Nepal has drawn-up a new political map that includes strategically important territory it disputes with India, officials said yesterday, as the Himalayan country takes a tougher stance against its giant neighbour.

Protests have been staged in Nepal since India earlier this month inaugurated an 80-kilometre road in Uttarakhand state leading up to the disputed Lipu Lekh pass.

Nepal claims the pass under an 1816 treaty that sets the boundary with India along the Kali River, but disputes have arisen because neither side can agree its source.

A cabinet meeting on Monday decided to publish a new map that includes Lipu Lekh and zones in Kalapani and Limpiyadhura, Law Minister Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe told AFP.

The zones form a region of more than 300 square kilometres considered important because it is where the Nepalese and Indian borders touch China.

India and Nepal had both shown Kalapani and Lipu Lekh in their political maps, but Nepal had not previously shown Limpiyadhura.