The team led by Home Secretary Gokarnamani Duwadi reached New Delhi on Monday afternoon. Home Secretary level meeting of Nepal and India will be held on Tuesday. The meeting is going to be held after 9 years.

The meeting which will be held at the level of high officials of the home of both the countries will mainly focus on issues of security, crime control, illegal activities across the border, etc. Ramchandra Tiwari, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs, who participated in the team, said that the meeting will discuss issues such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, illegal movement of third-country nationals, and illegal smuggling.

Due to the open border, the drug trade from India has increased in the border area and Nepali youths are being illegally sent to India and third countries through India.

Similarly, the encroachment of the border of the two countries in the Dasgaja area, the flooding caused by the road to be built by the Indian side near Dasgaja will also be the subject of the meeting. India is building a good elevated road from east to west near the border. As a result, the problem of inundation has started to appear in the Terai region of Nepal. Even though the residents of the border area have been protesting against it, there has been no hearing.

'Human trafficking' is also a big issue for Nepal. Nepalese women are lured by traffickers to different cities of India and used for sex trade. Similarly, cases of young people being held hostage and made to work without remuneration are being exposed.

Similarly, smugglers are found to collect large amounts of money from Nepali youth and send them to third countries illegally through India. Spokesman Tiwari said that various problems faced by Nepal will be discussed with the team led by senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs of India. Prohibition of illegal entry of citizens of third countries is also the main issue of the meeting. India has been raising this issue in almost every meeting. 

The subject of the treaty on mutual legal assistance and extradition between the two countries, which is already under discussion, is also on the agenda of the meeting. In the absence of mutual legal assistance and extradition agreements, it is becoming difficult for one country to formally provide necessary assistance to another in criminal matters. The meeting, which was supposed to be held every year, could not be held in Delhi in 2016. Meetings at various levels were stopped due to coldness caused by Covid and then the Kalapani border dispute.

Information exchange for criminal activities, natural disasters and other common problems, such meetings are considered necessary because it is considered easier to work in the field with the agreement reached at the higher authority level. Secretary-level meetings will not enter into border disputes. However, it is said that the problems seen at the border will be the priority of the meeting.