Education minister accused of lying about PM Balen Shah’s border statement

Kathmandu— Government spokesperson and Minister for Education and Sports, Sasmita Pokharel, has been accused of lying in defense of Prime Minister Balen Shah’s controversial statement that “not only has India encroached on Nepal’s land, but Nepal has also encroached on India’s territory.”

During a briefing on the decisions of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Pokharel defended Balen’s remarks, claiming she was surprised by his statement that Nepal had encroached on the border. She provided clarification, saying that Balen had expressed surprise when he mentioned Nepal’s encroachment.

However, in Sunday’s Parliament session, Prime Minister Balen did not express surprise. He stated that Nepal had encroached on India’s border and went further to say that Nepal had encroached on many areas of India’s territory. “Not only India, but Nepal has also encroached on many areas of India’s land. We only recently found this out,” Prime Minister Shah had said.

Despite this, government spokesperson Pokharel gave another irresponsible statement, denying that the Prime Minister had mentioned encroachment. Speaking to journalists, she clarified, “What the Prime Minister meant was that when advancing work related to the border dispute, he was surprised to hear from the other side that Nepal had also encroached on the border.”