NEW DELHI: With several former militants from Jammu & Kashmir recently using Nepal to enter India from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), New Delhi has asked Kathmandu to strengthen its screening process since intelligence inputs suggest that ISI-backed terror groups are trying to push active terrorists in the guise of ex-ultras.
In the recently concluded meet between the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Armed Police Force of Nepal (NAPF), India expressed security concerns over more than 100 former militants illegally entering the country via Nepal to avail the government's rehabilitation policy for former militants despite designating four specific routes for their return.
The home ministry has fixed four routes for the ex-militants' return — Poonch-Rawlakote, Uri-Muzaffarabad (both on the LoC), Wagah-Attari border in Amritsar and IGI Airport here. However, the militants from these four routes can return only with Pakistani permission as two LoC routes require permits approved by designated authority of the PoK, while the others need Pakistani passports and visas. The elaborate paperwork encourages touts to help militants — both former and active — sneaking them via Nepal.
Sources said, the SSB brass told its Nepalese counterparts that there were credible inputs about militant outfits such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) trying to push subversive elements in the guise of former militants via Nepal and unless proper screening and scrutiny of those arriving in the Himalayan nation from Pakistan, Dubai or certain other places was done, it could spell trouble for India.
India asked Nepal to step up vigilance on the border and strengthen intelligence network particularly at Barhwa-Sunauli and Birgunj-Raxaul borders.
The Nepalese delegation was also given details of how ISI and terror groups backed by it had established significant network on its soil, HuM, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) were using it to launch terror modules in India. Sources said that HuM had even started forging Indian passports to push militants into the country.
In 2010, the Omar Abdullah government in J&K launched a "return-and-rehabilitation scheme" for former Kashmiri militants who crossed over to PoK for undergoing terror training at the peak of insurgency in late 1980s and early 1990s. Over 200 former militants have returned to the Valley since then, but mostly via Nepal. After sneaking in they surrender to local authorities and claim rehabilitation. Sources said chances are high that active militants use the same route, and then disappear.
A senior official from the security establishment said, "There are still over 30 terror camps aimed at India active in Pakistan. Infiltration on the J&K border is down. This means the groups are trying to push militants through other routes like Nepal's porous borders."
It is estimated that around 3,000 Kashmiri militants are still stationed in various terror camps in PoK.
India asks Nepal to prevent terror groups from using its soil for infiltration
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India asks Nepal to prevent terror groups from using its soil for infiltration
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India asks Nepal to prevent terror groups from using its soil for infiltration
