Kathmandu. Indian analysts have recently stated that Nepal does not want to escalate the border dispute with India and wants to maintain close ties with it. Prior to this, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had reconstituted the Council of Ministers, removing Ishwar Pokharel as the Minister of Defense and restricting textbooks that have claimed the disputed land as Nepali territory. It was seemingly interpreted by the Indian side as a withdrawal of Nepal’s claim on the disputed territory.

Nepal had previously published a textbook containing its revised map where Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura were included in Nepali territory. The book was published by the Curriculum Development Center under the Ministry of Education, as a curriculum for the geography subjects intended for grades 11 and 12. The textbooks had created a wave of discontent in India. Subsequently, further distribution was halted and according to the Ministry sources, the government has given the responsibility to the Ministry of Land Reform and Management, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education to rectify the contents of the book if any error is found. The Indian side has been claiming that the ban was imposed by the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Oli had called the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to congratulate him on India’s Independence Day last August, paving the way for the Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Narwane’s visit to Nepal. Indians sources state that Nepal has retracted from the claim over the territory post that conversation, thus, the textbooks publishing had been stopped after that to retain friendly relations. However, the Ministry of Land Reform and Management has denied any such allegation.