A report released by the US State Department last October created a wave in Nepal about 8,000 miles away. The reason is that in the annual report on terrorism released by the United States, it was claimed that Nepal is becoming a 'hub' of terrorism. But his next report, published eight months later, removed it.

The Country Report on Terrorism 2019, published by the United States on July 26, 2019, does not mention the fertile ground for terrorism. Nor has it been said that Nepal has taken effective steps to control terrorism. Instead, this partial report of the previous report is silent.

"The US claim that Nepal is becoming a hub of terrorism was not based on facts," said Bam Bahadur Bhandari, a former Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) who has spent a long time in the Special Bureau of Anti-Terrorism Police.

The United States has claimed that the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamic militant group that has killed scores of civilians in a series of bombings in neighboring India, has made Nepal a 'hub'.

Due to the open border between Nepal and India, those involved in criminal activities in both countries abused each other as 'shelters', but many interpreted the fact that Nepal has become a hub of terrorism as propaganda.

According to an AIG at the police headquarters, a study by the Special Bureau after last year's US report was made public did not find any Mujahideen activity in Nepal.

After all, there has been no Mujahideen activity in Nepal since 1974. Police have no evidence that any Indian Mujahideen infiltrated Nepal after the arrest of Mujahideen leader Abdul Subhan Qureshi and his ally Arij Khan. While the group's activities were negligible even in India, there was a US report that it had created an area of ​​influence in Nepal.

After the Chinese President's visit to Nepal after 26 years, the United States had prepared a report depicting Nepali land as dangerous. During the visit, some strategically important agreements were also reached between Nepal and China. Therefore, some speculated that the report may have come for the secret purpose of giving Nepal membership in the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). Nepal has been refusing to join the IPS, which is linked to US security interests.

Why not address the real problem? Although it is unacceptable that Nepal is becoming a fertile ground for terrorism, the United States has been pointing out some of these weaknesses for years, which even Nepal cannot deny. The United States has been questioning the security arrangements at the Nepal-India open border and international airports for decades.

For years, the United States has viewed Nepal's airports as a source of security risks, such as a lack of pre-screen for passengers, a database of records of people who fell in Nepal, and a lack of travel document checks.

"Our airport must be improved. We are at risk because of the lack of biometric technology for fingerprint checking, biographic systems for document testing, and cross-verification of criminal records, ”said the former AIG Bhandari.

The security situation at the airport is confirmed by the density of illegal traffic. Gold, counterfeit notes, drugs, and illegal foreign currency are easily transacted from this point.

But neither the technology nor the infrastructure has improved, nor has the manpower working there been specialized. In most countries, the police are responsible for immigration. The theoretical basis of this is that the police have the power to determine whether a person is a criminal or not by his gestures and temperament. But after the political change of 1946, saying that he was involved in corruption, this responsibility was given to the civil servants. However, immigration irregularities have not stopped. Many times the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Authority has raided and changed the entire set of staff, but there has been no improvement.

"The police or the civil servants, who are entrusted with the task, need specialized manpower to work there," says former DIG Hemant Mall.

Due to the open border, it is natural that the security interests in the border area between Nepal and India are equal. The practice of hiding in India after committing a crime in Nepal and hiding here after committing a crime is a product of open borders. That is why both countries have been raising their security concerns in the Nepal-India bilateral talks.

"Security checks are carried out in both countries. If the Indian security personnel had left Nepal and made arrests at the border, our security would have been weakened, ”said Bhandari. They have also arrested those who left here. So this is the main issue of how to manage the border. It has not become a hub of terrorism. ”