraw from the encroached land,  urged both Nepali and Chinese governments to jointly inspect the border under the supervision of the international community. It has also urged both governments and the international community to keep a record of all border posts with GPS.

The memorandum has been sent to the US Embassy in Kathmandu, the European Union Representative in Nepal,  the Russian, Chinese, and Indian embassies in Kathmandu.

The government had earlier formed a committee under the coordination of Home Ministry Joint Secretary Jaya Narayan Acharya to study the dispute over the Nepal-China border in Humla district last year. The committee has already submitted the study report to the Home Ministry. The report noted that the Chinese side had crossed the border and suggested that the two sides work together to resolve the issue.

The report is now pending with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It was reported that the border encroachment was intensified in Humla during the then KP Oli-led government. But then-Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, referring to a study done in 2016, said the structures were built on Chinese soil.

Similarly, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu had clarified that the structures were constructed in its own territory and there was no border dispute between Nepal and China.

However, the then main opposition party, the Nepali Congress had issued a statement accusing the government of trying to cover up the border despite evidence that it had crossed the line.

Interestingly, the NC-led government has not published the report formed under its own initiation.