In a crucial warning that validates India’s longstanding security concerns, senior officials from Nepal have cautioned that Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) could exploit the open Indo-Nepal border to infiltrate and stage attacks on Indian soil. The statement, made by Sunil Bahadur Thapa, principal advisor to Nepal’s President, at a security seminar in Kathmandu, is the strongest acknowledgment yet from Nepal about the grave risks that its territory poses when misused by Pakistan’s jihad factories.
The fragile border that terrorists eye
India and Nepal share a 1,751-km-long open border, a historical arrangement that allows visa-free movement of people on both sides. While it strengthens cultural and social bonds, it is also precisely what terror outfits look for, gaps they can penetrate. The porous border lacks strict biometric controls, local corruption is often high, and remote stretches are hard to patrol consistently.
These factors are precisely why Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and their terror proxies have repeatedly tried to use this route to sidestep the heavily militarised India-Pakistan LOC. As the recent Pahalgam attack showed, Pakistan-backed jihadis are still relentlessly targeting Hindus, even dragging Nepalese citizens into the tragedy.
A long record of misuse
This is not an abstract worry; the record is chillingly clear:
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In 1999, terrorists hijacked IC-814 from Kathmandu to Kandahar, a defining event that forever altered India’s security posture.
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In 2013, Nepal police captured Abdul Karim Tunda, the LeT bomb expert behind 40+ blasts in India, at the border.
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The same year, Indian Mujahideen’s co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was nabbed in Nepal and handed over to Indian agencies.
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As recently as April 2024, UP ATS arrested two Pakistani nationals along with an Indian aide trying to sneak in from Nepal, underlining that the threat is very much alive.
There’s also the murky case of Mirza Dilshad Beg, a Nepalese MP in the 1990s with known links to Dawood Ibrahim and Pakistan’s ISI, who was eventually assassinated. Each incident tells the same story: Pakistan’s terror networks have treated Nepal as a soft conduit into India.
Nepal’s own concerns and Pakistan’s regional sabotage
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE), Sunil Bahadur Thapa not only highlighted how LeT and JeM are threats to India but also pointed out how Pakistan’s patronage of terrorism is a stumbling block for SAARC’s unity and for regional economic growth.
This is a view increasingly shared across the Indo-Pacific: Pakistan’s export of jihadism isn’t just an India-specific problem; it destabilises the entire region.
India’s strategic caution pays off
India has, over the years, quietly ramped up joint mechanisms with Nepal. This includes more joint border patrols, intelligence sharing, and high-level dialogues to ensure Nepal does not unwittingly become a launchpad for anti-India terror.
Given how China’s influence in Nepal has grown, India’s careful diplomacy to keep Kathmandu engaged on security issues is also critical. The fact that Nepal itself is now publicly acknowledging the threat from Pakistan-backed terror is a sign that New Delhi’s approach is working.
This is about more than borders, it’s about protecting Bharat
At its core, this is not just a matter of border fencing or checking fake Aadhaar cards. It is a civilisational imperative. From Pulwama to Pahalgam, from Kathmandu hijacks to Kashmir massacres, the common thread is Pakistan’s jihad machinery. They have no qualms about finding new backdoors when the front door is sealed.
Nepal’s warning should serve as another wake-up call. Bharat must secure all its flanks, from Rajasthan to Arunachal, from Punjab to Bihar’s porous edge. Because what we face is not just infiltration—it is an ideological war waged by Pakistan-backed Islamist outfits determined to destabilise India by any route possible.
India’s security agencies and armed forces understand this well. It is time the rest of us, as citizens, also stay alert and back every effort to close these dangerous gaps. Because if Pakistan’s terror industry shifts to a new doorway, we must be ready to slam it shut.
