India has raised with Nepal the issue of proliferation of madrasas on their side of the India-Nepal border and sought cooperation in checking anti-India activities by such religious schools that are being funded and supported by Pakistan’s ISI and the Dawood Ibrahim terror syndicate.
The Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal, BD Sharma, led a delegation earlier this month to Kathmandu where he flagged concerns over the activities of the madrasas that have mushroomed along the border inside Nepal during the last few years.
A number of madrasas are reported to be carrying out anti-India propaganda and providing safe haven to terrorists who try to sneak into India and act as transit points for carriage of fake Indian currency notes and other contraband items. Income generated from smuggling of these items sustains the operation of the madrasas and help them target India.
Besides, there is a possibility of inter-linkages between these madrasas and a number of Mandarin learning centres along the India-Nepal Terai belt which further poses a danger to the border management in the area, officials said.
Chinese agencies have been operating these Mandarin learning centres in the Terai belt with an ostensible agenda of imparting language training to the Nepalese youth. But, intelligence agencies here suspect that they could use the hassle-free border arrangement with Nepal to send their men to gather intelligence. These learning centres are inconspicuous with about three to four dozen staff. These centres covertly aim to contain Indian influence in the region and monitor the activities of Tibetan refugees along the Indo-Nepal border.
When asked about the challenges posed to the security along the border, Sharma told The Pioneer, “We had raised the issue during our visit to Nepal and flagged our concerns before the top Home Ministry officials of that country. Efforts are being made to jointly address the problem.”
Top SSB officials said the paramilitary and other Indian agencies will have to take efforts to limit the influence of the mushrooming madrasas along the border as the Nepalese side has a limited wherewithal to counter such a menace.
Sharma met the DG of the Armed Police Force of Nepal, the home secretary and Home Minister of the Himalayan country during his three-day visit from December 5 to 7.
In an indication of the rising influence of the terror syndicates operating out of Nepal, the SSB has so far this year seized contraband worth Rs 118.71 crore, mostly from Indo-Nepal border, including narcotics valued at Rs 41.12 crore, arrested 1976 smugglers and rescued 45 victims of human trafficking and nabbed nine human traffickers. Seizures include 114 illegal arms, about 2000 rounds of live cartridges, 39 grenades and over 66 kg of explosives.
Meanwhile, the SSB has recently sent to the Union Home Ministry an ambitious proposal to “revamp” its intelligence unit and sought additional funds for the purpose to counter the newer challenges facing the frontier.
“Intelligence is our biggest weapon when it comes to securing the open and porous borders with Nepal and Bhutan. These are sensitive borders. We have sent a proposal to revamp our entire intelligence infrastructure,” he told reporters on the eve of the forces’ 51st Raising day later this week.
SSB officials elaborated that under the intelligence revamp proposal, the force plans to double the number of its personnel designated for this task and procure a number of gadgets that provide technical snoop data with the help of thermal imageries and biometrics.
The SSB is designated as the lead intelligence agency on these two borders has at present an estimated 4,000 personnel for intelligence gathering. Sharma further said that the paramilitary will soon send a proposal to the Home Ministry to acquire non-lethal weapons to be deployed along these two borders on the lines of the use of such weapons by the BSF along the Bangladesh frontier.
Sharma said the Centre has accorded the 70,000 personnel-strong force a Rs 658 crore modernisation budget this fiscal and the SSB is utilising this for procuring surveillance equipment and other security systems. The DG also said that the force, along with its counterpart paramilitary in Nepal, has also decided to strengthen mechanisms to curb instances of human trafficking along the 1,751 km Indo-Nepal border.