The India–Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the Government of India and Government of Nepal, is a bilateral treaty signed by the Kingdom of Nepal and the Republic of India to establish a close strategic relationship between the two South Asian neighbours. The treaty was signed in Kathmandu on 31 July 1950 by the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal, Mohan Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana, and the Indian ambassador to Nepal, Chadreshwar Narayan Singh, and came into force the same day as per Article 9 of the Treaty.
Rana rule in Nepal ended just 3 months after the treaty was signed. The treaty allows free movement of people and goods between the two nations and a close relationship and collaboration on matters of defence and foreign policy.
Provisions The India–Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed by the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal, Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, and the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Chandreshwor Narayan Singh on 31 July 1950 and came into force the same day. It has ten articles. The treaty provides for everlasting peace and friendship between the two countries and the two governments agree mutually to acknowledge and respect the complete sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of each other.
As per Articles 6 and 7, the two governments agree to grant, on a reciprocal basis, to the nationals of one country in the territories of the other, the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property (requires RBI permission), participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of a similar nature. This enables Nepalese and Indian citizens to move freely across the border without passport or visa, live and work in either country and own property or conduct trade or business in either country. There are a large number of Indians living, owning property and working or doing business in Nepal as a beneficial aspect of the treaty for India. Reciprocally, many Nepalese live, own property and conduct business freely in India.
For centuries, Nepal remained in self-imposed isolation. After the 1860 treaty with the East India Company, Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal allowed Indians to purchase and sell land in Nepal's Terai. After the ascent of Mt. Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, Nepal completely lifted its ban on foreigners.
The King of Nepal enacted the Citizenship Act of 1952 that allowed Indians to emigrate to Nepal and acquire Nepalese citizenship. But as more and more Indian immigrants from Bihar started acquiring Nepalese citizenship, most Nepalese became resentful of this provision.
Text of the Treaty
Background The Himalayan Nation of Nepal borders northern India in the south, east and west. During British rule in India, Nepal's ties with the British government were governed by the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli that was replaced by the 1923 "Treaty of perpetual peace and friendship" or Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923. After the independence of India in 1947, the two nations sought to forge close strategic, commercial and cultural relations. The rise of Communist China in 1949 and the subsequent invasion of Tibet heightened security concerns in both India and Nepal. India had maintained good relations with Tibet, but the Rana rulers of Nepal feared that China would support the Communist Party of Nepal and sponsor a communist revolution that would overthrow their autocratic regime.
With heightening concerns over the security threat to India presented by Communist China, which was seen as seeking to project power and influence over Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan and China's border disputes with India, the latter sought to strengthen its "Himalayan frontier" by forging an alliance on defence and foreign affairs with the Rana rulers of Nepal.Dick Hodder, Sarah J. Lloyd, Keith Stanley McLachlan. Land-locked States of Africa and Asia. page 177. Routledge, 1998.
Territorial integrity and border disputes
Article 1 of the treaty provides that "the two Governments agree mutually to acknowledge and respect the complete sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of each other." Article 8 states that "this Treaty cancels all previous Treaties, agreements, and engagements entered into on behalf of India between the British Government and the Government of Nepal," which includes the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli that established the Kali River as the western boundary between the two countries.
Despite the mutual commitment to territorial integrity, two significant boundary disputes have persisted. The Kalapani territory dispute in the far west concerns approximately at the India–Nepal–China tripoint in Uttarakhand, where the two countries disagree over which headwater stream constitutes the main Kali River and therefore the boundary. The dispute has its origins in a claim first made by the Nepali governor Bam Shah in 1817, shortly after the Treaty of Sugauli, which was rejected by the British Governor-General Lord Moira. The Susta territory dispute in the south concerns land along the shifting course of the Gandak River.
The disputed area at Kalapani falls within the historical Byans region, which was part of Kumaon before the Gorkha conquest of 1791 and was divided between British India and Nepal by the Treaty of Sugauli. India has administered the area continuously since at least the 1950s, maintaining police and later Indo-Tibetan Border Police posts there.
