Nepal Cannot Confirm Original Sugauli Treaty Copy Amid India Border Dispute

Nepal’s government cannot confirm whether it possesses the original official copy of the 1816 Sugauli Treaty, Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Parliament on Monday, as a long-running dispute with India over Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura remains unresolved.

Responding to questions in the House of Representatives, Khanal said the government had documents relating to the Sugauli Treaty and the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India, but did not have confirmed information on whether the documents in its possession were the official originals. Some treaty-related records are held at Nepal’s National Archives, he said.

The disclosure has brought renewed attention to a long-standing gap in Nepal’s treaty records as Kathmandu continues to cite the Sugauli Treaty in support of its territorial position on the disputed areas. India rejects Nepal’s claims over Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, saying they are neither justified nor based on historical facts and evidence.

The question of the original treaty is not new. Nepal has for years been unable to establish whether the original copies of both the Sugauli Treaty and the 1950 treaty are held in the country. A parliamentary search in 2019 also failed to locate the originals within Nepal.

What is the Sugauli Treaty?

The 1816 Sugauli Treaty followed the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16 and was concluded between Nepal and the East India Company. It provided the basis for the demarcation of Nepal’s boundary with the territory then administered by the British East India Company.

Nepal cites the treaty as the historical basis for its territorial claims in the far-western region bordering India. Kathmandu maintains that Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani fall within Nepali territory.

Nepal’s Foreign Ministry has said its official map places Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani within Nepal and describes the areas as integral parts of the country. The ministry has linked its position to historical treaties, maps and other documentary evidence concerning the boundary.

India takes a different position. In a May response to Nepal’s objections over the Lipulekh route used for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the Ministry of External Affairs said Nepal’s territorial claims were not justified or based on historical facts and evidence. It also said India remained open to dialogue and diplomacy to address agreed outstanding boundary issues.

Technical work on the wider boundary continues through bilateral mechanisms, while the disputed Kalapani and Susta areas remain outside the remit of routine boundary-pillar work.

The original documents have been sought before

The uncertainty over the Sugauli Treaty’s original copy predates the current government.

In 2016, the Eminent Persons’ Group on Nepal-India Relations began discussions on reviewing or replacing the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. During that process, the Nepali side attempted to locate the original signed copy of the 1950 treaty but failed to find it.

According to The Kathmandu Post’s 2019 investigation, Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, who coordinated the Nepali side of the EPG, said the team was provided with a copy of a second version of the 1950 treaty. He said he could not establish whether the copy held by India was the original.

The issue subsequently became the subject of a parliamentary investigation in Nepal.

In 2019, the National Assembly’s Delegated Legislation and Governance Committee searched government institutions and repositories, including the Department of Archaeology, Narayanhiti Palace Museum, the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an effort to locate the original documents.

The committee concluded that the original copies of both the Sugauli Treaty and the 1950 treaty could not be found in Nepal. At the time, then Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said his ministry had copies of the treaties but that it was necessary to determine whether they were originals. A senior Foreign Ministry official subsequently told The Kathmandu Post that the copies held by the ministry were not originals.

The Kathmandu Post also reported in 2019 that historian and boundary expert Buddhi Narayan Shrestha said he had seen what he believed was the original Sugauli Treaty at the Public Record Office in Kew, London. That was his assessment, however, and did not constitute official confirmation by either Nepal or Britain that the document was Nepal’s original treaty copy.

The Sugauli Treaty and the 1950 treaty are separate

The two documents now being discussed by Nepal’s government have different historical functions.

The Sugauli Treaty is the treaty relevant to the historical demarcation of Nepal’s boundary with British India.

The 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed between Nepal and India in Kathmandu on July 31, 1950, concerns bilateral relations between the two countries. It includes provisions on peace and friendship and reciprocal treatment of citizens in specified areas. India’s Ministry of External Affairs continues to publish the treaty as part of its bilateral agreements with Nepal.

The 1950 treaty therefore should not be presented as the document that established the Nepal-India territorial boundary. Its original copy became a separate documentary issue during the EPG’s 2016 review process.

Khanal’s latest statement also puts the Sugauli Treaty’s original copy under scrutiny. More than a century after the Sugauli Treaty was ratified, Nepal’s government still cannot confirm whether the official original is among the historical treaty documents in its possession.

Current border talks

The disclosure comes as Nepal and India are preparing for technical border discussions in Lucknow from August 12 to 14.

The 13th meeting of the Survey Officials’ Committee is scheduled to discuss technical aspects of the bilateral boundary and approve plans and budgets for constructing and repairing boundary pillars. The Kathmandu Post reported that the Boundary Working Group deals with technical boundary issues, but the disputed Kalapani and Susta areas fall outside its remit.

The committee is not mandated to discuss the Kalapani and Susta disputes. The meeting is part of continuing technical work on the wider Nepal-India boundary.

The absence of an original treaty copy does not by itself resolve the territorial dispute, which involves competing claims over Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura and competing interpretations of historical treaties, maps and other records.

The Sugauli Treaty remains an important historical reference in the dispute, even as technical boundary work continues between the two countries.

For now, Nepal’s government says it has treaty-related documents in its archives but cannot confirm that the documents in its possession are the original official copy of the Sugauli Treaty.