[Thus,
Bangladeshi jihadi elements - of whatever particular stripe or persuasion - can
easily slip into a Kathmandu that is filled not merely with 'non-believers' and
'idolaters' but also with swarms of Western tourists who often congregate in
popular restaurants and other 'soft targets', a la the Dhaka cafe were the
horrendous massacre of innocents occurred.]
By M. R. Josse
 |
| A bustling city of Kathmandu before the devastating earthquakes of 2015 |
KATHMANDU: In this space last week, I endeavoured to
identify a few basic geopolitical lessons from the stunning 23 June, 2016
Brexit verdict. One was encapsulated, thus: "It is simply suicidal for
Nepal to continue the myth that our open border with India - with the second
largest population on planet earth - is something to be treasured. It should be
done away with - the sooner, the better."
The other takeaway was so embedded:
"Given that our open border with India has - according to knowledgeable
sources both indigenous as well as extra-regional - morphed into a badlands
attracting not merely black-marketers and profiteers but also an assortment of
terrorists - from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan - as well, it is high time to
jettison the outmoded notion that our open border with India is a geopolitical
blessing."
Now
Add Bangladesh
With the recent sanguinary terror attack in Dhaka in which Islamic militants killed and hacked 20 innocent people, most of
them foreigners and non-Muslims, I would hasten to add 'Bangladesh' to the
trifecta of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
I should now underline and remind readers
that not only is the territory of Bangladesh (a) just a stone's throw away from
the open Nepal-India border but (b) that Bangladeshi infiltration into India
has been a permanent feature of Indo-Bangla relations ever since Bangladesh's
creation out of East Pakistan in December 1971.
Thus, Bangladeshi jihadi elements - of
whatever particular stripe or persuasion - can easily slip into a Kathmandu
that is filled not merely with 'non-believers' and 'idolaters' but also with
swarms of Western tourists who often congregate in popular restaurants and
other 'soft targets', a la the Dhaka cafe were the horrendous massacre of
innocents occurred.
Indeed, the exodus from Bangladesh has been
so troubling to India - and perhaps, to a lesser degree, to Bangladesh - that
the two countries decided some years ago to construct border fencing along
their 4,096 km frontier. According to a recent Times of India news report, that
project is to be completed by 2017. Incidentally, it raises this pertinent
question: if border fencing between territories that were once part and parcel
of the same country is considered kosher, why should a suggestion for a similar
scheme for the open 1,868 km Nepal-India border be considered heretical, since
Nepal and India were never components of one integral nation?
But, coming back to the horrific madness of
the Dhaka slayings by Islamic radicals - whether the perpetrators were
dyed-in-the-wool Islamic State (IS) acolytes or merely a blood-thirsty band of
brothers of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladeshi terror outfit - for the world
at large what matters is that the thugs were committed to spreading terror
against innocent non-Muslims, especially those associated with the United
States and her allies in their so-called 'war against terror'.
Unfortunately Nepal, too, comes into the
picture, even if only incidentally, as has graphically underscored by the
recent tragic murder in Kabul, via bomb explosion of their vehicle, of 13
Nepali nationals (along with two Indians) working as private security guards in
the Canadian embassy in Afghanistan.
Kabul
Killing
Any notion that their slaughter was not a
deliberate act against those hapless victims - and Nepal - should be dismissed
out of hand. As much is established by the new Taliban leader in Afghanistan
Haibatullah Akhundzada's recent public statement, issued, we are informed via
the media, to mark the Muslim festival of Eid - which, incidentally, came a
mere two days after Taliban-claimed suicide blasts targeted a convoy of buses
transporting Afghan police cadets in Kabul killing over 30 people and wounding
more than 70.
After excoriating the United States for its
invasion of Afghanistan and challenging it to a confrontation, Akhundzada also
called on neighbouring countries "to join the fight against the US",
saying the presence of Americans would "harm our mutual interests"
and "destabilize the whole region."
As he put it, "You are expected to join
your voice with that of the Afghans to end the occupation or at least to not
take steps which could contribute to prolongation of presence of the
Americans."
Given that the Nepali security guards were
working for the Canadians, allies of the United States in the 'war on terror',
it clearly cooked their goose and made them legitimate targets for the Taliban,
as Akhundzada's statement makes agonizingly plain in retrospect.
While leaving our high priests of foreign
policy and clued up public policy formulators to ponder what needs be done in
respect of doing away with blindly 'exporting' Nepali manpower abroad, even to
conflict or jihad-prone regions, I would like, once again, to return to the
main theme of this column: the absolute urgency of abolishing the open
Nepal-India border, replacing it with arrangements that return control of the
border to the two respective countries via universally accepted border control
mechanisms.
Open
Wound On Body Politic
Quite apart from the now increasingly evident
costs of maintaining an open border between a country of some 28 million people
and another with 1.3 billion souls, the sheer lunacy of continuing to do so is
further underlined by a recent development vis-a-vis the border trade between
Nepal and China.
As per a news report in the Kathmandu Post (1
July) entitled, 'China closes Korala border', one is told that "the
Chinese authorities closed the border after people of Indian origin started
entering China with leaflets of Dalai Lama". What this means is that the
porous border with India not only makes it possible for those planning
terrorists attacks on Indian targets to come in, but also for anti-Chinese
elements to sneak into China after having first sailed through our gaping
southern border.
Given the lack of effective governance and
the dizzy level of corruption in 'loktantrik' (democratic) Nepal, it can only be a matter of
time before our once-peaceful land is transformed into an Afghanistan.
Do away with the open border, for God's
sake!
