Nearly 20 terrorists entered India via Nepal: Indian envoy

KATHMANDU - Nearly 20 terrorists slipped into India from Nepal in 2009 using the open border between the two countries while fake Indian currency worth almost Rs.2 crore was seized in the country in what is a major security concern for India, a top official said.

Nearly a fortnight after Nepal’s coalition government cancelled a deal with India to print new Nepali passports, India’s ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood spoke to the media for the first time, highlighting the causes for India’s concern.

“In 2009-10, the amount of fake Indian currency confiscated here amounted to almost Rs.1 crore 90 lakh (nearly $4 million),” the Indian envoy told the Nagarik daily and its sister publication Republica. “That is a huge sum.

“Clearly, people who are bringing the currency do so as it is easy to take it across the border.”

India and Nepal share an 1,800km open border and following a bilateral pact of peace and friendship, Nepalis don’t need a passport or visa to go to India and vice versa.

“Last year, about 17-18 terrorists having links with various terrorist organisations were apprehended in different parts of India,” Sood said.

“(They) had entered India via Nepal. They came from different places, mostly by air, and decided to make use of the open border to get into India undetected.”

The Indian envoy said in today’s age and time, both countries needed to be conscious of the vulnerability the open border presented and step up cooperation to strengthen vigil against potential terrorist activities which could affect both.

A confidential letter written by Sood to Nepal’s Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala had suggested that if India’s state-owned Security Printing and Minting Company were to be awarded the contract to print nearly four million new Nepali passports, it would address India’s security concerns rising due to the open border.

The letter was leaked to the opposition Maoist party, triggering a furore.

Sood defended the letter, saying it was “straightforward”.

“A Nepali passport holder enjoys certain privileges in India,” he said. “No work permit is required. A Nepali passport holder can open a bank account, can engage in trading on the stock exchange, buy property.

“So naturally it is a shared concern that a Nepali passport should be as tamper-proof as possible.”

India’s concern about Nepali passports, which provide their owners such wide access in India, has been rising due to the growing reports about Nepali passports being lost or stolen.

“On an average, as many as 40 Nepali passports are reported lost every day,” Sood said. “This is a cause of concern to us as much as it is for the Nepali government. We would not like Nepali documents to be misused.

“So as a friendly neighbour, we were offering to prepare machine-readable passports of high standard.”

Ahead of an indefinite general strike called by the Maoists from May 2 and the spectre of violence and chaos it has raised, Sood said India was concerned at the anti-India rhetoric and activities by the former guerrillas and their sister organisations.

“We see statements made by Maoist leaders from time to time and anti-Indian graffiti in Kathmandu,” the envoy said. “In protest marches, anti-Indian slogans appear regularly.”

Sood said there were also reports of Indian companies in Nepal being prevented from doing their work.

The Indian envoy rejected Maoist allegations that India caused the fall of the Maoist government last year and was interfering in Nepal’s internal matters.

“The Maoist-led government resigned as its own coalition partners were no longer with (Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal) Dahal,” he said. “(Dahal) has never provided concrete examples of how India has interfered with his party. In his interview (to an Indian daily) he said he asked me to get a high-level envoy. We did not do so.

“It shows we were not interfering.”