India-Nepal: Boundary Questions & the Reset

The Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura triangle, where India, Nepal and Tibet meet, is the hardest knot in India-Nepal ties, and it tightened again in 2026. When India announced that the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra would once more cross at the Lipulekh Pass, Nepal's Foreign Ministry sent diplomatic notes to both New Delhi and Beijing, reasserting that the three areas are Nepali territory under the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli. India rejected the claim as an untenable, unilateral enlargement, pointing out that the Yatra has used the route since 1954. The row now overlaps a leadership reset in Kathmandu, where 35-year-old Balendra Shah became Prime Minister in March 2026.