India urges Nepal to check entry of Chinese, Pak nationals through border

Kathmandu, Sep 30 (IANS) India's Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has requested Nepal to stop the entry of Pakistani and Chinese nationals into India through the Nepal-India border points.

SSB Director General Sujoy Lal Thaosen, who is on a five-day visit to Nepal, made this request during his meeting with Raju Aryal, Inspector General of the Armed Police Force (APF), Nepal, according to Nepali media reports.

The concerns were raised during the sixth Nepal-India meeting on border security, management, and coordination, which started on Tuesday, and concluded on Thursday evening in Kathmandu.

The citizens of Pakistan and China have been entering India after engaging in illegal activities in the Nepal-India border areas, said one report citing highly-placed officials of APF who attended the meeting quoted SSB Director General Thaosen as saying in the meeting that the Armed Police Force should play a role to prevent them from entering India.

However, the APF said in a statement that both sides have agreed to strengthen border security cooperation, and cross-border criminal activities and agreed to share the relevant information and communications between the two entities.

In the meeting, Thaosen proposed that Nepal should stop the entry of third-country citizens into India and their illegal activities.

In response, APF Inspector General Aryal said that there is no anti-India activity on Nepali soil and that people from third countries have not entered India through the Nepal-India border.

"But the Indian side did not seem to agree with Nepal's assurance and said that as the citizens of third countries were seen entering India from Nepal, they insisted that it should be stopped anyway," said a highly-placed APF official.

According to the report, the Indian side complained that citizens of China and Pakistan enter India through the porous Nepal-India border to carry out illegal activities.

"Indian security personnel have arrested a Pakistani who entered from the Bhittamod area a few months ago. In the meeting, the Indian side presented this as an example", said a source who was present in the meeting.

In the meeting, Nepal's security officials made a proposal to control the illegal arms and drugs trade in Nepal from the Indian side.

Similarly, Inspector General Aryal also discussed the issue of narcotics entering Nepal from India, details of small arms brought from India seized by APF in the past, criminals hiding in Nepal after committing crimes in India, and looting Nepali people in the border areas.

According to the pre-determined agenda, an agreement has been reached to set up help desks on both sides of the international border and make arrangements for safe movement.

Likewise, immediately after the meeting, the APF headquarters issued a circular to the Border Outposts (BOPs) set up along the border with India and instructed them to operate the help desks.

There are 220 BOPs of the APF along the Nepal-India border. Similarly, India has stationed SSB units at more than 530 places along the Nepal-India border.