LIPULEKH PASS — Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a protest against India on Sunday over New Delhi's announcement that it would resume the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage through Lipulekh Pass. The complaint criticized India for restarting the religious journey through territory that Kathmandu claims as its own.

In its complaint, the ministry said Limpiadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani are part of Nepal. Nepal bases its claim to Lipulekh Pass on the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli, which it entered into with British colonial rulers to define its western border. Lipulekh Pass sits at the point where Nepal meets India and Tibet, and a long-running border dispute exists between Nepal and India over the area.

The dispute resumed when India announced on Thursday that it had agreed with China that the pilgrimage via Lipulekh would resume. The Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the plan, 500 Hindu pilgrims will travel through the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand to cross into China at Lipulekh Pass. Other pilgrims will use a separate route through the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim.

India's Ministry of External Affairs asserted that Lipulekh has been used by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bon followers for the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage since 1954. A spokesman for the ministry said: "This is not a new development. India has consistently maintained that such claims are neither justified nor based on historical facts and evidence. Such unilateral artificial enlargement of territorial claims is untenable."