The Lipulekh Pass or Qiang La () is a Himalayan pass on the border between Uttarakhand, India and the Tibet region of China, near their trijunction with Nepal. Nepal has had ongoing claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, which has been under Indian administration from the British colonial period. The pass is near the trading town of Taklakot (Purang) in Tibet and has been used since ancient times by traders, mendicants and pilgrims transiting between India and Tibet. It is also used by pilgrims to Kailas and Manasarovar.
History
The Lipulekh Pass was one of the passes historically used for Indo-Tibetan border trade by the Bhotiyas of Kumaon. Each of the Bhotiya valleys lying along the border, Gori, Darma, Chaudans and Byans, had its own passes to Tibet. Of these, Chaudansis (in the Kali River valley) and Byansis (in the Kuthi and Tinkar valleys) used the Lipulekh pass. Lipulekh was considered the most "famous" among the passes because it is closest to the Tibetan trading centre Purang, and it also leads directly to Mount Kailash, a pilgrimage destination for Hindus and Buddhists.
In 1791, the Nepalese Gorkha kingdom conquered Kumaon and took possession of the entire region. Border tensions with British colonial regime led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816). The British evicted the Nepalese from Kumaon and set the Kali River as the border between Kumaon and Nepal, later confirmed in the Treaty of Sugauli.
However, what was meant by "Kali River" in the upper reaches of the Himalayas became a matter of dispute. Initially, the British retained the Kuthi Valley in the west, the Tinkar Valley in the east, as well as the Kalapani valley leading to the Lipulekh pass, as part of Kumaon. These three valleys carry three head streams to Kali River and are populated by Byansis. Following Nepalese objections, the British Governor-General made enquiries with the local populations as well as the British surveyor (W. J. Webb, who surveyed the area) and decided that the Kalapani valley carried the main Kali River. Accordingly, the Tinkar Valley in the east was ceded to Nepal.: "The British settled this dispute by stating that the name Kaliganga is derived from the sacred waters of Kalapani. Therefore, Kalapani is the source and the [Kuthi Yankti] is only a tributary feeder. By doing this, Gunji and Nabi were annexed to the British territory. Tinker and Changru are the only Vyas villages that belong to Nepal since they undisputedly lie to the east of the River Kaliganga."Letter of the Government of India to Commissioner of Kumaon, September 5, 1817. Included in Rakesh Sood, A Reset in India–Nepal Relations, blog post at rakeshsood.in with attachments for an article published in The Hindu, 29 May 2020. "Governor General entirely approves your having declined to transfer to the Chountra Bum Sah the two villages of Koontee [Kuthi] and Nabee [Nabi] in Pergunah Byanse without the specific orders of the Government on the ground of their being situated to the west of the stream ordinarily recognized as the principal branch of the Kali in that quarter." (emphasis added)
This arrangement would have made the Lipulekh Pass the trijunction between Kumaon, Nepal and Tibet. However, a further adjustment was made around 1865, when the British shifted the border near Lipulekh to the watershed of the Kalapani stream instead of the stream itself. This made a 35 square kilometre area to the east of Kalapani valley, now known as the Kalapani territory, part of British India. The trijunction between Kumaon, Nepal and Tibet shifted to the vicinity of Tinkar Pass and the Lipulekh Pass became an interior point of British India.: "The drainage area of the Kalapani lies wholly within British territory, but a short way below the springs the Kali forms the boundary with Nepal." (Emphasis added) There are no extant documents regarding any communications on the issue. However, around the same time that the British claimed the Kalapani territory, they had also ceded to Nepal the western Tarai regions, which were later named "Naya Muluk" ("New Lands") by Nepal. The addition of these regions was of significant economic benefit to Nepal. pp. 46–47: "In return, the British restored to Nepal the western Tarai, taken in 1816, and conferred an honorary knighthood on Jang [Bahadur Rana] himself." pp. 54–55: "... the Ranas secured a steady rise in state revenue, which rose from around 1.4 million rupees in 1850 to perhaps 12 million in 1900, a substantial rise even allowing for inflation. ... Particularly important was the return to Nepal in 1860 of the western Tarai districts, which were initially very sparsely populated.": "The eastern Rapti river was returned to Nepal in 1817, and, in 1861, the Western tarai was also returned as recognition of Nepalese assistance in quelling the Indian rebellion of 1857. It is thus that Janakpur and Kapilvastu of hallowed memory are in Nepal and not in India."
The border adjustment made little difference on the ground because a free movement regime operated between Nepal and India, and the Byansis of Tinkar Valley continued to use the Lipulekh Pass. (It has been reported that they were unable to use the Tinkar Pass because of low volume of traffic.): "We met a smiling rosy-faced Tinker [resident of Tinkar] on the top of Nirpaniah, who ... informed me that his pass is not so easy as Lipu Lekh, and the snow on it more troublesome, because his village has but 5 or 6 Man (families) whose small traffic is insufficient to make a good beaten path." It was only after India restricted the Tinkaris from using Lipulekh Pass after the 1960s that a dispute began to surface.
