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Indo-Nepal JWG meeting : a call to check terrorism |
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India and Nepal have reiterated their commitment not to allow their respective territories be used for activities directed against each other. The fourth India-Nepal joint Working Group (JWG) meeting, held over the past two days of the Joint Secretaries of the two countries’ Home ministries in New Delhi, was incidentally the first bilateral meeting between the neighbours since the June 1 royal massacres in Kathmandu. Officials of the two countries agreed to speed up work on improving infrastructure at the border check-posts. Security arrangements at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport also came up during the meeting. New Delhi had agreed to resume Indian Airlines’ flights to the Nepalese capital last year after a six-month suspension following the December 1999 hijacking of IA Flight C-814. The Indian side was led by Surendra Kumar, Joint Secretary. He appreciated the improvement carried out in the security of the airport. However, it was pointed out that the work on computerisation of immigration facilities at the airport needed to be speeded up. Broad agreement was reached over the need to control the activities of terrorists and criminals operating in both countries. The meeting also led to an understanding on the need to hold expert level discussions on a legal framework for cooperation in criminal and civil matters.
In recent years there has been perceptible strains in Indo-Nepal relations. The growth of ISI activities in Nepal has caused great concern and alarm to India. The hijack of an Indian Airlines IC-814 in December 1999 with connivance of ISI agents in Nepal confirmed Indian fears that Pakistan is using Nepal as a base for its anti-India activities. This was followed by another incident triggered by rumours in Kathmandu that film star Hrithik Roshan had made disparaging remarks about Nepal and its people. The rumours spread like wild fire causing anti-Indian riots in several places in Nepal. The complicity of ISI agents in spreading the rumours is now more or less established.
There is a growing perception in India that Nepal has not adequately reciprocated its traditional friendship. This view has been strengthened by Nepal’s penchant for playing the China card vis-a-vis India. Indians by and large are veering round the view that Nepal has been unmindful of India’s legitimate security concerns and has unwillingly or otherwise played into Beijing’s hands, as symbolised by the emerging China-ISI nexus in the Kingdom. In short, many Indians see Nepal’s attitude as one of extracting concessions without meeting its obligations. But there is another perspective that runs contrary to the above mentioned perception-the Indian attitude and its insensitivity to Nepal’s concerns. Such anti-Indian feelings are centered mainly in and around Kathmandu Valley. The demographic profile of the Terai region of Nepal and its relationship with the Indian States - UP and Bihar - holds the key to Indo-Nepal relations.
Nepal’s Terai region which had only 35 per cent of its total population in 1952-54, increased its share to 47 per cent in 1991. The population growth in the region compared with the rest of Nepal is seen in part as a result of migration from India, a trend seen by Nepalese as an Indian Lebensraum (living space). Though more Nepalese migrate to India than Indians to Nepal, but when one considers that the population of Nepal is a mere 24 million as compared to India’s 1000 million, the Nepalese fear seems justified. Yet another example of India’s insensitivity towards Nepal, is the former’s construction, without consulting the latter, of Laxmanpur bund over the Rapti near the UP-Nepal border. The bund has caused inundation of certain portions of nepalese territory and thousands had to be evacuated.
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