India Encroaches Nepal’s Territory

After having openly captured more than 60 thousand hectares of Nepal’s territory, India has continuously advanced towards Nepal with its Sashastra Surakshya Bal (SSB), previously known as Special Service Bureau (SSB). If Nepal immediately does not take this border encroachment to the UN General Assembly, more Indian troops will be comfortably stationed in Nepal. It has already encroached Nepal’s territory in about 90 points along the 1800Km Indo-Nepal border. The Indian parliament has already approved of the bill concerning the deployment, expansion and empowerment of the SSB along the border sides of Nepal and Bhutan. The Indian media have attributed the new security decision to the growing influence of Nepal’s Maoists. Bhutanese refugees believe the feudal monarchy in their country, in order to protect its unhindered autocracy, must have bargained with India for allowing the SSB operating even within Bhutan. India 13 years ago had loaded into trucks thousands of Bhutanese refugees and unloaded them onto Nepali bordering region. This act of India in support of the suppressive Bhutanese autocracy has been sharply denounced by human rights institutions globally.

According to the related coverage in Indian media that quoted Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil, India has decided to deploy 20 battalions of the SSB along the border of Nepal and Bhutan. Although Nepal’s media frequently report about border encroachment by India, Nepal’s government rarely responds. Consequently, ordinary masses tend to believe that the ruling elites within the political forces of Nepal are less accountable to the country’s independence and sovereignty.

Despite her enormous population and territorial size, India has publicly appeared mean-hearted because of frequent encroachment of Nepal’s territory by her. The SSB so far has backed up the Indian local people in the border region for capturing Nepali villagers’ land within Nepal. The SSB has been accused of troubling hundreds of Nepali citizens in the border villages of Nepal.

In the meanwhile, Nepal, too, has announced her special security system in the Terai region where violent crimes are on rise. Nepal’s Prime Minister recently told Nepali journalists that violence in the Terai region can end quickly should India cooperate. This saying of the prime ministers give more room for the Nepalis to believe the serious involvement of Indian criminal and terrorist groups in Nepal’s Terai violence committed under political tags. Although Koirala is known as a diehard pro-India political leader of Nepal, many seem confused over his saying. Security analysts of Nepal must have taken it seriously.

The recent decision of the Indian Administration to mobilize the SSB with a new strategy along the borders of Nepal and Bhutan may mean something special. The Indian side has emphasized on the need to control the entry of Nepali Maoists into India. It puzzles analysts why India, with more than one million army size, thinks Nepal’s Maoists not yet considered fully eligible for full-fledged power in Nepal pose a threat to her. Is India seeking a pretext to encroach more of Nepal’s territory and station more troops in Nepal? This will be clarified by the coming phenomena.

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