KATHMANDU: Chief Whip of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Khusbu Oli, has expressed dissatisfaction with the role of Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal regarding Nepal’s border dispute with India.
Speaking during Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, Oli said the foreign minister’s handling of the issue during his recent visit to New Delhi was not satisfactory.
She recalled that Khanal had indicated before the visit that he would address border-related concerns, but alleged that the matter was not raised during formal talks in the Indian capital.
“I would like to express my disagreement with the foreign minister’s position on the border dispute,” Oli said. “During the official discussions in New Delhi, he did not raise the issue anywhere. After the visit, he only mentioned it in a closed-door interaction with journalists.”
Oli further claimed that, unlike in previous years, Nepal’s official press note following the visit did not include any reference to the border dispute.
“In the past four years, Nepal’s press statements consistently mentioned border-related concerns in one form or another. For the first time, the issue has been omitted from our press note,” she said.
The RPP lawmaker also criticized the minister for not addressing the matter after returning to Kathmandu and urged him to raise Nepal’s border concerns during his upcoming visit to China.
Her remarks come amid continued political debate over the government’s handling of sensitive border issues with India, including disputes involving areas such as Kalapani, Lipulekh and Susta.
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