Jhulaghat, Nepal/India, February 21
With stepped-up chances of Maoist insurgents crossing over to escape crackdown by the Royal Nepal Army, the Indo-Nepal border looks quite like the Kali river that marks it, deceptively sleepy. However, it doesn’t take a very hard look to either tell the dangerous undercurrents of the river flowing at the bottom of the valley or the threat of the neighbourhood noise spilling over.
On the quaint 30- foot bridge across the river, passersby continue to go up and down while security and customs officials check their credentials and take a peek into the goods they carry. This is about the kind of checking the porous border allows for, the officials say. About two weeks ago, some politicians from across the border sneaked into the border districts from the tiny trade post of Jhulaghat to evade arrest.
Three of these politicians, including Nepalese Congress leader and MP from Baitadi district of western Nepal Vinay Chand Dhwaj ,are living in a hotel in the border town of Pithoragarh. With no official confirmation of Maoists sneaking into as well, some of the locals still do not see why such possibilities were dim.
Interestingly, Nepalese cops who guard the border in plain clothes, prefer staying on the Indian side marked by a flimsy white piece of cloth. The reason? They feel safer, almost guarded by Indian security personnel. Even if they have to go anywhere in western Nepal ,which is well- connected along the Indian border, the preferred route is through the Indian side, police sources say.
If that does not speak volumes for the trouble brewing across the border, traders from the Nepal trade post of
Jullaghat walk down the bridge to the Indian side everyday after dark. Some 15 families of traders trickle to the safer Indian side everyday to sleep peacefully.
Prakash Thapa, who runs a shop of imported goods like many others on the other side, says nothing is wrong so far but the risk is just too big to
take. Over a year back in a gruesome incident a Customs official was mauled by the Maoists, traders say. The Maoists are also known to have a lot against the popular business of selling alcohol which a number of traders here do, considering the good business it gives.
Besides Jhulaghat, there are four other hanging bridges on the 271- km- long border that Uttaranchal shares with Nepal, including Dharchula, Jauljibi, Baluakot and Sitapul. Even as added paramilitary troops of the SSB and the PAC, along with the police, have been deployed on the border, a number of border outposts continue to be unmanned. According to top officials, the onus was on the SSB to man the border but with its present strength, it only patrols the border.
After the dismissal of the Sher Bahadur Deuba Government by King Gyanendra in the Himalayan Kingdom and the emergency that followed, the soft and long border has become as important to guard as it is tough, locals say. However, the police that guard the bridges neither has specialised training nor the kind of arms that would match up to the sophisticated weapons the Maoists are known to have.
