India-China faceoff: Nepal confident of peaceful resolution between 'friendly neighbours'

Weighing into the violent faceoff between armies of India and China at Ladakh's Galwan, Nepal on Saturday said that it is confident the two countries will resolve their mutual differences through peaceful means "in the spirit of good neighbourliness". The country's Foreign Ministry said disputes between the two Asian giants should be resolved through peaceful means.

"Nepal has always stood firmly for regional and world peace. In the context of recent development in the Galwan Valley area between our friendly neighbours India and China, Nepal is confident that both the neighbouring countries will resolve, in the spirit of good neighbourliness, their mutual differences through peaceful means in favour of bilateral, regional and world peace and stability," a Foreign Ministry press statement said.

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This comes at a time when India and Nepal are themselves at odds with each other after the tiny Himalayan nation passed a constitutional amendment to revise its map that now includes certain areas which are part of the Indian territory. On Thursday, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari ratified the Constitutional Amendment Bill passed by the country's Parliament to alter its map, exactly a month after it received approval in a Cabinet meeting chaired by PM KP Sharma Oli. The Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura have been incorporated in the new map.

READ | Nepal President Ratifies Constitutional Amendment Bill; Map With Indian Areas A Reality

The Galwan Clash

20 Indian Army soldiers including Commanding Officer were martyred when a violent faceoff took place on Monday night when the de-escalation process was underway in the Galwan Valley. As per US intelligence reports, the Chinese side has suffered 35 casualties including a Commanding officer, during the physical clash. Sources revealed that an Indian colonel was attacked by Chinese Army personnel with iron rods without any provocation leading to hand-to-hand combat.

While three soldiers were killed in action, 17 other succumbed to their injuries and hypothermia, four others are in critical but stable condition, while 72 others are recuperating from minor injuries at various hospitals. Currently, both countries have disengaged at LAC, while talks via diplomatic channels and Army-level.

Asserting that China is not on Indian soil, PM Narendra Modi, on Friday, said that none of India's border posts have been captured, nor had China breached the Indian borders, at the all-party meeting chaired by him to brief political parties on the LAC situation. He added that the 20 martyrs died fighting and saving the motherland from the enemy. 

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