The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

Clashes Erupt at Susta Along India-Nepal Border

India and Nepal have settled almost 98 percent of their border. Differences over Kalapani and Susta have proven difficult to resolve.

The long-standing India-Nepal dispute over Susta, one of the most geographically and politically sensitive sections of the Nepal-India border, erupted in violent clashes on August 2 between Nepali villagers and Indian border security personnel.

The latter had allegedly crossed into Nepali territory in Nawalparasi West and dismantled an under-construction embankment built by local residents to prevent flooding. Nepal’s Armed Police Force had to intervene to prevent further escalation.

According to Nepali media, a similar iincident happened in June, when India’s Border Security Force personnel entered an embankment construction site in Susta Municipality-5 and pressured workers to halt the project, which was part of ongoing efforts to provide protection for flood-prone settlements in the area. India is yet to respond officially to these allegations.

India and Nepal share a 1,800-km-long open border. Susta in southern Nepal and the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh area to Nepal’s west are disputed.

With regard to the dispute over Susta, there are no boundary pillars along the 24-km stretch of this region, and India and Nepal rely on natural features such as rivers and trees to mark the boundary. The shifting course of the Gandak (also known as Narayani) river, the midstream of which formed the boundary under the Treaty of Sugauli of 1816, has further complicated the border problem here.

Citing official sources from Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Nepali media publication reported that the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi raised Sunday’s clashes at Susta with India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) immediately. India’s position, according to this source, was that since the area where the embankment was built is disputed, the construction violates the “status quo” maintained between the two countries. India’s MEA is yet to issue a comment on this incident.

Nepali parliamentarians, who raised the issue in the House of Representatives, denounced the Indian security forces’ alleged actions and demanded the Indian government conduct an investigation into the incident and engage in diplomatic dialogue to “immediately stop the encroachment and threats.”

Such incidents are not uncommon; unresolved boundary disputes and competing territorial claims do periodically create tensions.

The India-Nepal border issue has erupted to the fore from time to time. In 2020, Nepal’s parliament passed a constitutional amendment to include a new political map that depicted the disputed Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh region as part of Nepal’s sovereign territory, which India rejected. Previously, Nepal had objected to New Delhi showing these territories as part of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

On May 3 this year, Nepal objected to India and China’s plan to conduct the 2026 Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and restart border trade via the Lipulekh Pass as it traverses the disputed territory. New Delhi dismissed these claims as “unjustified,” describing Kathmandu’s “unilateral artificial enlargement” of territorial claims as “untenable.” Despite Kathmandu’s objection, India and China have resumed bilateral trade through the pass.

While India and Nepal have settled almost 98 percent of their border, disputes over Susta and Kalapani have proven difficult to resolve.

Back in 2014, both sides........

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