Lipulekh Pass
The Lipulekh Pass or Qiang La is a Himalayan pass on the border between Uttarakhand, India and the Tibet region of China, near their trijunction with Nepal. Nepal has had ongoing claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, which has been under Indian administration from the British colonial period. The pass is near the trading town of Taklakot in Tibet and has been used since ancient times by traders, mendicants and pilgrims transiting between India and Tibet. It is also used by pilgrims to Kailas and Manasarovar.
History
The Lipulekh Pass was one of the passes historically used for Indo-Tibetan border trade by the Bhotiyas of Kumaon. Each of the Bhotiya valleys lying along the border, Gori, Darma, Chaudans and Byans, had its own passes to Tibet. Of these, Chaudansis and Byansis used the Lipulekh pass. Lipulekh was considered the most "famous" among the passes because it is closest to the Tibetan trading centre Purang, and it also leads directly to Mount Kailash, a pilgrimage destination for Hindus and Buddhists.In 1791, the Nepalese Gorkha kingdom conquered Kumaon and took possession of the entire region. Border tensions with British colonial regime led to the Anglo-Nepalese War. The British evicted the Nepalese from Kumaon and set the Kali River as the border between Kumaon and Nepal, later confirmed in the Treaty of Sugauli.
However, what was meant by "Kali River" in the upper reaches of the Himalayas became a matter of [|dispute]. Initially, the British retained the Kuthi Valley in the west, the Tinkar Valley in the east, as well as the Kalapani valley leading to the Lipulekh pass, as part of Kumaon. These three valleys carry three head streams to Kali River and are populated by Byansis. Following Nepalese objections, the British Governor-General made enquiries with the local populations as well as the British surveyor and decided that the Kalapani valley carried the main Kali River. Accordingly, the Tinkar Valley in the east was ceded to Nepal.
This arrangement would have made the Lipulekh Pass the trijunction between Kumaon, Nepal and Tibet. However, a further adjustment was made around 1865, when the British shifted the border near Lipulekh to the watershed of the Kalapani stream instead of the stream itself. This made a 35 square kilometre area to the east of Kalapani valley, now known as the Kalapani territory, part of British India. The trijunction between Kumaon, Nepal and Tibet shifted to the vicinity of Tinkar Pass and the Lipulekh Pass became an interior point of British India. There are no extant documents regarding any communications on the issue. However, around the same time that the British claimed the Kalapani territory, they had also ceded to Nepal the western Tarai regions, which were later named "Naya Muluk" by Nepal. The addition of these regions was of significant economic benefit to Nepal.
The border adjustment made little difference on the ground because a free movement regime operated between Nepal and India, and the Byansis of Tinkar Valley continued to use the Lipulekh Pass. It was only after India restricted the Tinkaris from using Lipulekh Pass after the 1960s that a dispute began to surface.
In 1954, India signed a border trade agreement with China, in which Lipulekh Pass was mentioned as one of the passes that could be used for Indo-Tibetan trade and pilgrimage traffic. A State Police post was established at Kalapani in 1956. In 1961, Nepal signed a border agreement with China, which recognised the trijunction between the three countries being near Tinkar Pass, and a border pillar numbered 1 was placed there.
After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, India closed the Lipulekh Pass. The Byansis of Kumaon then used the Tinkar Pass for all their trade with Tibet. In 1979, the Kalapani post was came to be manned by Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
In 1991, India and China agreed to reopen the Lipulekh pass, and the trade through it steadily increased.
Tourism
This pass links the Pithoragarh district India with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and forms the last territorial point in India's territory. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a Hinduism pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, traverses this pass. Lipulekh pass is connected to Chang Lobochahela, near the old trading town of Purang, in Tibet.In 2024, Uttarakhand government has identified a viewpoint on the western shoulder of the pass, which it termed "Old Lipulekh Peak", from where Mount Kailash can be seen.
India-China Trading Post
The pass was the first Indian border post to be opened for trade with China in 1992. This was followed by the opening of Shipki La, Himachal Pradesh in 1994 and Nathu La, Sikkim in 2006. Presently, Lipulekh Pass is open for cross-border trade every year from June through September.Products cleared for export from India include jaggery, misri, tobacco, spices, pulses, fafar flour, coffee, vegetable oil, ghee and various miscellaneous consumable items. The main imports into India include sheep wool, passam, sheep, goats, borax, yak tails, chhirbi and raw silk.
India-China BPM (Border Personnel Meeting) point
In 2014, India and China discussed using the pass as an additional official Border Personnel Meeting point between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army of China for regular consultations and interactions between the two armies to improve relations.Nepalese claims
The Nepalese claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, are based on 1816 Sugauli Treaty between British East India Company and Nepal. The treaty delimited the boundary along the Kali River. India claims that the river begins at the Kalapani village as this is where all its tributaries merge. But Nepal claims that it begins from the Lipulekh Pass.The historical record shows that, some time around 1865, the British shifted the border near Kalapani to the watershed of the Kalapani river instead of the river itself, thereby claiming the area now called the Kalapani territory. This is consistent with the British position that the Kali River begins only from the Kalapani springs,
which meant that the agreement of Sugauli did not apply to the region above the springs.
After the Indian prime minister's visit to China in 2015, India and China agreed to open a trading post in Lipulekh, raising objections from Nepal. The Nepalese parliament stated that 'it violates Nepal's sovereign rights over the disputed territory'.
Nepal now intends to resolve the issue via diplomatic means with India.