Nepal bans controversial map book, finally bows to Indian pressure

- Some territories were claimed by China

New Delhi on 22nd September 2020 Tuesday

The book containing the controversial map was banned by the KP Oli government of Nepal after strong protests from India. Earlier, in the wake of China's invasion, Nepal claimed some Indian territories as its own and published a book with a map showing that those territories belonged to Nepal.

Nepal took the step at the behest of the Chinese ambassador. But now Nepal's foreign ministry has publicly protested the book, telling its own government's education department that it would not be appropriate to distribute the book. Stop distributing it immediately and stop publishing it. As a result, the Department of Education suspended the publication and distribution of the book.

According to a report in the Kathmandu Post newspaper, Nepal's foreign ministry told the education ministry that the book contained many factual flaws and a lot of inaccurate information. Therefore, the publication and distribution of this book should be stopped immediately. "We have stopped publishing and distributing the book as we have come to our notice that it contains a lot of false and inaccurate information," said Shiv Maya, Nepal's law minister.

It may be recalled that in May this year, tension arose between India and Nepal over the border issue. Efforts to resolve it through negotiations also began. But the Chinese ambassador was provoking the Nepalese government. In a children's book, the Nepalese government published maps claiming some Indian territories as its own. India, of course, vehemently opposed it. The book was published at the behest of Nepal's Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokhral. In this book, Nepal claimed the black water area as its own. India was forced to turn a red eye. However, now Nepal has banned the book. Thus, Nepal bowed to Indian pressure.