The Nepal-India border security chiefs' meeting is starting today in New Delhi, India. An eight-member high-level team led by Armed Police Inspector General Raju Aryal has reached Delhi to participate in the border security coordination meeting. The team includes Armed Police AIG Ganesh Thada Magar, Nepal Police DIG Deepak Regmi, and representatives from the Ministries of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.

The meeting from India will be attended by security officials and officials from the Home and Foreign Ministries, led by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Director General Sanjay Singhal. This is the ninth meeting to be held at the border security chief level of the two countries.

The eighth meeting was held in Nepal in December last year. The meeting held at the Armed Police Headquarters focused on discussions and reviews on 11 different points and it was agreed between the officials of both countries to emphasize their implementation. For this, although it was agreed to hold the meetings every 6 months, India had postponed the meeting citing technical reasons. After that, the meeting was to be held at an interval of one year like in the past, but it will last for 3 days from Wednesday (today).

The meeting will review border security, prevention and control of cross-border crime, cross-border occupation and its impact on border security, border pillar security, maintenance, supervision, prevention and control of infiltration through the border, review of meetings held at the border outpost, battalion, battalion and brigade levels and the status of its implementation, and further common strategies and implementation, an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs informed.

The Nepal-India border is about 1,880 kilometers long. Both countries have an open border, so movement is easy. However, taking advantage of this, not only infiltration of third-country nationals, but also people who commit crimes in one country and escape to another easily are taking advantage of this. Security personnel of both countries are facing challenges due to this. It is said that a joint signing will be held on Friday (28 Kartik) to discuss these issues and address common problems.

In last year's meeting, Nepal had urged India to be serious about controlling the infiltration of third-country nationals through land routes. Stating that illegal infiltration is a challenge to national security, the Nepali side stressed the need for strict regulation and monitoring. During that meeting, the Nepali side also raised the proposal to set up a separate 'tourist desk' to facilitate the movement of citizens of the two countries and regulate people from third countries.

In the meeting, Amrit Mohan Prasad, Director General of the Indian Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), had said that it was difficult to identify third-country nationals by appearance 'because their faces and complexions are similar'. 'Infiltration of third-country nationals affects both countries, and security personnel deployed in the border areas from both countries should be vigilant,' he had said.

According to the records of the Ministry of Home Affairs, citizens of countries including Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bhutan have entered Nepal through Indian land routes and acted as 'refugees'.

In last year's meeting, the Nepali side had raised this issue with great force, but Indian SSB Director General Amrit Mohan Prasad had said that it was difficult to identify third-country nationals by their appearance 'because their faces and complexions are similar'. He said that both countries should be vigilant in this regard, saying that 'infiltration of people from third countries affects both countries, and security personnel deployed in the border areas from both countries should be vigilant', and he will not be present at this meeting. The Indian government had transferred BSF Director General Sanjay Singhal to the post of SSB Chief just a few months ago.

This time too, emphasis will be placed on the implementation of past agreements. In the informal discussion, sources say that there is also a request to help in the search for the latest Gen Z movement in Nepal and the prisoners who escaped from jails, looted weapons and the possibility that they may have crossed the border and taken shelter.

Coordination meetings are held once a year, twice at the district-level 'Border Security Group' level and every month at the Border Out Post (BOP) level. The government has deployed manpower at 244 places on the Indian side through the APF's Border Out Post (BOP). India, on the other hand, has deployed SSB troops at more than 400 places.

There are 8,553 border pillars separating the Nepal-India international border from Taplejung in the east to Kanchanpur in the far west, covering a length of 1,880 km. The meeting also prioritizes their maintenance, protection, and finding and installing new pillars.

Of the 2,716 border pillars that mark the border on the Indian side, some were found and repaired. However, most of the missing pillars have not been found. About 1,600 border pillars are dilapidated and about 2,900 pillars are in need of general repair. Although it was recently agreed that odd-numbered pillars would be repaired by Nepal and even-numbered pillars by the Indian side, the repairs have not been completed.