Nepal: Need to Remould Friendly Relations
10 Apr, 2000 · 346
Wg Cdr NK Pant on restructuring Indo-Nepalese ties
At present there are no entry and exit restrictions for Indian nationals and Nepalese subjects travelling between the two countries. As employment opportunities within the kingdom are limited, tens of thousands of Nepalese cross into
India
in search of jobs as security guards, domestic helps, skilled and unskilled labourers. Thousands also come as students seeking admission to universities, colleges and technical institutes .In addition, due to cultural and religious affinities, there is considerable tourist and pilgrim traffic between the two neighbouring nations. The Himalayan kingdom’s high mountain ranges rounds flocks of trekkers and climbers from all over the world mostly transiting through
India
. Of particular concern is the fact that
Nepal
is being used as an important route by international drug traffickers especially from of Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal belt. Strangely, the long unguarded Indo-Nepal border offers no hurdles to criminals, smugglers,drug peddlers, gun runners and last but not least Pakistani terrorists in their movement to and from India.
India
has reportedly complained to
Kathmandu
about ISI activities in that country from time to time but Nepalese authorities have been unable to curb the same due to the lack of political will and the necessary wherewithal.
India
has turned a blind eyeto plugging infiltration via
Nepal
. The modus operandi for the Pakistan based terrorists is to travel to Kathmandu on valid documents by commercial airlines and later sneak into India.Thereupon, the ISI networks provides safe havens throughout the length and breadth of thiscountry to carry out acts of sabotage, bomb blasts in public places, killings, kidnappings, communal riots and wrecking the economic system by flooding India with fake Indian currency besides, actively aiding and abetting insurgency in Kashmir and the north eastern states.
kingdom
of
Nepal
with an area of 140,800 square kilometres and nearly 25 million inhabitants, is surrounded by the Chinese controlled
Tibet
on the north and
India
on the three remaining sides. With
India
’s moral support, the Nepalese were able to restore the monarchy in 1951. Prior to this, the members of the Rana family had ruled the kingdom for more than a century in the garb of hereditary Prime Ministers after having stripped the royal family of its powers. The monarchy, after experimenting with democracy dispensed with it by dissolving the parliament and banning the political parties in 1961. It is on account of intense Indian pressure applied through a border blockade in 1989,that the king restored the democratic multi party system resuming the role of a constitutional monarch.
India
. Most of its imported and reassembled products are re-exported to
India
hurting the Indian economy. Notwithstanding this negative factor,
New Delhi
has contributed generously to developing
Nepal
into a modern state. Indian economic assistance has helped in building most of its 7700 kilometre long highways, communication system, airports, institutions of higher learning, power stations, industries and several other establishments including military organisation. The nation’s elite life have been mostly educated in
India
. The Indian army every year recruits a considerable number of youth for its famed Gorkha Regiments They, along with thousands of army pensioners settled in various parts of the kingdom, contribute substantially to the Nepalese economy. Here it may be mentioned that
India
’s security may be at stake if the minds of the young Nepalese joining the Indian army are subverted by ISI operatives and their front organisations in that country.
India
and
Nepal
need to be fenced and guarded with predetermined entry and exit points. The present system under which Indians and Nepalese are free to travel cross the border without any documents must be dispensed with and mutually agreed system of passport or entry permits introduced keeping the public interest of both sides in mind.
India
which has been suffering from proxy wars, insurgencies and acts of terrorism as manifested by the hijacking of IC 814 , must seek the co-operation of
Nepal
to pursue its genuine security interests.
The
The Nepalese economy is largely dependent on
The changing security environment, where international terrorism is rapidly taking centre stage, calls for a friendly refashioning of relations between the two neighbours. The time has come when the borders separating
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