Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Pradeep Giri has warned that India will turn Nepali into Sikkim on the day it can.
Speaking in the meeting of International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday, Giri stated that India would turn Nepal into Sikkim if it could. India had annexed the then kingdom of Sikkim in 1975.
Without naming CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, he stated that the leaders who announced to put barbed wire in the Nepal-India border and wage a tunnel war are now in power, and are just nodding their head in agreement with Indian activities.
Pointing that diplomatic problems cannot be resolved by merely speaking, he also drew the government's attention to display diplomatic competence in time. He urged the government to take initiative considering the actual fact that India will turn Nepali into Sikkim on the day it can.
"One should never raise such demands while in the opposition, that one cannot fulfill while in the government. Diplomacy is not a speech at the time of election campaign. The greatest failure is diplomatic failure. India will turn Nepali into Sikkim or Bhutan if it can. This is the fact," he elaborated.
CPN lawmaker Bhim Rawal pointed that India has encroached large swathes of Nepali land and drew attention of the foreign and home ministries to take diplomatic initiative to stop that. He claimed, citing experts, that India has encroached 606 square kilometers of land, and there are border disputes at 71 points.
Rawal also pointed how unilateral construction of virtual levees in the name of roads and other structures has stopped natural flow of river resulting in inundation of the plains, and urged the government to take initiative to stop that and border encroachment.
Other members in the committee also urged the government to take diplomatic initiative to seek long-term solution to problems like border dispute, encroachment of land and inundation.
