Why Does a Border Dispute Exacerbate? Analyzing the India–Nepalese Escalation Over Kalapani Through Securitization Theory

Ankur Sharma

Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2025, vol. 40, issue 4, 881-900

Abstract: Kalapani is a strategic tri-junction valley between India, China, and Nepal, and is currently a territory of India. It consists of the Lipulekh pass, which connects to Tibet. The Kalapani area remains non-demarcated and disputed between India and Nepal. Nepal claims significant territory of the region. The border was created under the 1816 Sugauli Treaty, signed between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Nepal, in which the River Kali is mentioned as the boundary. The treaty does not define the origin point of the river, with Nepal claiming Limpiyadhura as the origin point while India considers Lipulekh the origin point.A road was inaugurated by India on this route in May 2020. Subsequently, the Nepali government protested over the road and took several steps in retaliation. This escalation can be studied and understood from the confined frame of securitization theory, as devised by the Copenhagen school. The article does specifically focus on the role of the borderland population in the Kalapani region as both a securitizing and desecuritizing actor, and future securitization that may occur in Kumaun.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2024.2394040

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