In 1954, India signed a border trade agreement with China, in which Lipulekh Pass was mentioned as one of the passes that could be used for Indo-Tibetan trade and pilgrimage traffic.Nihar R. Nayak, Controversy over Lipu-Lekh Pass: Is Nepal’s Stance Politically Motivated?, IDSA Comment, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, 9 June 2015: "In effect, Lipu-Lekh has been a recognized trading and pilgrim route between China and India since 1954." A State Police post was established at Kalapani in 1956. In 1961, Nepal signed a border agreement with China, which recognised the trijunction between the three countries being near Tinkar Pass, and a border pillar numbered 1 was placed there.
After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, India closed the Lipulekh Pass. The Byansis of Kumaon then used the Tinkar Pass for all their trade with Tibet. In 1979, the Kalapani post was guarded by Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
In 1991, India and China agreed to reopen the Lipulekh pass, and the trade through it steadily increased.: "India and China opened their first border trade route way back in 1991 between Dharachula in Uttaranchal and Pulan [Purang] in Tibet through the Lipulekh Pass.": "The governments of India and China agreed to establish border trade at Pulan in the TAR and Gunji in the Pithoragarh District in the state of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand) of India. Border trade would take place during mutually agreed times each year. Lipulekh Pass (Qiang La) would facilitate visits by persons engaged in border trade and their exchange of commodities... Trade along Lipulekh has steadily increased from Rs. 0.4 million ($6,000) in 1992—93 to Rupees Rs. 6.9 million ($100,000) three years later.": "Though border trade along these routes is statistically insignificant, it makes a huge difference to the lives of people living in the Himalayan region... when I traversed Lipulekh Pass... I asked a villager... where the money for all this construction activity came from. He answered with a broad grin Tibet khul gaya (Tibet has been opened)."
Tourism This pass links the Pithoragarh district India with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and forms the last territorial point in India's territory. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a Hinduism pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, traverses this pass. Lipulekh pass is connected to Chang Lobochahela, near the old trading town of Purang (Taklakot), in Tibet.
The yatra operated through the Lipulekh Pass from 1981, with a second route through Nathu La added in 2015; it was suspended after 2019 following the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent non-renewal of arrangements by the Chinese side. The pilgrimage resumed in June 2025 after a five-year gap, with five batches of fifty pilgrims crossing at Lipulekh, and continued in 2026 with ten batches of fifty pilgrims scheduled through the pass between June and August.
In 2024, Uttarakhand government has identified a viewpoint on the western shoulder of the pass, which it termed "Old Lipulekh Peak" (), from where Mount Kailash can be seen.How Uttarakhand Is Providing "Closer Darshan" To Kailash-Mansarovar Pilgrims, NDTV News, 29 June 2023.
India-China Trading Post The pass was the first Indian border post to be opened for trade with China in 1992. This was followed by the opening of Shipki La, Himachal Pradesh in 1994 and Nathu La, Sikkim in 2006. Presently, Lipulekh Pass is open for cross-border trade every year from June through September.
Border trade through the pass was suspended from early 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic, and remained closed during the subsequent India–China border standoff. In August 2025, during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to New Delhi, India and China agreed to restart border trade through Lipulekh, Shipki La and Nathu La; Nepal objected to the agreement as concerning territory it claims, an objection India rejected.
Products cleared for export from India include jaggery, misri, tobacco, spices, pulses, fafar flour, coffee, vegetable oil, ghee and various miscellaneous consumable items. The main imports into India include sheep wool, passam, sheep, goats, borax, yak tails, chhirbi (butter) and raw silk.
India-China BPM (Border Personnel Meeting) point In 2014, India and China discussed using the pass as an additional official Border Personnel Meeting point between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army of China for regular consultations and interactions between the two armies to improve relations.
Nepalese claims
The Nepalese claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, are based on 1816 Sugauli Treaty between British East India Company and Nepal. The treaty delimited the boundary along the Kali River (also called the Sharda River and Mahakali River). India claims that the river begins at the Kalapani village as this is where all its tributaries merge. But Nepal claims that it begins from the Lipulekh Pass.India, Nepal and the Kalapani issue, Decan Herald, 19 November 2019. The historical record shows that, some time around 1865, the British shifted the border near Kalapani to the watershed of the Kalapani river instead of the river itself, thereby claiming the area now called the Kalapani territory. This is consistent with the British position that the Kali River begins only from the Kalapani springs, which meant that the agreement of Sugauli did not apply to the region above the springs.: "India holds that the river Kali begins from the meeting point of the Lipu Gad with the stream from Kalapani springs." (p. 63); See also Kalapani: A Bone of Contention Between India and Nepal, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2000
After the Indian prime minister's visit to China in 2015, India and China agreed to open a trading post in Lipulekh, raising objections from Nepal.Lipulekh dispute: UCPN (M) writes to PM Koirala, Indian PM Modi & Chinese Prez Xi, The Kathmandu Post, 9 July 2015. The Nepalese parliament stated that 'it violates Nepal's sovereign rights over the disputed territory'.Nepal objects to India-China trade pact via Lipu-Lekh Pass, The Economic Times, 9 June 2015. Nepal now intends to resolve the issue via diplomatic means with India.