The Kalapani territory is an area under Indian administration as part of Pithoragarh district in the Kumaon Division of the Uttarakhand state,K. C. Sharad, Kalapani's new 'line of control', Nepali Times, 10 September 2004, p. 6 but it is also claimed by Nepal since 1997.Ramananda Sengupta, Akhilesh Upadhyay, In Dark Waters, Outlook, 20 July 1998. According to Nepal's claim, it lies in Darchula district, Sudurpashchim Province. The territory represents part of the basin of the Kalapani river, one of the headwaters of the Kali River in the Himalayas at an altitude of 3600–5200 meters. The valley of Kalapani, with the Lipulekh Pass at the top, forms the Indian route to Kailash–Manasarovar, an ancient pilgrimage site. It is also the traditional trading route to Tibet for the Bhotiyas of Kumaon and the Tinkar valley of Nepal.
The Kali River forms the boundary between India and Nepal in this region. However, India states that the headwaters of the river are not included in the boundary. Here the border runs along the watershed. This is a position dating back to British India .: "The map 'District Almora' published by the Survey of India [during 1865–1869] for the first time shifted the boundary further east beyond even the Lipu Khola (Map-5). The new boundary moving away from Lipu Khola follows the southern divide of Pankhagadh Khola and then moves north along the ridge." and : "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)
Nepal has another pass, the Tinkar Pass (or "Tinkar Lipu"), close to the area. After India closed the Lipulekh Pass in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, much of the Bhotiya trade used to pass through the Tinkar Pass.: "Lipu La, however, was closed in 1962, due to the strained Sino-Indian relations. Today remaining trade moves via Tinkar La." The Nepalese protests regarding the Kalapani territory started in 1997, after India and China agreed to reopen the Lipulekh pass.Harsh Mahaseth, Nepal: The Different Interpretations of Crime, National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University, 10 March 2017, via Social Science Research Network. Since that time, Nepalese maps have shown the area up to the Kalapani river, measuring 35 square kilometres, as part of Nepal's Darchula District.
A joint technical committee of Indian and Nepalese officials have been discussing the issue since 1998, along with other border issues. But the matter has not yet been resolved.
On 20 May 2020, Nepal released a new map of its own territory that expanded its claim an additional 335 square kilometres up to the Kuthi Yankti river, including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura. It did not explain why a new claim arose.Sugam Pokharel, Nepal issues a new map claiming contested territories with India as its own, CNN, 21 May 2020.
Geography and tradition According to the Almora District Gazetteer (1911), the Kalapani (literally "dark water") is a collection of mountain springs near Kalapani village. The springs begin at the north-eastern declivity of a peak known as Byans-Rikhi at an elevation of , and they descent around into the Kalapani River in the valley. The Kalapani is formed from two streams: the Lipu Gad originating from the western end of the Lipulekh Pass, and the Tera Gad from the western declivity of the Kuntas peak. Modern maps show two further streams joining from the southeast, which begin at Om Parvat and Point 6172 respectively. The latter of these, called Pankha Gad, joins the river very near Kalapani village.
The Gazetteer continues to state that the united stream of Kalapani flows five miles southwest, where it is joined by the Kuthi Yankti river that arises from the Limpiyadhura Pass (near the village of Gunji). After this union, the river is called the "Kali River". Language being not entirely logical, the term "Kali River" is often applied to the river from the location of the springs themselves. The springs are considered sacred by the people of the area and "erroneously" regarded as the origin of the Kali River. However, they had been regarded as a landmark by the British from the very first survey undertaken by W. J. Webb in 1816.
