Security has also been heightened in Nepal following bomb blasts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The alert has been raised at sensitive locations along the border after Indian authorities sought help, saying that people involved in the blasts could enter Nepal.

Police officials say that the Special Bureau, a specialized body of the Nepal Police that deals with counter-terrorism, is working in coordination with the Indian side. ‘Along with the possible entry from the border area, the activities of new people in madrasas and mosques have been put on notice,’ said an officer, ‘Immigration checks and screening have been tightened even at the airport.’ The officer said that caution has been taken as there have been many examples of people involved in such incidents taking advantage of the open border and entering Nepal and going to third countries in the past.

Twelve people were killed and at least 30 injured in a car explosion near the Red Fort in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on 10 Kartik evening. India has called it the biggest terrorist incident in the country’s busy city in the last decade. Earlier, on 10 Baisakh, 26 people, including Nepali citizen Sudip Neupane, were killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir.

According to the bureau officials, four members involved in the terrorist attacks in India after 2000 had come to Nepal and obtained citizenship from Sunsari. They were found to have fled to the UAE with passports in 2071.

After the Delhi blast, the Indian police have arrested five people from Pulwama in Kashmir. Indian security officials claim that the Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed was involved in it. Indian police have now arrested five people from Pulwama in Kashmir after the blast in Delhi, and security officials claim that they may be linked to the Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Jaish-e-Mohammed is a militant group founded by Masood Azhar, who was released from custody after hijacking an Indian Airlines flight from Nepal to Delhi on December 24, 1999. The group is accused of being involved in the attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and Pulwama in 2019.

‘When the security and political situation of the country becomes very sensitive, there is a risk that the wrong elements can easily influence it,’ says counter-terrorism expert Narayan Adhikari. ‘In such a situation, there is a direct risk of militant movement, proxy influence and extremist activities due to open borders, so the security mechanism should be alert.’

The police have also arrested two Kashmiri doctors on suspicion of being involved in the same incident. ‘The main person involved in the explosion was killed inside the car, while some others have also been arrested in India,’ said a senior Nepal Police officer. ‘While the operation is underway in India, the possibility that the remaining people involved in it may escape and come to Nepal cannot be ruled out, which is why strict measures have been taken.’

The Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) of the Nepal Army is also closely monitoring similar incidents in three South Asian countries. ‘We are analyzing how the incidents that have occurred at the regional level can affect Nepal,’ said a senior military officer. ‘We are aware that those involved in terrorism can carry out activities in any area to show their influence.’ Officials say that one should be alert in the security situation of the country after the Gen-G movement and in the case of people associated with terrorism escaping from prison.

The ‘Intelligence Bureau’ of the Armed Police Force has also increased checks in the border area. ‘Security checks have been increased in coordination with the Indian side. We are aware that those involved in criminal activities do not take shelter in Nepal,’ said an official of the bureau. ‘The team deployed at the border is working proactively for that.’

Former Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) Tek Prasad Rai, who worked for a long time in the Special Bureau of the Nepal Police, says that Nepal cannot remain untouched by terrorist incidents in the southern neighborhood or other Asian countries.

‘Even if we are not directly affected, Nepali land may be being used indirectly,’ he says, ‘We need to monitor the activities of suspicious people, the hotels they stay in, etc., so that the remnants of incidents in other countries do not reach Nepal.’

The day after the explosion in India, a car bomb exploded outside the district court building in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, killing 12 people. At least 27 others were injured. The Pakistani Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. It claimed that the attack was ‘targeted at judges and lawyers who are against Islam.’

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has claimed that the attack was carried out by militants based in Afghanistan. The next day, on Wednesday, two explosions also took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh. According to the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star, two men on a motorcycle threw bombs and fled. There were no casualties in the incident. The police have not been able to determine the cause of the explosion.

‘The series of blasts in India and Pakistan and similar incidents elsewhere require a different analysis,’ says a Special Bureau official. Another official claimed that the Indian side has informed that the accused involved in the Delhi blasts have also visited Nepal and Bangladesh. ‘All these matters are being investigated,’ said the official.