In May 2020, Nepal published a revised political map incorporating Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as Nepali territory, and amended its constitution to incorporate the map into the national emblem. India rejected the map as an "artificial enlargement of territorial claims." Critics of the Nepali government's move noted that the map was published during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was facing widespread domestic criticism.
Significance of Article 8
Article 8 cancels "all previous Treaties, agreements, and engagements entered into on behalf of India between the British Government and the Government of Nepal." This formally abrogated the Treaty of Sugauli (1816) and the Treaty of 1923 as between India and Nepal, though the boundary established by the Treaty of Sugauli continued to be recognised as the de facto international border. The legal implications of this cancellation have been debated: Nepal has at times argued that the abrogation of the Sugauli Treaty means the boundary should be renegotiated, while India's position is that the boundary was inherited at independence as a settled international border under the principle of uti possidetis juris.
Criticism This treaty is called unequal by most Nepalese since Nepalese law does not permit an open border, and Indians, by law, should not be able to buy lands and properties in Nepal or carry out businesses in their names. They claim that the 1950 treaty was signed by undemocratic rulers of Nepal and can be scrapped by a one-year notice. The treaty has been unpopular especially among Pahari segments of Nepal, who often regard it as a breach of Nepal's sovereignty. Also, agreements were manipulated in the favour of antidemocratic autocratic rule of Nepal, where the power of the people is fragmented.
Deterioration of bilateral relations Although initially supported enthusiastically by both the Rana rulers and Indian establishment, the treaty became the subject of increased resentment in Nepal, which saw it as an encroachment of its sovereignty and an unwelcome extension of Indian influence. After an abortive attempt in 1952 of the Communist Party of Nepal to overthrow the autocratic Rana rule with Chinese backing, India and the Rana regime stepped up military and intelligence cooperation under treaty provisions, and India sent a military mission to Nepal which was regarded by leftist Nepalese as an undue extension of Indian influence in Nepal. In the late 1950s and the 1960s, after the advent of democracy in Nepal, Nepal's relations with China improved, while its relations with India deteriorated. Nepal forced the Indian military mission to leave, and both nations began ignoring the treaty provisions.
Nepal was temporarily brought closer to India after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, but it resented the growth of India's regional power in the 1970s. The extensive Indian trade and economic influence was also resented by some in Nepal. In 1975 after the annexation of Sikkim by India, Nepal began openly lobbying for renegotiation of the treaty and proposed itself as a Zone of Peace between India and China, where military competition would be off-limits. India refused to endorse the proposal.
Proposed scrapping Upon forming a coalition government after the 2008 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on 24 April 2008 that the 1950 treaty would be scrapped and a new pact would be negotiated with India. However, he did not pursue the matter and had to resign as prime minister within nine months. However, in 2014, both India and Nepal agreed to "review" and "adjust" the peace treaty to reflect the current realities.
The treaty has also been linked to the Greater Nepal irredentist movement, which demands the return of territories lost to the British under the Treaty of Sugauli. The Greater Nepal Committee, formed in Kathmandu in 1991, wrote letters to embassies of different countries claiming that India should "unconditionally return" these territories. Political scientist Anirudha Gupta of Jawaharlal Nehru University characterised the movement as reflecting "historical revivalism" that "always brings up irredentist eruptions." Late Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala called the idea of Greater Nepal "a product of unstable minds."
Nepal India Open Border Dialogue Group People of Terai region of Nepal and Indian state of Bihar formed a group Nepal India Open Border Dialogue Group. Initially the group formed to understand the issue related to flooding in Nepal India Border later the group started advocating for open border and organised several seminars.
Revision of the Treaty In January 2021, Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said, that Nepal wants India to review and revise the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty to reflect the changes and new realities.
See also India–Nepal relations Common Travel Area, a similar treaty existing between the UK and Ireland on freedom of movement. Union State, a similar treaty existing between Russia and Belarus on freedom of movement. Byans Treaty of Sugauli Kalapani territory Greater Nepal India–Nepal border
External links Text of the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship
References