Around two hundred and fifteen countries are suffering from the new pandemic named Corona Virus (COVID-19).
It is believed that the Corona Virus originated from the City of Wuhan, China which has spread over most of the globe at a rapid pace. Majority of all the countries are in partial or complete lock down while bearing the high loss of human resources. While medical experts around the world have been busy in researching a vaccine for the Corona virus, World Health Organization (WHO) reports that it could be more than a year before a vaccine can be produced. Currently, there are more than 5.2 million confirmed cases throughout the world.
Due to the lock-downs, the condition of world’s economy is in a stagnant condition. The operations of many industries and business are shutdown due to fear of spreading and contracting this contagious virus, this has also been implemented by various international sports organizations across all boards as sports events have been postponed for an uncertain time period.
At the same time, the dispute between Nepal and India is escalating day by day. It was six months ago when India released its new political map featuring LIPULEK as territory of India. This had ignited a new wave of attentiveness in each Nepalese about the boarder encroachment from their neighbor which has resulted in the issue being a topic of national debate.
The issue has been highlighted since India inaugurated a new road development through the Lipulek in the midst of a world-wide Pandemic. On May 21st, The Nepalese government released its new political and administrative map which included Lipulek in its own territory by stating that Nepal has a lot of historical evidences and registered documents to prove Lipulek as a territory of Nepal. Now, the total land area of Nepal is 1,47,516 square kilometers up from 1,47,181 square kilometers. As tensions rise between Nepal and India, Indian media personalities are prioritizing the news advocating the newly featured area in Nepal’s map is of India’s .
In this regard, the role of Nepalese media is also very important for integrating the issue, not only in media itself but in each and every citizen up to the political leaders.
India seems to be biding its time for the such a situation where in the name of help and cooperation it can leverage a position to blackmail the Nepalese government and adopt the disputed territory. Indian government may allure Nepalese politician and media to put the issue to rest as they have shown in the past but this will prove a devastating blow to the sovereignty of Nepal, thus the disputed land issue should be taken in serious regard as each and every citizen should not forget about our ancestors and national Luminaries.
Though there are the various political parties in Nepal possessing different ideologies, they need to set aside their differences in the name of nationalism. India has a lot to benefit if the political parties in Nepal are busy disputing amongst each other, so, the cooperation, collaboration and unity among the various political parties is the only recourse.
The government should collect all the historical evidences and registered documents to settle the issue by bilateral and diplomatic means, otherwise it will only lead to further issues and disputes between the countries. All the political parties should be united on this national issue rather than use this political landscape as a means to consolidate more power.
(Author Mr. Bhatta is the coordinator of Vidya bhushan Public School, Dhangadhi-13 Mohanpur, kailali)