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🇳🇵 Nepal /Conflict & Security

Nepal raises dismantling of Susta earthen barrier with New Delhi

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Nepal's embassy in New Delhi formally protested to India's Ministry of External Affairs after Indian security personnel dismantled a mud embankment built by Nepali villagers to prevent flooding.
  • The incident occurred in Susta, a region that, along with Kalapani, is a significant border dispute between Nepal and India, with both countries acknowledging it as contested territory.
  • Despite past agreements to resolve the dispute through foreign secretary-level meetings, no such meeting has occurred in 12 years, leaving the area vulnerable to recurring issues.

Nepal's embassy in New Delhi has lodged a formal protest with India's Ministry of External Affairs regarding an incident where Indian security personnel allegedly crossed into Nepali territory and dismantled a mud embankment. The embankment, built by local villagers in Susta, Nawalparasi West, was intended to protect their community from flooding.

Our officials protested the way Indian security personnel dismantled the makeshift embankment.

— foreign ministry officialDescribing Nepal's formal protest to India's Ministry of External Affairs.

Nepali officials stated that the makeshift embankment was a last-resort measure by locals to mitigate flood risks. The incident highlights the ongoing border dispute between Nepal and India, particularly concerning the Susta and Kalapani regions, which both nations recognize as contested areas. While an agreement exists to resolve these disputes through foreign secretaries and the Boundary Working Group, no high-level meetings have taken place in over a decade.

We told them that it was a last-resort effort by locals to mitigate flooding.

— foreign ministry officialExplaining Nepal's position to Indian officials regarding the dismantled embankment.

According to officials, India maintained that Susta is a disputed territory where the embankment was built, and that both sides had agreed to maintain the status quo. This position was reiterated after a similar dispute two months prior, which involved Indian SSB personnel halting the construction of a permanent flood-control embankment by the Nepal government. An agreement was reached then to maintain the status quo in the mutually agreed disputed area.

Susta and where the Nepali side is building the mud dam are disputed territories and that both sides had agreed to maintain the status quo.

— Indian side officialsStating India's position on the disputed territory where the embankment was built.

Despite the Nepali Embassy's prompt action and request for a swift resolution, the Indian side urged restraint, advising against turning the issue into a national agenda. The dispute has been exacerbated by Nepal's award of a contract for a 132-meter flood-protection embankment along the Narayani River. Construction on this section remains stalled due to Indian objections, leaving the area unprotected and vulnerable to erosion, while Nepal has completed embankment construction downstream.

Susta is a mutually agreed disputed area.

— officials from Nepal’s Armed Police Force (AFP) and India’s SSBReferring to an agreement reached after a previous dispute over embankment construction.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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