The area on both sides of the Kali River is called Byans, which was a pargana (district in Mughal times). It is populated by Byansis, who speak a West Himalayish language (closely related to the Zhang-Zhung language once spoken in West Tibet).: "Geographically, the traditional Byans region is divided into two parts, Pangjungkhu, including Budi, Garbyang and Chhangru, and Yerjungkhu, consisting of Gunji, Nabi, Rongkang, and Napalchu. The Byans people recognize two varieties of their language, Pangjungkhu boli Yerjungkhu boli, which correspond to this geographical division, but the differences between the two are now minor." The Byansis practise transhumance, living in their traditional homes in the high Himalayas during the summer and moving down to towns such as Dharchula in the winter. While high-altitude pastoralism is the mainstay of the Byansis, trade with western Tibet was also a key part of their livelihood.: "'The total trade of western Tibet with all parts of India, including Nepal and the native states, amount to about 90,000 annually, and of this the United Provinces and Tehri Garhwal get 70,000', reported Sherring in 1906, and the credit for this amazing success in trade entrepreneurship would go to these hardy Bhotia traders of Central Himalaya." Both the Limpiyadhura pass and the Lipulekh pass were frequently used by the Byansis, but the Lipulekh pass leading to the Tibetan trading town of Burang (or Taklakot) was the most popular.: "The reference point defining the right extremity of Bhot Pradesh is another mountain pass, the famous Lipu Lekh, which was the most popular traditional gateway to western Tibet and to great Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage centers of Kailash and Mansarovar."
To the southeast of the Kalapani river is the Tinkar valley (presently in Nepal), with large villages of Changru and Tinkar. This area is also populated by Byansis. They have another pass referred to as Tinkar Pass that leads to Burang.: "On the Nepal side there is the Tinkar Pass, quite close to the Lipu Lekh, which is of about the same altitude and is approached by just as easy a route. However, the Tinkar Pass is of little use to Nepal, as this portion of that country is cut off from the rest of Nepal by impassable glaciers and mountains; it simply affords an alternative route to traders from Garbyang."
History Early 19th century
Following the Unification of Nepal under Prithvi Narayan Shah, Nepal attempted to enlarge its domains, conquering much of Sikkim in the east and, in the west, the basins of Gandaki and Karnali and the Uttarakhand regions of Garhwal and Kumaon. This brought them in conflict with the British, who controlled directly or indirectly the north Indian plains between Delhi and Calcutta. A series of campaigns termed the Anglo-Nepalese War occurred in 1814–1816. In 1815 the British general Ochterlony evicted the Nepalese from Garhwal and Kumaon across the Kali River,: "Ochterlony forced Amar Singh Thapa to agree at Malaun to terms under which the Nepali army retired with their arms, and the territory between the Kali and Sutlej rivers came under the control of the British." ending the 25-year rule of the region by Nepal.
Octherlony offered peace terms to the Nepalese demanding British oversight through a Resident and the delimitation of Nepal's territories corresponding roughly to its present-day boundaries in the east and west. The Nepalese refusal to accede to these terms led to another campaign the following year, targeting the Kathmandu Valley, after which the Nepalese capitulated.: "The Nepalese government initially balked at these terms, but agreed to ratify them in March 1816 after Ochterloney occupied the Makwanpur Valley only thirty miles from the capital.": "[In 1816] With the collapse of the main defense line, the Darbar quickly dispatched Chandra Sekhar Upadhyaya to Ochterlony's camp with a copy of the Sugauli treaty bearing the seal of the Maharaja."
The resulting agreement, the Sugauli Treaty, states in its Article 5:
Even though the Article was meant to set Kali River as the boundary of Nepal, initially the British administrators retained control of the entire Byans region both to the east and west of the Kali/Kalapani river, stating that it had been traditionally part of Kumaon.: "By treaty the Kali was made the boundary on the east, and this arrangement divided into two parts [the] parganah Byans, which had hitherto been considered as an integral portion of Kumaon as distinguished from Doti and Jumla." In 1817, the Nepalese made a representation to the British, claiming that they were entitled to the areas to the east of Kali. After consideration, the British governor-general in council accepted the demand. The Byans region to the east of Kali was transferred to Nepal, dividing the Byans pargana across the two countries.
Not being satisfied with this, the Nepalese also extended a claim to the Kuthi valley further west, stating that the Kuthi Yankti stream, the western branch of the head waters, should be considered the main Kali River. Surveyor W. J. Webb and other British officials showed that the lesser stream flowing from the Kalapani springs "had always been recognised as the main branch of the Kali" and "had in fact given its name to the river". Consequently, the British Indian government retained the Kuthi valley.: "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 and Nabee 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): "The correspondence [on 8 March 1817] appears to indicate that, while the Zamindars resided on the west side of Kali in British India [in the Kuthi valley], their tenants lived on the east of the Kali River in Nepal."
Late 19th century